The Ashes Down Under **2nd Test 5-9 December, Adelaide **

i'm expecting a massive backlash from england.  will be lumping on.

Best wait to see how the first session develops - as much as I want England to come back quickly I fear this could be a long long tour with no happy ending

Not sure how you could expect a fcuk yeah massive backlash from England based off what we saw in the first test. Who in that team has the set to lead such a backlash after being owned so royally? Genuine question. Not being a smart arse. It certainly ain't the captain. Everything rests on the English bowling attack imo, if they win the toss they should bowl. A good start is a necessity and they are more likely to get that from the bowlers than the batting lineup, who looked like boys against angry men.

Maybe if the attack knock us over cheaply it could provide some confidence. Forget the pitch and the day 1 conditions, the massive problem between the ears (and legs) needs to fixed fast and Swann, Broad and Anderson the most likely.

Don't spoil the fun, CD.

shhhhhh.

People saying Johnson can't back it up are deadset kidding themselves, you all need to understand how he got picked. He was getting wickets on those road pitches in India, he's been marked as one of our better bowlers for a very long time, in my opinion he got too comfortable and needed the kick to get him going again

After what happened in Brisbane, England would settle for a draw here and knowing the Adelaide pitch.. it's a likely outcome. Also Root only looked good in the 2nd innings because Australia were trying to get him off strike to get rid of the bunny up the other end, either way we will find out if this England team is over-hyped or the Aussie bowling is simply too good

It will be a road pitch

One swallow doesn't make a summer Second!

I have been watching MJ in the IPL too and he has been bowling well.  I was surprised he didn't tour quite frankly. You guys seem to think bowling fast equals wickets.  It doesn't.  He bowled well in bursts.  Root is a good player of fast bowling, watch him he has plenty of time and has young eyes and muscles.  Adelaide won't be as bouncy.


England need an opening wicket stand and then we will see how high Mitchell Johnson's arm stays when he bowls!  Could be a flash in the dunney!  Back to back matches will test Harris and MJ.  Bananaman Siddle will be ok but isn't really a huge wicket taking threat at the moment.

Australia still have a brittle batting line up.  The match may revolve around how many runs England can get and to be fair they haven't been inclining to a big score for some time.  Things is if England can win what does that say about Australia?

England haven't become a bad side overnight and on the flipside whilst the Australian team seem to be on an upward swing since the English summer (look a lot more settled if nothing else) I still question their top 6. What were they, 130 odd for 6 when Haddin and Mitch rescued them in the first inning in Brisbane? Sure they batted well second innings but it is easy to bat when you know you have a first innings lead of 150.

Laying Australia big time.

Long range forecast is for rain next Thursday in beautiful Adelaide. That said, it is impossible to have genuine confidence in either team batting for long periods of time regardless of the pitch, especially England.

So I guess what I am saying is I have no idea

Bowling fast does equal wickets when it's not hooping around under overcast skies.. like in England

if you have naturally aggressive bowlers you can intimidate the batsmen, make them feel the heat and put the pressure right back on them, especially on these hard bouncy Australian wickets

Fact is this, England has a better batting line up but Australia has the better bowling line up in the conditions, if it was swinging and all that jazz then Anderson would come into his own but the fact is that it's not and it won't be either, particularly in Adelaide

England need a draw as their worst result, losing on a Batsmen's paradise would bring back the good old days, the fact they've gone for the old media ban says to me they know they're up **** creek

Losing Trott seen as a big negative. But given his poor batting in Brisbane, probably a positive for Eng.

Rain doesn't seem a big issue at this stage. I'd have Eng shorter and the draw bigger by a fair amount.

I've seen the groundsman quote as saying the drop in will play like a traditional Adelaide pitch. But with more grass could be carnage the first 1 to 2 sessions. I certainly won't be looking to back to lay the draw.

But I could be backing the draw end of day 1.

Doesn't seem to be a toss+bat/bowl market, but I can't be sure as BF navigation is so f'ed up. But win toss and bowl looks to me the way to go.

Almost certain there were no rain delays in that 2012 drawn test

I can see Australia declaring at tea on day one and in forcing the follow on before stumps

a wicket simular to brisbanes has been lifted in at adelaide.


if that dont scare the poms, wait till they get to perth, now thats fast

..2012 aus v sa at adelaide

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-south-africa-2012/engine/match/573008.html

tahir match figures 260-0 ... 37 overs

and ...

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-south-africa-2012/content/story/593261.html

Cunning,

It was worse than that!

It is like when I saw the daleks go up the stairs for the first time!  I never hid behind the sofa watching Dr Who in the knowledge I could run up the stairs.  Now I feel I live in a bungalow!

Pattison is back!  I am not a huge Siddle fan ( good but not enough ).  If Pattison is fit for WACAday I might want to be beamed aboard The Enterprise and taken to a far away galaxy where they don't play cricket...like America!  I shall be there for Melbourne and Sydney ( which may be a good thing! ).

The batting is the problem for me.  Trott going is a plus.  Cook still needs a dance instructor.   A journalist commented how stoic he was not cutting or pulling  in the second innings at Brisbane....der that is his game!  He isn't a great driver as he hardly moves his front foot.  At least 3 should be able to resist leaving 4 and 5 some respite from the new ball!

All is not gloom.  Aus batting is still brittle.  The top 3 can throw their wickets away at any time.  Bailey and Smith are relatively inexperienced at Test level.  If Aus don't change their team I think they may struggle if the pitch is benign. MJ may be less effective and his radar might go and Harris will have to pile up the mileage particularly if England try and attrition it out.

But yes Cunning, we need an exceptionally cunning cunning plan, more cunning than a cunning fox with a degree in cunningness from oxford university!  Or maybe just a decent batting coach!

The problem for England, is even on flat wickets, England haven't scored over ~360 in the last 12 innings (12 innings total, how many were flat is up for debate).  So unless they lift their game, which of course they can, then even a flat wicket may not save them.

Aus batting may seem brittle, but Warner is in form, and Rogers in his 6 games against England has put up 2 50s, 1 100, and a 49, which suggests is quite capable of at least seeing off a new ball.  Not to mention has been very unlucky on at least 1 occassion in being given out.
Warner after a terrible run of form, and being dropped from the team for not dropping Root, has come home for domestic cricket and gone from doing nothing to scoring
139
138
197
in 5 one day matches, and
104
52
51* in 3 first class matches.  Of course there is the 173 in 2 innings against England immediately following that.

Watson on a flat pitch has shown he is more than capable of taking apart your bowlers,
Clarke has,
since 2005, scored at Adelaide:
124
21*
118
110
71
61*
2
80
210
37
230
38
So is averaging 110.2 at Adelaide since 2005, including double centuries in his last 2 games here.  Bailley has his first game out of the way, is in great ODI form, but the jury still out on him.
If all else fails, our wicket keeper is averaging more for the 2 series than your best batsman Cook, coming off a 94 and 53 in the last match.


England need more than just a flat pitch to save them if they don't win the toss, because we already know if they don't win the toss, they will play for a draw.  We know what happens then.  6/9...........

PETER SIDDLE KEEN TO CONTINUE ASHES MOMENTUM 2:19
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Peter SIddle says he isn't worried about the short turnaround from Adelaide to Perth, saying Australia's focus is only on a 2-0 Ashes lead.
Simon Mackin celebrates after claiming the wicket of Ian Bell in Alice Springs. AFP PHOTO / Saeed Khan Source: AFP
ANDREW FLINTOFF ON JONATHAN TROTT'S STRESS-RELATED ILLNESS 0:59
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Former England captain Andrew Flintoff says Jonathon Trott's stress-related illness may be down to off-field factors as the batsman returned home following the first Ashes Test.

Peter Siddle keen to continue Ashes mome...Simon Mackin celebrates after claiming t...Andrew Flintoff on Jonathan Trott's stre...
NEW week, same story for the fragile English batting line-up.

On an Alice Springs day tailor-made for runs, the visitors spluttered before declaring at 7-212 against the Chairman's XI, with more questions than answers as they seek an Ashes spark and middle-order rock for the second Test.

In reply, the hosts saw off 10 overs before stumps to reach 0-16, with Steve Cazzulino and Marcus Harris unbeaten on five and 10, respectively, showing up further a tame England effort.

Excluding fiery Victorian Jayde Herrick, an attack of largely Sheffield Shield aspirants - and a recently retired sushi delivery driver - took advantage of some spectacular fielding to keep England's miserable tour mired in second gear.

All three English batsmen on audition for an Adelaide Test berth gave hope, rather than certainty, that they'd hold their own in the Ashes.

And none could make that water-tight case that he, without question, was the man.


Matt Prior walks off after failing with the bat again. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images
Jonny Bairstow was impressive and unbeaten on 31 when acting skipper Ian Bell called England in, but he'd taken the bowlers at their low ebb after they'd baked in the Traeger Park sun all afternoon.

Gary Ballance, run out for a workmanlike 55, batted as if it were a timeless match rather than a two-day hitout having made only four total runs in his three previous appearances for England.

And just when Ben Stokes appeared to have momentum in the hunt for Jonathan Trott's job, he fell to a sparkling Harris catch at short leg for 28.

MARK WAUGH SLAMS WHINGING ENGLISH CRICKETERS 3:10
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Aussie batting great Mark Waugh says England should be enjoying their tour of Australia and their barring of the Australian media is unwarranted.
Compounding England's problems, out-of-form Test gloveman Matt Prior failed again in his quest for batting practice, falling cheaply for the fifth time in succession.

Prior, who had made just 34 runs since arriving in Australia, looked comfortable, if a little breezy, in racing to 19.

But he fell to a regulation leg-cutter from Simon Mackin -- who has previously worked delivering sushi in Perth -- feathering a catch to 16-year-old wicketkeeper Jake Doran.

ANDREW FLINTOFF ON JONATHAN TROTT'S STRESS-RELATED ILLNESS 0:59
Play video

Former England captain Andrew Flintoff says Jonathon Trott's stress-related illness may be down to off-field factors as the batsman returned home following the first Ashes Test.
The injury-hit gloveman, England's vice-captain on tour, handed the reins to Bell so he could focus exclusively on his batting.

But even though his chance came early with openers Michael Carberry (6) - to another brilliant low Harris catch at mid-wicket - and Joe Root (22) out cheaply, Prior couldn't cash in on his opportunity at No.4.

He played some expansive drives that weren't fully rewarded on the huge and lush playing surface, but he also had a little luck with balls that flew through and over the slips cordon before running out of luck after 27 deliveries.

Which left Test wannabes Ballance and Stokes all afternoon to press their case - an invitation they unwittingly spurned.


Gary Ballance made a half-century before being run out. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images
Ballance, who hit his fifth boundary to bring up an at-times painfully slow half-century off 124 deliveries, was clearly frustrated when his own errant call cost him an invaluable opportunity.

"It would have been nice to push on and get a hundred … but I've given myself a bit confidence and if I get picked I'll be ready," said the Zimbabwe-born left-hander, who estimated the English total was worth about 50 more on the slow outfield.

"I'm sure a few guys would have liked to kick on from the starts they got, but they bowled well … and a few guys got a bit of time in the middle and will be relatively happy."

Bairstow, the only capped player of the three on parade, was immediately solid in defence, but even he played second fiddle to Graeme Swann (29) in their innings-high 49-run stand for the seventh wicket, symptomatic of the team's issues in last week's disastrous first Test match.

Herrick bowled well without luck for the hosts, but West Australian giant Mackin returned the best figures of 2-32 on a day of honest toil, rather than destruction.