Ashes 2019
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Oz 240-ish ahead.
Geoff Boycott's waspish comment on Smith's dismissal.
That's the best thing that could have happened to Australia. Otherwise they would have batted all day and only given themselves a day to bowl England out
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What an awful day. Sitting inside with a farting dog watching Smith bat England out of the game. Looking forward to work tomorrow.
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Either the wicket is a batsmen's dream or England were clueless in the last 20-30 overs of the Oz innings.
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@NTA said in Ashes 2019:
@Donsteppa said in Ashes 2019:
How good is that from Steve Smith? The ultimate way to return to Tests.
This is actually 25 now, but still...
Bugger me days he really is some player isn't he ?
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No matter the result, a test with 144 and 142 is a phenomenal effort. Especially with the build up and then the context of the test when he came in the 2nd innings.
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The bit I liked the most was when he just started flogging Stokes all over the shop, and didn't even bother running once he knew he'd middled it. Just whack the fucking thing, then turn and walk off to the side in his own weird fashion, before facing up to the next one.
I reckon Lyon could make the Pommy openers his bunnies this series. Certainly Roy and Burns aren't going to enjoy facing him tonight.
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@ACT-Crusader said in Ashes 2019:
No matter the result, a test with 144 and 142 is a phenomenal effort. Especially with the build up and then the context of the test when he came in the 2nd innings.
he might have a sneaky hope that England win from here. What's better than a hundred in a losing effort? Two hundred in a losing effort!! Cricket's pinnacle.
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I reckon this is going to be a great series. And how rare is it to have a live test going into day 5 these days!?!?!
This game could have unfolded sixteen different ways - if Smith was dismissed early in either innings, if Burns knicked one of his 100 play-and-misses, if either team's tail doesn't wag, if the ball dislodges Root's bail etc etc etc. Both teams will walk off after this test thinking they should have won.
As it stands, the game is more or less in the hands of Lyon. The deck looks pretty dead for the quicks, but Lyon is extracting plenty of turn. I'd be giving a slight edge to the draw, just because I like England's batting depth. But if they are 3-fa at lunch then I reckon we could just get it done.
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And while I'm here, I'm going out on a limb to say I like having names on the back of test shirts.
I just like knowing who the players are when they move about the field. Within a second of turning on the TV I know the bowler and the non-striking batsman. And then if someone is moving in the field I know who they are, rather than having to decipher that fact based off their gait and/or height and/or prominent tattoos or birth marks.
And I don't think they look that bad. I can take or leave the numbers, but the names should stay.
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@barbarian said in Ashes 2019:
And while I'm here, I'm going out on a limb to say I like having names on the back of test shirts.
I just like knowing who the players are when they move about the field. Within a second of turning on the TV I know the bowler and the non-striking batsman. And then if someone is moving in the field I know who they are, rather than having to decipher that fact based off their gait and/or height and/or prominent tattoos or birth marks.
And I don't think they look that bad. I can take or leave the numbers, but the names should stay.
Same here.
How good is it having Smith back to watch bat. I could watch him all day.
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The worm is in England's head. Their psyche is invaded. Smith's ubiquity is already a feature of this series after four days of one Ashes test. When one of your bowlers [Chris Woakes] comes off the field and asks a BBC radio crew: "Do you have any ideas?" you can be sure plans for removing the finest test batsman of his generation are running low.
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@barbarian said in Ashes 2019:
And while I'm here, I'm going out on a limb to say I like having names on the back of test shirts.
I just like knowing who the players are when they move about the field. Within a second of turning on the TV I know the bowler and the non-striking batsman. And then if someone is moving in the field I know who they are, rather than having to decipher that fact based off their gait and/or height and/or prominent tattoos or birth marks.
And I don't think they look that bad. I can take or leave the numbers, but the names should stay.
Not sure about that. Test Cricket is a slow enough sport to have the luxury of taking time to see who is batting or bowling.
I also don't consider an individual fielder anywhere near as important as the batsman or bowler. I personally couldn't care less who is out in the deep, on the boundary or whatever. Being a great fielder is a bonus, it doesn't get you in the team on it's own.
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I reckon England will be a rabble by the end of the series.
Apparently Edgbaston is an Aussie bogeyground, plus the miracle of an England opener scoring a century. In fact both Root and Burns in the top 3 lay a good platform for the hard-hands brigade below them to cash in. This was a golden chance for England ... countered by the Anderson injury admittedly ... but they'll only be fighting for a draw on day 5.
By the 5th test, I reckon only 5 or 6 of these England players may be remaining.
That's my balls-out call.
For this above to be true rabble proportions, then I upgrade my 3-1 prediction to 4-0. This was England's "1".
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@MN5 said in Ashes 2019:
@barbarian said in Ashes 2019:
And while I'm here, I'm going out on a limb to say I like having names on the back of test shirts.
I just like knowing who the players are when they move about the field. Within a second of turning on the TV I know the bowler and the non-striking batsman. And then if someone is moving in the field I know who they are, rather than having to decipher that fact based off their gait and/or height and/or prominent tattoos or birth marks.
And I don't think they look that bad. I can take or leave the numbers, but the names should stay.
Not sure about that. Test Cricket is a slow enough sport to have the luxury of taking time to see who is batting or bowling.
I also don't consider an individual fielder anywhere near as important as the batsman or bowler. I personally couldn't care less who is out in the deep, on the boundary or whatever. Being a great fielder is a bonus, it doesn't get you in the team on it's own.
Yep. However did the poor luvies survive when they had to wait a minute to see the scorecard. Pure torture.
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@Rapido said in Ashes 2019:
I reckon England will be a rabble by the end of the series.
You just wonder what impact the World Cup win has had on the psyche of this team. Is the fire really burning?
I'm still not ready to make any predictions about the series as a whole, as England have really only had one bad day. At 8/122 on the first day it would have been fair to say the Poms were looking like romping it home, so things can change quite quickly.
I would say the addition of Joffra Archer in place of Jimmy Anderson will change the complexion of the England attack.
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@NTA said in Ashes 2019:
@Donsteppa said in Ashes 2019:
How good is that from Steve Smith? The ultimate way to return to Tests.
This is actually 25 now, but still...
More remarkable in that his first couple of years were pretty lean as he was finding his "potential" IIRC
