I thought our bowling was very loose in the overs before lunch: too many down the leg-side. And the field positions were very negative for tail-enders - I'm glad I went to bed and didn't see them knock us for another 50 (or whatever it was), we could really regret that.

Yes - mind you, it's been great catching whatever I can of this series and I'll be watching until lunch again tonight.

Whilst it's been good to see a decent Egnland team, it's been great to see Ponting trying to carry that team and fail. Without Warne and McGrath the Aussies are just the same as every other team. For years they've been kidding themselves that their progressive selection process and aggressive batting tactics have made them number one when actually all they did was let those two dig them out of every hole they ever put themselves in. Warne was brilliant and even with a new ball on a new wicket was as good as any spinner today with perfect spinning conditions and McGrath was also very, very special.

While i agree to an extent, you can't knock Ponting, Hayden, Hussey and Gilchrists records. And the Waugh brothers too!

Alot of people seem to forget to mention the top quality opening batsmen Australia lost in Mathew Hayden and Justin Langer , which IMO is just as vital as Warne and McGrath. I lost count the amount of times they would put on 150 runs for the first wicket.

yeah well... to support my case I just did some figures on Ponting's average test score since the retirement of Warne and McGrath compared to before they retired but unfortunately they didn't support my case so I'm not going to mention them...

so there...

But I'm still right

Cheating Aussies!!!!


Nice ton from Cook, Colly goes cheaply again, could be Test career over.

Agree about Colly, think we should take the decision for him to be honest.
Gotta love beefys rant after the catch incident.

Arise Sir Alastair.

We've carried Collingwood for the entire series. He should have been left out and replaced by Bresnan after the frst test match, giving us an extra seamer as well as a batsman. Thankfully it hasn't mattered that much

Might be the right time for Colly to retire. It's the right time for Bell to have a prolonged run at 5 imo. 1-4 are nailed on following this series. Prior looks to have nailed himself on too.

Bresnan would be the debate but i'm please to see he's started to take wickets. nice position to be in.

Morgan in at 5, straight swap.

Not convinced Morgan is a Test player, there are other options though knocking on the door for selection like Gale, Bopara and several others.

Not convinced by Bopara at all, too inconsistent in all forms of the game.
Haven't seen anything of Gale tbh.
Morgan is fearless exactly matches the mind set of the rest of the team.

He is certainly an option along with a few others, the problem is his best batting comes when playing one day games.

I'm not convinced about Bopara either, lacks the temperament for test cricket imho. Morgan would be ok on the odd occasion but i think by and large he's a one dayer and Gale doesn't have the technique to be consistant at test match level. Gotta say i disagree with Bothams comments about Hughes as well, thought they we well over the top. To call someone a cheat on live international TV is pretty low and totally unnecessary imho.