Cricket fred

[Galfon]

Effectively 127-1 with 2 reasonable days forecast.
Pitch looks placid so Eng should not stuff up from here.

[Banquo]

FFS

[Galfon]

Denley deserved his first ton - no panic needed, lead of 400+ will be something to work with.

[Banquo]

Denley deserved his first ton - no panic needed, lead of 400+ will be something to work with.

Shame for Denly

[Big D]

Good knock by Denly but the fact he averages 15 in 1st innings and 40 in 2md needs addressing if he is to stick around beyond NZ and SA.

[Banquo]

Keep giving them a sniff

[Digby]

Buttler is moving his feet, this is new thinking for him

[Galfon]

..all the way back to the Pavilion
ffs.
u/d: survived the day - 20-30 runs by the tail in the morning would be nice.Losing those late 3 wickets took the shine off a bit, but still in a reasonable position.

[WaspInWales]

So...Steve Smith then. Possibly not human?

Discuss.

If his ability to read the ball (bar the occasional blip...and by blip, I mean a play and miss) wasn't well documented enough, he is somehow able to catch Woakes' edge like that.

Fan-fucking-tastic!

[fivepointer]

A very good day for England.
Batted all day and scored over 300 runs. Losing a couple of late wickets just took the gloss off things but overall we are in a great position.
Extraordinary catch by Smith.

[Galfon]

Not quite to plan - Aus take last 5 for just 50 but a big total to chase though.With the S-factor anything's possible.
Now Leach can consolidate his National Hero status with a match-winning bowling effort..

[Galfon]

Warner into nose-bleed territory now - (nearing double figures). Harris already skittled by Broad.

[WaspInWales]

Lol

[WaspInWales]

Smith out first ball please!

[Galfon]

Job done Broad - he can now climb out of Warner's head.The bookies must have lost a shed-load on that!

[WaspInWales]

Aussies firm favourites whilst Smith is out there.

Joking aside, there is probably some truth to that

Gotta get him out.

[Galfon]

It will be an entertaining day - Aus going at a lick.
Smith could do anything - hopefully he'll run out of partners.

[Galfon]

Sledge sisters now together at the crease! ..fun in the offing.
** u/d: Smith's a busted flush - can't even get 50 !
4 gone and victory today beckons.
Broad keeps up his fine summer's form.

[Which Tyler]

Smith and Smith II both out - The win is ours now; it's just a matter of time. I just don't see the aussies batting through 1.5 days without any of their top 4

[WaspInWales]

Wade is giving it a bloody good go though.

161 runs required suddenly doesn't sound like a lot

Need one or two wickets before close and that should ease things.

[WaspInWales]

Hmm all I had to do was ask!

Cheers.

Can we have another one please?

[fivepointer]

So a drawn series.
On balance, looking at the 2 sides, I reckon thats a pretty fair result. Very good effort from England to come back to win the 5th test, but Paine's decision to bowl first gave us a big advantage.
The series has been absorbing, featuring some outstanding individual moments. There's also been plenty of thoroughly mediocre play (mostly with the bat) which has made things interesting.
Decisions to make on personnel over the winter. We've got to identify our top 6 and bed them in.

[Galfon]

To win 2 of the last 3 after earlier disappointments
( Smith & weather ) was a good return.Series draw probably fair but Paine let his heart rule his head by letting Eng bat first at this ground.
Root is nudging on as new skip though not entirely convincing. Stokes, Archer, Burns, Curran, Denley pluses.
Broad's fitness & form plus Leach contributions welcome.
Good chance to rest a few senior players in the winter and blood a few young'ns eh.

[WaspInWales]

It was an Ashes dominated by Smith, some excellent bowling spells from both teams and the occasional bit of individual brilliance. It was outstanding to watch. Smith was immense. I mean just wow. His ability to see the ball is something else. He may not be pretty to watch, but his runs were the difference. What an average too! His contribution to Australia is even more amazing when you consider he missed a test and played whilst concussed.

Moment of the series for me was Stokes' innings at Headlingley. Don't think I'll ever forget that display.

Some of the catches in this series, and the world cup too were sensational!

Archer V Wade today was excellent too.

Winning the final test was richly deserved, but it owed a lot to Paine's decision to put us in after winning the toss. Tbh, I think both captains let their teams down during the series, but I suppose both will be reasonably happy with the outcome. The Aussies under Paine retained the Ashes and England, whilst we didn't win the Urn back, we didn't lose the series and won the final two tests under some pressure too.

[Banquo]

Meanwhile, Sky bin Gower and Botham.