"England knew nothing about Ashton Agar before this Test and, it seems, neither did Australia
If they had they would not have batted him at number 11! This is a 19-year-old on debut who has hit three half-centuries in his 10 first-class matches and his technique was so good that Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, in theiru00a0Sky TV analysis, couldn’t find anything wrong with it.”
- David Lloyd praises debutant Agar.
“Each and every player who plays for their country, their club side, for their franchise or their county has the opportunity to wait for the decision the umpire makes and you respect the umpire’s decision. We play hard, we play fair and each individual has the responsibility and makes the judgement if he will wait for the umpire’s decision.”
- Kevin Pietersen defends England teammate Stuart Broad’s decision not to walk after clearly edging a delivery to Michael Clarke at slip. Umpire Aleem Dar gave Broad not out and Broad stayed put.
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“It is as if England’s first aim is not to lose rather than try to win. Cook was way too cautious at the start of Australia’s run ch ase. He had a deep point, would move slips out as soon as there was a good shot through the covers and the bowlers were bowling too short and not full and at the stumps. They were trying to defend with the ball and build pressure waiting for something to happen.”
- Australia legend Shane Warne hits out at what he perceives as negative tactics from England captain Alastair Cooks’s approach in the Durham Test.
“Certainly our players haven’t forgotten, they’re calling him everything under the sun as they go past. I hope the Australian public are the same because that was just blatant cheating. I don’t advocate walking but when you hit it to first slip it’s pretty hard. From my point of view I just hope the Australian public give it to him right from the word go for the whole summer and I hope he cries and he goes home.”
- Darren Lehmann lays in to Broad ahead of the final Test at the Oval in an interview with Australia radio station. His remarks cost him 20 per cent of his match fee.
“In the end they have obviously got their reasons why they are picking those guys and I’m certainly a little bit happier than I would be having to face a guy who is six foot eight with balls bouncing up all of the time --u00a0I’m certainly not complaining.”u00a0
- Shane Watson delights in England’s decision to named debutant Simon Kerrigan ahead of Chris Tremlett for the Oval Test as he scores 176 in the first innings.
“England knew Australia were going to declare, but it’s poor cricket when a team is bowling five overs in half an hour. The ICC don’t try to defuse it, and the umpires are at fault for not enforcing it.”u00a0
- Geoffrey Boycott criticises England’s slow over rate during the final Test whilst commentating for BBC’su00a0Test Match Special.
“Our guys need to assess their game at the end of the series and I think one thing for definite is that we will be working very, very hard to make sure we improve when we go to Australia. We know that to beat Australia in their own backyard... we are going to have to be a lot better both with the bat and the ball.”
- England coach Graham Gooch challenges the side to get better before launching their defence of the urn Down Under.u00a0
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