The Ashes

[PTP]

Steve Finn smashing it up

[PTP]

Crazy couple of days of cricket

[Yozza]

WICKET
M Marsh b Finn 6 (Aus 92-5)

[Pedenj]

Imagine if it was all over this evening

Would you bet it against now?

5 down and 35 overs to face

[Buzzo]

This from TMS. I tend to agree.

Loving the excitement and prospect of a series defining win (potentially), but am I the only one feeling this test match is a bit lacking in quality? Yes, it's incredibly exciting, but under-11's cricket can also be exciting if it's close. We watch Test cricket because it's the ultimate test, these should be the best 22 players these two teams have to offer, applying themselves and doing everything it takes to win. Whilst it has been exciting, the moments of excellence have been few and far between.

[Alex]

Yep, apart from Anderson and Finn it's been a real low quality test.

This will be over tonight, can't see them lasting much longer.

[Buzzo]

Some of the batting from both sides

Jimmy off injured, could be a doubt for next week.

[Chazza]

Be right ****ed off if you had tickets for Saturday.

[meffin]

Anderson injured

[Chazza]

Former England and Essex swing bowler Mark Ilott tells BBC Essex: "It looks a bad one. If it's an intercostal it could be seven weeks [for him to recover]. Other than a stress fracture of the back there's not much worse than a side strain for a quick bowler.

"Potentially he could be out of the Ashes. When it swings there's no one better than Jimmy so I don't how you'd replace him if it's as bad as it looked, but let's hope it's not."

[Buzzo]

Beefy reckons that Jimmy won't feature again in the series.

[Chazza]

From the ECB: "James Anderson has a tight side and will be assessed overnight and in the morning. There will be an update tomorrow."

[Buzzo]

Finn takes a wicket with his first ball of a new spell.

[captainfog]

So not good bowling then?

Lyon bowled well and Johnson bowled a great first spell today, but overall no, not really. Thought we batted pretty poorly. Not as poorly as Australia batted though

[Alex]

We will have this tied up by later this afternoon. Its been a decent performance to do that. Especially given how dominant they were in the last test.

You just seem negative on all things England at the moment, and unwilling to give credit. Which is fair enough. But I think a player like Finn has done fantastically.

So what if we batted poorly, its no different to winning ugly in football. A win is a win, and it doesnt really matter how it comes in my book.

FWIW I would prefer a longer 5 day game, with a good bit of test batting and digging in with the conditions. Dont think any batsmen has done that in this game. There did look like there was runs for players like Rodgers, Smith and Cook if they were watchful.