Cricket Thread

[Supergoal]

Pathetic, I spent the whole day watching a wonderful fielding job then only to be struck by how much those Ozzies bowled us over. I mean WTF!!

[DaiSuki]

Everybody at work was so enthusiastic at dinner time. Honestly, it's like we've never watched cricket before when we put in a good fielding job against Australia, we fall for it every time

[MarkyB]

almost like watching 1 day cricket =D

great first days play, shame our batting couldnt match the bowling, but hey, even if we get bowled out for 120 or something tomorrow, all to play for and hopefully with the fast start weather won't come into play

[TonyDA]

Well, we need Pietersen to do the kind of one-day magic today that we know he can do. No point in him hanging around, as one over from Brett Lee (especially if it's the same as he bowled at Giles last night..ouch!) could skittle the three tail-enders out. If KP can farm the strike, if at least one tail-ender can grit it out for half an hour, and if KP can get away with trying to smack the Aussies to Kingdom come, we may still get near the 150 mark.

But, Jesus, that's a lot of ifs....should be a quick start to the day, one way or another!

[PeteBrant]

Worth noting that even if we are all out today without adding to the total at all, we are still only 98 runs behind, which in test match cricket is not insurmountable by any means.

[PeteBrant]

155 for 9 at the moment - Pietersen got 57, which is a good knock on this wicket. Now 35 runs behind, which is not bad at all considering we were 25-5 at one point.

[marcus]

Can someone explain how the scoring works here? Its now Day 2 of the 1st test, so Australia are 190 + whatever they have scored today, and England are 155. If Australia get more runs over the two innings, is that it? How would a draw situation come about? How many tests are there?

[PH]

Yes, thats it. You simply combine both innings and whoever has the most runs wins. A team batting last simply need to get past the total score of the team batting first before they lose all their wickets. A team bowling last needs to bowl out the other team before they get to the winning target.

Draws can happen when either both teams finish on the exact same combined score (rare i would say) or when there isn't enough time for one of the teams to force a win. For example, you might get a couple of days rained off or it might be an extremely good batting wicket and the bowlers simply can't get the batsmen out.

In the Ashes series i believe there are 6 Tests.

[Abhisara]

Normally there are either 5 or 6 Tests. This year it's 5 Tests. I don't think we'll see any 6-match series in the near future due to the cluttered international cricket calendar which now forces us to play two countries each summer (e.g. Bangladesh & Australia this year, New Zealand & West Indies last year).

There is a distinction made between a tie and a draw. A tie is when both teams are all out twice and have exactly the same total score. This has only ever occurred twice in Test matches. A draw is when a match does not finish within the scheduled 5 days. These days, draws are less common than they once were as teams have adopted a more attacking style of cricket.

[marcus]

So if say Austrailia stick in wicket and score 600, England on the final day only get ten minutes in to bat, the games a draw? Presumeably thats why a good team would declare when they think its gone beyond the opposition, so that they are able to bowl them all out rather than have a few remaining wickets to take before close of play on the final day.

[VR46]

correct, in the "old days" you might only see 200 runs in a day of a test match (David Gower looking at you), play was so defensive and slow that many games were drawn, but now it's improved

Mind you one day games (55 overs each) are still where the excitements at.

[TonyDA]

Well, the First Test is slipping away from us. Australia are currently 280 ahead with seven wickets remaining, meaning by the time Gilchrist comes in at No.7 the Aussies will be far enough ahead for him to play a quick, attacking innings. We could be looking at over 400 to win at this rate.

Maybe it'll rain all weekend in London. (apologies to anyone reading who has a ticket if this actually does happen )

[TonyDA]

Bit of a fightback in the end. I guess if we can restrict them to a lead of under 350, we may have a chance, especially with the amount of time left. Some ask though - 350 ish with Warne and McGrath on an indifferent pitch.

[Jebus]

It's gonna be tough. Pieterson to hit a century? hehe...

[TonyDA]

It's gonna be tough. Pieterson to hit a century? hehe...

Well, he owes the team somewhat, as he dropped Clarke on 21 - he made 91. Mind you, if it wasn't for his 50 in the 1st Innings we'd be in trouble.