The Ashes Thread - Cricket

[DavidM]

Can’t see us winning this now

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, DavidM said:

Can’t see us winning this now

You just need to believe in Britain.

[DavidM]

4 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

You just need to believe in Britain.

You’re right . I’m not getting in the new optimistic mood . If we get to tea nine down a Boris team talk will do the trick .... we can do it !

[phiggins]

This test side has absolutely no character when the going gets tough. Typified by how the captain gives up on getting Smith out once he gets into double figures.

Denly and Bairstow aren't good enough at test level. Ali is shot to pieces. Buttler is also hanging by a thread, as he hasn't done a great deal.

Wouldn't be surprised to see England revert back to 6 bowlers, given workload of this test. For Lords I would go either;

Burns, Sibley, Root, Roy, Stokes, Buttler (wk), Woakes, Curran, Leach, Archer, Broad

or

Burns, Sibley, Root, Roy, Stokes, Buttler, Foakes (wk), Woakes, Leach, Archer, Broad 

[Just Browny]

Oh dear.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Any plus points for England that can be taken out of this test?

Burns?

Woakes?

[DavidM]

3 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Any plus points for England that can be taken out of this test?

Burns?

Woakes?

Getting hammered by 250 in the first test from the positions we held in the game is overwhelming disappointment and failure . I just don’t think this is anything like a vintage Aussie side which makes it even worse and doesn’t reflect well on us

[Gerrumonside ref]

2 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Getting hammered by 250 in the first test from the positions we held in the game is overwhelming disappointment and failure . I just don’t think this is anything like a vintage Aussie side which makes it even worse and doesn’t reflect well on us

There’s no suggestion from me that this isn’t disappointing.

I’m asking you to look for some positives.

There’s not many it has to be said!

[DavidM]

Burns batted like a test player , Woakes and broad did a double shift with jimmy out ,  stokes never stops trying . Unfortunately to many beyond that didn’t show . I still don’t think there’s much between these , but getting a handle on Smith is the key 

[Gerrumonside ref]

Just now, DavidM said:

Burns batted like a test player , Woakes and broad did a double shift with jimmy out ,  stokes never stops trying . Unfortunately to many beyond that didn’t show . I still don’t think there’s much between these , but getting a handle on Smith is the key 

Agree with that.

I’m hoping there’s a reaction from England in the next test with Archer in tow

[mickhornet]

Don't boo Smith any more.

[Gerrumonside ref]

20 minutes ago, mickhornet said:

Don't boo Smith any more.

Didn’t really put him off did it?

[mickhornet]

No,

13 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Didn’t really put him off did it?

Lords just clap politely anyway.

[DavidM]

10 minutes ago, mickhornet said:

No,

Lords just clap politely anyway.

Yep it’s a very different crowd !  What a huge game that is now .  Chances of winning three in a row are virtually nil so it’s a must not lose

[ivans82]

Lost at Edgebaston where we never lose and now off to Lords where we never win .Bookies still unbelievably have us as slight favourites for the 2nd test .As for Smith , was horrified to see us trying to get him out at one point by bowling around the wicket . Because he always shuffles across the stumps it meant we gave him even more easy runs on the leg side. Think we should just bowl consistently well wide of the off stump , frustrate him and perhaps force him to chase one .

[17 stone giant]

I was feeling pretty down about things - the result, losing Anderson, etc.

Then I remembered that we have Jofra Archer to come in and turn things around.

We're one down, but it's a marathon not a sprint.

[DavidM]

10 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

I was feeling pretty down about things - the result, losing Anderson, etc.

Then I remembered that we have Jofra Archer to come in and turn things around.

We're one down, but it's a marathon not a sprint.

True , it’s a marathon . Also excited about archer but realistically the weight of expectation on a guy who’s not played a test and not that many first class games is a bit much when you think about it . Huge difference from bowling three spells in ten overs . He is though a big point of difference from what we have . It does say a fair bit about us that so many experts are saying we can only play on certain tracks - the Aussies deliver on flat tracks and I’d think will say we fancy our chances on sporty tracks to if you wanna go that way . We have to roll the dice though 

[THE RED ROOSTER]

The old joke about it being a good day for England as they did not get on the field is doing the rounds. It's going to be difficult getting a result in this match because of the time lost, Yes you get an addition 8 overs each day to make up some of the time lost but any further time lost in the game cannot be made up and with play extending to nearly 7.00pm bad light is going to come into play as it certainly will in the Fifth test at the Oval in mid september. If your wondering - "hang on what about those floodlights", the ruling is when the artificial ligt takes over from the natural light in the umpires opinion your off.

In England's defence, this whole Ashes series is the equivalent of England winning the Rugby League World cup and then being told you have France the following week, then in a fortnight an Ashes Series against the Kangaroos, "the same team we beat in the semis" "yes and with reinforcements". From the adminstrators this is sheer greed. In addition to which there has been an underestimating of the psychological effect of a once in a lifetime winning of the World Cup on home turf. Sure Australia played in the World Cup too but they were knocked out.

On to the game, Undoubtably IMO Australia are a better team with Mitchell Starc in it, and I am baffled as to why they would select Siddle and Hazlewood when the choice was supposed to be Siddle or Hazlewood. Certainly James Pattinson might never get another opportunity to play an Ashes test at Lords. Tim Paine remains a stand-in skipper who will come under pressure if they start to lose, Bancroft's batting technique is gone to pieces and is David Warner that popular in the dressing room. As for Steve Smith why is it the rest of the world has less of a problem getting him out than England..

Might be down to the lack of variety in the England attack, It;'s a big ask for Jofra Archer with little red ball cricket to come in and turn the tide. What's interesting would be the continued omission of Sam Curran as the left armer swinging it in, in English conditions.  As in 2017-18 the English attack is very samey all Right arm and medium fast. Bringing Jack Leach in though is a better option than Moeen. Traditionally English teams use their spinner not as an attacking option but to give the captain control in the game, the Graham Swann era being an exception, In my youth there was the Middlesex spin twins Phil Edmonds and John "Ernie" Emburey. Ernie was an England regular , Phil less so yet when both played in the side together Phil did most of the bowling as he was the one giving the ball a rip.

Moeen made it difficult for England to build pressure on Smith and the other Aussie batters at Edgbaston regularily leaking 3-4 singles an over risk free into space on the leg side. Jack Leach's role is to dry up the runs creating pressure.

Conventional wisdom is that you play 5 batters, an all rounder a wicketkeeper batsman and 4 bowlers. England will play 4 batters, two wickekeeper batsmen, 2 all rounders and 3 bowlers. With Trevor Bayliss admitting most of the side is suited to batting in the middle order. As Ian Chappell has said on FOX down under, if you pick a predominantely one day side no wonder you cannot bat out a day.

Jason Roy is not a test match opener and never will be, Ultimately he will join Alex Hales in becoming a white ball only contracted player. Remember Hales, who has a better technique than Jason was also tried as opener.  With the amount of T20 cricket going on, and little first class cricket there is a huge problem in selecting replacement players. Not that too many have been sticking their hands up with "pick me" performances in the county game.

That's said there are a few England batters supping in the last chance saloon, let's hope for their sake, the barmaid is not from Standish...

 

[DavidM]

I never understand when we’re trying to make up play why they don’t start earlier . Start at 10.00 or 10.30 as they do in most other countries when its brightest and make up some time rather than just add time on ... and invariably go off for bad light anyway . We’re gonna lose 58 overs anyway just adding on 30 minutes at the end , and with everything so funereal you won’t get the full quota regardless .Why not do all you can to make up time ?

 

[DavidM]

Another good start with the bat , hanging your bat out to one that wouldn’t have hit another set 

[ckn]

A great start by England, all those runs and just one wicket lost.

[DavidM]

Same old same old but I still think this is a bat first pitch . Don’t look any demons there but unfortunately we don’t need any to fail

[gingerjon]

The TMS team are probably not going to revisit their statements from this morning when they said England would rather face Hazlewood.

[DavidM]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

The TMS team are probably not going to revisit their statements from this morning when they said England would rather face Hazlewood.

He’s doing the McGrath role , just putting it there in the right area over n over and let the pitch do the job 

[gingerjon]

43 minutes ago, ckn said:

A great start by England, all those runs and just one wicket lost.

It's okay. Just two wickets lost in the powerplay. We can hit out at the end of the innings now.