Catches win matches.

No amount of bazball will change that fact, no matter how entertaining to watch

I disagree. All it shows is that the level of the average England cricket ‘fan’ is now at the same level as the Australians 25 years ago in terms of boorishness. It isn’t a good look nor is it particularly topical any more.

Smith captained the cheating. He cried crocodile tears. He’s playing in this match. Seems topical enough 🤷🏻‍♂️

Anyway, when your only commentary available is the bogans on channel 9, hearing the hollies giving it back raises a wry smile. Oh how I miss TMS….

280 to defend

For all the good intentions, I’m not sure Bairstow and Ali have outperformed the players they’ve replaced. I’d rather have had 2x Foakes’ batting average and those two extra wickets his keeping would likely have got us. As for Ali, it’s a dead end – should have brought in one of the two successful young spinners from the Pakistan tour.

Barmy army singing “we saw you cry on tv” at Smith is good value, however.

Well, that’s irritating

I think Erasmus must be blind

people are aware the original post was over a year ago?

Yes. We can read dates, but if we only log in every few months, things get missed.

What terribly sad news. I was thinking about him the other day. Like many (in a previous guise) I had more than a few strong debates on here. But, having been welcomed as a guest on a very frosty boggies ride in 2008/9ish it was clear just what a generous and thoughtful person he was, even if that didn’t always come across on here. On that ride, he very kindly found some black ice in front of me which if he’d not, it would have been me on my arse.

Rest in peace, Simon

There is absolutely zero benefit in political terms – therefore will not happen.

What do you mean. Boris cannot comprehend the concept of scrutiny. Anything he can do to neuter it, he will do.

Dunno? Does he have go-go-gadget arms, because that’s what anyone would need with passing like that.

There were a few points it could have gone the other way, but on balance S.A. simply outplayed England

I do love a good forward pass-assisted try

LDs will never be big enough to get a revoke A50 majority in Parly.

Sure, but with the SNP, who I suspect could well move to straight revoke A50 themselves to fend of the LDs, that’s possibly about 100 seats in a new parliament, and its highly likely Labour would need one or both of them to govern.

Possibly the Tories would need them too, but as mentioned above, there are a fair number of one nation Tories who’d rather hold their nose and vote LD if it keeps us in the EU, and especially if it sinks the ERG nutters.

Bottom line is it’s like a QI question: nobody knows how this would resolve itself at the ballot box, particularly given the FPTP voting system.

…oh, and that Momentum vs Starmer thing? Seems questionable as 1) that tweet seems to have disappeared, 2) the only mention I can find via google is a random reddit thread, and 3) no mention on Momentum Camden’s Facebook page

Fake news?

Most of the country are “Tory-lite”

Given election results over the years, it’s sadly a pretty safe conclusion. I was born under Thatcher and I’ve not seen a left wing government yet

Heh! His average has just come up: bang on 150 for the series.

Either way there must be some mutually agreeable solution that would save a lot of bother. It’s not like we’re gett him out cheaply any time soon.

if he wants the best for the country and especially the poorest and most vulnerable then he should stand down and allow someone who can win take up the challenge of defeating the right wing extremists before it is too late.

And herein lies the problem. Even if he did step down, the party would be paralysed whilst a drawn out election for a new leader is undertaken, giving a hostile media weeks of free runs on how divided the party appears whilst the candidates duke it out

Review that one you bastards

Woah! I didn’t actually read the filthy rag. But to demonstrate a point that it didn’t take much to find evidence of Corbyn’s activism, it did the job…

I’m starting to think we should just give Smith 150 runs each innings in lieu of him actually batting

@binners: 1st google hit for me – https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/08/29/jeremy-corbyn-backs-hard-left-plan-bring-cities-halt-protest/amp/

I think there’s a saying about blindness in people who choose not to see…

Probably not, we’ve already had two matches of a lifetime this year.

Broad has his bunny again. Amusement over. Now for Loosebuschange (followed by Smith) to bury us. Sadly.

Dannyh: they can’t be that intelligent if they’re falling for the terrorist sympathiser trope.

Whilst I get your point, I’m still utterly baffled as to the differential expectations placed upon leaders of Labour vs the Tories, the last three of the latter being the most inept, useless, and downright destructive prime ministers the country has seen in a very long time.

Probably a GE which goes back to the square one which is GE that could be call before 31 Oct.

But not withstanding your second comment, short of voting for no confidence in themselves (or Johnson resigning), the gvt are entirely at the whim of the opposition.

But at the same time, what recourse do the opposition, who are in majority, have if the executive fail to obey the law?

It was the Governor General Sir John Kerr who sacked Whitlam. It’s still very much up for debate how much the Queen knew about it. (letters between the two are still under lock and key) The palace has always denied any knowledge, but I’d doubt that very much.

Yes, her representative. And one can assume she knew quite a lot about it, or why the secrecy for those letters?

In this country though it’s her job. And as upsetting for the born to rule classes as Whitlam was, he didn’t openly defy the law, which is what Johnson is proposing to do.

So let’s say the no no deal law passes, and Boris for once does stick to his word and then defies it. What next?

Contempt of parliament?

Refusal to pass financial bills to hold the government to ransom?

At what point does it become a big enough constitutional crisis for Lizzie to sack him? She did it to Whitlam in Oz in 70s, for much less.

I think any election will be totally unpredictable given the way brexit splits across party lines, FPTP voting, and that most often the Lib Dems compete with the Tories, not Labour.

Also interesting will be what happens when an election is called and the broadcast media have to give equal coverage to opposition parties. Of course, the brexit “party” isn’t actually a party

To paraphrase Bomber Harris

Pathetic

but it is now a two match series with the momentum on England’s side.

Perhaps I’m being too much of a party pooper, but everyone was saying Smith’s absence and the way it came about from Archer was a big momentum shift. 67 all out followed.

On a related note, more unexpected magnanimity from (some) of the Aussie press:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/ben-stokes-was-out-or-was-he-20190827-p52lbo.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1566905611

@Drac

No, won’t be eating humble pie. Yes, it was an outstanding performance, but we should not have been close to a situation of needing it.

You can’t paper over our batting performances prior. Is wholesale change needed? Possibly not, but we’re not going to win the next two when the Aussies have an extra 100ish on the board from Smith if we bat like we have so far.

Sorry to be a party pooper, but it’s a test series, not a hit and giggle franchise game

I’ve watched or listened to most of all of the ashes tests since before 2005. That beats them all hands down.

Imagine not enjoying test cricket…

Bugger. Meh.

will it make a huge amount of difference?

Yes. I have a 2011 with the i7 CPU. It struggles to deal with some streaming services now due to how resource hungry modern apps are

Archer for a maiden test 50?

rank bad ball buys a wicket.

More “crap shot gives wicket away”

*bangs head*

Yet another batsman out to a ball he should have been nowhere near

That optimistic?

Perhaps this is what’s needed to make the selectors and coaching staff realise that test matches are not T20?

🤯

Yup. That’s exactly the spot Hughes was hit at the SCG. I would be taking no chances.

It’s not exactly looking convincing…

Cummins looks a handful