Amazing bowling performance today, hope we get the bating sorted out before we meet the Australians.

Why? The Aussies are shit anyway.

Bating? Well, I suppose sledging is very much a part of the modern game, but I’d hope the coaches focus on other areas.

The Aussies are shit anyway.

I’m pretty certain this was Australia’s view of England prior to 2005…

That said, the latest Twittergate incident down here just shows in what disarray their team’s in. But it wouldn’t take long for them to get their tails up if we let them. England don’t often play well when we’re not the underdog!

It is hard to work out which team will throw it away this time 😉

As for sledging Flashy why are you so fat 😀

The Aussies have a very promising young seam attack by all accounts but a pretty brittle batting line up. Fairly similar to England then – I wouln’t bother buying 5th day tickets 😉

The trouble with the Aussie seam bowlers is that:
1) They seem to injure themselves really easily
2) On softer pitches (so most of England compared to Oz), they lose their outright speed, resulting in trying to hard, and a return to (1)

why are you so fat

because every time he …………..wife……………..biscuits………

Much as it pains me to say it, England really miss KP. We don’t have an accelerator at the moment and at the times where the attack needs to be taken to opposition on slow pitches we struggle. Compton is playing for his place at the minute. Bairstow will most likely make way for Pietersen if/when he returns and most worryingly Trott and Bell look out of sorts. Our full strength top 6 look good on paper but there have been far too many collapses in the last 18 months to have genuine confidence in us posting big first innings totals. Root however is looking like he will develop into a really top player, I just hope he isn’t promoted up the order too soon.

Our bowlers will be the difference in this series and hopefully the next 2. When Malfoy is on it he is unplayable and that twinned with Jimmy and Swann we have a genuinely powerful front line attack. What comes up after that is a concern I think. Finn and Bresnan are very much pitch based selections and after that who is there other than Panesar? I hoped that Tremlett would have recovered his fitness and form by now but he’s a long way off.

England to win the ashes over here, but not by a huge margin unless the Aussies are really shit or we improve a great deal.

aye i nearly wrote the same about pietersen – we have grinders – absolutely world class grinders but it is like having 6 Boycotts at times and on slow scoring pitches they put pressure on themselves and England cannot really change pace really take it to them

there is a great need for a fluent free scoring middle order batter who can pressurise the bowlers.

Agree the Bowlers will win it for them this time

Thanks, boxelder! 🙂

Well yesterday was a cracking day to take Mrs CD to her first test match. I was concerned beforehand that it would be as boring as the first two days were, but in fact it was like a T20 match.
I was conflicted about not getting a full days play (or even half) but with 14 wickets I can’t complain about vfm.

The batting performance is a concern, especially the first innings collapse, but it’s hard to read to much in to what was a strange wicket.

Lords England NZ by Cheers Drive, on Flickr

The old woman whose head you can see in front of me got hit by a NZ practice ball that they lobbed up while warming up. Only bruising thankfully.

aye i nearly wrote the same about pietersen – we have grinders – absolutely world class grinders but it is like having 6 Boycotts at times and on slow scoring pitches they put pressure on themselves and England cannot really change pace really take it to them

Pietersen is a singular talent but I don’t think it is fair to describe our other batsman are grinders, on his day Bell is sublime and Bairstow is capable of scoring quick runs too but he is very early in his career.

I went on Friday, totally absorbing cricket although it was pretty chilly and as a result spent alot of the day watching from the bars.

Can’t see England losing a test match this summer. NZ are poor and the Aussies have a poor bowlers and only a couple of reliable batters.

Pietersen is a singular talent but I don’t think it is fair to describe our other batsman are grinders, on his day Bell is sublime and Bairstow is capable of scoring quick runs too but he is very early in his career.

And to be fair, whilst he’s no Chris Gayle, Cap’n Cook as no slouch when in form.

Cap’n Cook as no slouch when in form.

and once he’s seen off the new ball, adjusted his approach depending on how many have gone at the other end etc etc.

Pietersen at 4 gives us a lovely balance, 50-2 turns into 125-2 very quickly as his partner gets to sit back a little and dig in whilst the opposition try and bowl KP out. Bell is a beautiful player of the ball, reminds me a little of David Gower, but in the same vein as Gower he perishes to too many wafty shots to be reliable. Bairstow hasn’t really fulfilled his promise yet. I’m keeping a close eye on Bell-Drummond from Kent, this year is too soon for him but I reckon he’ll be at 5 for England in the next couple of years.

Bell is sublime and Bairstow is capable of scoring quick runs too but he is very early in his career.

Whilst Bell is one of the best players in the world at stroking the ball around, he’s never going to impose himself on bowlers like KP does (though his placement is certainly good enough to dictate the field placings to the opposition when he’s on form). Bairstow might be able to, but as you say it’s early in his career, and he isn’t putting together the innings at the moment. You forget the man who might really replace KP though – given the nature of his first Test innings, it’s easy to forget that Joe Root can score very quickly when he wants – see his recent ODI innings in NZ when he scored 79no off 71 with 7 4s and 2 6s.

you have to ask the question ‘what australian players would you have in the english test team?’

i can’t think of any.

you have to ask the question ‘what australian players would you have in the english test team?’

i can’t think of any

could say the same about NZ though really. England’s biggest task this summer is playing the right way at the right time.

Finn and Bresnan are very much pitch based selections and after that who is there other than Panesar? I hoped that Tremlett would have recovered his fitness and form by now but he’s a long way off.

As Boycs said at the end of the Channel 5 highlights last night. There is a certain G.Onions that is available.

I’d get rid of Compton, too slow and not really a spring chicken. Keep Bairstow and open with Root when K.P returns.

The worry is the top six are very similar in the pace of their innings. We need a stroke player in at four-five.

i can’t think of any.

I’d have Clarke in a flash, and tbh beyond Jimmy, Swanny, and Malfoy, I’d say any of the Starcs, Pattinsons et al. would get a look in as a change bowler.

I agree with Clarke – I’m not sure any of their other batters would make the England 2nd XI on current form*. Some of the bowlers on their day are better than ours when they’re not, but if you were picking a combined bowling attack Anderson and Swann would be the first names on the sheet, and it’s hard to ignore that on his day Broad is certainly more devastating than anybody Australia have at their best. Broad’s trouble is that he doesn’t seem to be at his best all that often, though if this is a sign of him hitting form, then his timing is good (can somebody just remind him to bowl length at the start of every over), and possibly he is also flattered by having Jimmy at the other end – would be interesting to see how good anybody else might be when bowling in tandem with him.

Debate could be had over Finn, but I don’t think any of the Aussies would be an automatic pick over him – where they seem to have an advantage is in depth, but then given their injury rate they need it. Of course everything would completely change if Jimmy got injured.

I’d certainly have a few of the Blackcaps in first – their bowling attack looks significantly superior to Australia’s.

*disclaimer to allow for one or two of them finding form

Debate could be had over Finn, but I don’t think any of the Aussies would be an automatic pick over him – where they seem to have an advantage is in depth, but then given their injury rate they need it. Of course everything would completely change if Jimmy got injured.

Yeah, those are my thoughts. Beyond Swanny and Jimmy, and Broad on his day (which, to be fair, is often enough), I think the pick of the Aussies would probably be in the mix with Finn and Bresnan. Actually, I reckon someone like Siddle might be quite handy – one of the few Aussies who actually gives a shit about the fact he’s privileged enough to wear the baggy green. I honestly thought he was going to bowl his arm off last year when the rest of their attack seemed to lose interest.