This is almost the first morning I have had time to sit down and really pay attention to a morning’s play in the Ashes. So far it has been pretty disastrous for England.
The last ball of the 20th over, Cook left a ball from Johnson that passed four inches outside his off stump. He is the only batsman who has shown any kind of judgement. Strauss, Bopara and Collingwood were all out playing at balls well outside the off stump which they should have left alone in the first few overs of a test match. That England’s top order should have some idea where their off stump is, seems to me not too much to ask of well paid professionals.
The Australian bowling has had the discipline which the English batting lacks. It has not been brilliant, and there has been little movement off the seam and little swing. The wicket looks like a belter and the skies are clearing completely. England should have been giving Australia’s four man attack a very hard day.
It is very difficult not to go into grumpy old man mode, and opine that an excess of childish cricket formats have lobotomised Test match temperament out of the English batsmen.
Cook has gone while I am typing. We have to hope that Stuart Broad’s career is going to follow the example of Bob Woolmer, who started as a bowler who could bat a bit, and ended up as a genuine Test opener.
It is very difficult not to go into grumpy old man mode, and opine that an excess of childish cricket formats have lobotomised Test match temperament out of the English batsmen.
I never said that!
I love cricket and loved playing it as I went to an all girls school where tennis and cricket were the summer sports. I miss seeing it on the TV now as I refuse to give Murdoch any money.
PS I see he is proposing to charge for online viewing of his various rags. I will not be subscribing.
Mary,
I went to an all-girls school (run by nuns) where the sports were netball, tennis and hockey. But I became a rugby fan, having two brothers who played. Then both my sons played it too.
I haven’t the faintest idea what Craig is talking about. 🙂
At least I’ll only get it in the neck for having the cricket on all day for three days this week. The ECB will be doint their nut about day 4 refunds and no fifth day take. May have to deploy a few snipers to take out a few Aussies.
Didn’t Bob Woolmer end up dead in a Caribbean hotel room, foul play suspected?
(PS I know it was ultimately established that he died of natural causes.)
It’s funny that because England haven’t completely collapsed for about 6 months, I had actually managed to fool myself that they may have cured themselves of the propensity to do so. I actually thought we had the chance of nicking the Ashes this test with a partisan Headingley mob in full cry behind the team. Oh well, that will teach me to dare to dream…
Oh it’s a disgusting show today, England are really letting themselves down by a royal mile, terrible stuff.
To get us in the mood for a holiday weekend in August and to forget the endless rain, here’s a foot tapper from Ireland for Dreoilin which I think means ‘wren’ (my favourite bird), the suhject of the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zw0C_ingsc
There’s even a rughy player in the slides but no cricketer.
Cricket is great fun to play with your kids – even when they are teenagers, cos they are amazed that I can actually do it better than them…
But watching it on the TV screen, really is less interesting than watching paint dry.
Tony
My mate, an ex-journalist came round our house for a few hours yesterday – we even fed him
The reason he came round was because he had bought this 24 track – or it could have been a 16 track recording machine
Now Johnny has spent loads of time in recording studios and is more than competent as a musician
And I actually thought it was really nice that he brought his new recording machine round our house
Yes – I recognised some of the sockets – cos my laser light shows use the same connections
But I am not a musician
So we worked togther – reading the manual in great detail
And after an hour although we had my guitar and his mike and my headphones and his speakers and my speakers connected to it…
We couldn’t get a squeak out of it
He said – I have I bought a faulty piece of equipment – or are we all completely stupid
I said we are completely stupid
We just haven’t understood the instructions properly
So we went outside for a cigarette and Julie joined us – and we heard all the goss – about the relationships of our friends some of who’m are also musicians (we are not – I might have a guitar – but I can’t play it)
So I read the manual again
And it wasn’t a thing you can learn in the first two pages
The crucial pages were 34-38
And then I actually got a pass-thru working
We could actually Hear the Guitar and Mike through the Speaker
And then it was about actually laying it down – track by track
And editing and stuff
I keep telling him – that I am the cameraman and don’t do editing
he said check the autopsies – when they are executed – you know people like princess diana – its a complete give away – cos they don’t do them
Tony
LOL.. Thanks Mary. 🙂
“Zany slides” is right … hilarious …
You’re right about the wren too.
That’s “our Brian” (O’Driscoll) in the rugby.
netcurtains – 7 Aug’09 – 06:31 – 4591 of 4592
Tony,
Why do you so like a man who left his wife and children for a belly dancer?
If I was the PM I would have sacked him too – A British ambassador should not do that IMHO.
opmoc – 7 Aug’09 – 22:15 – 4592 of 4592 edit
John,
I think Craig Murray is a Complete Cunt
I post stuff all over The World
And hardly ever do I get any of the bollocks I post deleted – or get personally banned
Craig Murray meanwhile has deleted about 25% of the stuff I have posted on his website
But only when its completely off topic – or when his cousin has threatened violence against the trolls
Now Craig Murray might be a bit of a cunt
But he has done more to reduce the incidence of British and American Governments Torturing People Than ANYONE ELSE in the WORLD
So Craig Murray is All Right in My Book
Tony
i’m not interested in any sport, but when i was a kid i was especially pissed off by cricket as the BBC would keep showing it even when it was cancelled due to rain.
The commentators would commentate about the groundskeepers pulling tarpaulins over the pitch and speculate on whether the rain might end soon, even if it had been raining for an hour.
Tony
Merely threatining to bust someones nose for slagging off my family is hardly violence, in Scotland ,we call that foreplay !
And by the way, I had a very good dinner and a beer with Ian in Dublin and he actually is a rather nice man.
Woe, woe and thrice woe!
npower Test Match Series: England v Australia
07-08-2009 at Headingley Carnegie, Day 2 of 5
Close
England won the toss and decided to bat
England 1st Innings
102 all out (33.5 overs)
England 2nd Innings
82 for 5 (32.0 overs)
Australia 1st Innings
445 all out (104.1 overs)
Frazer,
I have been afraid over the last 24 hours to log on to your cousin’s website, cos I thought he might have deleted my posts because it contained swear words – and I am working class from Oldham and that’s just how I speak when I am pissed.
I would like to meet you – I think you are an O.K. bloke – I know what you do – because I have read what you said
Meanwhile – My Wife and I had a Great Night tonight at our local pub with our friends (and a brilliant band) and I had said this to say in America…
This Is Actually an Essay About Ordinary Working Class English People
[Report this comment]
Posted by: tony_opmoc on Aug 8, 2009 5:04 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We sent the Criminals to Australia and the Religious Lunatics to America
Meanwhile we invited all The Really Nice People who actually Believed in The Concept of The British Commonwealth to visit us and if they liked living here – despite the rain – to stay
We only have a relatively little Island in the Overall Scale of Planet Wide Things
But We Live In The Best Country in The World
We have no racial prejudice
Tony
What Do You Mean – America Is The Most Powerful Nation In The World?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: tony_opmoc on Aug 8, 2009 5:22 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Ordinary Americans Don’t Travel The World and Become Ambassadors To Work at Solving The Problems throughout Our World
Americans Make Bombs and Guns – and Say We Are Going To Bomb You To Shit – Because We Want To STEAL What You Have
In England we have a different Philosophy
We Make Friends
Completely ORDINARY People like my wife and me Travel The World
And meet people – and say how can we help?
Tony
There was the mysterious fire alarm incident at about 4a.m. on the first morning of the match. They were all out in the street for the best part of an hour. I’m sure it played some part in England only getting 100 runs. Bring on The Oval!
Jaded, I’m sure thats the reason. It’s so unusual for Australia to destroy the English cricket team 😉
Postman Pat and his friend Milipede ‘wrote’ this toffee in the Sunday Telegraph.
‘There is no truth in suggestions that the security and intelligence services operate without control or oversight. There is no truth in the more serious suggestion that it is our policy to collude in, solicit, or directly participate in abuses of prisoners. Nor is it true that alleged wrongdoing is covered up.’
Not us Guv.
http://tiny.cc/bcYNc
PS Marr has Phil Collins on to review the papers. No not that one – the one that was Bliar’s speech writer. There is no escape.
Another one of these Johnny Mullagh moments when nearly all of Ingerlaaand is praying for a warm shower, general rain being the only one who can be saviour to prowess and bluster.
Just can’t get into the game and Norwich City is not cheering me up either what a bleak weekend.
you haven’t bought a season ticket this year, have you Craig?
“There is no truth in the more serious suggestion that it is our policy to collude in, solicit, or directly participate in abuses of prisoners.”
‘Course not. Stay in another room, offer questions, and then stuff your ears. That’s not colluding in torture now is it?? But is it complicity? We’re dealing *entirely* in semantics here, folks. And probably lies too.
There is plenty of evidence that “security and intelligence forces” were up to dirty tricks in Northern Ireland – dirty tricks that included murder. See the Stevens Inquiry:
http://tinyurl.com/lmhrlh
Lying through their teeth to the public is second nature to these people. And when I say “these people” I include Irish politicians, obviously.
It’s just not cricket.
Simply put: Is there some reason to believe that MI5 were operating outside the law in Northern Ireland but nevertheless operate strictly inside the law in the ‘GWOT’?
Specific and categorical denials from government spokesmen. Where have i heard those before? “We have no plans to go to war on Iraq” or something similar from a Mr. Jack Straw. “We have no plans to privatise the Post Office” etc.
I usually dislike what I read whenever ‘spokesperson for the department’ is mentioned. There’s one way to save a few millions of public money: fire all these professional BS-ers.
‘Jaded, I’m sure thats the reason. It’s so unusual for Australia to destroy the English cricket team ;).’
Ha, amusing but I honestly think it must have affected them. It was set off at 5.a.m. I have discovered. Just about the right time where they wouldn’t end up going back to sleep, especially after ending up on a street amidst all the commotion. Very likely it was a deliberate act. I don’t really mind who wins all that much, though do hope England prevail, and just like to see good sport.
Tony
Craig would hardly delete your postings when you use bad language, he is more interested in opinions than how you express them.
Actually, he did delete a couple of my postings, and quite right too, threatining another poster with a Glasgow Kiss was something I should not really have done, no matter how angry I was…anyway, keep the posts coming, I enjoy reading them.
“Ministers’ admission links MI5 and MI6 to ‘torture victim'”
http://tinyurl.com/nyz5ex
[The Independent]
“Whistleblowers need greater protection, say MPs”
http://tinyurl.com/ntrdhg
Any thoughts this fine morning on “Sir Credible” John Scarlett’s assurances that MI6 had nothing to do with rendition & torture despite the copious evidence that has already emerged to the contrary?
Apparently, he has also given full assurance to his father that he didn’t cut down the cherry tree.
Oh, he’s going to be so independent isn’t he, especially as he was one of the gang alledgedly involved with developing the dodgy dossier that led to a war that has cost so many innocent lives… I’m sure he’s not trying to cover his back now is he when so many of our soldiers and their families had to risk so much
sorry, that last comment just wasn’t cricket was it. Poor performance by England on Friday but there are signs of improvement. Incredible when you think about it, that after such a bad game by the English players that in a fortnights time they all have the chance to become heros by winning just one game.