The times they are a-changin’.
172 All out. Exclamation marks. No smiley face emoticon.
Aussies 132-3.
Just turned on the Radio to flick over to BBC Radio 6. I think it is more my natural habitat at the moment. Mary Ann Hobbs soothe my pain. And where is your namesake when we need him! But moving on from Radio 5 Sports Extra (where the dial was set) just caught Boycott’s soundbite for the day, ‘…You can kiss ’em goodbye.. that’s as stupid a shot as you will ever see’.
Boycs actually advised listeners to switch off and go to bed last night. Simon Mann winced and Vaughan sensibly acknowledged that they’d all be out of a job if we followed his advice. But Boycott could retire tomorrow. The rest of us still need to earn a crust. Sadly he offered this advice even before things got really bad.
When Carberry was out just before lunch I lost the energy and did indeed switch off the radio and hit the land of nod. Waking up just now at the end of the day’s play, I was saddened. I retweeted a few of Vaughan’s comments last night, we needed to dig in, and we didn’t. It was infact a shambles.
Bell was undefeated on 72 not out, and for everyone’s money needs to be at number three. I think it is fair to say most of the England batsmen got themselves out. Mitch’s bowling has had an extra few mph and he has started bowling straighter, but really? – Is he so much to deal with? I’m not thinking Curtley Ambrose when I see him bowl. Still, he has our lads in disarray, and although we haven’t lost this test yet, it doesn’t look likely that we will be able to save it.
Flemming gave England the benefit of the doubt last night, but it’s difficult to see a way back from here. Bradman once brought his team back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Gubby Allen, but Bradman was a very special talented player.
The memories of the Ashes Summer in Blighty are fading fast. Infact they’ve gone. Pick yourself up England, if you are going to go down, go down fighting.