England need a miracle to pull things back from here. I'm banking on the fact we never win at the Waca to make an English victory so extraordinarily unlikely that the sporting gods will intervene (as they always do when the odds are long enough)

I'm wondering why Her Majesty, Elizabeth 2 has not elevated Bumbles to the peerage,
he's a dapper chap, why not make him Baronet of Blockallday. I asked Bumbles about a Test match he played at the WACA when he got bowled by one that went away in the air & came back off the pitch to take out a stump & he said, vigorously " It were Jeff Thompson & he got my middle stump & I'm still feeling it"

This could have gone differently if England had held onto the ball on a couple of those hits.

My dad has tickets for third test at the WACA (which I'm just across the road from actually).. but he's less enthusiastic about it now than he was a week ago..

@ Putin

Not too differently. Australia could have easily added another couple of hundred runs to their tally if they wanted to. The two main differences between these Ashes and the last lot is that England aren't covering up piss poor batting with one player's heroics, and Australia seem less inclined to roll over and die. Neither team is particularly good.

The talk of long odds reminds me of the Aussie comeback against England at the Adelaide Oval in 2006. After seeing a glimmer of hope on TV, I was lucky enough to get there in time to witness it first hand!

"Neither team is particularly good"

Thats a bit harsh.
England has some top quality players, Broad, Bell, Cook et al
& Australia has a bit of talent.
you'd rather watch...Windies v ...Sri lanka ..???
or the pyjama game over 20 or 50 overs ???

I'd rather watch South Africa v India (assuming India's at home).

I'm not saying they're all that bad, but they're a shadow of what they both were a few years back. England haven't been able to bat for quite some time now, and Australia has one or two big talents when it used to be made up entirely of big talents. Instead of a mighty contest between greats what we have are Australia saying "We'd quite like the Ashes back" and England saying "Go on then, thery're all yours".

So far it's been miserable stuff, with only a couple of days worth watching.

Just got my tickets for corporate box, SCG, 4Jan.

"Boof" Lehmann & the Aussies win at the WACA & take 3 nil lead
HOORAH

MCG end of Day two
England come storming back into this Test match with a very good bowling performance

I've not seen or heard anything of this match other than the scorecard. I always suspected England would win this one (not that that's by any means certain, but to not have lost it by the end of the second day is quite rare this series), but has it been about England being good or Australia being careless?

Aussie carelessness. Dave Warner thought he was playing Twenty20 again.

ah well if Candice is responsible for Dave Warner's "rehabilitation"
maybe they've had a row & he's in the doghouse ?
Hope she forgives him & comes through with a decent head job for Dave
before the 2nd Innings

bump

I'm still waiting for England to have a good day with the bat. Hopefully 8th time lucky!

Kerry O'Keefe, ABC radio commentator has announced that he will retire from cricket commentating after the SCG Test match

England take a 51 run lead on the first innings, and at lunch Day 3 are no wicket for 54 runs, a lead of 105 runs

well all these Pommy chaps have to do is bowl Australia out for less than 230 to win & all the Aussies have to do is make the runs to win, Think we'll get a result on day 4

I guess you are still waiting Octavious

Yup. It's pathetic stuff. Australia don't deserve to win the series 5-0, but England deserve to lose it in a whitewash.

Rogers 102 not out --- HOORAH
we are closing in on a 4th Test win in the series

The Australians win in Melbourne
HOORAH HOORAH ITS 4 NIL

theres a few who were prominent contributors when England were thrashing Australia earlier in the year who are now silent and "missing in action"

:'( Kerry O'Keefe...

Watched all four days from the members pavilion. Still dirty about 2005.

England were rarely thrashing Australia. I think there was one game where we were, one where we were being thrashed (and it rained) and a couple of close games.

Both of these teams fall into the miserable category of second rate test sides who are merely ok at home and pretty dire away. Australia winning every toss has made it look even worse for England, but not by much. They are an insult to what the Ashes were a few years back.

ICC Rankings - Batsmen

AUSTRALIA
#5 - M Clarke
#12 - D Warner
#32 - S Watson
#37 - B Haddin
#38 - S Smith
#48 - C Rogers

ENGLAND
#13 - I Bell
#14 - A Cook
#16 - K Pietersen
#18 - J Trott
#27 - Prior
#35 J Root

In batting England on paper are the better team.

ICC Bowling Rankings

AUSTRALIA
#5 - R Harris
#6 - P Siddle
#15 - M Johnson
#21 - N Lyon
#38 - S Watson

ENGLAND
#9 - S Broad
#14 - J Anderson
#15 - G Swann
#26 - T Bresnan
#36 - M Panesar

Australia are better on bowling

I think Rogers batting ranking will improve on his performances
in this series, his century in the second innings alone should lift his ranking
and, Octavious, I disagree that these are "second rate" rate test teams.
I don't know the English cricket scene well, but for example, pick a better Australian side out of the current players in the State Shield teams.
I don't think I'd be too keen on facing Mitchell Johnson in his current form.
some commentator / cricket writer made a crack about Johnson, and Brett Lee responded, and during the Melbourne Test match Lee bowled 6 balls to this chap in the MCG nets, hit him 5 times with the ball at pace (that's gotta hurt ) and took out his middle stump with the 6th ball .

@ MajorMit

If you could transport this Australia back in time to face either of the 2005 Ashes teams, can you imagine any result other than 5-0? They are 2nd rate.

The British'Sphere of Influence'the cricket ball.