Surely, Stone will be the first debutant to top score batting at 10 if he can get a few more.
Just picking up on this bit of snark. Murtagh is, in point of fact, English. He was born in London.
85 all out.
England can really back this up by bowling short and not threatening the stumps or the line that will carry to the slip cordon. I definitely back Broad in particular to have learned nothing from Murtagh’s spell.
If you are right, I wonder if I can get a price about the first ball England bowls being ridiculously short and going for 5 wides over the keeper’s head?
Did Jack Charlton take over Cricket Ireland?
Took me quite a while to figure out what had happened waking up to that scoreline. Weirdly the Google match predictor still has England as massive favourites to win.
Yes, the live betting odds yesterday still had them at odds on all the way through, obviously reducing the more Ireland scored. But even when it was clear that Ireland weren’t going to suffer the same sort of collapse, they could be had at 9/4 for the win. Wish I’d put a big bet on, to be honest. Since I didn’t, hopefully England can make a better fist of it this time, maybe even set a challenging target. I wonder what Leach’s strategy will be this morning - hit out or get out? Or try to hang around as long as possible to take the shine off the new ball?
Loved and bought the T-shirts following the 2015 Trent Bridge debacle.
Thought it only fair and reasonable to propose the equivalent design:
…1.3|…21nb.|.1.W…|…13|…1.|…44…|.1…1.|.4…4|2…|…1w.2W.|
…W…|.2.4lb.W|…W.W|…|1W…|1nb44.3.1|…2|…|…W12|.1lb1.13|
W.1…1|…44.4|…|…4W
Printed in orange type on emerald green.
And now from 171-1 to 194-5 in the second innings.
Over in the CWC2019 thread it was remarked that the ENG ODI team was the first to try to play T20 cricket over 50 overs.
Based on that strategy they compiled a phenomenal 75% win rate over the past 4 years.
What I wasn’t aware that the 1st innings vs Ireland was the fourth time in that same period the Test line-up has been bowled out in under a session.
You can see when the ODI selections were practicing the “go for broke” strategy.
Never in doubt.
Ahem.
All the usual failings present and correct. All the usual successes too (i.e batting from sources that should be down the order and an ability to exploit home conditions and the red Duke’s ball). Thing is, I think Australia’s bowling line up is more likely to skittle us than we are to skittle them. Think we’re going to need a bunch of low scoring shoot outs. If Australia score 350 in any innings, they’re winning that match.
Comfortable win for England, never in doubt.
More seriously, with a bit more to the batting I think the first Ashes test will be very interesting. Shall we start a new thread for that or carry on here? Regardless, I’ll have a first go at my preferred starting XI for next week: Roy, Burns, Denly, Root, Stokes, Bairstow, Woakes, Curran, Broad, Archer, Anderson. Yup, no spinner - why bother in English conditions? Ali isn’t good enough and his batting is terrible too. I’m not concerned about the bowling attack, it’s the top 6 that worry me. But Roy played well enough yesterday to merit a place, Denly deserves another chance after being run out by his captain, and who else is there? If Bairstow fails again with the bat I’d be inclined to think about Foakes or even Buttler, but I have a feeling he will be absolutely furious with himself about his pair and has the mentality to prove the doubters wrong. Fingers crossed anyway.
I’d pick Leach myself - but this judgement on Ali’s bowling is at variance with the facts. Moeen Ali’s last nine Tests with the ball: 45 wickets @ 23 (leading wicket-taker in Sri Lanka and West Indies). Also in his last ten home Tests he has 43 wickets at 21.04. How much better can he be?
Hmm, fair enough. I never let facts get in the way of a good argument :). Clearly my frustration with his batting has unfairly coloured my perception of his bowling. Nevertheless, is it madness to play without a spinner when we have so many good pace/seam bowlers available? Does it risk the weather making a fool of you if you go for it on the basis of a damp, overcast forecast, only for the sun to come out for four days?
Who would you leave out for Leach?
Mo.
This is where I align with you - I think the seam up bowling is where you want to be looking to take wickets - but I would want a spinner so you don’t get caught out by the pitch and can play for variety and containment. Mo is an attacking spinner but Leach is much more likely to be able to play a good containing role and let the seam up bowlers have at it. Woakes would bat 8. Leach 9.
I can see them picking Mo - if he has a bad test though, they should whip him out quickly for Leach before the series slips away.
The top order is a shambles (as I’ve mentioned multiple times passim). I’ve no solutions. I just knnow that they shouldn’t be going back to the well with Vince and Ballance - two names mentioned in the rain delay when Atherton, Hussain and Lloyd were chucking around their potential selections for the 1st Test. They’ve been tried. They’ve not fixed their failings. Don’t pick them. I acknowledge however that the same can be said for several of the current squad.
Agreed, but which seamer do you leave out of my XI (assuming they are all fully fit, of course)? Not Stokes, he’s mainly there for his batting at the moment, and rightly so. Not Archer, who is our only real quick. Woakes, who is in great form right now? Broad, with 2015 still in Aussie minds? Anderson? It has to be Curran, I suppose, which seems harsh given he bowls tidily and (possibly more importantly in this side) has made several vital contributions with the bat, not least yesterday. Then again, I suppose you could say the same of Leach!
Curran is the one to come out - he’s useful if it’s going around corners but you’ve got Woakes and Anderson for that, at a higher level - he might be useful in rotation. Archer is someone I would want in but a more practical view is that you look at the conditions and play your best combination for those. If it’s flat, I’d consider dropping Broad or Woakes for Archer. If it’s seaming around (or you’re in Birmingham or Lord’s given his record there) you might well want Woakes. 5 Tests in 6 weeks will be difficult on some of the fast bowlers and having Curran and Archer to spell players could be useful.
For what it’s worth, I would pick:
Roy
Burns (on a short leash but for whom? Unsure)
Denly
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Buttler
Woakes/Archer
Leach
Broad/Archer
Anderson
Looks good. I guess on a pitch like today’s, having ‘only’ four seamers isn’t a problem when you only need 2 :).
I don’t think I’d go that far!
I’d like to see Bairstow dropped in favour of Foakes, but it’s not going to happen.
Bairstow has done nothing in Tests recently - in the last 2 years, his average has been 29, with a high score of 119. It hasn’t helped that he’s been shoved around the order, but that just shows that they don’t really know what to do with him. He’s not as good a technical keeper as Foakes, and Foakes has played 5 Tests with an average of 41 - he got 2 tons in Sri Lanka and then it seems that a couple of bad games in the West Indies, where the rest of English batting also did not fair well, has him removed from contention.
As for the rest:
Roy
Burns
Denly
Root
Stokes
Buttler
Woakes
Bowling is a bit more horses-for-courses, but I’d be surprised if Archer didn’t get a nod for next week if Anderson is injured. I’d suggest that otherwise, Woakes, Broad and Anderson are pretty much undroppable for the time being.
I hope they stick with Leach, and I repeat my call from earlier in the year for some consistency with the batting lineup. Roy, Burns and Denly especially need to play through, and to feel that they can fail without being immediately chucked out. We’ve picked them now, re-assess after the ashes.