There’s a definite case, from a psychological point of view, to go out and bat for an hour tomorrow morning as well, maybe see if Root can get 200, screw with their opener’s preparation.
Strange conversation between the Aussie next to me and the elderly MCC mages, we were in the Taverner Stand, looking back to the bodyline series and whilst accepting that England may win both at home and in Oz in the great scheme of things it’s a minor jolt.
Almost, almost enough to persuade me to subscribe to SKY.
Now if I could only win the Lottery and return the thanks to Lawrence who’s bought these Ashes tickets.
Once again can I express my thanks to the staff at Lords.
Peter
I think apart from that, even if they only bat for 1 over, Cook would choose to bat so that he can have the pitch rolled before play. With a dry wicket rather than compacting the surface rolling assists in breaking the wicket up.
I think there’s a good chance of Australia being bowled out today. Anderson will be a nightmare to face while it’s overcast.
Oh dear.
Having been almost placed on suicide watch after Watson (stupidly, vainly/selfishly)reviewed his LBW decision, it’s been a long couple of days. And we are in exactly the size of hole our application merits.
Any views on the “catch” taken by Smith off Bell?
I have no issue with Bell waiting on the decision. I am a bit cheesed that Smith was booed apparently for cheating in claiming the catch. I couldn’t see any evidence other than for a low, clean catch.
It was out, should have been given out and the 3rd umpire appears to have been watching a different game to the rest of us. The number of times, at various lunch and tea intervals, I have seen TV crews show that getting your fingers under the ball does not necessarily come through on the camera and that you have to look at the angle of entry for the catch, not the position of the ball at the point the catch is taken,are too many to count.
I think the crowd didn’t get the benefit of the replays, so only thought Smith claimed a catch that didn’t carry - the commentators referred to this on the Sky feed in the UK.
Draw or defeat the only options here. No way that Australia will get 570 ish runs to win you’d have thought. Root has proved this was not a bad batting surface. The Oz effort with the bat in their first innings really needs looking at.
121-3 at the moment, this pairing have put in a good stand but these guys have to keep this up for another day and a half, ain’t going to happen, Swann will hit a patch off form or reverse swing will take hold and carnage will ensue.
I’m really not sure where Australia are going to get their form from. Who have they got to bring in?
Go Joe!!
I’m going to ring my bookie and have a bet on the draw. I think one of our batsmen will probably spontaneously combust and hopefully damage the pitch so that the game will be called off.
At the risk of repeating myself from previous Ashes threads, I think Khawaja looks a decent long term bet, Haddin is no mug with the bat (though his keeping can be pretty ordinary) and Clarke is going to get runs eventually. The problem is the other 4 bats. I don’t think Hughes is test match quality. I don’t think Watson is an opener (gets off to good starts but rarely converts - at his scoring rate, I think he should probably be in the middle order, so that he can come in when the ball has softened up a bit - he should be able to keep that rate up down there even if the ball is less hard, due to his strength). I have not seen enough of Rogers to be certain about him but he’s not got off to a good start this tour. Smith might be alright but has frequently had to come in with his team in the shit, which is difficult to reverse from number 6.
First order of the day, if I am Australia, is to find two openers. The bowling attack looks pretty decent to me, but has been given very little rest in this test, so as they could fire on all cylinders in England’s second innings. I don’t think this is their fault by any stretch of the imagination.
The should bring back Hayden…at gunpoint if necessary. Because, frankly from what I have seen, the cupboard is that bare.
And that’s another horrible hiding. Australia’s only comfort is that thanks to their 9-10-J they didn’t lose by 400. Had to wait until the last over of the extra half hour, but England still win with a day to spare.
Absolute thumping by England, which shouldn’t hide the problems that England’s batting itself is having in this series. Still no runs for Cook, KP or Trott.
The difference has been Bell. England have been blessed with a batsman in form, where Australia have been relying on lower order runs to bring them up into respectability.
That Root fellow did alright yesterday, as well.
Yup. Half of England’s batting order misfires, and Australia still get massacred. And if Root hadn’t shelled a respectable slip catch, it could easily have been more than 400 after all.
And I thought that I’d forgotten how bad we were back in the 80s … has just brought a a whole avalanche of unpleasant memories back.
Hayden is getting on a bit (but he’s my favourite player of the ‘modern’ era) so give him a run. But, realistically Katich is actually in England right now, and just scored a 200 in a county game.
This performance by the Aussies certainly brings back memories. My formative years of cricket watching were the last couple of years the Chappell/Marsh/Lillee but mostly the eighties, with very few shining lights behind AB. I don’t look on that fondly and certianly don’t want to see your team back there again.
What has happened to the vaunted cricket academy, and Australia’s high performance systems. It has been argued that system delivered Australia close to two decades of cricketing dominance. What’s changed?
Hayden is 41. Katich is a sprightly 37. Neither is going to be the way forward. Or even sideways.
McNugget cricket & overcrowded international fixtures.
Tours without lead-up games to identify who is in form and adapted to the local conditions before and between Tests.
Batsmen without the technique/patience honed over time against quality opposition. Debutants were promoted to the Test side on the back of sound form in 1st class games. Scoring 25 from 20 balls on a lifeless track with reduced boundaries and field restrictions now constitutes being in good form. They don’t play enough on wickets where occupation of the crease constitutes good batting. Certainly rarely on pitches where there footmarks on a good length are worn by previous days bowlers to negotiate.
Watson is the epitomy of the genre. Scoring 40 off 10 overs with 8 boundaries smoked through the covers before playing around a straighty hitting middle stump.
Lehmann, Hussey, Siddons, Love etc scored over 10,000 1st class runs before their call-up. They had learned their game.
Bowlers get a game based on rotation policy not form.
Agar may well proveto be a good 'un but he’s there as #1 spinner and 6 months ago he was playing Club cricket. He hasn’t had to grind out good bats on flat wickets in his handful of 1st class games. It’s entirely possible that by the end of the year he’ll have played more Tests that Shield games. He’s struggling to dismiss half-decent bats on wickets that favour him.
It was about 1984 when I started taking an interest in cricket and all I remember from that time is humiliating loses and Kim Hughes weeping. This feels much the same; it’s Australia’s longest Test losing streak since we lost six in a row to the West Indies in 1984.
I don’t think the gap between the teams is as big as the result indicates though. Margins in Test cricket are often misleading. Read the match reports from the first 2005 Ashes test and you’d assume England went on to lose 5-nil.
All good points that I agree with. The further marginalisation of Shield cricket hasn’t helped. As you’ve pointed out there was a whole crop of Shield players, top order batsmen, scoring 1,000+ runs a season who couldn’t get a regular look in to the test team, guys like Love, Siddons, & Hodge, who have <6-7 tests to their name, because they were behind guys like Hayden, Langer, Punter et al. But what do we have now? If you’re out of form, seems like there’s no one obvious to take your place.
I was reading an article earlier, reflecting on the fact that Hussey was probably the last batsman in the Australian team who was a true ‘test’ batsmen. He knew when to leave a ball, particularly on a wearing pitch. As you say Watson is almost the poster child of ‘must get bat on ball’ that is the imperative in 50 and 20 over games.
I wasn’t serious about Hayden, but Katich on the other hand, I would genuinely give him a shot. Yes he’s 37, so any revitalised career would be short lived, but he’s in form, and importantly he’s in form on English pitches, facing the Duke balls. I could happily deal with recalling an aging batsmen if it gives some respectability to the result over there.
Meanwhile, I’ll go and live in the past, with Hayden, Langer, Ponting and Hussey terrorising the bowlers, while McGrath and Warne ripped the opposing batsmen apart. Wake me up when Australia has a good test team again! 