THE RED ROOSTER

Tea - Australia 377 for 6 (Smith 65 not out). England have brought it back a bit but the damage has already been done, Head fell to Jacob Bethell's slow left arm, which kind of underscores the point that Bethell and Root can contribute 10 overs between them if England go without a spinner. Also pleaee note Jamie Smith has been standing up to Matthew Potts bowling.... Need to contain the Australian lead if it goes beyond 100 in this session then its trouble for England.

Lunch Australia 281 for 3 65 Overs - Head 162 not out having been dropped THREE times in the morning sesion. Nothing much else to add.

Stumps with Australia 166 fior 2 (Head 91 not out) in just 34.1 overs . Am England bowling performance thst if cioould be summed up in one word - Risible. With Matthew Potts in particular serving up "cafeteria" stkle bowling smacked around the SCG . David Saler may well be temporary bowling coach but is it beyond him to instruct his charges to bowl one side of the wicket and bowl "dry", because when your on a flat pitch you get batsmen out by drying up the runs not leaking runs like a sieve. That England seem to "wing it" and have no real plans, was confirmed bv Lawrence Booth in The Daily Mail earlier last week with the revelation that the players in the ODI / T20 sides were stunned to hear from their Test colleagues that England do not hold Team Meetings... One other moment today was the cladh late on between Mmuthy Marnus Labuschange and Ben Stokes best described as a "firm and frank exchange of views". Marnus departed soon afterwards caught in the gully by Jacob Bethell off Ben Stokes and without breaking an M'bargo it is miost unwise to get on the wrong side of Benjamin Stokes esq....

Tea England subside to 384 all out which is near enough to 400. Joe Root getting 160 which kind of puts a fork in the "Average Joe" comments from the Australian Media. However you cannot judge the England score until both sides have batted on this.

Lunch England 336 for 6 (Root 138 not out). as predicted Brook got himself out on 84 steering Boland to Steve Smith at First Slip having tried a tennis shot at Starc the previous over, Stokes then got a good dekivery from Starc to be out for 0 and a collapse seemed imminent but good batting from Joe Root and a curates egg of an innings from Jamie Smith has given England a respectable first innings score until just before lunch when Smith cut Labuschange to cover. Sir Alasdair Cook "smoking" about that shot and the spot it has left England in. Crucial post lunch sesson, England will be looking to get 400 plus, Australia with the new ball due in 2 overs, to bowl England out for around 360. As ever, England rely on Joe Root.

Some points in response Firstly, the best players gravitate to the Test Match Grounds Counties who by and large are in division one, because they have more money and status through staging test matches (MIddlesex the exception as teir home ground in Lords is owned by MCC to whom they pay rent) Secondly, the majority of players produced actually come from the smaller counties who gravitate to ther the bigger counties Some examples Ben Duckett (northamptonshire to Notts), Stuart Broad (Leicestershire to Notts) , Keaton Jennings (Durham to Lancashire) and so on. Third point on banning overseas players, If you have the chance to play with the like of Kumar Sangakkara or Hashim Amla even at the fag end of their careers, then unless you are a compete bone-head you will have the opportunity to study first hand how they prepare for the game and learn first hand the habits that made them great players. If you bowl to someone like that you should learn a bit about your own game as much as theirs as well. Final Point, If you had been wastching this Ashes series, ball by ball as I have, then you would have noticed that the trendy medium paced trundlers wih the keeper standing up to the stumps in Michael Neser and to a lesser degree Scott Boland have been somewhat effective in ending England's Ashes dream. Not of course that England playees play much if any County Cricket to come across bowlers of this type...

Getting ready for day 2 after yesterdays post tea play being called of for first bad light then rain though the suspicion remains that this was convenient to extend the match in that little effort was made it appears to get the game back underway once the rain had stopped. The break also benefits Australia in that it allows Starc a breather and the rest an opportunity to have are-think. Someone who should have a re-think is Harry Brook because we are in a similar situation to the Oval at present where there is a successful Root-Brook patrtnership has ground the opposition attack down. Will there be another Harry Brook Brain-fade giving his wicket away and precipitating an England collapse. I have no problem with him gettig out to a good delivery I do have a problem if he throws it away and yesterdayas innings from him reminded me of the title from that film The year of living dangerously,

Early Tea England 211 for 3 in 45 overs a Root and Brook partnership of over 150 Brook living dangerously which he should avoid as apart from Strarc the Australian attack is pederstrian.

Lunch 114 for 3 in 24 overs proving you do not need to Bazball to score relatively quickly. The pitch looks like an English seamer and its medium pace stuff. With Harry Brook stil there on 23 with every ball looking like his last England, yet again, Need a Joe Root innings of note to get an acceptable score batting first.

1996 - High Wigan 10,014 - Low Halifax 3,200 - Average 5,418 Second time around 2000 - High Castleford 8,067 - Low Wath Brow Hornets (CC) 1,511 Average 3,419 2001 = High Bradford 5,259 - Low Batley (CC) - 1,204 - Average 3,177 Source LPL Rugby League Yearbooks

Some questions for those reading this thread Assuming the England and Wales Cricket Board sacks Brendan McCullum and takes a seven-figure loss in terminating his contract and leaves England with a locum Coach for the World T20 who would replace him? If Ben Stokes walks away from the England Captaincy bringing an end to the “Baz and Ben” era - who is best qualified to replace him? And would a change of Captain and Coach really address the fundamental structural issue afflicting English Cricket? Not so easy is it, it’s sensible to retain the existing Coach for the oncoming World T20 in a couple of weeks and they have until the start of the New Zealand series in June to evaluate the carnage. There are those who would want an England defeat to force change, but I am not one of them, I would always want my side to win and in any event the body of evidence exists on which to drawn judgement on the current set up. I would not be surprised however to see Alec Stewart take over from Rob Key as ECB Director of Cricket to bring more rigour to England’s approach. A final word on a dysfunctional England set up when you send out a tweet celebrating Ollie Ppope’s birthday at the same time as an unnamed England management source confirms to Lawrence Booth of The Daily Mail that they acknowledge they persisted with Pope for far too long. One final stat in the years 1945-1999 there were no test matches that finished in 2 days from the year 2000 to the time of writing 22 Test matches have concluded in 2 days. T20 is having an impact on batting techniques, to explain if you have played cricket, you understand that batting is instinctive, you have a split second to decide on the shot you will play. If you brain is now trained to go hard at the ball to either slap or deflect deliveries this pays off for you in limited overs as the field is not up but not so in red ball cricket where fielders stand and wait. It’s more difficult to switch from T20 to Test match mode than most people think.

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My Christmas has come two days late, a fantastic win in the circumstances. For al the talk about Australia missing Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon remember England were without Archer and Wood their fastest bowlers, no recognised front-line spinner and it took 3 tests to work out Jacob Bethell should have been in the starting XIII not to mention the fact that England were down to just three bowlers. I did feel pre=tour as written earlier in this thread that while England would not win the series they would at least win a Test in this series, I admit this belief waivered once England were 0-3 down and Jofra Archer went home but I am pleased to wrong on that. One other point I have stated earlier in the thread is that the Bazball era England team is better batting second. Maybe this is down to the limited overs nature of the style of play, but they are better chasing a target than defending a total Defeat is opening a few wounds in the Australian side · Is Jake Wetherald really the best opening bat in Australia? · Should Marnus Labuschagne be in the starting XI full stop? · And how on earth is Cameron Green the highest valued player in the IPL? Which is the point about how this tour is a case of what might have been, and victory in this game should not obscure the failings of the England management or the structural problems in the game. And as we read our old friend Todd Greenberg, Cricket Australia is taking a bath this series Greenberg- Short Tests are bad for business But I will end on a positive note that this win is not only good for Cricket, but good for England as it gets the proverbial monkey off their backs as regards winning down under, restores the credibility of the Ashes Contest down under, and personally it means my 13 days of nocturnal living watching this series so far has not been in vain.

Tea England 77 for 2 in 12 Overs 98 runs needed with 8 wickets left. Great Bowling performance from England operating with just thre bowlers but I am posting nothing else it too tense and serious.

Lunch Australia 96 for 6 with Steve Smith 16 not out. Not as good a situation for England as it appears for Gus Atkinson is off the field with a hamstring injury so without a three wicket burst in the 30 minutes before lunch England's trio of fast bowlers would be being worn down by Australia. As it is we are still in it but the post lunch hour will decide the game. On the bowling, some points firstly the bowling coach is supposedly Tim Southee, currently playing in the ICL in Abu Dhabi. He has been replaced in this series by England's former bowling coach in David Saker which is the equivalent of having your child taught for a term by a supply teacher. and symptomatic or the bazball laissez faire attitude. where you employ your mates. Atkinson's hamstring injury is rather symptomatic of the point I have been banging on about that you do get fit for cricket by not playing it exposing the bazball "mentally fresh" mumbo jumbo. Another point by the number of catches going low or falling short is that England are standing too deep. I cannot think that the Australian Coaching team would not have got a message out to their players in similar circumstances. Finally, Bazball's early years were enhanced by having Anderson and Broad and to a lesser extent Chris Woakes so essentially over the last three years England have lost the experience of 1500 wickets between them . yet all were at the end pof their careers and you have to question succession planning. The only silver lining for England is that the Australian attack is currently in their mid to late 30's so come 2027 will have similar problem to that England have now.