The Ashes Thread - Cricket

[Gerrumonside ref]

Need Archer in for the 2nd test for sure.

 

[DavidM]

How many can we lose in ten minutes 

[DavidM]

I wonder how many bowlers have played in the ashes who’s brother played in the ashes for the other side ?

edit that , Darren Pattinson played against SA , but there’s a contrived quiz question there somewhere 

[The Lad]

I do love how Twitter is loving Steve Smith and forgetting all the ball tampering he did, English fans getting slated for booing him and damn right they did, he should never have been able to play test cricket again. I do wonder if it was the other way around and we did the ball tampering would Twitter defend us?, I think not.

[17 stone giant]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

They have zero idea how to get him out and I can’t blame them . He averaged a thousand when we went there

Full credit to Australia for fighting back, but very poor from England to allow them to go from 122-8 to 284 all out.

If you can't get Smith out, fine - he's probably the best batsman in the world. But at least get the guys at the other end out. They're numbers 10 and 11 for a reason!

[DavidM]

1 minute ago, 17 stone giant said:

Full credit to Australia for fighting back, but very poor from England to allow them to go from 122-8 to 284 all out.

If you can't get Smith out, fine - he's probably the best batsman in the world. But at least get the guys at the other end out. They're numbers 10 and 11 for a reason!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen that tactic of having fielders everywhere and trying to be over smart to get the 11 on strike ever ever work . Usually the batsman manipulates it perfectly and it just completely unravels like that . I’m with Warne that you stop doing everything that’s worked before and you lose the plot

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

No way should they be doing this from 120-8 . This is where the lack of pace hurts when pitches die

Really didn’t help that the ball lost its shape entirely but not enough to get it replaced.

[DavidM]

This game is basically on our batting tomorrow . Batting last will be tricky as this track wears

[gingerjon]

18 minutes ago, DavidM said:

This game is basically on our batting tomorrow . Batting last will be tricky as this track wears

Vaughan made a rare decent point on TMS: the bowlers are exhausted as it’s been a tough day for them. They didn’t do much wrong but they had to do long shifts - we can’t be having them bowl again tomorrow if we want to win.

[DavidM]

3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Vaughan made a rare decent point on TMS: the bowlers are exhausted as it’s been a tough day for them. They didn’t do much wrong but they had to do long shifts - we can’t be having them bowl again tomorrow if we want to win.

Gave it everything , came up against a rare talent who could easily be the difference between the teams . I don’t theyre a special Aussie team , and look just as flaky as us really

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, DavidM said:

Gave it everything , came up against a rare talent who could easily be the difference between the teams . I don’t theyre a special Aussie team , and look just as flaky as us really

There were some stats put up about the number of false shots that Smith played. It was effectively  none. He basically was the Australian team today.

[DavidM]

Just now, gingerjon said:

There were some stats put up about the number of false shots that Smith played. It was effectively  none. He basically was the Australian team today.

Incredible . We basically admitted we hadn’t a scooby how to get him by going from plan A to Z then trying to get him off strike . And he still did as he pleased . That’s what Root has to aspire to for us 

[phiggins]

13 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Vaughan made a rare decent point on TMS: the bowlers are exhausted as it’s been a tough day for them. They didn’t do much wrong but they had to do long shifts - we can’t be having them bowl again tomorrow if we want to win.

It doesn't help that Moeen isn't the sort of bowler that can bowl long spells to tie up an end. Also, Stokes' bowling seems to be regressing as well. He's already bumped back to 6th bowler in ODI, wouldn't surprise me if he ends up batting at 4 and concentrating more on his batting.

[Gerrumonside ref]

What’s par today for England:

Bad score: ?

Par: ?

Good score: ?

[DavidM]

Lyon is a huge threat , and he’s at you all the time . 

[DavidM]

I thought that had bowled root 

[Just Browny]

2 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

What’s par today for England:

Bad score: ?

Par: ?

Good score: ?

Bad score - <300

Par: 300 - 370

Good score - >370

[DavidM]

Seen this before...

[Gerrumonside ref]

Great for Rory Burns to pick up that 50 after earlier talk that he was getting a bit boxed in by the Aussies spin bowling attack.

[gingerjon]

WE HAVE AVOIDED THE FOLLOW ON

[gingerjon]

Sky make it 10 obvious umpiring errors on dismissals so far this match.

We're in the second day.

[Gerrumonside ref]

31 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Sky make it 10 obvious umpiring errors on dismissals so far this match.

We're in the second day.

Is it 5 for each side though?

[gingerjon]

8 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Is it 5 for each side though?

Five for each umpire. Not sure how it breaks down for each team.

Not great though.

And that's before we have the weirdness of a ball hitting the stumps at speed but not dislodging the bails, something we were told was only an issue with the 'zinger' bails used in televised white ball games.

[DavidM]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

Sky make it 10 obvious umpiring errors on dismissals so far this match.

We're in the second day.

Where’s Dharmasena ? We need him ...

[DavidM]

Nice of the umps to change the ball for them . We tried a hundred times yesterday