Honours even I would say, the new ball is fairly soon, break this partnership and England will fancy their chances of bowling Australia out for less than 300
Ponting and Vaughn agreed that England were slightly ahead in the game. Surprised me but I guess they've seen the pitch and think runs on the board is key.
I woke up at 5ish hoping to see us still batting. I was happy with the score at the time but I watched for 2 and a half hours and didn't see a wicket.
Think Moeen and Malan let us down by not playing a bit more sensibly for a while and taking a bit of time out the game and keeping them in the field for longer
How good must Smith be to "cover all three" as he does and never get out LBW?
Apparently has only edged 1% of all the balls he's received in Test cricket. He must have such a great eye.
He's been out LBW 10 per cent of his dismissals, whereas the test batting average (for 1-6) is 16 per cent. Joe Root, as an example, has been out 7 per cent LBW.
I personally think there's 2 ways to bowl to Smith once he is 'in' - first is to bowl way outside off, thus forcing him to play against his natural side, and the second is to bowl around the wicket at leg stump and pack the leg side field.
How good must Smith be to "cover all three" as he does and never get out LBW?
Apparently has only edged 1% of all the balls he's received in Test cricket. He must have such a great eye.
He's been out LBW 10 per cent of his dismissals, whereas the test batting average (for 1-6) is 16 per cent. Joe Root, as an example, has been out 7 per cent LBW.
Players with incredibly good eyes do potentially decline faster when their eyes start going. By that stage Smith will have scored a lot of runs though!
Do some of you really watch/listen all night? Amazing stamina.
I didn't, but seem to be in the doghouse with the wife anyway, having spent most of the evening selecting the best BT Sport offer for Sky (rolling one month?), ordering and paying for it (painful), contacting the help line to get it set up properly (which involved regularly switching over to channel 413 during "I'm a celebrity"), staying up watching till 12.45am (no wickets - good!), going to bed and spending another 30 mins on the iPad (collapse, bad), waking up at 3.15am to check the score (didn't win sweepstake), repeating this at 4.30 (wickets! - good), getting straight on the iPad again when the alarm went off at 6.05am (Smith still in, damn it), then checking the score constantly during breakfast with the kids up to 7.30 (ditto).
This all seems perfectly rational behaviour to me, I don't really see what the issue could be?
I was up at 3.30 to watch second session onwards, however, all streams let me down , even if my VPN pointed me to the Moon,ended up with trusty TMS - but i'm tired at work now.!
Have left out cfgs 'til he works out whether his heart rules his head - or the other way round, North Lower Neil because "about 300" is far too vague and Golfie's "no more than 300" and Mcbobbin's "300 tops" are equally so. If any of those want to make more accurate predictions or I have missed any out or any others would like to enter please just add your entry to the list.
For the avoidance of any doubt, only the exact prediction will count as having "won". Otherwise Bedsaddick will claim the glory when we get 660-7 declared. Or Santa Claus will declare "it's Christmas" louder than Noddy Holder when we are 220 all out.
Comments
Building up for a close finish
Australia 57%
England 26%
Draw 17%
I woke up at 5ish hoping to see us still batting. I was happy with the score at the time but I watched for 2 and a half hours and didn't see a wicket.
Think Moeen and Malan let us down by not playing a bit more sensibly for a while and taking a bit of time out the game and keeping them in the field for longer
Bairstow is wasted at 7.
Aus to make 363 for me please @Addick Addict
I didn't, but seem to be in the doghouse with the wife anyway, having spent most of the evening selecting the best BT Sport offer for Sky (rolling one month?), ordering and paying for it (painful), contacting the help line to get it set up properly (which involved regularly switching over to channel 413 during "I'm a celebrity"), staying up watching till 12.45am (no wickets - good!), going to bed and spending another 30 mins on the iPad (collapse, bad), waking up at 3.15am to check the score (didn't win sweepstake), repeating this at 4.30 (wickets! - good), getting straight on the iPad again when the alarm went off at 6.05am (Smith still in, damn it), then checking the score constantly during breakfast with the kids up to 7.30 (ditto).
This all seems perfectly rational behaviour to me, I don't really see what the issue could be?
Gonna take today slowly....
Aussies 308