Me thinks me going crazy - me actually think England winning
Me not why- but me guess it is the New Year!
Precious, isn't it

I'll give you a daily update Quiz.

End of day 1 England 264-5 (slow scoring)

Trescothick c Gilchrist b Bichel 19
Vaughan c Gilchrist b Lee 0
Butcher b Lee 124
Hussain c Gilchrist b Gillespie 75
Key lbw b Waugh 3 (ouch)
Crawley not out 6
Stewart not out 20

You should have seen Lee's first 3 overs. It would have been worth the admission price alone. In his second over he ripped past Vaughan's bat 3 balls in a row. 150km new ball thunder bolts that were swinging a good half meter off the seam. Fierce! Then he threw down a swinging yorker that Vaughan just dug out before having his feet shattered. Next ball seamed a long way again, and this time Vaughan was good enough to edge it.
Trescothick had a shaky start but looked to settle and Bichel caught him dabbing at a widish delivery.
Hussain was put down by McGill in an easy c & b chance early and went on to a good captains knock supporting Butcher who played a very good knock who would be dissapointed not to be there at stumps.

If England can bat through to lunch the should be looking at 380. See what happens today!

You aren't a commentator by any chance are you, Bertho?

End of day 2. What a day of cricket! Caddick takes 3 quick wickets removing the 3 guns, Hayden 15, Ponting 7 and then Langer 25. Enter Steve Waugh into his home arena. Standing ovation. "Stay Steve Stay." Well, Steve stayed and carved out a dashing 70. Martyn went for 26, Love for a duck... enter Gilchrist. Smack, whack, bash. 46 off 3 balls! It truely was the most entertaining knock. Unfortunately Waugh, creeping towards his ton with singles, couldn't get strike. The last over before stumps, 4th ball, Waugh on 97 pushed one fine for a single. He was going for his ton but needed Gilly to reply in same. He did leaving Steve with the final ball to make at least 2 for his ton. Hussain moved the field in tight, the pressure was on, but he calmly smacked Dawson through covers for 4. You should have heard the crowd!

At stumps Australia 5/237 trailing England by 125 runs

Another highlite of play was Steve Waugh entering the exclusive 10000 run milestone, one he shares only with the great Alan Border and Sunil Gavaskar.

Day 3 is set to be a screamer. Will keep you posted!

Copago, when Waugh got his ton I was yahooing and clapping like a maniac.. sadly, the only one to share this with was the dog who just looked at me oddly..... nice moment.

I must admit, I'm not a big Steve Waugh fan, but I had a tear in the eye when he got to his 100! The guy has copped more over the last couple of months than any (winning) captain, and player, should have to.
I wonder what tomorrow is going to bring?

How good would it have been to be there, Bertho? The atmosphere must have been electric. Finally we get to see some really entertaining cricket. And having Waugh get the century before stumps was good, made it into a one-day sort of feel. Funny not to see Warne or McGrath out there but not a bad thing, in my opinion ... it's not going to be that long before they retire anyway.

Me neither Dangleish, always thought he was an arrogant so and so.. but I always respected his grit. I hate the selectors. I know it's a professional game but the way they dispose of players is a slap in the face to all sports people, at all levels. I remember the pressures on David Boon when he got his ton in Adelaide - and the one fingure salute he gave the press box. I'll never fogive them for not giving Ian Healy his last test at the Gabba and for not giving the Aussie public a chance to farwell Mark Waugh in a home series. Yes they are paid players but does service to the sport count for nothing?

So bravo Steve Waugh. I really hope he doesn't retire and prove for the 100th time that you never knock a champion. I think the public spoke very well today and I hope the powers of Australian cricket listened although I doubt it.

No matter what happens, today will be a memory that I wont forget. Steve Waughs walk to the crease with 40000 people on their feet cheering each step (for those who didn't see it he passed the out going batsmen half way to the pitch he was so eager to get to the middle). His run a ball innings to 50, the passing of 10,000 runs to be he 3'rd highest batsmen of all time and the dash for his ton before stumps, smashing a cover drive for 4 on the last ball of the day to acheive it. Truely incredible. sniff sniff

I guess he could always go and play for England.. should see him in a job untill he retires age 65

Perhaps what the selectors are trying to do is halt what is gong to happen when the core of players are all going to retire within a year or two of each other ... both Waughs, Warne, McGrath and leave the team inexperienced. We've seen over the last two days what can happen without most of those players. And why oh why is Bichel still there? Why aren't they giving a young/new player a shot at it? Okay, he's going alright but surely there are others (including the Aust. team) who are going to benefit from it much more than him.

And did anyone else see the face mask Ryan Campbell had on it the Aust A v Sri Lanka game? wtf???

This is not a new phenomenon in Australian captain of sacking players (just because they are OLD - sorry, steve)
Grimett had an amazing series against England - the reward - DROPPED!
Allan Border, Mark Taylor are more recent in this list ...
Maybe it is this policy that has served Australia well over the years. In a way, it is nice to see that "reputation" isn't the primary force behind selecting a team.
Even if they let Steve continue for some time , will they keep him till the next tour to India?
in India, there is "The tale of two Captains- Steve and Saurav" - one keeps winning, but isn't sure of his place! the other keeps losing (and doesn't a decent knock for a long long time), yet he knows he will be at the helm as long as he wishes it!
No points for guessing who is who!
Ironical

First off - let me add my congratulations to Steve Waugh on his magnificent innings (despite the last ball gamesmanship - I'd have lobbed him one to hit for six!) - if it is the end of his career then at least it's a memorable one.
Secondly - AND FINALLY it looks like we have an actual game of cricket going on.
Looking forward to Day 3 let's hope for another good day, whichever way it goes.

Happy New Year all - it could be a good one for us cricket lovers, let's hope it's not spoiled by the politics off the field.

Dunno so much if the selectors are totally to blame. To me, the main villain of the piece is the media. I think they are the ones who, in the interests of having something to write about, throw up these 'too old' stories in the first place.
You mentioned David Boon (who got out before he was pushed), Ian Healy (who was pushed out before he was pushed), Mark Taylor (who was in the same boat as Steve Waugh is currently ie. a winning captain who was just finding his form again, and whose only crime was being 34yo), Mark Waugh (who was pushed before he got out), but to me, the biggest set-up was on Allan Border (refer Waugh and Taylor scenarios). The Allan Border tribute match was arranged well before Border himself had expressed any intention of retiring. However, once it had been staged, he figured that he couldn't very well come back for another season after what was billed as . for all intents and purposes, his 'retirement' match.
Just one last thought on the selection panel. The head of the selection panel is, of course, Trevor Hohns. One of Trevor's good friends is Brisbane Broncos coach, Wayne Bennett. Bennett has always been big on the idea of getting rid of a player one season too early, rather than one season too late (eg. Wally Lewis, Darren Smith, Kevin Campion, Kerrod Walters etc.). I guess Trevor is just taking a leaf out of his friend's very successful book.

In reply to:

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Perhaps what the selectors are trying to do is halt what is gong to happen when the core of players are all going to retire within a year or two of each other

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Gill......... you mean like the England selecters keep talking about doing but never actually get round to?

(By the way......totally off topic, but, ahem, I'd like to congratulate Stewie for becoming the 3rd highest test run scorer for England on day 2, as he sailed past GB with 8149 runs!)

How the bloody hell did he do that? He should have been retired years ago!

There was me thinking that knocking your (reasonably, in our case) succesfull sports stars when they're on the top of thier game was an English phenomenon! Good to see it's not entirely exclusive

Sincere congrats to Steve and also sincerely hope that the fat blonde bleached one recovers in time for the World Cup.

Sincerely

wez

Bertho, you there today? What about a banner for FT? If the convicts won't let you do it, move in with the Barmy Army ........er, I know a few people, we could smuggle you in!

Dalgleish, just going on your Wayne Bennett logic .. what the hell was Alfie doing playing then? Surely if anyone was fitted your criteria it was him.

Wez, agree with the congratulations to Alex Stewart .. and he did it with the chicken pox. he's one of my all time favourite players ... although so was hansie and look waht happened to him!

Now the Barmy Army ... how good are they? Just watching the tv yesterday showed what they can do to the atmosphere of the game. I wish I could work out what they're saying though! it's almost embarrasing seeing the Aust. fans chanting "steve Waugh clap clap clap steve waugh claop clap clap" when if it were the a player from England the BA would've had a six verse song for him.

Hoggy's on a hat-trick!

er.............watch my next post?

wez

Gillespie played and.................... would you believe it? ...... missed!!!

Frankly wez, I would!

arrgh, he was so close! Commentators saying he missed it by a mile but it wasn't that far away! Should be Australia batting very soon if Gillespie and then McGill get the strike too often. Gilchrist can't hog it all the tme.

Australia was all out for a mighty lead of ONE run

Gilly scored a nice 133, and Dizzy had a bit of fun, belting a ginormous six over the bowler's head...

Seeing that the Aussies are batting last on a pitch that is starting to break up, it should be an interesting couple of days coming up.

anyone watching now? England finally declared for 452 sending Aust. in with about an hour to play ... they're already 3 wickets down for about 20 and have sent in a night watchman (by any other name ) Whoa!
Who'da thought it!!??

One word, Jillie.. OUCH! (3/64 at stumps)

451 required less 91 today,
360 tommorrow, and it's a five zot whitewash

Finally a Test that's going to have a good last day's play, that's if the Oz batsmen can stand the pressure!

Well well, at least my forecast (revised) is coming true!

Ace - I hope my initial forecast (wildly inaccurate for the series I admit) is correct -" the last test going to the last day - last over".

Nope. Wasn't there Wez. I was enjoying the large surf down the coast this weekend. BUT I hardly missed a ball thanks to ABC radio. I thank you for your smuggling me out with the Barmy Army offer, but I think my ears have bled enough this summer as a result of their incredibly creative chanting. I particularly like the '$3 dollars to the pound' one.

What a brilliant test match, so many highs. The aussie bowlers just werent good enough. We really needed McGill to do a lot better but I wont take away from the Pommies bat. How good is Vaughan! It's a shame that the English didn't come to the Gabba with the confidence they have now, could have made for an interesting series.