Paphos People

Come on the lads!!!!

Who do you think is going to win the Ashes???

The afternoon is well and truly booked off for the viewing of the opening match!

Yx

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Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes,
Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise.

Am so nervous, excited and emotional in equal measure.
Can't bear the thought of us losing.

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Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Here we go.

A nation's pride is resting on you lads.

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Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

For those without sky try this link which is working for me.

http://f1sportsblog.blogspot.com/

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Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Oh doodoo.
Cook out.

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Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

I neither know nor care Peppermint!. I find it THE most boring sport in the world ever and just cannot see the attraction.

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And the Oscar goes to........

Nooooooooooooo
Strauss out.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Oh bugger and all things unholy.
Ravi out.
We're doomed.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Yvonne I think the fine game of cricket is one which attrcts only a certain type of fan. Whilst there is a lot of women at a live match, I think it fairly understandable that most women just don't either have an interest in the game or the time to dedicate to it.
For men, I think a combination of intellect, culture and an attention span greater than that of a gnat (or most football fans) is required to understand the tactics, skill and the massive way a game can be affected by the way the wicket is prepared.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

93 - 3 at lunch. We really need KP and Colly to get themselves entrenched for a long innings.
I don't hold out much hope.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Well here's one woman who loves cricket!

Jen

Oh deary me, spiting poison again Cuddly 1, how very tedious. As to the digs, too numerous to mention about who watches cricket, well each to their own darling. Now run along and stir your cauldron.

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And the Oscar goes to........

KP scores his 1000th run against Australia. Lets hope there are many more to come.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Thank goodness for that bit of stability in the session.

194 - 3 at tea.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Colly out. 228 - 4

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Oh ******** KP gone

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Well, play has ebbed and flowed today.

Not too depressed about 309 - 5 at this point.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Make that 6
Flintoff gone but the best he has looked in some time.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

A nightwatchman FFS

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Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Prior Gone

329/7

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

336 - 7 at close of day 1.

If the whole series is going to ebb and flow like this I shall age at least 10 years by the end of summer.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Thanks cuddly1.. with your expert commentating i dont need to watch it, it feels like im right there!

i.e.

bored and wishing you would just sod off back the land of Oz with your flying monkeys.




Dan

Moved this into the Sports Bar...

Just back from watching the evening session - call it just about advantage England, but we may live to regret giving away so many cheap wickets - very few dismissals actually earned....

Unnecessary to be honest - I'm sure Cuddly can stand up for herself but I don't want people thinking that kind of tone is acceptable - keep it civil please!

I don't suppose we can tell anything until both sides have had a full innings. We did throw some of our wickets away and their bowling attack does look weak to say the least so let's hope we can just calm ourselves.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Apparently CF. according to a very reliable source, I am to publicly (spelt correctly this time) apologise for this posting.
I apologise most profusely for forcing another member to make such a post.
I should be more careful about exerting such influence on people who know no better.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Anyhoo, back on topic....

I was surprised by how powder-puff the Aussie attack looked, which is what makes ending the day 7 down a bit disappointing. What on earth was KP thinking for instance, trying to sweep from about 6 feet outside off??

You're right though we'll have a better idea after both sides have had a bat - the pitch was already turning on Day 1, which is a good sign with 2 frontline spinners in our side...

Really well played by England this morning to get 435 - I love watching tail-enders bat when they just go for it!

Agreed CF.

Hubby has just looked on Paddy Power and they are giving the best price on the draw though....

Jen

I think the draw is favourite because there's rain forecast over the weekend - it's looking unlikely we'll get the full 5 days play...

Spent 5 hours in the pub yesterday watching the last 2 sessions and only got to see 1 wicket fall - just my luck!

Now, thats what I call jammy.....................

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Coffee Coffee Coffee! The bean of life!

Massive performance to save the test (and possibly the series) - huge credit to Collingwood, Swann, Anderson and Monty in particular!

Just hope we can take some confidence from this into the 2nd Test. Would like to see Harmison back at Lords too....

Really? Blimey. I guess I'm the 'my glass is half empty' guy whereas you're the 'my glass is half full' guy. Unless your glass was regulalrly re-filled and you got caught up in the emotion of saving a draw.

I think it was more a of a dire performance by the early chumps, luckily saved by 2 or 3 steely performances.

If we carry on like that out butts will be well and trully whipped. Even after stealing a draw the neutrals are already laughing at our inept performance and lack of ability to change anything when it's all going down the swanny.

Anyhow, who knows, maybe we will find some sort of performace soon. I hope so.

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Coffee Coffee Coffee! The bean of life!

The main problem was throwing away cheap top order wickets in both innings - another 100 runs in the 1st like we should easily have had and the match would have just fizzled out.

There wasn't much in the pitch for either set of bowlers and I didn't see much in their attack to unduly worry us - either McGrath or Warne would have mopped up our tail in pretty short order I reckon!

Well crikey, what a day. I can honestly say I was not expecting any of that!

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Coffee Coffee Coffee! The bean of life!

Yes yes yes yes yes
75 years of record down the drain.
1-0 1-0 1-0

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

KP out for the rest of the series after surgery.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Brillaint performance in the 2nd Test - knew the lads would bounce back!

Losing KP is a blow but he was clearly struggling - Bell is in decent form so should be able to do a job - I would stick him in at 3 and put Bopara a bit lower down to try find some form...

Noooooooooooooo not the Bell debate.
It's ok, on my cricket forum it is a massive conversation point. Many think it will be Bell but many would like to give Trott a try. They'd also like to move the order around and drop Bops down the order a bit. I'm not good enough to be able to give an informed opinion on it so I just read and soak it up.
That is, apart from the continuing argument with the Aussies who are still moaning about Strauss' catch calling him a cheat for not showing dissent to the umpires and insisting their decision that it was clean be referred.
It's all quite amusing. They must be the most hypocritical fans of all.

Fantastic match. Magnificent TEAM performance.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Bell has struggled against the Aussies before, but their attack is a very different animal this time round - I reckon he would be Ok against this lot!

Ideal scenario would be to see if we can tempt Trescothick back for one last go - he's "bang" in form and always did well against the Aussies...

Oh, and Harmison in for Onions!

Couple of people mentioned Tresco yesterday. Must admit he was always a favourite of mine.

Got into quite a debate about Harmy the other day. The fact that he'd had success against them in the warm ups was good enough for me. When he's on form he's amazing. Saw him tear up Pakistan in 2006 at Old Trafford and it was magic.

Got tickets for 4th day at Edgbaston and Headingley so looking forward to that.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Harmy took 6-20 for Durham the other day too - he's a big confidence player and when he has it then he's probably our top bowler.

Steve Rouse, Edgbaston's groundsman, is faced with a familiar pre-Ashes race against time, after heavy rain throughout a wet fortnight put back the preparations of the venue's Test wicket for the second time in four years.


"It's a nightmare," Rouse told BBC Sport. "Out of the last ten days, there have been two actual dry days, and the wicket is a bit like a jelly.


"I've got to dry that out between now and next Wednesday, because the wicket has to be ready roughly a day in advance, and the chances of getting that solid three or four inches, down, there's no chance, not with the weather coming in."

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Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

I was reading about that - I'm not entirely sure whether a pitch like jelly is a good or a bad thing??

I suspect at 1-0 up with 3 to play the ground staff at the remaining locations will be being asked to prepare nice gentle batting tracks...

Yes, many on my regular forum are talking up the 4 bowler and an extra batsman option and playing for draws.
I don't quite know where I stand on that issue.
There are also mumblings that Flintoff is not going to be fit for Edgbaston.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Harmison has announced he is retiring from International cricket but would like one last crack at the convicts.

With the demon form he is in I hope he gets it and that I get to see it at Edgbaston or Headingley.

_________________
Justice delayed is justice denied. - William E Gladstone

Crucial 3rd test starts tomorrow - confirmed Bell will come in at 4, but looks like the only way Harmy will get a game is if Flintoff doesn't make it.

Bookies have Australia (after the draw) as clear favourites for this one.....