The Ashes 2023

[trousers]

Cracking test match so far

[badgerx16]

Harry Brook must have run over half a dozen black cats on his way to the ground.

[skintsaint]

We may be bowled out first day but better at 350 than 150 😅

[badgerx16]

9 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

We may be bowled out first day but better at 350 than 150 😅

We are working hard to give Lyon his 5-fer; Bairstow, Ali, and Broad helping him on his way.

[badgerx16]

Compare the body language of Brendam McCullum to that of a football manager.

Edited 16 June, 2023 by badgerx16

[Lighthouse]

Roooooooooooot!

[skintsaint]

Should have let Root swing away and get out rather than declare.

[trousers]

2 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Should have let Root swing away and get out rather than declare.

Yep... Why Stokes didn't use the power of hindsight I'll never know....

[CB Fry]

19 minutes ago, trousers said:

Yep... Why Stokes didn't use the power of hindsight I'll never know....

Not really hindsight when absolutely no one would have said "they should have declared there" if Root was out next ball.

[trousers]

10 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Not really hindsight when absolutely no one would have said "they should have declared there" if Root was out next ball.

Remind me to use the tongue-in-cheek emoji next time.... <insert winky emoji>

[Hodgey]

The declaration has really split opinion, but I like it, after Oz putting players on the boundary it doubles down on us being aggressive and sets a marker for what to expect. 400 is plenty and with changing conditions could give us the extra pressure we need. Even if it all goes wrong for me this is right attitude 

[skintsaint]

England their own worse enemies today. Aussies should be at least 7 down.

[RedArmy]

Bairstow is a shambles of a wicket keeper. 
 

Great with the bat again against the red ball but couldn’t catch Covid in Wuhan in early 2020. 

[AlexLaw76]

1 more to go, Aussies trail by 15....

Edit, all out and trail by 7.  

Edited 18 June, 2023 by AlexLaw76

[badgerx16]

We have a wicket keeper who really isn't, and a spinner who hadn't played first class cricket for 2 years, and now looks like he might not be available to bowl in the 2nd innings.

[badgerx16]

We are showing a worrying tendency to throw wickets away. Surely some degree of common sense has to be inserted into the Bazball philosophy.

[badgerx16]

Will the selection of Bairstow as WK cost the match ?

[Window Cleaner]

Must admit I wasn't familiar with the notion of Bazball before I looked it up during England's first innings.  Seems to be applying one day tactics to 5 day test cricket, could be wrong there though.  Anyway Australia seem to be progressing steadily towards their target, still a fair way to go though.

Must admit the selection of Moen Ali surprised me, I'd feel insulted if I were a younger player with the same attributes hoping for a test chance.

[Barsiem]

2 hours ago, Window Cleaner said:

Must admit I wasn't familiar with the notion of Bazball before I looked it up during England's first innings.  Seems to be applying one day tactics to 5 day test cricket, could be wrong there though.  Anyway Australia seem to be progressing steadily towards their target, still a fair way to go though.

Must admit the selection of Moen Ali surprised me, I'd feel insulted if I were a younger player with the same attributes hoping for a test chance.

What spinner would you have selected instead out of interest?  I think Ali was the right call.  We didn't have any real alternatives.  It's not necessarily the greatest idea to chuck a youngster into the 1st test of an ashes series.

It's going to be tense tomorrow!  What a game it's been so far. 

Big question marks over Bairstow though given his performance behind the stumps.  Even if he averages 50 with the bat it's not going to compensate for the chances he will miss if he continues like he has the last few days

[RedArmy]

55 minutes ago, Barsiem said:

What spinner would you have selected instead out of interest?  I think Ali was the right call.  We didn't have any real alternatives.  It's not necessarily the greatest idea to chuck a youngster into the 1st test of an ashes series.

It's going to be tense tomorrow!  What a game it's been so far. 

Big question marks over Bairstow though given his performance behind the stumps.  Even if he averages 50 with the bat it's not going to compensate for the chances he will miss if he continues like he has the last few days

Very limited options. Liam Dawson being one of them. 
 

The alternative is to bring Foakes in for Ali and give Root a few overs here and there. Although it would make it a bit of a headache if they want to pick 4 quicks. You would have to drop Duckett or Crawley and move Bairstow up. 

One thing is for sure, Foakes would have made a bigger difference in this game than Bairstow has. 
 

[Weston Super Saint]

Massive change in the weather today.  Rain early on, then cloudy all day.  Will Broad and Anderson shine through in those conditions?  I think getting Khawaja early will be the key and they may flop if he drops.  

[egg]

9 hours ago, RedArmy said:

Very limited options. Liam Dawson being one of them. 
 

The alternative is to bring Foakes in for Ali and give Root a few overs here and there. Although it would make it a bit of a headache if they want to pick 4 quicks. You would have to drop Duckett or Crawley and move Bairstow up. 

One thing is for sure, Foakes would have made a bigger difference in this game than Bairstow has. 
 

We had/have no other credible spin option, but Bairstow's performance with the gloves shows why your best keeper is needed at this level. Foakes would offer no less with the vat than Duckett imo so I'd slide Bairstow up to open as a dedicated batsman, and bring Foakes in at 7. 

[Dman]

14 hours ago, RedArmy said:

Very limited options. Liam Dawson being one of them. 
 

The alternative is to bring Foakes in for Ali and give Root a few overs here and there. Although it would make it a bit of a headache if they want to pick 4 quicks. You would have to drop Duckett or Crawley and move Bairstow up. 

One thing is for sure, Foakes would have made a bigger difference in this game than Bairstow has. 
 

Not sure that's true. He got 78 in the first innings which could prove to be vital come the end of today (win or draw). 

We need to find a way to get Foakes in the side (not only for his keeping, but hes also a great player of spin to counter Lyon), but i'm not sure where / how. Bairstow has to bat 6/7, he can't go up the order, that's been tried many a time before. With the bat, hes been in great form, leave him be down there. 

Duckett or Pope would be the obvious choice to drop, but then who goes 2/3? The only thing I could think of is sticking Brooks in at 3 (he has opened before but I wouldn't open him now), Bairstow or stokes in at 5 in Foakes in at 6. 

As for a spinner, true bazball would be to stick in someone like Rashid, who you know will be expensive but will take wickets. We're in a bit of bother from a spinner point of view. But Root is more than capable of holding an end with the ball. He's juts not going to win us a game, like Lyon will. 

If we're looking for a spinner to hold an end, we could turn to Danny Briggs - Been very good since moving to warks. 

If wickets / weather are going to stay like this, we need to get Wood in. Maybe for Anderson... 

Edited 20 June, 2023 by Dman

[RedArmy]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

Not sure that's true. He got 78 in the first innings which could prove to be vital come the end of today (win or draw). 

 

Those runs were negated by the 2 big mistakes he made. 
Missed the stumping of Green who went on to score 38 and dropped Carey who scored another 40. 
There’s his 78 gone. 
And he missed the edge from Khawaja yesterday who was on 5. So his contribution is negative when we should be saying his 98 runs have made a big difference. 
 

I find it hard to believe Foakes doesn’t take all 3 wickets and score some runs. 
 

You definitely need Bairstow in the middle order to play Bazball though. Especially if you’re batting last, you want Bairstow and Stokes out in the middle smashing them to all parts of the ground. 
 

[Lighthouse]

Whatever the result, this is a cracking test match, going right down to the wire.

[skintsaint]

Seems strange not to take the new ball right now.

[badgerx16]

12 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Seems strange not to take the new ball right now.

As has happened, the new ball might give a better chance of getting a wicket but can also lead to more runs conceded as it comes off the bat quicker.

[skintsaint]

Should have won that. Onto the next one.

Edited 20 June, 2023 by skintsaint

[Weston Super Saint]

Fair play to Cummings - proper captain's innings there.

[bpsaint]

Did anyone know the saints fan sat behind the wicket today? Prime seat to annoy all the watching skates.

[whelk]

This Aussie team seems much more likeable than any I have known. It’s still the Aussies so an edge but Cummings seems a decent bloke. Khawaja very humble chap. At least we still have Ponting as a commentator

[RedArmy]

32 minutes ago, whelk said:

This Aussie team seems much more likeable than any I have known. It’s still the Aussies so an edge but Cummings seems a decent bloke. Khawaja very humble chap. At least we still have Ponting as a commentator

Yeah Cummins has got to be one of the very few Aussies that’s actually likeable. Works hard, plays with a smile, doesn’t chirp up much and most importantly doesn’t carry the Aussie chip on his shoulder. Very good at what he does too. 
 

The rest can get firmly in the bin though. 

[Lighthouse]

I wish KP would shut up.

[skintsaint]

Nice morning. Need to bat big now though.

[Toadhall Saint]

21 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

I wish KP would shut up.

As soon as he is on a turn the sound down some of the most inane comments I think I have ever heard.

[skintsaint]

Stokes gone already, he is so out of form right now.

Some good news for us Poms is Lyon might be out for another test or two.

[Toadhall Saint]

All out 325 - aus are 90 plus ahead. Bazball - numbskull ball if you ask me. Think that is it fir the ashes - hopefully I’m wrong.

[badgerx16]

From 188:1 we lost 137:9.

Think McGrath is right with his 5-0 prediction. They now know how to bowl at England for the rest of the series.

[a1ex2001]

7 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

From 188:1 we lost 137:9.

Think McGrath is right with his 5-0 prediction. They now know how to bowl at England for the rest of the series.

Maybe by the final test they will realise the difference between being positive/aggressive and playing wildly uncontrolled hook shots with 3 or 4 men in the deep waiting for it!  It is hard to believe we were 180/1 when Lyon limped out of the series!  What a waste of an opportunity! (They’ll go and chase 450 now I’ve said that!)

Edited 30 June, 2023 by a1ex2001

[CB Fry]

15 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

From 188:1 we lost 137:9.

Think McGrath is right with his 5-0 prediction. They now know how to bowl at England for the rest of the series.

Exactly.

That twattish declaration on the first day seems a long way away now. 

England seem to have deployed the SaintsWeb entertainment experts official opinion "I'd rather see us lose 3-4 than draw 0-0"

[skintsaint]

Aussies have left the door slightly ajar here for an England win. Will take some doing still.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

Aussies have left the door slightly ajar here for an England win. Will take some doing still.

Just slammed it in our face

[Lighthouse]

Pathetic this. It’s going to be another 5-0 isn’t it.

[wadesmith]

Ultimately Australia are  a superior team to us. Their pace bowling is tremendous.You wouldn’t swap any of their bowlers with ours as things stand today. Their top 4 batters are fantastic. We’ve got Ben Stokes  performing at 50% due to injury, a wicketkeeper prone to mistakes, a creaking bowling line- up & no spinner..People moan about Bazball, but that just covers up the fact if you did a combined team how many English players would you select based on current form?

[StDunko]

Yeah Bazball isn't the problem, in fact Bazball probably gives us more chance of winning some tests than you'd expect when comparing the two teams on paper.

[wadesmith]

10 minutes ago, StDunko said:

Yeah Bazball isn't the problem, in fact Bazball probably gives us more chance of winning some tests than you'd expect when comparing the two teams on paper.

Yes. I wouldn’t disagree with that. The only time I had a problem with Bazball was Friday evening. One of the shots, (can’t remeber who) was  ridiculous, it wasn’t even a cricket shot. Before the Ashes I think we’d won 12 games from 14? I don’t think I saw us win 12 games in the whole of the nineties.

[Lord Duckhunter]

35 minutes ago, wadesmith said:

Ultimately Australia are  a superior team to us. 

Which is why you don’t declare on the first day of an ashes series. They believed their own hype and they’re now getting a wake up call.It was a disrespectful act of stupidity, too clever by half.

I’m fed up with reading about how they’re so relaxed and aren’t put under pressure if they get out “playing shots”. Well they fucking should be bollocked if they chuck their wicket away. It might actually stop the pathetic display of batting we saw first innings. 
 

An average side playing properly would have got out of the first test with a draw at least, and maybe even done the same at Lords. One thing for sure, it wouldn’t have been so fucking easy for the Aussie bastards. Make 5hem earn every wicket, make they grind out every run and keep them fielding at the end of a long day 

Edited 1 July, 2023 by Lord Duckhunter

[egg]

31 minutes ago, wadesmith said:

Ultimately Australia are  a superior team to us. Their pace bowling is tremendous.You wouldn’t swap any of their bowlers with ours as things stand today. Their top 4 batters are fantastic. We’ve got Ben Stokes  performing at 50% due to injury, a wicketkeeper prone to mistakes, a creaking bowling line- up & no spinner..People moan about Bazball, but that just covers up the fact if you did a combined team how many English players would you select based on current form?

The Ozzies are a better team I agree, but the way bazball has been played in this game has given them this game, and probably the ashes, on a plate. 

As to best combined 11, on current form I'd probably agree with you - no room for any English players. 

As to our 11, we've gotta find room for Foakes. To play at this level without your best keeper isn't clever. 

[wadesmith]

4 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Which is why you don’t declare on the first day of an ashes series. They believed their own hype and they’re now getting a wake up call.It was a disrespectful act of stupidity, too clever by half.

I’m fed up with reading about how they’re so relaxed and aren’t put under pressure if they get out “playing shots”. Well they fucking should be bollocked if they chuck their wicket away. It might actually stop the pathetic display of batting we saw first innings. 
 

An average side playing properly would have got out of the first test with a draw at least, and maybe even done the same at Lords. One thing for sure, it wouldn’t have been so fucking easy for the Aussie bastards. Make 5hem earn every wicket, make they grind out every run and keep them fielding at the end of a long day 

We’ll..I can dispute your logic. The flipside is Ive seen this team play ‘traditional cricket in the last two series against the Aussies. One series close, one we got battered. I’m not opposed to us trying something different, I think we’d lose whatever we tried. I’m probably speaking as a veteran (possibly like yourself) who’s watched about 20 Ashes series..& we haven’t won many 😊 I think the last 14 months have seen some of the most incredible cricket I’ve seen for years (the nineties seems a slow motion car crash)  Im sensing you don’t like Bazball...I’m willing to persevere for the time being. Ultimately I don’t see us beating Australia whatever we do this year. It’s hard to beat the world champions with a dodgy wicketkeeper, no spinner & a crocked captain. You trying to ascend Everest wearing Crocs!

[skintsaint]

Amusing not out decision there from the catch. 😅