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The Ashes Winter 2017/18 Thread

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Well, here it is. Play starts at midnight tonight. It's challenging for us working people to follow, I typically try and wake up early at around 5am to catch up each day and check score on the iPad then will put TMS on while I get ready for work. On the weekends I try and stay up late and try and catch a hour or 2 in the evening.

Stephen Fry will read an adaptation of the 'Land Of Nod' by Robert Louis Stevenson on TMS coverage tonight before the first test starts:

"From breakfast on through all the day 
At home among my friends I stay, 
But every night I go abroad 
Afar into the land of Nod...."

For all you fellow TMS listeners that will fall asleep with your headphones on...here's to you!

Bring on the Gabbatoir! Roooooooooooooooooot!


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Comments

  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15475
    I haven't been able to watch live test match cricket since it was sold off to sky, so quite excited that it'll be live on BT Sport. Gonna be a struggle to stay up that late/get up that early tho, but will try.
    All the jaw jaw coming out of the aussie camp, they sound a bit concerned.

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    For all you fellow TMS listeners that will fall asleep with your headphones on...here's to you!
    Dat me.
    VimFuego said:
    All the jaw jaw coming out of the aussie camp, they sound a bit concerned.
    They always do that in the run up to a home Ashes series. It is a ritual of sorts.

    Another ritual of mine is the free exchange of faintly insulting e-mail with a couple of Strines. :)
    Be seeing you.
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  • GassageGassage Frets: 30825
    One of the worst things about Ashes- going to bed after a comfortable session, getting up in the morning and thinking "WTF? How the HELL did that happen?!"

    *An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.

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  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Frets: 13929
    edited November 2017
    I know, I hate that sinking feeling when you see the score when you wake up, and then scramble through the live text feed on BBC website to try and work out what the hell has happened


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  • scrumhalfscrumhalf Frets: 11262
    Gassage said:
    ... going to bed after a comfortable session, getting up in the morning and thinking "WTF? How the HELL did that happen?!"
    As in cricket, so in life.
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  • guitars4youguitars4you Frets: 14029
    tFB Trader
    Gassage said:
    One of the worst things about Ashes- going to bed after a comfortable session, getting up in the morning and thinking "WTF? How the HELL did that happen?!"
    worse if you watch it - in the past I might go to bed around 2 - sleep to 5 then watch the last hour or so - Don't think I'll be doing that this year - we need a good start and a good first day regardless of batting or fielding first
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  • FuengiFuengi Frets: 2849
    I'm very concerned about our batting. Can't see too many draws so we'd better win some! 
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  • scrumhalfscrumhalf Frets: 11262
    It's just gone 9pm and I'm yawning, no way am I going to stay awake past midnight. I can only hope that my nocturation co-incides with play and not the lunch or tea breaks.

    I too am concerned about our batting against serious pace.
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  • I’d just take our batting line up over theirs but concerned Starc and Hazelwood will run amok. 

    Oh Ben where are you ....
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  • scrumhalf said:
    It's just gone 9pm and I'm yawning, no way am I going to stay awake past midnight. I can only hope that my nocturation co-incides with play and not the lunch or tea breaks.

    I too am concerned about our batting against serious pace.
    Few sides are good against serious pace now as there are fewer true speedsters out there and the pitches are generally lacking. The days of rough and ready Sabina Park are long gone and even the WACA has turned stodgy. 

    I'm actually not worried about the lack of Stokes. With so much focus on one man, it might well get the team stronger together to not have that headline maker in the side. 

    The Australian selection policy is wild. Bringing Tim Paine back is like the FA phoning up Peter Shilton for a night at Wembley but it is a measure of the lack of backup in Australia. Sam Whiteman might well have played had it not been for a serious finger injury earlier in the season. Pace has been decided to be the way to victory. Jarrod Kimber's article on Cricinfo now nails it:

    http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1126665/in-pace-we-trust

    When the Aussie selectors get stuck into a process, they run with it even when the evidence says no. Their obsession with all-rounders after 2005 and Flintoff saw them fuck Shane Watson up by never finding him a consistent role. They've dabbled with all-rounders in recent times, Hilton Cartwright, Mitchell Marsh, and Glenn Maxwell being the obvious ones. When they found a calm young opener in Renshaw, they've unceremoniously dumped him and brought back Shaun Marsh, the eternal second choice.

    Like us, the selections scream one thing: that first class cricket is being shat upon by the shorter formats and fucking up the development of Test players. 

    So we shouldn't fear their seam attack. Accept that with Starc, Cummins, and Hazlewood, it's likely that there will be one or two sessions minimum when they kick the shit out of us. But the same is true of their batsmen. A lot of that side know Anderson is dangerous and a lot of that side will remember Broad killing them at Trent Bridge. In Ball, Woakes, and Overton, we have some good canny seamers. Moeen is fine, we might spring the Crane surprise at Sydney if it looks like a two-spinner wicket.. 

    It's going to be a real up and down Test series, much like the last one we played against South Africa. 





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  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Frets: 13929
    edited November 2017
    05:05am just woke up see England won the toss, bat first and are 100-1. Excellent. Cook gone early but Vince and Stoneman grinding them down with patient, cautious, determination. That's the way! Great start, Aussie bowling lacking teeth.


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  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Frets: 13929
    edited November 2017
    111-1 Nelson! Quick, get a run


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  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Frets: 13929
    edited November 2017
    06:00am Stoneman gone for 53, Eng 127-2. That follows a spell of good bowling and a few wobbly moments from the batsmen. Calm down lads, stay focussed.

    In comes Root, we need him to get a start and dig in.


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  • Root gone, all gone wobbly


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  • StuckfastStuckfast Frets: 2393
    Looked like a good and fairly even day's cricket from what I saw. Lyon bowled superbly, he was unlucky not to get a wicket. Cummins didn't quite look like the 95mph lightning bolt we've been led to expect.
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  • rocktronrocktron Frets: 806
    Honours just about even on the first day. The wicket is taking spin already and I can't see the Aussies, batting last, surviving well into the fifth day.
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15475
    agreed with above, good to see batsmen other than cook and root getting scores, we've become a bit too reliant on them 2 to dig us out of holes. 

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11411
    Got up and watched the last session.  Well poised.

    Not sure about the TV coverage,  Nice having Boycott on commentary, but it doesn't seem as polished as Sky.
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  • guitars4youguitars4you Frets: 14029
    tFB Trader
    not as bad as feared - hard work but still in the contest - hard to know what a  good score is until they bat - But at 150/160 for 2 and a suicide run out from a batsman who is on his way to 100 puts immediate pressure on 2 new batsman at the crease - moments like that take away momentum and can cost match/series in a quick instant
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  • Stuckfast said:
    Looked like a good and fairly even day's cricket from what I saw. Lyon bowled superbly, he was unlucky not to get a wicket. Cummins didn't quite look like the 95mph lightning bolt we've been led to expect.
    He didn't need to. Starc was also down on pace. On that sort of wicket, it's a real line and length place. The side on cameras shots really showed the tennis ball bounce when the quicks dug it in. It's not a quick wicket, it's hard to get full value for your shots, and the outfield seemed quite slow for an Aussie deck as well. I fancy Anderson, Broad, and Woakes won't 

    Lyon bowled absolutely beautifully. If he's getting that amount of turn on the first day, then Moeen should have some fun. Might even be worth getting Malan on with some leg breaks before intervals or after drinks breaks when concentration might not be as it should be. 

    I liked the commentary. It made a refreshing change. That said, TMS came on after 30 minutes as usual :) 

    Excellent day of Test cricket. 



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