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That answers it... lost the ashes, next target is to not go 5-0
And that, is that.
In the same way as i say don't judge a pitch before both sides have batted on it - I don't think any awards for player of the series can be handed out yet.
Instead, we need to mix the teams up for T4 and T5; Aussie top 6 and England 7-11 vs England 1-6 and the Aussie attack
I reckon Cook and Root will make Smith's returns look paltry playing against Anderson and Broad.
And I bet a few of them will be seeking a pub fight before the next Ashes tour.... Stokes is clearly a very perceptive man.
So, before the series I said that it was critical for England's senior players to perform. Cook, Root, Moeen and Broad are not worth their place at the moment, with only Anderson playing consistently well and Bairstow with one excellent innings. Of the newer players, Malan is very promising, Stoneman is doing ok and Vince will always frustrate.
So Overton out injured and Curran in, Starc out Bird in, no final word on Payne yet
Won't make much difference. Warner is due a big one and Smith will press on again. Aus to bat first, make 500 odd, and let good old scoreboard pressure do for England.
So Overton out injured and Curran in, Starc out Bird in, no final word on Payne yet
So, apart from Cummins and Hazlewood, that's medium pace straight up and down all the way for five days. If I were a batsman in this series I'd barely be able to get my Christmas turkey down in anticipation of smashing a load of pies until I grew tired of it. I'd only want to stop every so often to wipe the gravy off of my bat.
Who's up then?
Just getting some scrambled eggs on, my mate is in there could be a long day if these 2 get in.
Looks like Anderson is determined to knock the Middle out of the wicket again. FFS. 🙄
And Broad looking totally innocuous as well.
This could be a long, long day in the field for England.
Looking a lot better now, much better bowling to stop the scoring and put them under a little pressure. How long can they keep it up.
and that pressure is evaporating unless they can keep Bancroft pinned in the crease, see how the new lad copes be a good time to get shot of Warner but I'm thinking the word declaration will be used here
The ECB showed a hits reel of Curran's contributions to the Lions tour. Most of his wickets came from catches in the deep, and it appears he can bat against a second string attack. It seems he fits their mould.
It's a good job tests aren't timeless any more, otherwise these two would probably still be batting against this attack by the time we're due to start at the SCG!
That was not the time for the no ball.....
Thankfully we got him out through sheer boredom a few runs later. Marginally effective tactics I suppose, but at the G I'd be expecting aimed at the stumps gets the odd one that keeps low and asks the LBW question. Still, we'll see. Last session definitely England's, so there's hope I suppose.
I stayed up for the first hour, but couldn’t watch any more appalling bowling so went to bed. At least it seems we bothered to turn up for the last 2 sessions.
5-0 looking likely
*Pulls duvet back over head.*
244-3.
I would regard the '3' as a blip from what I saw last night.
Strangely conservative bowling and fielding. The second session was England's, and perhaps the "bore them out" tactics will pay off some more, but really, on a flat placid wicket with onlybthe odd hint of uneven bounce, i cant see us taking 20. The Aussie commentators can't even see them taking 20 (but I think they're being generous).
Ali woeful as usual. Broad bowled one over in his old style, and that's the one in which he got his wicket. Anderson bowled well. Curran and Woakes ok but nothing earth shattering. Malan seems to be able to hold an end up. That's about it really.
Well watching today is hurting more than yesterday. turns out watching the cricket at my mates place was actually code for beer and whiskey tasting (he is a distiller and his mate is a brewer) it made up for a slow day though at least they managed to slow the scoring a little which eats up more time.
Regardless of ‘yesterday’s’ downbeat display, I feel the need to crash out tonight with the commentary on. Could be the beer and gin talking ... could be the distorted belief that I’ll wake at 5am to our openers making inroads on a sub-450 total.
Only if Smith gets bored and declares on 449
Well don Curran!! Got Smith 🙂 should have had Warner #FutureofEnglishCricket
and Marsh chopping on, better morning here now!! Time to build on this now.
‘kin ‘ell. Might just have to grab another oversized G&T and remain awake a while longer.
OK then who is going in to replace Ali? If he doesn't score here then somebody else needs to be playing in Sydney.
I quite like Sydney, I'd have a go!
But seriously, no idea. Root and Malan (neither much worse than Ali) and we find an Englishman other than a vet who can handle a bat? Wood seemed pretty unremarkable for the Lions. TRJ injured, stokes still emulating the opposition's history. Plunket just not accurate enough.
Hell yes!! Well done on the review. Nearly time for a wagging tail and then the disappointment of England all out for 200
And Broad finally gets a DRS right. Wonders will never cease...
Blimey, now Broady getting in on the act.
Not before time.
Healy just said Anderson really makes the batsman work for their runs, 1st ball 4.
Well, as I left to go An do my bit for the South Australian economy in the sales the Aussie commentators were still whinging about that DRS dismissal. The only thing to whing about that is why didn't the standing umpire give it out at the first time if asking?
Sod that the chop on is the only way to get out these days!!
England are actually competing here
Yeah. I have a four year old who knows she has money from Santa, and a wife with a hat from me that doesn't fit. So as nice as it would be to watch England use their two hour quota of dominance in the match, I have more pressing issues...
It's ok, Australia will be batting again by the time I get back in.
Bird won’t be around for long.
Well he tried a few more minutes with the review
See, when I go out, all the wickets fall...
Can you stay in whilst England are batting?
just one more to go
So 327 seems a bit low.... lets see how close we get
I reckon we have a decent chance of avoiding the follow on here.
Lyon is having a hell of a series unfortunately
I think I'll stay on the bus...
Does Alistair Cook have a twin brother?
When one finds form the others drop down and looks like Vince got the faintest of an inside edge on that
Yup, FFS. Why did he not review that.
Can't sleep , too much cheesecake . Nothing more to add.
Anyone that said Cook had to go, line up outside the headmasters study after school.
Form is temporary, class is forever.
do runs in a dead rubber count ?
Ref: my earlier comment about wickets whilst I'm not watching, thankfully only works for Australia it seems. Two hours watching Paddington with the little one and the Chef scores a century!
Well, that’s improved my morning mood!!
Sent this comment in to cricinfo, should have had the balls to post it here:
"Broad seems to be one of those players who pulls out a performance when there's talk of dropping him, speaking of which I wonder how Cook is going to do..."
...posted whilst Aus were still batting
They are both still very good players- sadly they, along with all the senior pro’s have been badly out of form. Moeen is a shadow of his form from last year - hopefully tomorrow.....
I don't think that's entirely fair, aracer. And even if it was, who would you replace them both with? We've spent a long time trying to find someone who can open with Cook, never mind replace him. As for Broad, from what I saw in Adelaide, the poor bloke couldn't buy a wicket. Beat the bat many times. The new guys seem to be doing a reasonable job, but certainly nowhere close to being a replacement for Broad. In a couple of years I agree, someone will have to step up for both of them (and Jimmy too), but for now at least it makes little sense to drop them with no one knocking at the door.
The big bonus of this tour has been the new batters stepping up. I still think Robson would have been a far better bet than Vince - especially since he has played a lot in Aussie conditions.
Anderson as a senior pro is hardly ‘badly out of form’. Ok, he is not at his absolute best this series but I’m willing to bet his series average is not much worse then any bowler except Starc. In fact apart from Starc, their bowling averages are ok but not outstanding. Broad and Anderson have taken 900 wickets and have taken wickets before on flat pitches - it’s not all about express pace. The issue here though is Anderson has no support. The Aussies have bowled as a unit - if one fails, the others step up.
I’m a big fan of Jimmy - expect to see him go right through to the next home Ashes
I think, as an ex-opener, opening up is always the toughest place to bat. You've been in the field all day, 10 minutes to get sorted and then you face the new ball against in this case 3 top quality quicks bowling at express pace on intimidating pitches. No margin for error, one mistake, one moment of hesitation and you 'fail'. The fact Cook has so many runs in that job shows his class but I bet if you plotted his runs per innings by innings he'd have a load of low scores, and a load of high scores and relatively few (for the number of innings) in the middle. Now he's in, I'm hoping he can make a proper big score, although he also has the problem of starting from fresh again tomorrow.
Root on the other hand - great player, far more shots than Cook, but he gives it away for beautiful 60's and 70's far too often to be considered in Cook's league as a run scorer for me.
What's not fair? I've certainly seen suggestions that Broad should be dropped - or at least that he was nearing the end. Less so for Cook, but there have been mutterings - though he clearly has a slightly better history. There's also a clear precedent for Cook - had he not scored that century at the Oval against ****stan would he even have been on the plane to Aus? We all know what happened next...
Not suggestions from me - I've been watching long enough to know that Broad blows hot and cold and a long lean patch probably means there's a match winning performance just around the corner.
Well, I took from you cricinfo reference that you thought Broad had only pulled it out of the bag to save his own skin, and that Cook might do the same. Those assertions, I feel, are a bit unfair.
And in any case, it's not as if we have a queue of Starcs and Warners being kept out of the team by Broad and Cook, is it?
I'm taking the piss a bit, but I do wonder about Broad at least - he does seem to lose focus, and maybe needs a bit of criticism to focus his mind.
No, there are no obvious alternatives - would their positions be quite so safe if there were?
Cook probably safe even with an alternative available (unless he retired of his own volition), Broad, perhaps more at risk, but probably still safe for now, especially as his partner in crime is still there. That and Woakes, Overton and Curran, while effective enough, are hardly setting the world on fire either.
To be honest, the only person I can't see why he's still in the team is Ali.
By the way, seems the crims really are thin skinned. I've just stumbled across a furore that seems to have occurred whilst I've been eating mince pies. Anderson made a suggestion that beyond Starc, Cummins and Hazelwood they're a bit thin on the pace front. The Aussies didn't like that...
That's been in the press here for about a week now, however it's gratifying to hear the delicate flowers have taken it to heart. 😀
Not a bad second day, although we've seen this before, where we're sitting pretty, still behind on the scoreboard and come out the next day to [s]capitalise[/s] capitulate.
Still, it gives my early mornings a certain piquant... 😆
it's gratifying to hear the delicate flowers have taken it to heart.
Yeah, they're a funny bunch alright. It's a legitimate enough comment from Jimmy as well. England have been pretty diminished on this tour both by absences and absence of form. Bring back TRJ, Wood and Stokes, and slot in the Broad and Cook we saw in yesterday's play and we might have seen just how flakey Australia are too
[quote=zokes ]To be honest, the only person I can't see why he's still in the team is Ali.
What's the realistic alternative? Remember he was coming off a summer where he set all-rounder records. Rashid? A bit expensive, not really capable of doing the holding down an end job. Patel? Doesn't have much test experience (though I'd have given him a try given recent form). Though neither of those are on tour, Crane is the man who is - I'm fairly sure he was selected only as a second spin option in case a pitch warranted that. Are you going to throw him in the deep end as the sole spinner?
How is Kerrigan doing now BTW?
Apart from Swann, we haven’t had a decent spinner for 20 years. Good spinners have absolute confidence. When Ali is good, he is box office, especially with the bat. With the ball, he just “puts it there”
As you say, not much in the way of alternatives...
But, Swann aside, the wheelie bin could at least hold an end up. Right now, Ali can't even do that, which has major knock on effects of tiring the quicks as they get no respite.
Steady start.
Apart from Swann, we haven’t had a decent spinner for 20 years.
Are you harking back to Tuffers per chance? Capable of good spells for sure, but got taken for a heap of runs too often IMO. Really can’t think of anyone else.
Swann was mustard; could tie up an end, took wickets, scared the shit out of many a decent batsman.
Boycotts comments about Jackson Bird made me laugh.
Spinners are getting picked too young, look what happened to Kerrigan. Adam Riley at Kent looked superb until he went off with the performance programme and Peter Such completely changed his action.
Swann didn't play tests until his late 20's. Leach has had time to learn his game as examples.
No, he only looks good because the rest of our spinners have been rubbish!
This series Woakes & Ali a real disappointment
Dick. Fell for the trap.
That’s Root in every game for the last 2 years 🙁
Bit of a [i]nothing[/i] game this IMO. Slow scoring rate and a draw looking the most likely outcome. Aussies keen to remain on target for the whitewash but running out of time. Mind you, more chance of an England collapse than a first innings lead.
Level now, time for a lead o0f some sort, if we can be batting until tea or close by then it will be a good start.
Woakes has done well after frenetic efforts bybBairstow & Ali, to just calm it down a bit & hang around for Cook. He is more than capable of hitting out after tea if required.
33 ahead at tea, 4 wickets left, Cook n/o. I’d have taken that at the start of play. Bed time now - hoping for a good final session.