It's coming upto 4am here and I'm in the process of getting ready to travel upto Birmingham for the first day of the second test between the old enermies.
It was not all doom and gloom for England despite losing the first test and there were some positives to come out of their performance.
Harmison and Flintoff showed that they are quality bowlers and worried alot of the Australian batsman. Pieterson showed that is technique is up to test standard and he's not just a banger suited to only ther one day form of cricket.
The pitch at Edgebaston is damp and will be slow early on, but the fine weather that's due will quicken the pitch up and be at it's best for batting on day 2 and day 3.
Due to the dampness the ball will leave small indentations on the surface and come day 4 the bounce will become uneven when the ball pitches either on the up slope or down slope of those indentations.
This will be a seamers wicket and Warne should only be effective in Englands second innings and more so if England are forced to bat last.
Looking at the various markets I suggest the following;
2 points McGrath to get more wickets than Warne at 2.00
2 points Harmison to get more wickets than Flintoff at 1.91
1 point England to win 2nd Test at 6.00
0.5 points Harmison to be named man of the match @ 17.00
It was not all doom and gloom for England despite losing the first test and there were some positives to come out of their performance.
Harmison and Flintoff showed that they are quality bowlers and worried alot of the Australian batsman. Pieterson showed that is technique is up to test standard and he's not just a banger suited to only ther one day form of cricket.
The pitch at Edgebaston is damp and will be slow early on, but the fine weather that's due will quicken the pitch up and be at it's best for batting on day 2 and day 3.
Due to the dampness the ball will leave small indentations on the surface and come day 4 the bounce will become uneven when the ball pitches either on the up slope or down slope of those indentations.
This will be a seamers wicket and Warne should only be effective in Englands second innings and more so if England are forced to bat last.
Looking at the various markets I suggest the following;
2 points McGrath to get more wickets than Warne at 2.00
2 points Harmison to get more wickets than Flintoff at 1.91
1 point England to win 2nd Test at 6.00
0.5 points Harmison to be named man of the match @ 17.00
