The way they are scoring it will be done tonight

I can imagine the reaction in the media if we lose this match

Who at three?

The best no. 3 in England: Mark Ramprakash!

Oh for a start tomorrow like Onions gave us on day 2 at Edgbaston, unfortunately he's been dropped for the myth of that bottle-less waste of skin Harmison, good move that.



=white[size=9There, if that doesn't result in him picking up some wickets tomorrow nothing will.[/size

Am I the only one a tad nervous that, knowing Ponting, he's due a double hundred and they'll win?



Or England get 9, the last two hang on and the clouds decide to chuck their load on Monday?



Or England will actually pull it off?

Im a little nervous too now that the pitch seems to have calmed down a bit.

I just hope freddie can make it a "last" test to remember and go out with a bang

i don't think we can bat for 2 days for a draw.or get the runs to win. maybe our hope is for rain

I too am nervous having watch Australia win on poor strips in the past.



Can't believe we declared.



That pitch looks to offer nothing now.



They can still do it I'm afraid.





Come on England. Please.

where is the predictable rain in england when you want it

I'm so nervous, this match could go one of 2 ways



















































we could win it today or tomorrow

The highest test 4th innings score was achieved by the West Indies for the loss of 7 wickets. The next 5 highest scores were achieved for the loss of only 3 or 4 wickets. That suggests that scores of 500+ in the 4th innings are achievable, providing the batting side gets established. Certainly when India knocked off 387 against England for the loss of only 4 wickets they looked perfectly capable of scoring another 200+ runs if they had needed to, time permitting.



Its not over yet.

so in other words. its impossible

2 down already, get in there!!

Pitch looks lively again. Just what we need.

Thats settled any nerves!



Just need to keep chipping away and build pressure.

250+ for Ponting here I reckon.



As I said earlier, someone other than Broad and Swann need to come to the party, great to see Broad getting some reward now he's not being asked to bowl short stuff all the time.

The selectors' solution to the top order batting problem seems to have been vindicated, but the decision to drop Onions instead of Harmison doesn't look so clever. Surely Harmison won't get picked for the South Africa tour? Or maybe he'll clean up the last five wickets in this innings and get the nod? Either way I feel we've got better options now.

Like they said on commentary I think Colly's little cutters would be tough to play, normal seam looks the easiest to hit

Well I've made my feelings about Harmison pretty clear, shouldn't be anywhere near the team if you ask me - but it wouldn't surprise me if he did get a couple of wickets at the end to perpetuate the legend that seems to surround him.



Even if he doesn't go to SA I'm sure a few wickets for Durham early next season will have all the usual suspects getting him back in the test team next summer.

Agreed, if Harmison had got a quick 60 or 70 it could have made all the difference

Its the same theory that the Aussies had with Devon Malcolm, ie they would have always had him in the team because the opposition don't want to face him, he unsettles people with his pace. Malcolm however was probably more consistently fast and nasty than Harmison is.



Harmison has the legend built around him because from about August 2003 to August 2004 he was the best fast bowler in the world, no England bowler has held that status since Willis two decades ago.

5 years ago. It's never been anything like that since.



The guy is shot, mentally and technically. No-one in the coaching set-up will ever coax a respectable level of performance out of him at Test level again.



Having seen how Broad has gone on this pitch, not having Onions in the side has proved to be a mistake, albeit not a fatal one (yet).



It speaks volumes that he hasn't even been given an over today yet.

Colly Colly Colly!, Ricky Ponting Had To Go!...

Criconfo commentary:







The more we ridicule him the more likely it is he'll get some wickets, right?