Gee you soap dodgers sure got chirpy after a few good sessions.Shame you couldn't stump up when it actually mattered.


WHO HAS THE ASHES?

1 more thing, these clowns saying "it's 3-3 if you combine the two series", nice logic.

It's 123-103 if you wanna go down that path, in favor of the Australians.

if England wasn't such a dull old place we would of won at least 1 of those games that were rained out

ashes never leave lords !!!

no , austrailia regained "the ashes" by winning the 3rd of 5 tests to take a 3-0 lead
in the current series

think england are a touch big at 1.8ish

You Aussies are a funny bunch. Apparently desperate to wipe England's nose in it and going for a 5-0 thrashing to really stick it up us prior to this test. An Aussie record test crowd baying for blood and now because you are coming off second best you couldn't be bothered. You don't know it but you are sowing the seeds of future failure here and are well on the way to only excelling in games which nobody else plays or where the other countries who do play a game are so weak that no meaningful competition is available.

Why aren't you making threads that only come back to bite you in the arse?

It's no different to when England started letting the likes of Woakes & Kerrigan play back in England when the series was done and dusted, beating England 5-0 does more harm than good from an Australian perspective in regard to the next Ashes.

If we win 5-0, half this England team gets the boot and we don't have the privilege and spanking them again next time around when they're old and frail. If we win 3-2, they go home with the attitude that they have the right playing squad moving forward, ignoring the fact that they've been near enough to useless with the bat, the only time they've looked likely with the bat is when the games have been over and they're chasing a monumental total on the 4th/5th day.

Back to the current game at hand, this MCG pitch is right up the English way of playing, not super fast or bouncy, easy to dry up runs and play that boring 2 runs an over style of cricket where you get wickets waiting for players to make mistakes rather than getting them out with aggressive cricket. These last 2 games were always going to be England's best chance of winning, Sydney not so much anymore now that Swann is gone and it's typically a spinner's pitch. I still don't think England are certs to win from here as to completely nullify the Australian's chance they will need to post 300+, something they've struggled to do all series but then again they've never been in this position all series either.

Interesting day ahead.

I hope one thing we can all agree on is that Brett Lee is a top bloke!

The idea that the Australian team is not giving of their best when in front of 91,000 paying customers beggars belief. Talk about making your excuses in advance.

I didn't say they're not giving their best, I am sure they're trying their arses off to get back into the game and I would fully expect them to do so, what I was suggesting is that having already won the ashes that their motivation to win this game and the next would be significantly less. I don't care what anyone says, after you celebrate like they did mid-series (having won the ashes) then you do get the feeling that was what their primary goal was.

In other words, if they lose this game.. who cares, they've already got back that urn. If they win, great.. an opportunity to make England look 3rd rate.. again

Obviously I want my team to win, i'd love nothing more but at the end of the day what I want has no bearing on the outcome of the match, it's how bad do they want it and based on the decision to throw England into bat, I would suggest they don't want it that bad, more or less to me it looks like they're preparing for South Africa.

@mafeking: yes I agree, I would argue the changes to the England side would be harder to replace than that of the Australian side. We have talented bowlers coming out from the trees, batsmen developing who are not quite there yet but the talent is obvious

That was comedy gold yesterday with Brett Lee, they all were going on about how courageous Morgan was.. he got hit about 5 times and the other time he lost his leg stump and then after it all he went on about how he was available for selection, ffs.. when Brett Lee can embarrass you in front of the world (at his age), you know you're a stuck up ****. I was hoping Mitch would get a go, deadset reckon he would of got him on the badge

Sorry Ozy,

But if you talk the talk you must be prepared to walk the walk and not to square leg with your back turned.

Morgan is an odious man.  He takes cheap shots at people and has lied to Parliament about what he knew about phone tapping that destroyed peoples lives, families and careers.  He deserves more than a couple of bruises, which, heal in days.

Brett Lee was nothing if not thoroughly professional in his playing days.  He gave Morgan no more than he deserved.

If you think Brett Lee was going to bowl 6 line and length balls to Morgan, you're deluded

It was a spectacle for that reason, people wanted to see him hurt. They wouldn't of gathered around to watch Lee whistle a few past off stump ffs, do you think it's cowardly an unprofessional of Mitchell Johnson when he cleans up the tail with some chin music?

Last time I checked poor old Morgan wasn't a pro cricketer lining out for England even at the tail end.

Not cricket to be aiming at a defenceless old man.  Splatter his stumps, now that's a spectacle.

What the fcuk is with all these meetings.  They are bowling at number 11 ffs.  Surely they already know what is happening?  5 of them there working it out?

Fcuking embarrassing.

They probably won't get these runs to close the gap but it's everything we've seen all series from England, playing defensive when the game is there to be won, waiting for a mistake..

pitch the ball up you tit.

Why is he bowling short ffs, Lyon is clearly not rattled

C'mon England, knock these feckers OOT!