Cricket thread

[StringerBellend]

1 hour ago, Erimus said:

All England can do is break the day down session at a time. Can't afford to lose any more than 2 wickets before lunch.

You look at England's batting and it would need the likes of Root,  Bairstow, and Stokes to dig in. Bairstow looks out of form.

If England did pull off a miracle it would be a big get out of jail free card!

Yep can’t be more than 2 down before lunch and take it session by session 

but I don’t think we are capable of digging in, the best chance is if we are 2 down for 150 after lunch and stokes is starting to get going, and the aussies are starting to think how do we slow the run rate. If we are 2-80 after lunch batting at 2 an over it will be men around the bat and we are stuffed 

[btron3000]

Hahah gotta love cricket. Everyone always thinking their team is worse off than the opposition thinks it is!

I am not as confident as the English fellas on here that we will win. England batted for 135 overs in the first inning and the pitch looks much more docile.

Also, Lyon for whatever reason has a habit of going missing in the fourth innings. But that is perhaps because pitches tend to get lower as they go and he likes bounce.  This pitch still looks bouncy.

I do think we'll do it, but it won't be easy. I like Lyon to get a few and Cummins to pull out at least one of those balls that come from nowhere on placid pitches. 

Shades of 2009, where Anderson and Panesar held up an end and England drew the first one.  Then they went on to win at Lord's and take out the series 2-1. It was the first series after 2005 and if we had won back the urn then 2005 might have been seen as an aberration. As it is, we haven't won in England since.

[Smoggy]

2 hours ago, btron3000 said:

Hahah gotta love cricket. Everyone always thinking their team is worse off than the opposition thinks it is!

I am not as confident as the English fellas on here that we will win. England batted for 135 overs in the first inning and the pitch looks much more docile.

Also, Lyon for whatever reason has a habit of going missing in the fourth innings. But that is perhaps because pitches tend to get lower as they go and he likes bounce.  This pitch still looks bouncy.

I do think we'll do it, but it won't be easy. I like Lyon to get a few and Cummins to pull out at least one of those balls that come from nowhere on placid pitches. 

Shades of 2009, where Anderson and Panesar held up an end and England drew the first one.  Then they went on to win at Lord's and take out the series 2-1. It was the first series after 2005 and if we had won back the urn then 2005 might have been seen as an aberration. As it is, we haven't won in England since.

First session until lunch is massive. If get England 3 or 4 down all over. England can afford to lose perhaps 2 max...and then another 2 by tea, only 4 down at tea will be the aim for them..6 down at close of play...that would be their realistic plan.

2 down at lunch would be seen as acceptable.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Erimus

[Unlimited]

According to Google: 55% chance Australian win, 43% chance of a draw, 2% England win

[Wanderboy]

Early wickets and the pressure is on. Mitchell Starc would be putting far more fear into this side this morning than that plodder Siddle.

If England/Wales/Ireland/South Africa/Scotland/The world can get to lunch only a wicket or two down, they could still drag out a draw.

[StringerBellend]

4 hours ago, Erimus said:

First session until lunch is massive. If get England 3 or 4 down all over. England can afford to lose perhaps 2 max...and then another 2 by tea, only 4 down at tea will be the aim for them..6 down at close of play...that would be their realistic plan.

2 down at lunch would be seen as acceptable.

Weirdly I think the run rate may play into it , if England get up to 4 an over with wickets in hand, then field starts to spread 

[btron3000]

40 minutes ago, Unlimited said:

According to Google: 55% chance Australian win, 43% chance of a draw, 2% England win

2% is kind. It’s extremely rare for teams to hit 385 in a day in Test cricket, never mind on the last day to win.

[btron3000]

12 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Weirdly I think the run rate may play into it , if England get up to 4 an over with wickets in hand, then field starts to spread 

If Paine spreads the field at all, the whole point of batting on for a zillion run lead will have been pointless. I hope he doesn’t do it.

They need to bat at 4.25 an over. If they start to get up to 4 an over, keep the pressure on. They have to keep doing it for a very long time. The only reason Aussies scored that quickly is that there was no pressure and they just picked off singles and twos between boundaries.

[Unlimited]

56 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

2% is kind. It’s extremely rare for teams to hit 385 in a day in Test cricket, never mind on the last day to win.

True. Although interestingly, after that early wicket fall, Google has Australia at 55%, draw 44%, and England 1%.

Google probably going, "Yep, expected"

[btron3000]

1 hour ago, StringerBellend said:

Weirdly I think the run rate may play into it , if England get up to 4 an over with wickets in hand, then field starts to spread 

They’ve got fielders on the boundary even though the run rate is 2. Ridiculous.

[mack]

Absolute guess from the umpire on that glove. Bailed out by the review.

And another. England crashing.

[sonar]

5 minutes ago, mack said:

Absolute guess from the umpire on that glove. Bailed out by the review.

And another. England crashing.

He had to get one right eventually....lol

[btron3000]

Well that was enjoyable.

Cummins has to be the best fast bowler in the world on unresponsive decks. So strong, he just muscles the balls to shoulder height.

[Smoggy]

Meh...tone for the series set, England are busted (that attempted shot from Roy lol), Bairstow is so out of form, Ali looks like a village cricketer, Buttler's head is still in world cup mode, Burns got VERY lucky with his runs, Anderson is done, Root is out of form, Woakes hardly bowled Aus second innings for some reason. Broad is not the player he was 5 or 6 years ago. England putting hope on Archer who is untested at this level, could get anything from him.

Was hoping for at least a competitive series but can't see that somehow.

Will save some late nights anyway, im done. Seen enough of England getting thrashed all through the 80's and 90's, i have enjoyed the more competitive times since 2005, it reignited my interest in cricket.

Will leave the 'redemption roadshow' to others lol 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Erimus

[btron3000]

Lol quality dummy spit.

We were trying to tell you half this stuff (in a much nicer way!) before the Test.

The Aussie team has holes in it too.  You were a bowler down, remember. It was always expected that the two batting lineups would struggle, it's just that Smith was unstoppable, you lost Anderson and Woakes seemed injured too. That's pretty tough to deal with.

It's always like this in the Ashes - for one team it's a disaster, the other looks great. England need to regroup. Archer, Broad, Woakes at Lord's, that's a decent attack. Ali has to go and Leach come in.

Mind you, fixing the batting won't be so easy (though Leach will get more runs that Mooen!). England, in their desire to shed their conservative style, now have a Test team full of bits and pieces aggressive, one-day style cricketers (Stringer did try to warn us of this). Jason Roy lol. He literally can't go an over without attempting a big shot. I thought the middle order would be a strength, but now that Root is at 3, the middle is one untried guy in Denly, then a bunch of dudes who average in the 30s (Bairstow isn't just out of form, he's an average Test cricketer. At least Stokes bowls to make up for his hit and miss batting).

It's like everything has switched around. Australia are trying to be patient and sensible and play to English conditions, England want to attack. Not sure how they are going to fix the batting (apparently there are talents waiting in the wings, might have to blood them) but England literally have one Test to regroup and open up some wounds or it will be all over.

[btron3000]

On 01/08/2019 at 11:40 PM, wendybr said:

 

You guys are just going to talk about Cricket for the next month aren't you!  

 

 

Looks like you’ll have Erimus back pretty soon.

[StringerBellend]

39 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

Looks like you’ll have Erimus back pretty soon.

Possibly not...Given that England are about as competent at cricket as trump is at international diplomacy 

 

hows that for political satire I’m like one of your Jonathan Pies 

[sonar]

Cheaters DO prosper....

Eng 2005 Aus 2019.....lol

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, btron3000 said:

Looks like you’ll have Erimus back pretty soon.

I have study to get on with anyway and so need a break from WSF in general.

England being shyte will at least distract me less.

[sonar]

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/grandstand/ashes-2019---highlights-day-five-first-test-edgbaston/11385934

[wendybr]

9 hours ago, btron3000 said:

Looks like you’ll have Erimus back pretty soon.

Hahaha - not necessarily!

8 hours ago, Erimus said:

I have study to get on with anyway and so need a break from WSF in general.

England being shyte will at least distract me less.

But you have to drop in, say hi and leave a smart- arsy comment somewhere here at least once a day - as your reward for getting stuck into your studies.

Balance in all things! 

[btron3000]

This series reminds of 2010/11, the last time a touring team won the Ashes.

After 3 Tests it was 1-1, only because of Mitchell Johnson heroics in Perth where he used the Fremantle Doctor to rip apart the England batting order twice. In Melbourne it was a seamers paradise and Australia were bowled out in half a day on Boxing Day. In amongst the calls for everybody's heads, there were questions as to whether such a pitch should have been produced for Boxing Day. Putting aside the fact that Australian groundsman don't take instruction from the powers that be, unlike some countries (cough, England, cough, India), some of whom even still claim the moral high ground in all things cricket, I was thinking "if the people complaining about the pitch could produce one they wanted, what would it be?"

Clearly they couldn't produce a seamers pitch. If they produced a flat track, then Cook and Pietersen would bat us to death like they did at Adelaide in that series. Swann was the best spinner in the sides so a turner wouldn't help either. So there was no pitch that would help us.

Likewise here. They produce a flat pitch they are NEVER getting Smith out. A bouncier, faster pitch than the one we just had and they will get Smith out, but that brings our pacemen - of which there are 5 decent options - into the game. A turner and Lyon is the most dangerous spinner.

We have the best batsman, the best pace bowlers, and the best spinner. So the options for a pitch that suits England are limited. In the past, they knew that if it was swinging (which can be as much about weather as the pitch), they'd have our number.  But even that would bring Pattinson and to a lesser degree, Cummins into the game more. And even Starc.

I think the only chance they have is to give some assistance to the pacemen, produce tracks that are really hard to bat on, and hope they win the Russian Roulette game of chance regarding who plays and misses and who nicks it. Lower scoring matches are much tighter and bring the teams closer together, much more about luck. Funnily enough, despite Lord's being a happy hunting ground for Australis, it's a place that could produce that pitch. Except that Root just whinged about the pitch against Ireland not being up to Test standard. LOL. Maybe he will go back to the groundsman and plead for the same type of pitch he just complained about!

[luisenrique]

On 04/08/2019 at 3:53 PM, luisenrique said:

Lyon is gonna get at least six tomorrow.

[StringerBellend]

3 hours ago, luisenrique said:

hardly took Nostradamus did it?

by god England were crap

 

 

[btron3000]

The problem with The Ashes is all the days that they aren't on. Apart from the FFA Cup game I have been getting withdrawals each night.

Stupid county games, just play the Tests back to back! 

[wendybr]

5 hours ago, btron3000 said:

The problem with The Ashes is all the days that they aren't on. Apart from the FFA Cup game I have been getting withdrawals each night.

Stupid county games, just play the Tests back to back! 

Just as well you now have a Monty Python doco, to fill in at least one of those empty hours!  

[Smoggy]

On 09/08/2019 at 11:48 PM, btron3000 said:

The problem with The Ashes is all the days that they aren't on. Apart from the FFA Cup game I have been getting withdrawals each night.

Stupid county games, just play the Tests back to back! 

These Ashes are over 

[Smoggy]

Heard the 2nd test could be heavily impacted by bad weather, heavy rain 1st day (possible whole day lost), thunderstorms 2nd day, rain 3rd day. showers 4th day. Might not be as bad as forecast, but looks like plenty of time will be lost.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Erimus

[Paul01]

11 minutes ago, Erimus said:

Heard the 2nd test could be heavily impacted by bad weather, heavy rain 1st day (possible whole day lost), thunderstorms 2nd day, rain 3rd day. showers 4th day. Might not be as bad as forecast, but looks like plenty of time will be lost.

England saved from embarrassing loss by rain. Nothing new there.

[Smoggy]

3 minutes ago, Paul01 said:

England saved from embarrassing loss by rain. Nothing new there.

England have a dreadful ashes record at Lords, with the injuries and other issues I think they would take a rain affected draw right now lol

Edited August 12, 2019 by Erimus