The Ashes 2010.

[gabriel]

Oh dear. Not a good start for the England side. And a hat trick on your birthday - smokin...
wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8170110

Siddle's hat-trick steamrolls England
By Greg Buckle18:56 AEST Thu Nov 25 2010


Peter Siddle took a sensational hat-trick on his 26th birthday as Australia dominated a pulsating first day of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane.
England were bowled out for 260 after winning the toss, as Australia reached 0-25 from seven overs at stumps at the Gabba on Thursday.

Siddle's 6-54 from 16 overs included Australia's fifth Ashes hat-trick and first since his fellow Victorian Shane Warne's memorable performance at the MCG in 1994-95.

England were 2-117 after lunch before Siddle struck in successive overs to remove danger man Kevin Pietersen (43) and Paul Collingwood (four).
Opener Alastair Cook (67) and Ian Bell steadied the innings with a 72-run partnership for the fifth wicket but Siddle turned the game on its head with an electrifying display in his 12th over, the 66th of the innings.

England went from 4-197 to 7-197 in three deliveries as Siddle had Cook caught at first slip by Shane Watson, Matt Prior bowled and Stuart Broad LBW following a video review.

It was the 11th hat-trick by an Australian in Test cricket history.

Siddle said it was a moment he would cherish and thanked the crowd of 35,339 for giving him a lift at the top of his bowling mark for his hat-trick delivery.

"It was weird, just the cheering and that," he said.

"I don't think I've ever heard that in Australia before.

"To have that behind you and pump you up a bit and the way the ball came out, it was good.

"I'd like to say it was exactly what I wanted. I was looking to hit the top of off (stump).

"It got him (Broad) on the full so it was good."

The fired-up Siddle, a former junior wood-chopping competitor from country Victoria, powered his way to his sixth wicket when Graeme Swann was trapped LBW for 10 at 8-228.

Debutant left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty (2-41) had a smile to match Siddle's after claiming top-scorer Ian Bell for 76 and James Anderson for 11.

Siddle took career-best figures in his 18th Test and first since breaking down with a back injury in January.

Earlier, England suffered another case of first-over jitters after skipper Andrew Strauss lasted only three balls on a green-looking pitch.

The left-handed opener was caught at gully for a duck from the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus.

The shocking start mirrored England's first-ball wide to second slip from paceman Steve Harmison on the 2006-07 Ashes opener at the Gabba, as England eventually plunged to a 5-0 series defeat.

Jonathan Trott (29) and Cook added 41 for the second wicket before Trott was bowled by Watson.

260. In one day. With a hat trick. Well, let's see what the England bowlers can do...

[firedancer]

Well done Siddle indeed! Not the start England would have wanted. As you say, let's see what the bowlers make of it.....

[gabriel]

My boss took the day off today to go down to Brisbane and watch the Test. You bas****!

Hussey comes to Australia's rescue
By WWOS staff17:00 AEST Fri Nov 26 2010

The Block winners revealed Michael Hussey has set about proving his critics wrong, coming to Australia's rescue on day two of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.

Amid widespread calls for his sacking from the Test team, Hussey turned back the clock, scoring an unbeaten 81 to give the home side the slightest advantage over England.

When bad light prematurely ended play, Australia was 5/220, still 40 runs in arrears of England's first innings total of 260.

Brad Haddin is unbeaten on 22.

The pair put on 77 runs for the sixth wicket after Australia lost 4-72 in the middle session.

Resuming at 1-96 after lunch, the Aussies lost two for eight after captain Ricky Ponting (10) was caught behind off James Anderson on the second ball after the break.

Simon Katich then hit a return catch to Steve Finn for 50.

Hussey enjoyed a brief partnership with Michael Clarke before losing the vice-captain on nine and was then forced to watch Marcus North's soft dismissal to off spinner Graeme Swan for one.

England's first breakthrough of the day came in the 24th over, but only briefly.

Katich was given out lbw to James Anderson for 27, but the left-hander called for video referral which showed the ball was going over the stumps.

Anderson also thought he had Watson lbw for 36 in his next over, but the video referral went against the tourists who lost one of their two permitted challenges as a result.

But Anderson struck next ball when Watson was caught at first slip by Andrew Strauss.

Anderson's roller-coaster morning continued when Ponting pushed nervously to edge a boundary through gully to get off the mark. Ponting also showed a willingness to play the hook and pull shot against England's short-ball onslaught.

England spinner Graeme Swann glared at his fielders after Ponting and Katich stole a third run from the final ball before lunch, with the world No2-ranked bowler conceding 15 runs from his two overs so far in the match.

Peter Siddle's 6-54, including a hat-trick, had given Australia the upper hand on Thursday's opening day's play, as Siddle celebrated a memorable 26th birthday.

It was the first Ashes hat-trick by an Australian since Siddle's fellow Victorian Shane Warne dazzled his home fans at the MCG with three wickets in three balls in 1994-95.

[mikemarshall]

The match is still evenly balanced. It could go either way at the moment.

[firedancer]

Hallo Gabriel.... you've suddenly gone very quiet

I'm just watching an hour or so of live fifth day coverage before bed. Been playing 'spot the Aussie' along with Ian Botham in Sky's commentary box

[Big Lin]

Alistair Cook, Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott have batted England into a decent position. If the rest of the team can bat as well we could probably win the match.

[firedancer]

It was never going to be possible after day 4 to win the match Lin. What was possible with a good second innings score from England was a draw, which they duly accomplished.

Good luck Strauss and co for Adelaide.

[Big Lin]

Now we're in pole position for the Second Test. I bet Ponting and co are getting worried!

Yeah, a win was unlikely but you never know.

Headingley 1981 comes to mind!

[firedancer]

Stumps on day 1 at Adelaide and Ricky Ponting complains to Strauss about Anderson exchanging words with Haddin.

Anderson, if you remember was the bowler who was famously called a "a bit of a pussy" by Langer in his dossier about England to the Aussies before the last Ashes series.

Dear oh dear.. a complaint about sledging from the country that practically patented the dark art. Pot, kettle, black ;D

[gabriel]

H'm. I did reply to this post but I'm getting really weird messages.

So I'll try one last time.

wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8175508

Cook and England punish Australia
By Daniel Brettig 19:58 AEST Sat Dec 4 2010

Ball after ball, over after over, hour after hour, day after day, Australia's Test team is being dashed against the rocks of England's batting.

After one English wicket in two days in Brisbane, they improved to claim two in one day at Adelaide Oval, but a tally of 2-317 in reply to an inadequate 245 has put the second Ashes Test entirely at the mercy of the visitors.

Recalled paceman Doug Bollinger (1-76) provided the best possible start for his side by removing England captain Andrew Strauss with the third ball of the morning.

But this served only to reunite the prolific Alastair Cook (132no) and Jonathan Trott (78) for a reprise of their monumental partnership in Brisbane - 173 runs here made it 502 together across two innings.

Trott was eventually out to Ryan Harris (1-51), the best and most disciplined of the Australian bowlers, but Pietersen (85no) was soon rattling along at his customary rate on Adelaide Oval, the ground where he soared to 158 in the corresponding Test four years ago.

Cook, not pretty but pretty effective, has now made 438 runs for once out in the series.

"It was just a really good day for us really," Cook said.

"We talked about backing up the bowlers after they did such a good job to dismiss them for 245 and really make the most of it and seize our opportunity and we have done that today.

"Coming here to Australia when the side needed it most, I have managed to deliver so far."

England enjoyed some good fortune.

Trott escaped a run out chance and was also dropped twice, while Cook was given out on 64 for a perceived glove down the legside that upon appeal was revealed to have brushed his arm and the decision was reversed.

However they were again successful in blunting an Australian attack that does not appear capable of claiming the rush of wickets they will need to re-claim the Ashes this summer.

The left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty (0-70), off the field for some of the first session, struggled to find his length and was severely punished by Cook in particular.

Early wickets were desired urgently by Australia in order to make their first innings appear substantial, and Bollinger waited until only his third ball of the series to oblige.

As in the second innings in Brisbane, Strauss raised his bat high to leave a ball tailing into him, but instead of striking pad and eluding an frenzied appeal, this one plucked the off bail.

Trott prospered either side of lunch from a steady supply of straight deliveries that he continually tucked through midwicket, while Cook's slow accumulation was helped by an occasional edge through slips.

Shane Watson (0-31) brought a little more control to the bowling crease by pursuing a line wide of off stump, and Cook had more success against Siddle, arrowing one crisp square drive to the fence in front of the new members stand.

The chances offered after lunch, eventually resulting in Trott's wicket when he chipped a catch to midwicket, were some reward for persistence against unrelenting conditions and batsmen.

But the overall impression was of a professional England dealing out punishment to a decidedly ordinary Australia, and this would be confirmed by Pietersen.

Aside from one early miscue against Doherty, he was completely at ease, and helped Cook to maintain his focus against tiring opponents.

The weary Australians were unable to bowl the 90 overs required in the time allowed, and they trudged off seemingly without hope in this match.

"It was a tough day and England are in a very good position in the game," said 'keeper Brad Haddin.

"But the important thing from our point of view is we've just got to make sure we're in with a fight."

[gabriel]

We just suck but thank God for the rain.

au.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/news/article/-/8451717/rains-halts-englands-ashes-batting-spree/

Rains halts England's Ashes batting spree
By Daniel Brettig, AAP December 5, 2010, 7:04 pm


England s Kevin Pietersen celebrates a century as Australia slips further behind a runaway England.


Australia's players seem convinced the heavens offer their only hope of salvation even as their captain Ricky Ponting was imploring his men to conjure an escape from the dreadfully mismatched second Ashes Test.

Rain had done what Australia seemed incapable of doing by stopping the England innings on their tea total of 4-551, an overall lead of 306.

The scoreline followed an equally lopsided finish to the first Test at the Gabba, and England coach Andy Flower's assertion that back-to-back Tests resemble a two-act play took on greater meaning as 32,369 spectators surveyed a broken Australian side.

Having been utterly powerless in the face of Kevin Pietersen (213 no), who had the time of his life, Ponting reminded his team there was no more important series to play.

"There's nothing more to fight for, this is as big as it gets in the game and we want to do the best we can to get out of this Test match," he told Channel Nine.

"We'll see what we're made of won't we? Simple as that." They were fighting words, but when asked if only rain could save Australia, allrounder Shane Watson agreed.

"I don't know how honest I can be," he said.

"At the moment, yeah, (the rain) was obviously a good plus this afternoon, the way the game is panning out.

"...We are going to have to bat unbelievably well to save the game." Alastair Cook (148) was out for the second time in the series, halving his average to 225, and Paul Collingwood (42) suffered a relative failure, but Ian Bell (41no) was at his elegant best as he accompanied Pietersen to the early close.

Pietersen's hundred arrived with an overwhelming sense of the inevitable, despite being his first for England since the West Indies tour 18 months ago.

He passed 200 with a swift single and a theatrical punch on one knee, and ended the day within sight of his previous best - 226 against the West Indies at Leeds in 2007.

Ryan Harris (2-84) was clearly the most accomplished of the Australian bowlers, causing regular problems for the batsmen while Doug Bollinger (1-121), Peter Siddle (0-100) and Xavier Doherty (0-120) were all punished severely.

Ominously for the Australians, Marcus North gained sharp turn out of the footmarks wide of off stump - precisely where the England's Graeme Swann will land the ball later in this match.

"Dougie's footmarks have created some nice little areas for Swann haven't they," said Ponting.

Pietersen went to 99 by pinging Harris through mid-on for four, then next ball levered a legside single to reach his second hundred in as many Tests at Adelaide.

His celebrations were as exuberant as those of the Barmy Army.

Harris deservedly broke the stand during a fine over in which he nearly decapitated Pietersen then found Cook's inside edge for Brad Haddin to take an agile catch behind.

The poverty of Australia's tactical options was made plain when Siddle charged in at Pietersen with three men in the deep on the legside.

It was a field so obvious in its intention that Pietersen had time to prepare for his pull shot before the ball was bowled, and twice hammered boundaries between the three outriders.

Shane Watson (1-44) won an lbw verdict after lunch when he nipped one back at Collingwood, but there was no soft underbelly beneath him this time around.
Bell presented his usual stylish array as clouds closed in on the oval, and they delivered Australia's one avenue to halt an England innings of inexorable momentum.

[Big Lin]

And England win by an innings. Australia made a couple of mistakes right from the beginning by bringing in Doug Bollinger and Xavier Doherty neither of whom looked remotely up to the mark as Test standard bowlers. Even so, some stupid mistakes in the field didn't help and the normally resilient Ponting has now started to crack under the pressure.

The one thing I was worried about before the series started was the inconsistent English batting. The lousy Australian attack - hardly ANY bowler looking genuinely threatening - has made our batters look world class. They are all full of confidence and will go on to the next game with their heads high.

The downside is that Stuart Broad is injured and will probably be ruled out of the rest of the series. I'd prefer Azad to Bresnan as his replacement but my gut feeling is that Bresnan will get the nod because of his better batting.

On to the Third Test!

[firedancer]

Well done England. Commiserations to Broady. Also to Katich - running between wickets with a torn Achilles couldn't have been a barrel of laughs.

They may go for Tremlett as his replacement in Perth given the type of ground there. I expect they are waiting to see how the back up bowlers fare in the Melbourne game this week before making a final decision.

Come on Gabriel and Aussies - get behind your side. There were more members of the Barmy Army in Adelaide the last morning than there were Australians. Fair weather supporters

[gabriel]

It's hard to get behind a side that just sucks. And we do.

Steve Waugh was on TV tonight pushing the selectors to go with a young team like the one he was part of in the 80's.

When did it come to this that we should be back to the early 80's again?

Been there, done that. Watched the all conquering Aussie sides of the 70's
fall to pieces and finally come back back in the late 80's.

I guess the wheel goes around and around.

Australia is not going to hold on to the Ashes. We don't deserve to.

I won't back a side of spineless wonders who run away at the 1st sign of something going wrong.

And it's really disappointing because I thought we had a chance.

Mind you, I don't think the Pommy side is much to write home about either. And you think about it and it's true.

Neither side is great.

And I just wonder how much this betting crap from India is costing Int cricket.

[firedancer]

Mind you, I don't think the Pommy side is much to write home about either. And you think about it and it's true.

Maybe so. But it's a fact that we are moving up the world rankings; we won the world Twenty/20, we have Swann and Anderson at 2 and 3 in Test world bowling rankings with Swann poised to take the No 1 slot from Steyn. And we have three batsmen in the top 20 with Trott at 6. We have three bowlers in the top 10 ODI rankings and Broad is at 5 in the all rounder list.

OK - not brilliant, but it's all moving in the right direction. England now have the team spirit and cohesion that Australia was famed for and before that, the West Indies.

I guess it all goes around in cycles and I'm optimistic that England's time has come.

(So please don't go belly-up at the WACA England ;D )

[june]

Can we not use the term Pommy when referring to the English please. It's a derogatory term and never said 'nicely'.

Thanks

[fretslider]

Dec 8, 2010 22:29:17 GMT @june said:

Can we not use the term Pommy when referring to the English please. It's a derogatory term and never said 'nicely'.

Thanks

Stop whingeing you pommie sheila

[june]

Dec 8, 2010 23:23:42 GMT fretslider said:

Dec 8, 2010 22:29:17 GMT @june said:

Can we not use the term Pommy when referring to the English please. It's a derogatory term and never said 'nicely'.

Thanks

Stop whingeing you pommie sheila

;D

[o]

i found this on an online dictionary:

Shortening and alteration of pomegranate, Pummy Grant, alterations of Jimmy Grant, probably rhyming alteration of immigrant..

as insults go it's pretty lame; i'd have thought australians (of all people!) could do a lot better than that.

i think 'pommie' or 'pom' is kinda cute and quite like the word. it sounds really affectionate.

[firedancer]

So, nothing to do with "prisoner of her majesty" then?

Doesn't bother me being called a Pom. Anyway June, don't you know that anyone can call the English anything? It's only the English who are being racist when they use nicknames? ;D

But back to the cricket. Did you see pix of the Adelaide ground a few hours after the test finished early? Waterlogged and covered with sea birds. So the heavens waited to open until we finished off the Aussies. Truly, God is an Englishman!!!!

[firedancer]

So far so good at the Waca. Tremett was clearly the right choice for the Waca conditions. And what a stunning catch by Collingwood to dismiss Ponting. Keep up the good work boys

[firedancer]

Tremlett of course, not Tremett.

[firedancer]

Ooh-er. Shades of the old England

[firedancer]

Congratulations England. Well deserved.

Shame that the Aussies are such fair-weather fans though - not very sporting. Just not cricket ;D

[Big Lin]

Well, we've won. Let's make it a 3-1 victory rather than a 2-2 draw because even though we'd still keep the Ashes it would be better to win and of course if we win we'll be ranked 3 in the world while if we lose we'll go down in the ratings!