Beery, you may be able to get Test Match Special radio commentary over the internet. I know the BBC make it available online.. I actually listen to it while having the sound down on the telly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

"Five Live Sports Extra" carries the Test Match Special coverage. The Aussies have it relayed via ABC radio. Ideal if your browsing the net and want something to listen to. Play begins at 10:30 BST so I guess thats ~5 or 6 hours earlier for you. Radio 4 and 5 may also be covering it too apparently but Sports Extra would be the place to start looking, or listening.

Thanks for the info. I'll check into that. :up:

I don't know about that. On the one hand you have Australia, at the bottom of our lowest form slump in decades, epitomised by the loss to Bangladesh on this tour. Then there's England, who through lapses in concentration and bad luck are only 1 Test up when it should really be 3-1. It is utterly ridiculous that if we win this last Test, even after being so comprehensively outplayed in the rest of the series, we retain the Ashes.

I can understand how all of England must be excited at the possibility of regaining the Ashes after so long, but there's no way this series is the greatest of all time.

Great tests are all about evenly matched sides. It doesn't really matter how poorly each team is playing. Besides, missed opportunities and poor form dog every match. I fear such criticism is merely poor sportsmanship in disguise - it's easier to lambast both sides if the game isn't going the way we'd like it: the idea being that it somehow doesn't matter if we lose if both teams are playing crappy cricket - we can just dismiss the result.

These two teams are well matched despite their flaws, and what comes out of that is great cricket.

You have an odd definition of a 'great' game then. Great tests are all about players slugging it out to the best of their ability at the highest standard of cricket. If it's all about being evenly matched as you say, then I've seen some Under 10s games that must rank up there in the list of Best Matches Ever.

The problem with your argument is that is presumes that the players on both sides in this test series AREN'T playing their best game. Your presumptions are disrespectful to the players. No matter what mistakes are made, or how poor a player's form is, they ARE playing their best. If this was an under 10s game your argument might have some merit, but this is The Ashes for God's sake! The players aren't messing about out there. They are doing the best they can, and if that's not good enough for you, then that's too bad for you. I will enjoy a hotly contested cricket match even if there is poor form or mistakes on both sides.

I think trying their hardest and playing their best are two seperate things. Also, make no mistake; I'm enjoying watching this series more than any other in recent memory, and I'll be in front of the TV until the wee hours of the morning tomorrow. The difference is that I don't wish to throw around the label "Greatest Series Ever" as loosely as others. The scorecard is the not the ultimate indicator of the quality of the game, as the manner in which the runs are scored is just as important. There is a distinction between grinding away at a rock solid bowling attack and going to town on a bowler who, by his own admission, is bowling poorly.

Well, I was only saying it cause everyone else is saying it. Richie Benaud says this series is better than 81, the best series he has ever seen.

In terms of excitement, close finishes and quality it's the best I have ever seen. Most other experts agree except you, but you are entitled to your opinion of course.

Best series I have seen in a while, maybe not for run scoring or shots, but give me exciting, close tests over one side thumping the other any day!!! Just glad I ain't involved :lol: , hate close cricket matches when there are only a few runs and a wicket or two involved, and I am fielding!!! This ashes series is the best thing for test cricket, but I only will be happy if Australia wins. And I shall find out in the next five days

C'mon Aussie, C'mon, C'mon

I don't believe it , needing the win the aussie batsmen take the light and lose a session with rain forecast off and on for the rest of the weekend .

Oh boy, oh boy...

This match could still go any of three ways. Basically it comes down to a one-day scenario. Can England bat 40 or 50 overs? Can Australia bowl them out and make the run chase in the later part of the day? Will bad light cause it to be drawn and hand England the Ashes?

Just like the other matches anything can happen. There is something there for both fans. Yesterday as Hayden and Langer put up huge scores I was pretty certain the Aussies would take a 200+ lead into the last day, then Freddie and Hoggie swung it back again and left the Aussies trailing by 6 (something I had thought was impossible). We know England can feel the pressure after they limped to 128 at Trent Bridge, but I also think the Aussies could feel pressure too. After the promise of a huge lead they collapsed and will feel they under-achieved. The longer England bat the more pressure on the Aussies to take wickets. The more wickets fall the more the game will swing to the Aussies and the more pressure will mount on England. In a way it encapsulates all the tense finishes we have seen so far...

http://forum.cricketweb.net/showthre...065#post588065

Check out this forum thread at cricket web...

Over 1000 pages, 15000+ posts and nearly quarter of million "views"

Its all chronological so you find when the Aussies are doing well and when england are and see the emotions of the fans as they watch thing unfold..

This news just in , the Fat Lady has arrived at the Oval and is now warming up. :-j

Wow, what an amazing summer. Brilliant! We won back the Ashes, Pietersen smashed the Aussie bowlers around during the afternoon and took the match and the Ashes away from them, but it could still have been different.

When Bell came in I was as certain as anyone can be that he'd go for a duck... He just looks petrified under pressure. And then the wobbles set in. Just like at Trent Bridge the tension was there, all results were still possible and the Aussies had momentum. Step forward KP. I was discussing with someone about the two new England middle order batsmen. Bell I hear is technically sound but obviously young and prone to pressure (0 & 0 this match) but KP swaggers with confidence in all situations, and money can't buy that. After a few narrow escapes which were difficult catches, he battered the Australians and calmed the nerves of England supporters. With Collingwood and Giles he found steady partners who progressed slowely while he raced to 158 on the biggest stage he has ever played.

I felt after the tight, tense matches previously, if England were to win the Ashes, they had to put the Aussies out of the frame for once and I felt KP decided he was not going to let similar things happen.

At the end it was a strange finish and as a fan, I clamoured for a defining moment of victory, but bad light and a bit of farce left me feeling a little deflated...

However when Vaughan lifted the trophy in the evening gloom, I felt it was there. We won! We beat the invincible foe.

But, underneath that elation lay something else...

Sadness...

This is the end of a great summer, maybe the greatest summer of test cricket..

Part of me wishes we could play these Aussies once a fortnight. I like watching them as much as England. I think I am addicted to the tension and nervous energy these matches induce...

In a strange way I enjoy the contest more than the result...??

Richie Benaud is leaving too, a changing of the guard... I grew up listening to him...

Richie Benaud is still going to commentate in Australia, he has just had enough of you English, which is quite understandable :P

Congrats to the English team!!! But you are still officially Number 2.

What a bloody depressive week for me, first Port Power get knocked out of the AFL finals by our hometown rivals, and than Australia lose the Ashes. :cry:

Ah well life goes on

Tell that to Daphne. :lol:

No I think I shall pass, thank you :lol:

Anyhow latest reports are Mr McGrath and Mr Warne are going to continue to play when the next Ashes Series is here in Australia, to win back what rightfully is ours!!!

But honestly I think Mr McGrath is going to be too old, he is starting to wear out now :cry:

So what's on the conveyor belt of talent then as far as the aussie bowling goes, McGill and Hodge I know about, both good players but Warne beats them easy when it comes to scaring poms. Tait needs matches , he's fast enough but he needs to tune up the radar else he's going to bleed runs.
I think Warne will still be around next time but Mcgrath is showing the signs now so in 15 mths time he just isn't going to cut it.
Is there another quick about ? Or would the two spinners option be something the aussie selectors go for ?

Warney will be fine in 15 months time. He bowled to his best standard ever and the hunger is as strong as ever - just his private life may interfere between now and then, maybe he'll retire but I doubt it. McGrath did look a bit jaded after Lord's. Maybe due to injuries etc.. Could be fine. Lee will be fine on those fast bouncy wickets down-under.. Tait needs work on accuracy and consitancy.

Who knows, maybe they can fix Gillespie's problem. Channel 4 boys Benaud and Grieg said it looked like he was collapsing down during his delivery, a good bowling coach could fix that maybe...

Shane Watson..? He looks enthusicatic and good with bat, ball and in the field.. M Hussey, D Hussey, MacGill, Hodge (supposed to be very good) and Hogg...? Don't know, not seen much of these guys...

Its difficult to see McGrath being as a good a bowler at 37 (Ashes 2006/7 ) as he was at (say) 30 but he will still be world class. He doesn't rely on pace , just nagging accuracy anmd consistency. I think we can dismiss his performances post-Lords since he trod on a cricket ball, struggled with the injury, and then subsequently lost match fitness. McGrath is one of the all time greats. Even past his absolute best he will be a potential match winner........ as is Warne of course who can spin the ball till well into his forties if he wanted to.

BUT take these two away and the Australia bowling line up looks vulnerable. The final test bowling averages (Ashes 2005) make interesting reading. Bowlers such as Lee ( despite his admirable competitiveness) , and Tait are far more costly per wicket than the other two class acts.

England have FOUR bowlers, who still have years in the bag, and are all capable of tight and wicket taking bowling. None of them are in McGrath or Warne's class (yet) but it means England can keep the pressure on the opposition all through a match, not just when their two star turns are on.

Now, a very slow TURNING wicket might be a differnt scenario that undoes England ........... oh for a Jim Laker or Tony lock .....

MacGill will be 36 when the next ashes series are held here...So don't reckon you will be seeing him again. The whole Aussie team is starting to resemble the English "Dads Army" team of a couple of years back. Conveyor belt of bowlers? Won't really know until this Summer....But, no need to worry, no new Warnes or McGraths on the horizon, yet!!

I say "Ponting gotta go". First because of his pathetic tactics the whole english summer and also Us Waugh fans still remember his smart arse comments when Steve Waugh retired, like "The team will have more fun", "it will be a boys team". pfffft, whats fun in losing? People knew there were danger signs with these comments, plus this current stock of players were never on the receiving end of the West Indies brutality, (that was real cricket) or losing at the hands of the English. I shall never forget that Ponting got beat up in a night club a few years back after trying it on with a tranny :rotfl:

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/1...h20final20.jpg
When we held the Ashes still :cry: