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England 30-4 now and the follow-on a distant prospect. It's 1-1...

84-4 now

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Just finished watching highlights after getting up this morning. Two very emphatic victories: what will test 3 bring?
A couple of thoughts:
Great to see Smith show his stuff. He's unorthodox but so is the other dominant batsman in the world, AB de Villiers.
Awesome to see Cook batting well. I like him as a player and he's certainly pretty to watch.
Marsh has us saying "Shane who?"
Johnson's mojo is back. The ball to dismiss Ali was vicious.
Lyth may surprise us but he looks not to be the goods.
England will definitely come back but there might be some scars after that one. They only took ten Aussie wickets: that's an important stat.
England continue to show better sportsmanship in the field.


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I missed the last two days with Fairford Airshow being on, but to last only 30 odd overs and be bowled out for 103 is a disgrace. Congratulations to the Australian team for a crushing victory. I presume Smith won man of the match? I must now be time to ditch Bell for Bairstow, home ground or not. Bairstow now averaging a 100 this year with 139 yesterday. Balance and Lyth must be looking over their shoulders now after recent innings, I can't fault our bowlers though, I though they bowled well with little reward. Would the outcome have been different if Cook had won the toss?"...............Maybe, but not 400 runs different. Interesting to see if England can recover from this debacle, my guess is not.

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I was shocked at how easily England crumbled. I thought they'd at least get to day 5. Clearly an important win by the Aussies to even up the series. More importantly, all elements of their game worked very well. Game 3 will be even more interesting and important now. Wonder what changes, if any, either team will make.

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Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

I was there on the Sunday; men against boys. If Johnson can do that on that wicket, you suspect some of that top order will be quite relieved to be dropped. Personally I'd drop Lyth for Compton, and bring in Taylor and Bairstow for Bell and Ballance, but modern England are very averse to changes and I can't see them making more than one: they'll reason that they haven't seen enough of Lyth (who scored a ton against NZ), and that Ballance is potentially at the start of a test career and Bell near the end, which points to Bell being the casualty. You can move Root up to 4 then as well. As others have said these tosses are so important: England only seem capable of posting first-innings runs when not in the shadow of a total.

So it was one, and it's Bairstow coming in, but Ballance who was the victim. Technically deficient against the 100mph yorker...

ISTR that Bairstow had a fairly torrid time against Johnson down under, but then who didn't.

Yeah, me too. 80mph yorker and I'm ok, maybe even 90. But 100mph... well i guess that's forgivable. We still haven't seen the very best of what Johnson can do, either.

I didn't see a ball of last night but clearly the English deserve massive credit. That sort of come back speaks of real self belief and determination.

Perfect conditions for Anderson really, but he was certainly ruthless in exploiting them. It's a funny old game. Everyone (including us) has talked about how vital the toss is; Clarke won it and batted; and Cook said he'd have done the same. And who wouldn't - the age-old adage of "think about bowling, then bat", etc. And of course Punter is still derided for choosing to bowl at Edgbaston in 2005 despite McGrath's injury on the morning of the test, whereupon England scored 400+ on day one, which is always rolled out as one of those hinge sporting moments. And yet... I was astounded to see in a blog piece in The Guardian today that of the 20 times that England have fielded first in tests at Edgbaston, they have lost only once. 'And overall, the team batting first at Edgbaston has won two and lost 13 of the past 20 Tests.' So statistically Punter wasn't so daft in inserting in 2005; and Cook wasn't unlucky to lose the toss this morning!

I'm guessing it's a bowlers pitch based on Australia's capitulation and low first innings scores from both teams. The topsy-turvy test series continues; absolutely fascinating stuff. Australia definitely on the ropes with 2 down and still behind in the run chase. Nice work again England. Looks like Bell did enough to keep his position, and Root continues to be a thrown in the Aussie's sides. At least Warner is getting some runs in the second innings. Should be an exciting end. Australia have to score at least 400 to mount any sort of challenge.

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Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

Aus 7 down, so England on the brink. However, Jimmy Anderson is thought to have done his intercostal - which would be huge for this series. He looks certain to miss Trent Bridge, where he's taken 53 wickets in 8 tests and under 20, and possibly the series. If it's a pull as opposed to strain it's a six-week recovery. The Edgbaston bowlers' curse strikes again.

That would be a real shame: we want both teams to be at their very best. Anderson bowling well is one of the most potent bowlers in world cricket.

Well played England. I think that's what you call a counter- punch.

England's test record since they played in Antigua in April is: WLWLWLW. Remarkable. Consistent they are not!

Starc's radar was off for most of the test. You'd suspect Siddle will come into the reckoning for Trent Bridge. One assumes the rested Wood will replace Anderson. Otherwise I can't imagine will change.