The Ashes
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Bancroft got what they're calling a good ball.
The Waj was just fucking lazy. Time to boot him. Can't bat on the subcontinent. Hasn't recaptured the form he had a couple of years back where everything was gold.
If Renshaw was dropped for poor form, The Waj doesn't need to bat in Sydney. Give someone else a go, because we've won the series and can't tolerate laziness.
The first guy to be dropped has to be Moeen Ali. He's done nothing whatsoever since Brisbane and his batting in this game was disgraceful - shades of Tim Southee!
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@booboo the stats pointing at Bird having zero wickets are damning.
Yet, Jimmy only had 4 for the match with twice as many overs.
Bird is in no way as good as Starc, but none of the bowlers had much to work with. This is the future for Australian cricket, with drop in pitches at all the major venues moving forward. Curators have to find a way to make things happen, O outside day night tests providing conditions.
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Right. The paint has dried. The caravan moves on to Sydney.
Aussies will want Starc back at the expense of Bird. Ashton Agar is back in the squad and may even replace one of the other quicks if the wicket looks good enough. Can bat, can bowl.
Maybe Jimmy was right?
He might have been, but he was still throwing stones in glass houses at that stage of the series.
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It was a shit pitch in Melbourne, and the match referee agreed. MCG pitch given a rating of "poor" for the Boxing Day test. Only happened 7 times to full ICC members, and in a stat that will surprise no one, 4 of the 7 were in India.
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Super dead rubber under way in Sydney after a damp start.
England 182/3 off 63 overs. Starts everywhere but no one going on with it. Root has made it to his usual 50.
Starc down on pace in this game has helped the English. I watched Lyon bowl for a bit before and he was really good.
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Huge interest in this huh? Couple of late wickets undoes some good work by England. 233 for 5.
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Last couple of wickets brought it back to evens. England were otherwise winning the day.
Starc isn't right. Pace on him and Cummins is way down. But fuck it, they're 5 for 230-odd and tomorrow is mostly sunny.
If we keep Starc on ice all night, he can rip the tail out and we can get to work. A few green patches on that pitch might help Anderson and Broad. They'll have 1.5 spinners as well
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#takingcallsfromindianbookmakers
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That careless shot by Root last night could well cost England quite dearly.
Nothing in the pitch, a tiring Australian attack and the tailenders looking pretty comfortable - it's hard to think that if Malan and Root had still been together this morning that England wouldn't have been looking at more like 450.
Sydney pitch should have something for the spinners by the 4th innings, so they need to be setting Oz some runs.
