The Ashes Winter 2017/18 Thread

crunchman

scrumhalf said:

Do the playing conditions fo rthis series allow for DRS reviews to be re-set with the new ball?

Apparently not.  You don't lose them for umpire's review anymore, but you only get the 2 for the whole innings - so if there is another incident like the Cook LBW then England get away with it for the rest of the innings.  Could be big against Lyon.

rocktron

C'mon boys, you can do this!!!

Probably won't have any fingernails. . . . and fingers left.

VimFuego

wow, what a turn up. I don't mind now if they do go on to lose (as they will most likely do) but at least they showed some spine, at least they said we won't give up without a fight.

RandallFlagg

178 to win, 6 wickets in hand. 3 sessions available. That's only 30 runs each! Block, defend, leave, block, defend, leave rinse repeat and the score will take care of itself.

joneve

RandallFlagg said:

178 to win, 6 wickets in hand. 3 sessions available. That's only 30 runs each! Block, defend, leave, block, defend, leave rinse repeat and the score will take care of itself.

Yep, but they won't do this will they? Because England. 

RandallFlagg

Yep, we're always on the edge of a batting collapse

Heartfeltdawn

scrumhalf said:

Too much one day cricket. Also, test players play very little county cricket so they haven't got the experience of building innings.

Given that Sri Lanka are getting gubbed in India and the Windies are being similarly successful in NZ you have to ask what's happened to Test cricket.

The first class game around the world is getting hammered and disrespected by various cricket boards chasing the cash with the hit and giggle shit. FC cricket is where batsmen learn how to concentrate and stay in and where bowlers learn how to bowl long consistent spells. Fuck with that and you end up with Test cricket where the top ranked batsman can look so ugly outside of off stump the minute the ball starts moving. 

Earwhig is right about the Windies being better than they have been for a while. That's more a measure of how useless they were for a number of years than an endorsement of quality now. 

rocktron

I got up early to see the score: 202-7.

About an hour later, when I checked again, it was all over.

I am disappointed at the way this finished. It looked so promising, but with Root dismissed early, it was just a matter of time, 

Heads will drop, and it would be difficult to boost morale now and recover from this.

The Aussies will be cock-a-hoop.

RandallFlagg

Well there it is, the stats hold up. England 120 runs short.

Although we beat Aus in the 2nd innings, 5 England batsmen score under 10 in that innings, it's simply not good enough. If we had kept Aus to 350 or under in the first innings we may have stood a chance. The Aussie bowling in that last session was good but it wasn't swinging around, it was just good line and length, tight discipline.

"Australia captain Steve Smith on BT Sport: "It's phenomenal to be 2-0 up in the series. "England fought really hard with the ball and last night. I was a little bit nervous. Sometimes it was just about trying to have a bit of faith and belief.

"If you get enough balls in the right areas, you're going to get your rewards."

I reckon England will drop Vince and bring back Stokes for Perth but it will make little difference.

guitars4you

oh well - Got up at 3.30 with that vague hope of 'what if' - back in bed by 4.30

Dopesick

Utter shite. How disappointing.

axisus

Everyone at work was getting excited yesterday. Everyone on the radio was getting excited. I was accused of being cynical, but quite frankly I have lived through over 40 years of disappointment with the English cricket team (OK, there have been a few highs!). Even I didn't anticipate how badly that last session would go, Woakes and Root out so incredibly soon. Quite frankly I'm Embarrassed at how poor we were, although it was overall an exciting test. The Aussies did everything they possibly could to help us win at the ground where we had the best chance, but we still couldn't muster anything.

Teetonetal

Seems to be too many people always out of form for these winter tours. Cook, Broad, Ali, just not playing like they can.

earwighoney

Teetonetal said:

Seems to be too many people always out of form for these winter tours. Cook, Broad, Ali, just not playing like they can.

The batting in particular is f*cking gash.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/averages/batting_bowling_by_team.html?id=11645;team=1;type=series

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
C Overton	1	2	1	48	41*	48.00	113	42.47	0	0	0	6	0
JE Root	2	4	0	142	67	35.50	287	49.47	0	2	0	16	0
MD Stoneman	2	4	0	134	53	33.50	326	41.10	0	1	0	15	0
JM Bairstow	2	4	0	108	42	27.00	206	52.42	0	0	0	10	1
DJ Malan	2	4	0	108	56	27.00	285	37.89	0	1	0	16	0
MM Ali	2	4	0	105	40	26.25	243	43.20	0	0	0	10	1
JM Vince	2	4	0	102	83	25.50	225	45.33	0	1	0	13	0
AN Cook	2	4	0	62	37	15.50	179	34.63	0	0	0	6	0
CR Woakes	2	4	0	58	36	14.50	133	43.60	0	0	1	6	0
SCJ Broad	2	4	0	33	20	8.25	70	47.14	0	0	0	3	0
JT Ball	1	2	0	15	14	7.50	16	93.75	0	0	0	3	0
JM Anderson	2	4	3	5	5*	5.00	13	38.46	0	0	1	1	0

scrumhalf

Our batting has been rudderless and gutless for some time.

Can't play the fast stuff, can't play spin. Let's make test cricket similar to the old John Player League then, limit run-ups to 15 yards and have a load of dibbly-dobbly trundlers bowling.

RandallFlagg

scrumhalf said:

Our batting has been rudderless and gutless for some time.

Can't play the fast stuff, can't play spin. Let's make test cricket similar to the old John Player League then, limit run-ups to 15 yards and have a load of dibbly-dobbly trundlers bowling.

Ah, the smell of a pipe and a pint of bitter...

VimFuego

leave it out you two, you're making me well up with nostalgia. Fair ol' got a lump in me throat I do. 

RandallFlagg

Scroll down here for Geoffrey's response to "At 2-0 down is there realistically any way back for England?"

Boycott..."No..."

It's hard to argue with his reasoning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/42249084

scrumhalf

What on earth is Ben Duckett up to? Silly boy.

RandallFlagg

3rd Test: 06:12am Thursday . England in bat and have just just lost Root 131-4

Here's a Stat: England have won all games at Perth where they have scored 300+ in the first innings, lost all matches where they get less than 300 in the first innings.

I don't fancy their chances of getting to the magic 300 with the way Australia are bowling and the tails penchant for wildly swinging the bat and happily going for less than 10 runs each.