THE RED ROOSTER

Seconded Thursday, Dec. 11 Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 8:15 p.m., Prime Video Sunday, Dec. 14 Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs, 1 p.m., CBS Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots, 1 p.m., CBS New York Jets at Jacksonville Jaguars, 1 p.m., CBS Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS Las Vegas Raiders at Philadelphia Eagles, 1 p.m., Fox Arizona Cardinals at Houston Texans, 1 p.m., Fox Washington Commanders at New York Giants, 1 p.m., Fox Cleveland Browns at Chicago Bears, 1 p.m., Fox Detroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams, 4:25 p.m., Fox Tennessee Titans at San Francisco 49ers, 4:25 p.m., Fox Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints, 4:25 p.m., Fox Green Bay Packers at Denver Broncos, 4:25 p.m., CBS Indianapolis Colts at Seattle Seahawks, 4:25 p.m., CBS Minnesota Vikings at Dallas Cowboys, 8:20 p.m., NBC Monday, Dec. 15 Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Most figures quioed on this forum by those that do not attend are either 500 or 3,000 (Observer - Guardina article) In reality, the stand that was open is the RY stand at AFC Wimbledon. This holds 2,391 seats. Now on the occasiois I was at matches in 2025, it seemed reasonably full and for some games (Bradford and York come to mind) well attended, so i would say attendances between 750 and 1,700 depending on the opponent and excluding anybody in hospitality in the opposite stand. The games that would have had crowds in the 500 region would have been Sheffield at Rosslyn Park RFC and the two games at Ebbsfleet FC against Halifax and Doncaster where 5.30pm kick offs were a factor. This is a naked eye observation on my part and if there is a poster on this forum who has actual verified attendance figures I invite them to cine onto this forum and let us all know.

Endorsement for London from Eamonn McManus https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/rugby-league-news-super-league-chairman-disappointed-at-london-broncos-snub-as-promoted-teams-chances-assessed-110731/ And I wonder if the Challenge Cup game on the 24-25th January agaist the Army / West Warriors is not a good opportunity to not only play the game at Hazlewood but also to hold a Fan Forum for ST holders.

Successful distration tactic from Brendan McCullum doubling down on the "overprepared" quote in interviews drawing press ire on the Coach rather than the fragile playing group. For the avoidance of doubt, Brendan McCullum is contracted to the ECB until the end of the next 50 over World Cup in 2027 andBen Stokes has extended his central contract until the end of the home Ashes series in 2027. Rob Key as Managing Director of English Cricket's popsition is the one to watch having endorsed the use of the Kookaburra ball for a few rounds in the County Championship to get players used to bowling with an Australian ball only for no England players to play in any of these games.....

Jags to play two games in London in 2026 Wembley to host THREE US football games in 2026 Personally I doubn that will b the case in 2026 for three reasons: Firstly, The Jags ha ve only eight home ga,es in 2026 rather than nine and capacity isown to 43,000 Secondly, the Jags are on the up this year Finally, I think 4 NFL games and a College Football game is pushing the envelope, as it will cost approx £ 1,000 to attend all five. I can this though in 2027 when thJags are in Orlando and have nine home games. Washington are going to be a "home" team next year but location unknown And discussions are going on for a return to Croke Park next year subject to Irish Gioernment aoproval,

And so it came to pass that England lost to go 2-0 down, Enlivened only by a spat between Jofra Archer and Steve Smith reminiscent of Justin Langers comments about Steve Harmison at the end of the Sydney test when England lost 5-0 in 2006/07 that the fastest spell of the series was when the game was well and truly gone.. After the Ashes there will be pressure to change management, coach and captain but that's not a panacea and I will explain why. The focus of English Cricket is on T20 and that franchise competition not on Red ball cricket or ODI cricket. The Country Championship, the number of games in which the ECB wanted to cut, is played in April, May and September in cold and damp conditions in which pitches are "sporting" and trendy medium paced trundlers as we used to call them thrive. Only two games get played in July sandwiched between Country T20 and the Franchise competition. As a result international players rarely play in the County Championship either in the IPL or "rested", so players such as Shoaib Bashir as a spinner rarely get selected in seam friendly conditions, and as a result have to learn their trade on the job at international level. this is why there is a pacity of decent spinners at county level. More significantly, Cricket is a game played by instinct particularily batting, if you have leaned your trade in the county championship you have a rough idea of how to constuct an innings, when to leave and when to play ect. If on the other hand, all you play is T20 and the occasional ODI your instincts are to throw your bat at anything outside off stump, as leaving the ball alone damages your strike rate. In a way that explains the brainless batting under Bazball where both Test matches and ODI's have been treated as an extended T20 with obvious results. It's significant that the technically more proficient English Batsmen are Joe Root and Ben Stokes who learned their trade before T20 and the Franchise Tournament gained prominence. As for ODI Cricket, not only is it downgraded to a second team competition it may rssult in England humillatingly having to qualify for the next 50 over world cup against th likes of Scotland and Zimbabswe. Again England's international players do not play in 50 over Cricket hence the nations rapid decline from world cup winners in 2019 to cellar dwellars in 2025. Plaeyrs go where the money is an it is in franchise cricket, Harry Brook is to get a £ 400,000 contract for playing in the franchise tournament for Northern Superchargers. While I am a critic of Harry's performance in the Ashes I do not begrudge him his money nor any other sportsman or woman. In sport your professional life is short and you have to live out the rest of your life post game, so you maxinise your earnings while you can. Of course this also means that Harry Brook and the rest of the England players will go straight into a Test Series against Pakistan having played 4 weeks worth of a 100 ball tournament no one else on the planet plays. That may not go well. The Impact on bowlers is also severe, remember bowlers win matches, if you are conditioned to bowling two over spells in T20 or an occasional five over spell in ODI cricket,.You are going to flag as England did when asked to return for your third or fourth spell of the day on a hot day and an unresponsive wicket because you are not used to bowling 17-18 overs in a day. Frec Trueman was right (and Jason Gillespie agreed with this) you get match fit by bowling long spells as bowling is a repetitive action' The more you do it the more natural it beconmes. So there you have it things are not going to get any better and the two biggest villains, SKYTV wheres conmcast see Cricket only as a T20 / 100 vehicle force feeding you the ILT T20, Big Bash and SA T20 if you look at their schedule and the administrators whose fat salaries are paid for by Pay TV denying the game a wider audience. As long as you have people in charge who know the price of everything and the value of nothing things will never change and English Cricket for whom the Test matches are still the main source of revenue (Gate and Broadcast) will continue to decline with a shrinking audience and resulting less value to pay TV.

England batted through the morning showing an application lacking beforehand to reach 193 for 6 at tea a lead of 16 . Unfortunately England need another 184 to have an outside chance as the pitch is showing signs of uneven bounce but Australia know they are one wicket away from the tail and bringing on "the mop" as Michell Starc is known to clean up the tail. Will Jacks is naking a case for his retention at Adelaide in the place of one of the failed batsmen in front of him. Maybe he bats at three. Pope keeps wicket and the out of form Jamie Smith is dropped. Pope not only has kept for England precviously, and is the reserve keeper on tour. but also was the England Under 19 keeper and porbably better off batting at seven than three. When they write the obituary of this tour (and pens are poised in the fourth estate) some will rightly focus on what might have been.

Bazball RIP - I did not think England would win the series but I did see them winning a game and the performances are worse that I envisaged. The problem is there is no-one in that squad who has been playing any red ball cricket outside of the Test Match XI. There are lots of reasons being put forwrad for England's demise but as much as people blame the coaches and players in reality, as with England Rugby League, the problem is the system and the way the game has been driven by stupidity and greed. What you see on the field is simply the end result of this.

England 45-0 off 6 overs at Dinner 177 Runs behind. Tempting fate to say the worst case scenario is avoided but the best case scenario, and the one that keeps the Ashes alive, is for England to be near parity at stumps having loost no more than 2 wickets. Let's hope for the best.

Australia 450-8 at Tea playing it perfectly so they will be bowling in twiight with a lead of now 116, A worst case scenario has the game over today but I am not sure about the extra half hour in day-night games. it's a good game for England to win from here and regadless of the outcome, English batsmen other than Joe Root need to both aim up and show up in this innings.

England have dropped the Ashes and if Australia push to a 100 plus lead with Starc bowling in twilight it not hard to envisage a 4 day defeat and no coming back from 2-0 down. Five dropped catches but to be fair it is pink ball comig at speed out of a mottled background as you will note, unlike English Grouns the Gabba has different multi-coloured seats. it's a much easer game on TV than when you are actually out there as anyone who has played cricket will know. That said when the inquest starts (and it will) basic selection issues will be to the fore. Australia had five seamboone of which is left arm with a different angle. England had four right arm fast to fast medium bowlers and a part-time off spinner whiich gives you no cover if either: One of your biwlers gets "collared" and Brydon Carse was - 10th worst opening spell in Test history in respect of runs conceded IIRC One of your bowlers gets Injured and Stokes was limping around near the end of his spell And youb can change the bowlers but not the bowling (all right arm) More to come tomorrow

Australia 228-3 at the Dinner break, England bowling better but the horse has bolted in the morning session. Only 106 behind now so likely to have a small lead or parity with England's score by stumps. The cameras panned to Michael Maguire during play and unsurpisingly the TNT commentary team did not have a clue who he was or why the host broadcaster was showing him...

Australia 130-1 off just 21 overs at Tea and rank bowling from England, short and wide giving the batsman plenty of time to cut and pull. When Jofra Archer did get Travis Head to Edge behind Jamie Smioth dropped a not easy chance but one an international keeper should take. Smith is an interesting case in poin,t he is clearly out of form with the bat having made an explosive start to his test career. Butr it should be remembered at Surrey, he oies not kjeep wicket their keeper is Ben Foakes the ex-England keeper considered to be the best gloveman in England. Foakes can bat but not at the Bazball tempo. Are England heading for a "Jos Buttler" redux where a keeper is picked on batting potential rather than the best wicketkeeper?

A decent score indeed at 325-9 and the last wickjet stand of 61 has put the game back in the balance. I have siad all along this series will be determined by whether England can out enough runs on the board to give the bowlers something to work with and a decent rest between innings. they have a chance, it will not be easy with top order batters like klex Carey and Josh Inglis coming in at 7 and 8 but it's a chance regardless. A lot of media hyperbole about Joe Root as"the greatest ever". Personally. I never compare players from different era's I would say that the ton in Australia has cemented him as an English great of the modern era. A Root innings is never going to match the pyrotechnics of some of his former and current colleagues but remember as great player is someone who comes to the party when the side needs it and there have been multiple situations in the last decade or so in Tests and ODI's where Joe Root has pulled England's fat out of the fire and to some degree masked the failings of others. His value to thjs England side is incalculable.

196-4 at Dinner, evenly poised.Fortunately for England Root and Stokes in dutring the twilight period and sensibly not playing at the ball outside off stump, unlike Brook who again launched a wild slog at the ball at around sixth stump the minute Starc came back. England need 300 plus, batting first they should have got around 400 but that's unlikely. At least with 300 plus the bowlers have a little to work with.