The Ashes
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Its a series between a home team with two really good batsmen and 3 really good bowlers and the rest pretty meh against a team playing away with two really good batsmen and 2 really good bowlers and the rest pretty meh. So in theory it should be close but the reality is the Aussie good 'uns are far more reliable than the Pommy ones - some of whom are also getting long in the tooth / have shit previous form in Oz (or both).
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Root gone and so are England's hopes.
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4 really good bowlers. Cummins is fucking good as well.
And boom, it's over by the 3rd over of the day. 5-0 is still the favourite.
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@mariner4life said in The Ashes:
Those thinking this was close, or in the balance, were deluded before. Now that they have lost one after 2 balls it's over.
England have at least shown they can knock Aus over, but they are still not good enough with the bat to seriously challenge for a win.
Root gone now. 2-nil coming up.
@Virgil is about to have his period
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@mariner4life said in The Ashes:
Those thinking this was close, or in the balance, were deluded before. Now that they have lost one after 2 balls it's over.
England have at least shown they can knock Aus over, but they are still not good enough with the bat to seriously challenge for a win.
Root gone now. 2-nil coming up.
@Virgil is about to have his period
I see the angry lesbian has snuck his average over 61.
That's not a bad effort.
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@nta fair play, you can have all teh fun you want, winners = grinners and all that
BUT
Smith has made a couple of ordinary captaincy decisions in this that has made it a shit load closer than it has any right to be. Are he and Root in a contest to see who can make the biggest blunder of the summer?
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@mariner4life the DRS decisions last night - both the failure to pin Cook early, then the two dud calls for caught behind and LBW on Root - need to be harshly treated. That was poor.
I'm a bit more sanguine about the follow-on decision.
Its very easy to say "send the Poms back in against a swinging ball at night" but there has been little evidence that Starc is bowling well enough to do it. You have the game at your mercy if you survive the evening session with the bat, and if you don't there is still all sorts of records to tumble for England to win.
Risking 130 overs back-to-back might not have delivered the crushing blow we wanted, and then we might have to bowl first in Perth on a deck that hasn't offered a lot lately. Throw in Cummins' injury history and you might go from a potential 2-nil up to maybe 1-all in Perth, with your pace attack cracking at the edges.
As it is, Hazelwood is having a decent spell here, and Lyon is all over the English left-handers no matter where they bat in the order. Cummins is firing at pace. Just Starc needs to tighten his shit up really and we're unassailable.
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I am totally unsurprised England have now lost 3 in no time at all.
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Nick I also think the controversy of the follow-on call obscures just how well Anderson bowled that night.
I was there at the ground and it was the best spell of bowling I've seen live. 11 straight overs of pure quality. Not a ball wasted. He had three wickets by the end, but should have had six.
The assumption in the criticism of Smith is that we could have done similar, when last night showed that bowling at night isn't quite as easy as Anderson made it look.
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I wonder if there are many people as genuinely despised as Piers?
Anyway, this test has been entirely predictable, despite the chicken little's panicking about missed opportunities to enforce an unnecessary follow on. England lucky to get within 150.
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New ball does for Overton.
2 wickets or 148 runs.
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Broad gone and it's down to 130 runs with 1 wicket remaining...
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Ok. So it wasn't as close as I tthought ...
@barbarian said in The Ashes:
Nick I also think the controversy of the follow-on call obscures just how well Anderson bowled that night.
I was there at the ground and it was the best spell of bowling I've seen live. 11 straight overs of pure quality. Not a ball wasted. He had three wickets by the end, but should have had six.
The assumption in the criticism of Smith is that we could have done similar, when last night showed that bowling at night isn't quite as easy as Anderson made it look.
But that's equally an argument in favour of the follow on. And regardless ofc result i still think it was wrong.
It's not just about your bowlers. It's what can one of the best ever swing bowlers in history do with a pjnk ball under lights? Can he tear us to shreds?
I maintain he opened a door he didn't have to.
But well done Aussie.
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And that's what. Won by 120.
Its an interesting thing I've noticed about Starc: when required to do some hard yards, he seems to get a bit erratic. Once the ball is swinging he looks peerless. He gets a 5-wicket haul here, while for the match was rather toothless IMHO.
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@booboo Fair point.
It's why cricket is such a great game. The first two tests have thrown up a thousand talking points, despite both ending in relatively comfortable Aussie victories (on paper).
I see the point behind Root's decision at the toss, like I do with Smith's to bat instead of enforcing. I think both were proven incorrect, but neither were particular howlers.
Ultimately the winning and losing of the game was, like the first test, the success of Australia's middle/lower batting order and the inability of the English batsmen to make anything close to a match-winning score.
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Piers Morgan getting behind England has well and truly made me get behind Australia. Good win boys.
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I think the call to not follow on was the right one not only in the context of the test but also for the Aussie team.
Yes Anderson is quality and what a spell, but I think there was a decision to try and bat some of the Aussies into a bit of form and give them some time.
Hopefully England can bounce back.
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@act-crusader If that was the strategy then it wasn't what you'd call an unqualified success.
I don't think Aussie's actually think that deeply about what they're going to do. Innovative captaincy just isn't their thing. They were on top for so long they didn't need to think strategically they simply bludgeoned the opposition into submission. Now it seems they either can't or won't digress from the accepted play book. Even though they're no longer a great side.
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@act-crusader If that was the strategy then it wasn't what you'd call an unqualified success.
I don't think Aussie's actually think that deeply about what they're going to do. Innovative captaincy just isn't their thing. They were on top for so long they didn't need to think strategically they simply bludgeoned the opposition into submission. Now it seems they either can't or won't digress from the accepted play book. Even though they're no longer a great side.
As @Virgil said both teams have a handful of world class players supported by some pretty ordinary ones. Black Caps are pretty similar in that regard to a slightly lesser degree.
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@majorrage said in The Ashes:
@mn5 surely he's offset by the Australian cheer leading squad, sorry I mean the commentators
.....Piers Morgan's motivational tweets would have been a massive factor as well
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Can I break from match discussion/Aussie bashing/Pom bashing to talk about the Adelaide Oval.
I went with four mates to the first three days of the test. It was fucking brilliant, and I can't recommend it enough.
The Day/Night format is great. You can roll out of bed at 9am, have a leisurely breakfast, a pub lunch and then wander into the ground for the 2pm start. Play goes until 9pm, where you can then step straight into the Adelaide CBD for a cleansing ale or two on the way home.
And the ground itself is just fantastic. Easy to get around, and I never had to queue for a beer for more than 2-3 minutes. We sat behind the bowlers arm on day 1, and then on the Eastern side at 45 degrees on days 2 and 3.
It's now easily my favourite cricket ground. Plus I saw Gary Lyon hit a six and then snaffle one of the great caught and bowleds, so the cricket was pretty good as well...
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@barbarian said in The Ashes:
Can I break from match discussion/Aussie bashing/Pom bashing to talk about the Adelaide Oval.
I went with four mates to the first three days of the test. It was fucking brilliant, and I can't recommend it enough.
The Day/Night format is great. You can roll out of bed at 9am, have a leisurely breakfast, a pub lunch and then wander into the ground for the 2pm start. Play goes until 9pm, where you can then step straight into the Adelaide CBD for a cleansing ale or two on the way home.
And the ground itself is just fantastic. Easy to get around, and I never had to queue for a beer for more than 2-3 minutes. We sat behind the bowlers arm on day 1, and then on the Eastern side at 45 degrees on days 2 and 3.
It's now easily my favourite cricket ground. Plus I saw Gary Lyon hit a six and then snaffle one of the great caught and bowleds, so the cricket was pretty good as well...
Would love them to do it at the basin. 10 minute stroll to Courtney place afterwards for a cold one. Marvellous.
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@barbarian i have several friends who have been and said the same thing. It is now on my list. Apparently the place to be is out the back, and you pop back in to watch cricket every so often.
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@barbarian said in The Ashes:
Can I break from match discussion/Aussie bashing/Pom bashing to talk about the Adelaide Oval.
I went with four mates to the first three days of the test. It was fucking brilliant, and I can't recommend it enough.
The Day/Night format is great. You can roll out of bed at 9am, have a leisurely breakfast, a pub lunch and then wander into the ground for the 2pm start. Play goes until 9pm, where you can then step straight into the Adelaide CBD for a cleansing ale or two on the way home.
And the ground itself is just fantastic. Easy to get around, and I never had to queue for a beer for more than 2-3 minutes. We sat behind the bowlers arm on day 1, and then on the Eastern side at 45 degrees on days 2 and 3.
It's now easily my favourite cricket ground. Plus I saw Gary Lyon hit a six and then snaffle one of the great caught and bowleds, so the cricket was pretty good as well...
That is really the best advert for day/night test cricket - it looked like a great crowd and it was gripping, tense cricket.
Went to the old ground once in January 2007. It was my birthday which the Australians celebrated with a holiday (January 26) and the only flight I could get from Melbourne had me landing around 1pm for a 2pm start. Without being in the city before, I doubted I could clear the airport, get a taxi to the hotel to drop off stuff then to the ground given it was an England v Australia ODI and a full house.
Did all of that and arrived at the ground just after 1.30 in time for an ale before the first ball - great city for getting around. Cricket wasn't quite so compelling, never lasted long enough to need the lights.
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@mariner4life Yeah but the issue is that's in the Members. It looks great but unfortunately none of us had the connections to get in
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Without being in the city before, I doubted I could clear the airport, get a taxi to the hotel to drop off stuff then to the ground given it was an England v Australia ODI and a full house.
Did all of that and arrived at the ground just after 1.30 in time for an ale before the first ball - great city for getting around. Cricket wasn't quite so compelling, never lasted long enough to need the lights.Good old Radelaide: built for 2 million, home to half that.
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Without being in the city before, I doubted I could clear the airport, get a taxi to the hotel to drop off stuff then to the ground given it was an England v Australia ODI and a full house.
Did all of that and arrived at the ground just after 1.30 in time for an ale before the first ball - great city for getting around. Cricket wasn't quite so compelling, never lasted long enough to need the lights.Good old Radelaide: built for 2 million, home to half that.
So pretty much the opposite to Auckland then ....
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Ben Duckett now dropped for throwing a drink at James Anderson in a bar in Perth (the same one the Bairstow head-butt happened in apparently). These guys seem to be out all the time!
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Very nice of the Aussies. In an effort to return some form of competition to this summer, they appear to be about to deliberately handicap themselves. Word is they are going to drop a bloke who averages almost 50 in Handscomb, to slot in the wildly inadequate Mitch Marsh. A player who averages 21 with bat, and 37 with the ball (and who takes a wicket every 1 and a half tests).
Inspiring selecting.
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@mariner4life said in The Ashes:
Very nice of the Aussies. In an effort to return some form of competition to this summer, they appear to be about to deliberately handicap themselves. Word is they are going to drop a bloke who averages almost 50 in Handscomb, to slot in the wildly inadequate Mitch Marsh. A player who averages 21 with bat, and 37 with the ball (and who takes a wicket every 1 and a half tests).
Inspiring selecting.
@NTA is gonna have absolute kittens if this comes to fruition.
Take my doubts about Mitch Santner, multiply them by about a million and you have his relationship with Marsh to a tee.
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I don't mind this selection, weirdly. As much as I piled on like everyone else, it's hard to argue the selectors haven't done quite well so far. S.Marsh and T-Paine have been great pics, and Bancroft may well be a good one as well.
Handscomb is a walking wicket at the moment. His two innings in Adelaide were horrible, and his dismissals even worse. Yes his average is nice but he is playing like a tailender right now.
M.Marsh has had a decent Shield season (400 runs at 41, and a couple of wickets). Bats well on the WACA and provides a useful bowling option on what for the last few years has been a flat track.
I would have preferred Maxwell or even Cartwright, but I certainly see where the selectors are coming from. Which is something I never thought I'd say this series...
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@barbarian said in The Ashes:
I don't mind this selection, weirdly. As much as I piled on like everyone else, it's hard to argue the selectors haven't done quite well so far. S.Marsh and T-Paine have been great pics, and Bancroft may well be a good one as well.
Handscomb is a walking wicket at the moment. His two innings in Adelaide were horrible, and his dismissals even worse. Yes his average is nice but he is playing like a tailender right now.
M.Marsh has had a decent Shield season (400 runs at 41, and a couple of wickets). Bats well on the WACA and provides a useful bowling option on what for the last few years has been a flat track.
I would have preferred Maxwell or even Cartwright, but I certainly see where the selectors are coming from. Which is something I never thought I'd say this series...
Surely he's had enough chances though?
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Maxwell fans are disappointed.
NTA is facing double Marsh.
Therefore NTA is also disappointed
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