Two days of solid rain

 

Three ... and the forecast is for none.

 

I'm hoping for a sink hole to open up overnight and take the whole ground by the start of day three.

 

The way Stokes makes use of the swing is special, I don't think there is anyone in the world doing it better right now. Deadly stuff.

 

An innings and 78 runs

Congratulations...............Pommy bastards

 

Yesssssssssssssssssssssss!

 

=D

 

Clarke just announced his retirement from International cricket at the end of this series.

 

I hope he left on his own terms and wasn't pushed. He has been a good captain for Australia. He won the world cup only a few months ago.

 

He left on his own, he announced it to Warne as the Poms were on the ground getting their just accolades. He said he made the final decision last night.....Time to go before he's pushed.

 

Yeah I just saw him. He's been through a lot. From winning the Ashes in dominating fashion and winning the world cup, to being humiliated this week. Was also what happened to Phil Hughes. Quite a tough journey that he has been through. He's well respected here in England.

 

And here in South Africa as well. Michael Clarke is a name that you never wanted to see out in the middle

 

England have now won five of the last seven Ashes series, and been humiliatingly whitewashed in the other two ...

 

England are still a young side, there are some weak spots, but there is a lot of talent in the team, and they can definitely go on from this and regain number 1 in the rankings with just a few tweaks. Root is possibly the best player in the world with the bat, he is attacking when he needs to be, and steady when he needs to be. He doesn't ever look like he's under pressure and is as good as any other English batsman I have ever seen. He can even bowl a few tail enders out. Stokes, under the right conditions makes swing bowling look so easy, he can bowl balls that are simply unplayable for any batsmen in the world. He can also knock up quite a few runs, and as he has shown he has no trouble catching the ball in the field. Mo Ali has been an important player this series, he has got a couple of important wickets at important times and scored some crucial runs to put the pressure on Australia. To add to that England's senior bowlers (Jimmy and Broad) are two of the world's best bowlers , and with Finn and Woods for backup, that makes for quite a strong attacking line up. I know top class leg spinners are a rarity in England, but if we can find one for the flatter pitches, the England attack would be the best in the world, failing that, another off break spinner wouldn't go amiss. May need one or two improvements in the batting line up, but the side doesn't need as much as I thought a few months ago.

 

I think this England side is as good as anybody if they don't suffer a crisis of confidence. Wiping those out will only come with time; the more experienced, thoroughly confident teams, for instance, would have viewed 500 to win in the second Test, and five sessions to do it, as easier to win than to draw, but the England team went out "knowing they'd already lost" and folded. To me, that's only a sign of lack of experience; that they've convincingly won the other three Tests shows how good they are.


Now it's back to watching Yorkshire try and retain the Championship; which they have not done since before I was born.

 

incidentally, Joe Root has now gone to the top of the Test batting rankings; a batting average of over 55 after 31 tests definitely puts him among the all-time greats.

 

I've been wondering what the effect of the proposed ban on Vegemite will have on the Aussies.

 

The whole Vegemite ban is bullshit, as the idea that one can make home brew from the yeast, it is impossible as the yeast in it is dead, the cooking process involved in making our iconic spread would make the yeast inactive.

One of our dumb arsed politicians started this ridiculous rumour, he opened his mouth without putting his brain into gear.

 

Well at least we're thrashing the Poms in the dead rubber Test. Should finish them tonight my time; hope we can do the job before the weather intervenes.

Diff between this Test and previous two: our batsmen toughed out the first ten overs, then scoring became easier without risking wickets. In last two Tests, our bats played like it was a one dayer or T20.

Also, our girls look likely to win the girls' Ashes, FWIW.