MadAsHell

Agree on all counts with that post TU. As you said, even though both Hughes and Smith both had a good innings each in this test, you do wonder whether they have the ability at the highest level, they're worth persisting with for now until the likes of Burns, Khawaja, Maddinson and co tart demanding a spot. I agree re: Cowan, after having been given a good run it looks as though he's just not up to it. I'd be happy enough for him to play the Lords test, but if he fails there again as I suspect he will, you'd have to bring one of Khawaja or Warner in for him. And this test looks like it's going down to the wire again with another brave last wicket stand, this time with Haddin & Pattinson. Although I'm starting to have flashbacks of Lee & Kasporwicz at Edgebaston 2005!

Stumps on Day 4 England 1st Innings 215 J. Trott 48 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) Australia 1st Innings 280 A. Agar 98 J. Anderson 5/85 (24) England 2nd Innings 375 I. Bell 109 M. Starc 3/81 (32) Australia 2nd Innings 6/174 (Target 311) C. Rogers 52 S. Broad 2/34 (16) Well after being 3/161, finishing at 6/174 is disapointing but at least we're still in the match. Haddin & Agar need to make a large portion of the remaining 137 and with only 9 overs till the new ball they need to make sure they bat for probably at least the first 1.5 hours tomorrow so none of the new tail come in against a new ball. Smart money's on England but I reckon Macca's prediction of us winning by 2 wickets could be close. We should know by around 1am tomorrow what the outcome is.

We haven't been able to buy the slightest bit of luck since Day 2. Haddin needs to stand up and he & Agar need to bat out these last 9 overs until stumps. I'm also going to loose it with DRS. I thought if only half the ball pitched in line then it was umpires call. So how was the not out LBW decision on Hughes over turned?

Rogers out for 52 hurts. The ball seemed to hold up a bit off the pitch. Captain Clarke needs to stand up now and get good support from the likes of Smith, Hughes and Haddin. Captains century will hopefully get us over the line.

Tea on Day 4 England 1st Innings 215 J. Trott 48 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) Australia 1st Innings 280 A. Agar 98 J. Anderson 5/85 (24) England 2nd Innings 375 I. Bell 109 M. Starc 3/81 (32) Australia 2nd Innings 2/111 (Target 311) C. Rogers 50* J. Root 1/5 (1.4) Well done Chris Rogers, maiden test 50 and he looks solid as. Think we've got Watson's opening partner for the next 9 tests. And Ed Cowan, last over before tea getting sucked in by the part time off spinner Root and playing a loose drive and out for 14. He'll need some runs at Lords or I have no doubt he'll make way for whichever of Warner or Khawaja plays the best in their matches before the 3rd test (Warner Aust A in RSA and Khawaja tour match after 2nd test). 200 to win, 8 wickets in hand. Line ball for mine. Crucial final session coming up,

I agree with that Macca. I get the impression with the fact Watson reviewed straight away and the way he held his bat up while walking off that he reckons he hit it. When you consider the Trott incident also it makes you wonder how reliable hot spot is?

Cowan looks about as steady as a rope and log riggidy bridge! Good idea going down the wicket and talking with him Rogers...

And it strikes again! That would have clipped leg stump by the faintest of margins and Watto's out! We've had no luck these last two days.

50 run opening partnership, that's what we like to see! Lets get it to a 100 run partnership, get the chase down to under 200 required and see if we can start to put the pressure back on the Poms!

I'd take that any day of the week Macca. Agar to hit the winning runs maybe???

You might be right Macca about the Agar stumping contributing to Broad standing his ground, add in the Trott LBW also. The only difference is that both the Agar and Trott incidents were looked at by the 3rd umpire when what had taken place wasn't 100% clear to the on field umpires or players, where as in the Broad incident I think Aleem was the only person in the stadium that didn't think Broad hit it. I reckon that if Gilchrist can walk in a World Cup semi final, then Broad should walk in the first test of a 5 test series. But you're right to teams should come together and come to an agreement, otherwise things could get ugly with another 9 tests to come between these teams.

Lunch on Day 4 England 1st Innings 215 J. Trott 48 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) Australia 1st Innings 280 A. Agar 98 J. Anderson 5/85 (24) England 2nd Innings 375 I. Bell 109 M. Starc 3/81 (32) Australia 2nd Innings 0/28 (Target 311) S. Watson 18* S. Braod 0/10 (3) First of all, well done Ian Bell on a great innings and for putting England in a winning position. For Australia I guess it's a case of opportunities lost, partially of their own doing as much as out of their control. When you consider the Broad incident when he was on 37 (went on to make 65) and Bell dropped by Haddin on 77 (went on to make 109). That's 60 extra runs they made. Take Englands total down to 315, we only have to chase 251 and it's probably even money compared to England now being in the better position. First goal was achieved, Rogers & Watson getting through that 35 min session till lunch. With any luck we'll be about 200 at stumps with hopefully no more then 4 wickets lost tops. Would set the final day up for an interesting finale.

Probably looking at it with green and gold goggles on but the wicket seems to be getting better for batting, and while there is swing there, I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as it has been in other tests as back in 2005 & 2009. It is a dry wicket so I reckon Swann will be more of a danger then the other quicks. Records are there to be broken, and although the record chase at Trent Bridge is only 284, the record chase of all time is 418, so much bigger scores have been chased down elsewhere. Get a few batsmen to stand up and anything can happen. Bang on there 45HG, in his first test back for the reasons of the leadership he brings I've been far from impressed with Haddin. His keeping's been par, got out in the same manner as always, playing far to hard to early. Who tries to cut a spinner off the stumps 2nd ball in when you're 5 down for just ove 100??? And then as you said, Haddin of all people should have known that ball was missing the stumps. Has cost us big time, Wade could have made 1 and given poor feeback as to whether that ball would have hit the stumps or not...

Stumps on Day 3 England 1st Innings 215 J. Trott 48 J. Bairstow 37 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) J. Pattinson 3/69 (17) Australia 1st Innings 280 A. Agar 98 P. Hughes 81* J. Anderson 5/85 (24) G. Swann 2/60 (19) England 2nd Innings 6/326 I. Bell 95* K. Pietersen 64 M. Starc 2/66 (27) A. Agar 2/82 (35) England now 261 ahead with 4 wickets and 2 days in hand. As I mentioned earlier the highest ever run chase at Trent Bridge is 284 so hopefully Australia can pick these last 4 wickets up very early tomorrow to give themselves the best chance. We're still well and truly in it. Really stiff with Broad given not out caught at slip off Agar when he hit the cover off the ball, Bell given out lbw but then over turned on review. How hawke eye reckons that was missing but Rogers on Day 1 was hitting is a joke! and then Haddin also dropping Bell (although difficult) all didn't help. Even if the Aussies are set 300+ to win they should back themselves in, Even if we're set 420 we should back ourselves in. We bat all the way down to 11 and it's time a lot of these players produced what they do in Shield cricket across into Test cricket. England have two bowler (Anderson & Swann) and then Finn and Broad in support bowling pies so this game is far from over IMO.

That was the worst decision I have ever seen by an umpire. Broad hit the cover off that ball and how Aleem Dar gave that not out is beyond me??? Cost Agar his 3rd. Come on Aussies, wrap these last 4 wickets up for about 40 and we're still right in this!

Alas he's a Saints fan.

I'd be inclined to leave him where he is for the 2nd innings. Just so he doesn't feel any added pressure straight away in the same match. Plus I think it adds a bit of a psychologically blow to England knowing even at number 11 we have this bloke coming out. Hopefully in our 2nd innings we won't need any of the tail though. Would be happy to move him up to number 8 as of the next Test though. Lets get one thing straight, this wasn't just a tail ender who got lucky (Tino Best). This guy was playing proper cricket shots, hitting it out of the middle, timing it perfectly and picked the balls he played well.

Out of my own curiosity I did some research into highest succesful run chases at Trent Bridge to get an indication of a good score to try and restrict England to and turns out the highest succesful run chase at Trent Bridge is 6/284 achieved by England v New Zealand in 2004. So from our point of view, obviously the cheaper we can get them out the better, but to try and avoid needing a record chase for victory, especially with our fragile batting line up, we need to make sure we restrict England to a score under 348. I'm still hoping we can keep them to under 250 so our chase is under 200, but as long as we can keep them to under that 348 mark I'll consider us more then in this game, and at this stage you'd have to say it's advantage Australia, but that can change within a session. Big Day 3 to come, I'll be watching this one at the pub and enjoying a few!

Cheers Macca, A good read, I enjoy Ashley Mallett's stuff and he knows spin bowling. Was mentored by the great Clarrie Grimmett, after Warne you could mount a case Grimmet was at least equal, if not better then the likes of O'Reilly and Benaud. And he also backed up my claim in that there's a bit of Daniel Vettori about Agar. Doesn't hold back on Lyon does he Mallett, makes you think that his international career could be over and that after Agar, Fawad Ahmed's our next best spinner out there. Throw in the likes of Adam Zampa and James Muirhead who are both raw but have shown some talent, maybe we do have some spin bowlers coming through after all? Reckon Agar could play a big role on Day 3. Really hope we can knock them over for around the 250 mark. But what a day of cricket, I'll remember that partnership between Agar & Hughes for a long, long time. Up there with Mark & Steve Waugh's 231 run partnership against the Windies at Kingston in the deciding test in 1995 in the series that got us to number 1. Both just critical partnerships at the time. Can't say I have dee-luded... And well, at stumps on Day 2. England 1st Innings 215 J. Trott 48 J. Bairstow 37 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) J. Pattinson 3/69 (17) Australia 1st Innings 280 A. Agar 98 P. Hughes 81* J. Anderson 5/85 (24) G. Swann 2/60 (19) England 2nd Innings 2/80 A. Cook 37* K. Pietersen 35* M. Starc 2/15 (13) S. Watson 0/0 (3)

And that's tea on Day 2. England 1st Innings 215 J. Trott 48 J. Bairstow 37 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) J. Pattinson 3/69 (17) Australia 1st Innings 280 A. Agar 98 P. Hughes 81* J. Anderson 5/85 (24) G. Swann 2/60 (19) England 2nd Innings 2/11 J. Root 5 A. Cook 4* M. Starc 2/2 (3.4) J. Pattinson 0/8 (4) Starc going for the hatrick straight up after tea. Trott may have inside edged the last one but there was nothing on hot spot and snicko didn't react until the ball hit the pad. We saw the dismisal before that it does pick up the faintest of edges. So I reckon the right decision was made. Amazing how this game has turned on it's head since drinks in the 1st session.

He's GAWN! And Starc is on a hatrick! You little hooter!!! Now lets get Pietersen for the hatrick and put the Pommies to the sword and wrap this up inside 3 days!

Change of innings England 215 J. Trott 48 J. Bairstow 37 J. Root 30 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) J. Pattinson 3/69 (17) M. Starc 2/54 (17) Australia 280 A. Agar 98 P. Hughes 81* S. Smith 53 J. Anderson 5/85 (24) G. Swann 2/60 (19) S. Finn 2/80 (15) Agar did a Warnie and went for glory when he could have just turned it around the corner for a single. Still, as I said earlier, I reckon we've found our own Daneil Vettori. A remarkable recovery from Hughes & Agar considering we were 9/117. I'm hoping this could be the series where Phil Hughes announces himself as a world class batsman and can repeat his efforts at Shield level consistently on the world stage. That was a very good innings from him today also to go along with Agar's brilliance. Lets go Aussies, lets knock the Poms over for under 300 to put ourselves in a winning position. Better yet under 200!

Damn it! What an effort, 98!

And he's now into those nervous 90's!

150 run partnership and our lead is now over 50.