Tomorrow is the first day of the Ashes, in Cardiff, and I’m writing this now because I’m going there to see it so won’t be able to say anything until I get back.
There’s some promise that this will be a cracker of a series - two teams fairly evenly matched, although I think Australia have the edge in bowling. England’s bowlers are traditionally very strong in our own yard with our own Duke ball, though, so that may even up. 4 of the top 10 Test run scorers since January 2014 are playing in this test - two on each side - so there’s no shortage of batting on either side.
Australia would appear to have an advantage in terms of Test experience but I’m concerned that Clarke, Watson, Haddin and Rogers have passed their used-by date. The three of them that played in the West Indies didn’t contribute much. If they fail, it will put a huge amount of pressure on Warner and Smith.
On the other hand, England are a bit light on for experience but maybe have the potential to cause a minor upset.
I think it’ll be a great series with lots of twists and turns. England looked a lot better against New Zealand and should be able to just prevail at home.
But a 50 partnership for a potentially destructive pair could lay a platform for a decent score.
Far too early to tell of course but the pitch seems tailor-made for Root, the Aussie attack isn’t extracting too much from it at the moment.
The key for me is whether our middle-order have learned from the NZ series and now feel able to press the accelerator at the right time. There are several partnerships in here that can put on 100 runs in the blink of an eye, but will they do so in a test-match environment?
Afraid this may well be the batting plan - i.e. Root is to spend the summer bailing out the guys who don’t have any form. Agree this pitch may help Root but think so for Ballance in particular too, as it seems like a bit of a pudding. Nothing is really carrying to the keeper. It may also help that we’ve got proper batsmen all the way to 8 too - lot’s of chance to recover if someone, e.g. Bell, plays like an idiot and gets out cheaply.
343 for 7 looks pretty good for England, eerily close to the first day of the first test against New Zealand back in May (354 for 7), and we all know how that turned out.
They probably do have internet in Cardiff, but I’m a bit of a luddite and don’t really do phone internet.
Decent days play in the end. Lost a few too many wickets at either end for comfort, but at 43/3 I was thinking I might get to see Australia bat. I’ll be a lot happier if these last 3 wickets can drag England over the 400 mark, though.
As so often in cricket, it depends on what the other team make of it. Whilst the pitch is low and slow and the bowlers struggled to get bounce, there were a few balls that kept low and that isn’t going to get better as the match goes on. Batting last on that deck could be fraught.
Also, Cardiff holds 15,000 people, which isn’t unusually low. Trent Bridge only holds 17,500.
A late wicket gives England the edge after a tough fought day today. Great to see Ali batting well and getting us up to something presentable, and we should be hopeful of a lead tomorrow!
Aus will think they can get a lead themselves, though, with Watson in and Haddin still to come.
Finely balanced at the moment, before the NZ series I think all England fans would have been happy to see the team on parity with the Aussies and from initial evidence we aren’t a million miles off (still think the Aussies will win the series though)
I’ve never been into sports but this year cricket seems to have interested me a lot, and this is the first game I’ve started following closely. I could be a new convert
I’ll be following this thread and trying to learn new terms. What’s a late wicket, for one?
Watching the third day now and Australia’s still batting, England’s score looks in good shape so far…
Wickets are vital resources - once a batsman’s out, he’s done scoring. So when Australia were 250 for four wickets lost, they had more scoring potential than when they were 250 for 5. It shifts the balance of the game quite a bit.
…but not as much as taking the remaining 5 wickets for just 44 runs in 14 overs. A lead of 122 puts England firmly ahead.
A couple of things to note with a late wicket is that the batsmen normally come out in descending order of competence. If you have 4 wickets down with only a few overs left in the day do you bring in the next man on the list? He’s a good batsmen certainly but you’re exposing him to getting off the mark twice, once this evening and once tomorrow morning and you might lose him cheaply.
In such circumstances the batting side might change their order on the hoof and send in a “nighwatchman” to see out the last few overs and hopefully help accumulate a few runs tomorrow as well. This will be a decent-ish lower order batsmen able to block and defend.
Then when he gets out (hopefully tomorrow), the better batsmen will take the crease and hopefully have a longer period of productive batting.
It is a gamble, and it is not an option taken by every team but it is just one of the myriad decisions that test cricket demands.
