Yes but they could have given that job to Gary Pratt.

With two spinners, Bell would surely have been a better fielding option too.

Yeah Alastair Cook's about as mobile as me.

I'd be up for that Chip.

finally Anderson gets Katich plum LBW

Anderson strikes again this time getting Hussey

Great atmosphere there today - reminiscent of a cemetary

The Cemetary in Bury near their ground is ace.

Why? Please explain....

Actually no, since it is you, please forget I asked!

It's a pub.

It used to have Tuborg on draught.

Silly me, I thought you had been hiding behind the gravestones and digging up things again!

Another session like this morning would do me. Sub 100 and three wickets and it's game on.

I am not watching it, but Cricinfo are really slagging Broad off.

Is he THAT bad?

He's been expensive but then he always is. Not the worst performance ever though.

Think Harmison on a bad day.

With about 75% of the pace.

And 25% of the brains.

Yes but hid dad did play for England and he's a ref...

(Wonder why they're playing him instead of Harmo??)

Aussies will get 550+

No shit, Sherlock!

It just seems like the Aussies are palying or batting like a proper test batting side.

And that appears to be the difference.

Englands batsmen just selfishly give their wickets away.

Pieterson, as good as he is, is more than a little responsible for whats hapening now.

Ponting has made Pieterson look like a mug.

The Aussies are right on top now. We need rain for the next two days.

To the point I know but "England are shiit"

what dy is it? Day three.. nailed on draw.. I'm sure some said this earlier... (unless the Aussies can knock up 800 plus in three hours)

If it doesn't rain tomorrow we are in trouble, far from a nailed on draw.

Cardiff has never hosted a five day game (another reason why this test shouldn't be at Cardiff) you can't say 'nailed on draw' when we could potentially be 250 behind on first innings on a pitch that could break up.

It is nailed on to rain tomorrow.

It was always nailed on that our cricketers would the aussies take the piss.

It's raining now

Best thing to happen all day.

It's stopped.

Hopefully the ball might do a bit this morning. Otherwise, I hope it rains all day.

Are we going to be able to bat out a day and a bit and see this out for a draw. If Warne was playing this would be as good as finished.

They wont need Warne to ball us and win this. We will give our wickets away.

And then someone will say....but thats how we play.

How? Shit?

The Aussies seem to be managing to bat on the wicket. You all seem to be forgetting we managed to cobble together 435 in our first innings (quite a score considering the contribution from the "specialist" batsmen). I think we'll be ok ...well we should be shouldn't we..

We should be Ok I agree and if we bat like the first innings then we'll be fine. We need a good disciplined start from the openers, if they can stick around for the first 30 overs then the match is saved. However I don't hold much hope.

Here beginneth the collapse...

Game over. Useless not nice people.

17-2 so much for the specialfookinlist batsmen.. where the hell did they get them from...

Typically spineless performance on a wicket that's just had 700 runs hit on it.
Even the rain won't save us now. Dismal.

The first one was plumb, but Bopara should never have been out.

Even if he wasnt out, he still didnt manage to put bat to ball.

We have the spine of a jelly fish.

Englands Cricket team is just about the biggest joke in international sport.

We dont deserve the rain.

Spinless bounders.

And they will all STILL get picked.

As they went in for tea they've got some prat of a journalist on who is saying that England are playing a different Australian team than they expected.

No they're not. It's the press that builds up these contests giving england great chances and then they fall on their arse cos they're not good enough. The press and telly will be talking about humiliating defeat tomorrow. Again and again it happens.

It's started raining and it's likely play is over for the day but the test will be over by tea tomorrow.

I thought it was the pitch that was bad until we began batting again.

Need a big score from KP to save this one.

Can't be as optimistic as you Mr Hunt, the low expectations of the rest of them seem to have rubbed off on Pietersen playing the wilfully daft shots that he does.

The press didn't big up our chances though. Everyone said it was going to be close. As for Dibbles over the top reaction to one poor bowling performance- 'biggest joke in international sport'

It's gonna be a long summer
I'm only pleased they didn't bring their first team

it was always going to happen wasn't it?!

all the hype about hauritz being shite and our spinners being class....... Panesar is shit, end of! and Swann has believed the hype, sadly. I do think he can turn his form around though - pardon the pun!


Ponting/Haddin/Clark were always going to twat us all over, and that before the other 2 got centuries!!


I, like everyone else, want/wanted "THE ASHES II - THIS TIME ITS PERSONAL or summat" but it isn't going to happen.

fair play to the Aussies, they've shut all the stupid wankers in the crowd up singing about warne + mcgrath, and they've shut the frankly embarrassing press and pundits in this country up too.

you gotta grudgingly take your hat off to em


but please God,Jebus,Satan,Allah,Homer J - make it rain!!!!!!!!!!!

No rain at the start of play so England are going to have to work to survive today.

For the second test I would bring in Onions & Harmison. Panesar and Broad would likely make way for them.

Looks like it could be an easy Aussie win now Pietersen has left a straight one

With all top 4 batsmen back in the hutch we are not going to save this now. Only Colly, Prior & Flintoff left as recognised batsmen so this wont last till tea.

Can we hold on?

We'll probably go past tea now but it wont last much longer.