Some rather poor shot making. Aggression is all well and good but you have to play the shot according to the situation. They do look weary mentally and physically. The Aussies are fully up for it. The adrenaline is pumping and our players are not quietening the crowds by their displays. However it was pleasing to see how Root and Stokes played. The signs have been there. They had some fortune in the home series and their recent travels have been far from convincing. Without doubt SA are the best side in the world at the moment.
Interesting start, Broad went for 11 off his first over but England get a Run out of a superb bit of fielding. 13-1
Good solid start - decent bowling by Swann. Of course can we actually put an innings together when it comes to our go.
The batting has clearly been very poor but the bowling has not been great either. All 3 tests we've been in a good position but let them off the hook. The less said about the catching the better especially Carberry who owes us hell of a lot of runs
Hopefully pick them off cheaply tomorrow morning and then its time to see if the batsmen have got the concentration and balls to bat for a few days. I doubt it but hopefully I'm proved wrong!
I suspect they'll add another hundred, get us out for less than 200 and then have time to put our openers back in to bat for the last few overs tomorrow after tea.
Got another half century? He's having a cracking series (well most of the Aussies are!) When Smith chips in with 3 figures you know its not going well.
England tried to save runs when they should have turned the screw. Boundary fielding allowed the Aussies to rotate the strike and pick off the bad balls. I know the first 20 overs of the day were going for 5+ runs an over but we were picking up wickets and had them on the ropes. If we had kept a biy of pressure round the bat I am sure it would have been a different story.
For as good a player that Cook is he just isn't aggressive enough as a captin. 146 for 5 and no one around the bat. It was time to add a lot of pressure and force a lot of dot balls. Look at where Smith scored all his runs, on the leg side, we bowled too short on a pitch where everyone had said that the majority of wickets get caught behind or in the slips. The Smith / Haddin partnership has more or less put the nail in the coffin of retaining the ashes
Time for a reshuffle after this series, especially with the batting lineup. I would drop Prior and Pietersen, stick with some of the younger players like Carberry. Sure our form might suffer in the short term, but overall it will only help the team.
Pietersen is finished as a top test match player. I believe he's doing a Federer and playing out his sponsorship arrangements. I think it's time to thank Swann for everything but he's simply not a match winner since his injury. My fear is that Jimmy has now peaked and our next crop of quicks aren't going to be of a level to compete at the top. Don't get scared now.
Looking a lot like 3-0 now Although England have been very disappointing, Australia deserve a massive amount of credit, they have been fantastic
There is a lot of talk about England playing for pride now, but that particular horse has long bolted. Australia won't put the same effort in during the next two tests (even though they might say they will in press conferences) and England might well play better - but whoopee skip, there's no pressure on them now, so who cares? They couldn't do it when it mattered, which is what top level sport is all about. It's like the difference between banging in penalties during training and putting one away to win the World Cup final - there's just no comparison. My husky's got average intelligence level for a dog ( I love her to bits, but she isn't going to win Britain's Got Talent), but when I took her for a walk over the field and she sniffed an electrified fence, she never ever did it again. Kevin Pietersen on the other hand gets done by a fairly simple Aussie plan in the first test, first innings - and then goes on to fall for the exact same trick in the next five consecutive innings, even though it was repeatedly pointed out to him by every commentator, pundit, journalist or anyone remotely interested in the game! The man must be thick as pig sh1t.
Carberry is 33 but I know what you're getting at. Cook is to negative as a captain and it also seems to have affected his form. Prior has been poor for a while. Bairstow for him next test. Keep Root but tell him there is no point getting 15 runs from 90 balls each test if you then give your wicket away. He should look how Bell and Stokes played. They attacked the Aussie bowling and all of a sudden we looked a lot better
Going to be 4-0 potentially having thrown away a strong position. Dreadful batting performance.. Some of the shots are crazy - are they trying too hard to show off thinking the Aussies aren't up to much which is clearly what the press thought pre series.
You'd have to back the Aussies to finish England off from here but apparently it would still be the biggest 4th innings chase to succeed since the drop in pitches went in 17 years ago if they do it.
As an aussie supporter I'm very happy with the 4-0 scoreline, a complete turnaround from earlier in the year. Went to day 2 of the test and was happy to bump into a couple of Watford supporters; had never met another Watford supporter til then.
Yeah you needed early wickets, created the chances but couldn't capitalise. Bairstow not going for the catch of rogers proved very costly. Strange to see root bowling well before panesar got a bowl.
Surely this is the lowest ebb English cricket has experienced in the last few years. Shambolic in all departments.
Indeed. Finally, England had risen to greatness and then, in one series have undone all the work of the past decade. It's a disgrace. Nothing short. The players who've gone out to Australia need to be culpable as they've shamed a whole era of English cricket.
5th test starts tonight: Potentially 3 debutants - they cannot do any worse if given a chance I guess. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/25572213
Whats the rules in cricket for players from NI playing for Eng? Is it like football were they need a relation, i.e grandparent? I find it strange that someone who has played for Ireland competitively is allowed to play for England
Eoin Morgan is another example.. I think in cricket it depends on how long you've live in the country. Look at KP and Trott for example.
Hmm.. don't follow Irish cricket at all but surely this is a massive hindrance to Ireland's cricket team? I understand they had a great year this year and seem to be improving but I would say the majority of their players would play for England given half a chance? Seems unfair and very backwards
Ireland do not have test match status, though they compete in international one day cricket, they are yet to get the all important test status which to most players is still the highest point you can play (the money of the IPL has changed that a lot now though). Thus Irish players use the residency rule to play for England as there are a number of them who play over in England professionally in county cricket. In the last few years 3 have done it. I feel it is totally wrong and should not be allowed. It is a little different to the likes of Pieterson, Strauss, Trott etc as they did not play for South Africa before playing for England, the Irish lads did. Totally detrimental to Irish cricket, with Morgan and Rankin playing for them, they could well eventually get test match status in the next 5 years. I feel bad for Irish cricket that the ICC allow it.
Does seem really unjust. As I said I'm by no means an Irish cricket fan but would still like to see them advance as a team. Is it the same for Scottish players? and Welsh? although I don't think those 2 are as good as Ireland
Wales is actually part of England when it comes to cricket. The full title of the ECB is 'England and Wales Cricket Board'. Scotland is in the same situation as Ireland where they have an international one day team but don't have test status. They also have a team playing in the YB40 competition in England (they lost 11 out of 12 matches last year with the 12th being a no result).
Wales are counted as part of the England team. Glamorgan play county cricket and test matches are played in Cardiff. Many Welsh players have represented England like Rob Croft and Simon Jones, and they see the English team as very much the Lions rugby side. Think there is a Welsh representative sides but they play minor counties cricket like Hertfordshire do (or at least did when I was younger). Scotland are the same as Ireland but not as good. Some Scottish players have represented England like Gavin Hamilton and Dougie Brown and their coach is Paul Collingwood, ex England player. They have no hope of being a test playing nation. Ireland would perhaps be next in line along with Afghanistan to be playing test cricket but possibly a way off yet.
