4TH ASHES TEST | Headingley: England v Australia (match thread)
August 5 2009 at 10:46 AM
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Dates: Friday, 7 August - Tuesday, 11 August Start time: 1100 BST
Coverage: Live Test Match Special commentary (from 1025 BST on day one, 1045 BST on remaining days) on BBC Radio 4 LW, 5 Live sports extra, the Red Button and BBC Sport website. Live text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobile phones. Also live on Sky Sports.
This message has been edited by AlexRoberts on Aug 8, 2009 10:15 AM
As four days at this game would cost more than my membership I'll be watching the game on Sky ..... with the sound turned 'low' so I can hear what Boycott has to say. Provided I listen to a ADB radio the picture delay isn't too bad
I hope that everyone's who going has a great time - the wetaher holds and the cricket is entertaining. It's a great shame that the issue of crowd behaviour always seems to raise it's ugly head just as the Leeds Test comes around. I'm sure our lout's boorish behaviour isn't any worse than any of the other Test match venues - or am I wrong?
If Flintoff isn't fit - I hope they go with an extra bowler. To play an extra batmsan sounds like they want to bat so long that they can't be beaten - it's a tactic that rarely works. To win a game you need 20 wickets - and personally I'd pick Sidebottom ahead of Harmison because i think he'll swing it more - and I sumply don't trust Harmison's fragile confidence. Ryan would charge in all day long and never bowl a wide...
Look like Freddie isn't fit ... I'd go with Harmy as unless you drop one of Anderson or Onions having 3 swing bowlers could be a 'problem' if it doesn't swing
Looks like Prior is out, having done his knee in during the pre-match game of football. Could this be the chance for Bairstow? Let's face it, he has as much experience as Pattinson did last year.
Why do teams persist in these ridiculous warm-ups? Considering how many players (and in the case of 2005, series) have been lost due to football/rugby injuries, it is surely sensible to make do with a few gentle stretches.
The YCCC website tells me that the 4th Test Match starts in 7 hours, 1 minute and 22 seconds. So what game am I actually following? I think I'll sign up with the guys who are certain the moon landings never really took place.
Come on, Steve. We both know you're kidding. I'm sticking with the YCCC site (only 5 hours and 39 minutes before the start). No way could a Test team win the toss and see six of its wickets gone before lunch on the first day.....
England face a three-day defeat and Headingley Carnegie face the prospects of losing two days worth of gate receipts. A disaster all round. Could even have a knock on effect as to who Yorkshire keep and sign.
This must be one of the most inept batting performances by an England Test team in the history of the Ashes. Only two players reached double figures, and four English players had ducks. The biggest "stand" was an abysmal 23!
Obviously, England have been exposed as the frauds they are: and unless there is two days of rain, this match could be over on Sunday.
It's never good to go into the last and rubber match of an important series, and have to re-jig the lineup. But that is exactly what England may need to do. Out goes Harnison and Bopara and possibly Collingwood and Broad; and in come Sidebottom and Trott, and possibly Ramprakesh.
It's my prognosis that England are now going to lose the series 2-1.
Excluding Cook and Prior, the remaining 9 batsmen scored 18 between them. Ineptitude of Biblical proportions. England's fragile confidence may have snapped today.
"England face a three-day defeat and Headingley Carnegie face the prospects of losing two days worth of gate receipts. A disaster all round. Could even have a knock on effect as to who Yorkshire keep and sign."
Won't lose 2 days worth as the day 5 tickets are non refundable, money for nothing. Nice work if you can get it
I'm not sure how much - if any - of the revenue from Test matches goes to the host club. I guess the real loss will be things like bar income and catering profit...
Let's not despair just yet. We might make it to Monday...
How much are general admission tickets?
Is there a charge for parking? How much is a program, a beer on the ground, etc.
I've lost touch, since my last Test match at Headingley in the 1990s.
I'm sure most have seen the match on Sky or the highlights so I won't bore you with details.
Couldn't believe we chose to bat given the conditions. It seemed obvious wickets would fall in the first session then by mid afternoon the batsmen would be on top so why not have the advantage of having them 4 or 5 down before the conditions improved.
Team selection seemed strange as well with Aus playing no spinner but we played Swann and have not yet bowled him in 50 overs.
Broad was head and shoulders above the rest in the bowling department.
Headingley looked as good as it could given the redevelopment with entry to the ground much more fluent than in previous test matches. The west stand (I was in lower winter shed) seemed very subduded all day not sure if it was because of the score, the fact the bars seemed to shut for stints of 90 minutes during the day or all the media attention relating to behaviour.
6 down at the end would have been nice but apart from the scorecard it was, as usual, a thoroughly enjoyable day. At one stage my tickets for Sunday were looking rather redundant.
Re: "No good could come of staging an iconic Test match on a building site..."
August 8 2009, 2:30 PM
England look set for an innings defeat. Very disappointing. I had just started to believe in them, but Flintoff's injury and the silly decision to bring in Harmy for Flintoff and not include an extra batsmen in Trott, has probably resulted in England throwing away the Ashes.
Why, when the selectors do bring new blood into the squad, do they always seem to do it "as cover for" someone else - with the implication that the new player is only likely to play if that someone else, originally in the squad, is unfit?
Why never (it seems) because the new player is adjudged to be better for the anticipated conditions than a player who formed part of the squad before the very first match?
Re: "No good could come of staging an iconic Test match on a building site..."
August 8 2009, 5:51 PM
Boprara's Test career is certainly at an end for now. Trott will replace him. But what do we do with Harmy? Hardly an impressive performance, and with Sidds in the wings and rarin' to go. I wonder if the out-of-form Tim Bresnan will be considered for Flintoff, who looks like he's played his last Test match?
Re: "No good could come of staging an iconic Test match on a building site..."
August 8 2009, 7:00 PM
To be fair to Bopara, he got a bad one this time but on another note, aren't England playing him out of postion? Without checking Essex scorecards from last season, wasn't his position more a 5 or a 6? If that is the case, he shouldn't be batting at 3 against the best in the world!
Are indeed looking almost redundant. Probably get enough overs in to avoid a refund tho'. Monday tickets should get the lot back. As for Tuesday advance purchase non-refundables - Fools rush in...........
What a time to come completely unstuck. There will be long-term reverberations over this one. A complete and utter capitulation. The Australian papers are abuzz. One thing about the Aussies, they are among the worst winners in sports. Bragging and bravado seem to be national pastimes.