Teams not confirmed yet, but Pieterson is 100% out with Ian Bell (Sherminator, Warney's bunny) confirmed as his replacement and I'm relatively confident no further changes will be made to England.

Phil Hughes might not be selected, Mitchell Johnson surely is in danger of losing his place and there is talk of North not doing enough... who would you bring in?

Stuart Clarke for Johnson and leave the rest in my mind. However, paper talk is strongly suggesting Hughes will be dropped for Shane Watson of all people!

We need to win this one! I'll be there for the first 2 days, can't wait :D

Also, you've gotta love the Skulls (Kerry O'Keeffe's) way with words!

Golden boy Shane Watson would be my opener with Simon Katich. Yes, I know, Watto had a cushy ride, but if you strip away the facial moisturiser, the hair gel and the eternal tan, Watto's straightness could make Fred Nile blush. The Aussies need technical purity at the top of the order. Plus, the Queenslander is, by the lunar calendar, just 10 days away from straining a groin plucking nasal hair. Now is the time to pick him.

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England will win the ashes, australia just being outplayed.

id keep johnson in the side, hes done enough

personally it is not the batting that has failed us, it has been the bowling. If one of our bowlers doesnt fire, we are lacking in options without any true allrounders in the team, hence drop North, and bring in the 5th bowler (lee if he is fit otherwise clarke or watson).

They are having trouble bowling England out and i think they should go with 5 bowlers. Although Watson cant bowl atm ?

Ponting has ruined Johnson by Overbowling him against South Africa.
I also wonder if his action has a problem. Hes had a pretty rapid fall for a guy with no injury.
Stuart Clarke has lost a few yards in pace apparently.
Lucky Haddin is making runs because his glovework has been pretty poor.

Lee and Clarke should not have made the touring side.

I dont think the Pommy bowlers have a lot to boast. Freddie is the man but its possible he wont last the series. Hes the difference in the 2 sides.
Aussies might win the final Test if he doesnt play.

Ponting has ruined Johnson by Overbowling him against South Africa. I also wonder if his action has a problem.
Hes had a pretty rapid fall for a guy with no injury.

I'd blame his mum before I blamed Ponting

We'll I am off to the airport to hit up Birmingham :D

Still no confirmed teams, Sky Sports news was reporting that Bell rolled his ankle and Onions was hit on his bowling hand during practice!

This ground is cursed, remember McGrath before the 05 test :/

i'd keep johnson, he will pickup a bag as soon as he get s pitch with a bit of bounce. lack of kick hs rendered him ordinary.
S clark should be the choice (over johnson) depending on what sort of pitch is prepared. clark gets more kick than mitch and has ooo ahhh's old line and length.

i reckon watson could well get a run. despite injury i reckon he more than handy. if he doesnt bat well he bowls well and vice versa. i think test cricket is about options. watson gives you plenty of options.

generally if a side is on top its usually the change of bowling or the little tweak that gets the vital wicket. if they just stick with mitch,siddle,hilfy with a bit of spin when the ball gets old england will lap it up.

although haurrie played fairly well i would be happy enough to leave the spin to the part timers.
they have at least 3 guys katty, clarke and hussey who can take a couple or at least tie down the batsmen till they do something stupid.

i think its time the aussie selectors went a bit inventive with selection instead of the old reliable option of counting on an old formula. things have changed a lot. i reckon you pick 3 specialist quicks and rely on an all rounder plus part timers to do your bowling. i like specialist spinners but we dont have anyone on tour that is good enough i reckon.

batsmen are going ok i reckon. hughes and north give them one more chance. they will go ok. but FFs dont bring macdonald in for any of them.


ps. my mate will be ther for the first 3 days i think.
short (slightly portly) bloke called dan. yells a lot after a few drinks.
tell him i said hi if you run into him. have a blast.

Symmonds and Krezja, oh wait.

hughes to be dropped

johnson to keep his spot

Its very wet over there. Might not be playing today.

Wheres the QGL reporter ?

oh no.. latest news please heardy

I have a mate over there not far from the ground and he told me it is pouring rain right now.

England are unbeatable in the rain.
Its their natural habitat

anyone hear when eta for start time is. i havent been listening and waiting for mcgill to tell us

5pm local, 2am AEST.

Wtf Brad Haddin broke a finger during the warm-up. His replacement is Graham Manou from South Australia. Gay. In 2013 can we ditch the pre match warmup at Edgbaston? Also, Phillip Hughes dropped for Shane Watsbroken, with Mitchell Johnson retained.

Seriously, what are the selectors smoking? Is this the result of some sick deception on Ponting's part to rape Indian bookies? Ie place $50,000 on a Manou to score 50+, Watson to injure his back double? If so, gg wp Punter. Otherwise, *fire* the three Aussie selectors. I will do their job for $150k, free tickets and booze.

Shane Watsbroken lolz
Haddin has been our best batsmen ? close to it.

Whats the weather for the rest of the test ?

Wow.

Anderson double wicket maiden :-/ At least he missed the hat-trick. 202-7

Aust 8-203 FFS

That last wicket, Hauritz bowled Anderson top of off stump, was a ripper.

Sheesh, just hand them the trophy, go home, and start practicing for Summer.

Pathetic.

Harsh but fair...

anyway.. this match is still predicted a draw... they might bring back some class in the last two games!!

Day 1 was a pain in the arse, ~8 hours of waiting, though plenty of drinking :D The crowd was restless, it didn't rain from around 11:30am (local) however the outfield was soaking...

Day 2 was worse for an aussie, first 2 balls of the day and 2 wickets lost :(

Both Katich and Watson looked in good form and I was expecting runs galore all day yesterday :/

It's meant to rain pretty much all weekend, the game will end up a draw.

I'll be at Leeds for days 1,2,3 hopefully I get to see some cricket!@!!

Sky Sports just announced play has been abandoned for the day!

Glad I didn't stay an extra couple of days now

Draw fellas? Clarkey is looking good and North is looking solid as a rock.

I'll take the draw, but I don't want Clarke to be the one who "saved us".

f*** Clarke.

Yeah I'd take a draw too, would rather a win, but there isn't enough time left...

Clarke is alright, why do you hate him?

Too precious, too stuck up, and probably a healthy chunk of why a player like Andrew Symonds never felt comfortable.

lulz a clean cut, super model banging, Aston Martin driving Pup, averaging ~50 > Shane Watsbroken > Me > a drunken, ill-disciplined, curfew dodging, publicity nightmare Andrew Symonds. Oh and Clarke's bowling is better, and he's the best fielder after Symmo.

Any chance Punter and Strauss call off the match soon? I think Aus will use the time as batting practice, make some big no hundreds, and wear down England's bowlers (4th Test starts Thursday).

The 'problem' with drawing this match is Ponting will be reluctant to make changes. We are behind and need to take 20 wickets. My 11 would be: Hughes, Kat, Punter, Clarke, North/Watson, Watson/North, keeper, Johnson, Lee, Clark, Hilfy. Never gonna happen tho :(

Any chance Punter and Strauss call off the match soon? I think Aus will use the time as batting practice, make some big no hundreds, and wear down England's bowlers (4th Test starts Thursday).

Think you just answered your own question. Sky commentry are convinced Ponting will declare shortly. What moron would risk their bowlers in a dead test match? They will bat until stumps.

they can call play off in the last hour if both captains agree, so Clarke will get his ton and we'll declare and the game will be over.

beauty, happy with a draw;

same side to play forth test, come on boys you can do it!!!!

Shane Watsons a good player and all, but realy, he has a test average of 25 with a strike rate of 44, where as symmonds has a test average of 40, at a strike rate of 65, surely theres room in the team for both?

AS for symonds being a publicity nightmare, most people I speak to say he hasnt done anything realy bad, and think he should be playing for australia in at least the ODI's and t20's and I reckon the tests too.

What did he do that was so bad, had some beers? the team is sponsored by VB for f***s sake, no one thinks its stupid for ponting to sit there and say he broke the rules by going to a pub, while wearing his VB hat?

hes gone because of continued rule breakings:

playing for australia didnt mean as much as knowingly breaking the rules;

yes, hes an awesome cricketer, but wracks disciprine:

he deserved to get the boot;

U dont thinks its a bit of a contradiction when the major sponsor of the australian cricket team is VB?

The first incident, yeah he went fishing, that was pretty silly.
The second, got into an altercation at a pub, ponting said he didnt do anything wrong, there was other members of the australian team there aswell, what rule did he break?.
The third incident, the radio interview were he supposeldy bagged an NZ player, which if u actualy listen to the whole interview, he wasnt baggin him at all.
The fourth incident, he went to a pub and had a drink for origin, jeez, he's such a rebel.

its the sum of all the incidents:

yer, they were extremely minor and if they had been isolated, probably woudlnt be an issue

other australian players have had incidents (ricky ponting getting decked for feeling up a tranny?)

he was warned after a serious incident (missing team meeting) and still coudlnt keep his s*** together;

Man, its really got out of hand with Sportsmen and their Conduct.
Julian O'Neil was a massive party animal. He'd do worse than Symonds had done combined into one weekend. He wasnt alone.
The Media has got down on them so much that they are prisoners of their fame now. There is no colourful characters anymore. Just robots.

Sport has been ruined by money and TV and of course the lack of privacy shown to players by the Media.

There is no colourful characters anymore. Just robots.

exactly. No we just have a bunch of players that are too scared to do anything on or off the field that may be contraversial. Even with the sledging, for some reason they want to crack down on that. Siddle seems to be dishing out some sledging though, he seems pretty cool, gets so fired up when making appeals.

The first incident, yeah he went fishing, that was pretty silly.
The second, got into an altercation at a pub, ponting said he didnt do anything wrong, there was other members of the australian team there aswell, what rule did he break?.
The third incident, the radio interview were he supposeldy bagged an NZ player, which if u actualy listen to the whole interview, he wasnt baggin him at all.
The fourth incident, he went to a pub and had a drink for origin, jeez, he's such a rebel.

Turning up drunk to the Bangladesh game last time they were on an Ashes tour? You've left out by far the worst one. While I don't actually think he should have had his contract ripped up, you make it sound like nothing when there is a history of problems.

Turning up drunk to the Bangladesh game last time they were on an Ashes tour?

Sponsor promotion? huh.

Yeah he isnt an angel, I just think we are missing out by not having him in the game anymore, adds a bit of character and I reckon he's a damm good player.

We'll eventually end up with a bunch of Michael clarke's, boring.

Turning up drunk to the Bangladesh game last time they were on an Ashes tour?

the banga's play in the ashes?

Turning up drunk to the Bangladesh game last time they were on an Ashes tour?

the banga's play in the ashes?

Nah, the in-between games in the tour.

Correct, it was a tri-tourney with the poms and us.

Viper - get used to Clarke-era cricket. He takes over as captain when Ponting retires (or is sacked as captain).

clarke is doing it for me in the ashes

leading run scorer and has 2 tons, he's doing all the right things