Can't decide which is a more masochistic use of my time - watching this or reading the football forums.
Ashes II - 2013/14 - In Australia
- Thread starter NinjaFletch
- Start date
Bit tame that.
Just what you want, hang your fecking bat out. Christ. Was just a nothing shot.
...It's watching this.
Well at least we'll get an early night...
Pathetic. They should have just run up the white flag and declared the innings closed.
Bloody hell Boycs, no need for that analogy. 
In any case the game was lost in the first innings. England should have a long hard look at themselves. Getting out for 172 in the first innings is tame. Cook looks terrible. Despite the first innings I'm unconvinced by Carberry and KP has given some soft dismissals. Also Stokes isn't good enough to be a no. 6.
The annoying thing is the number of gifted wickets in the 2 tests.
On the bowling side, they don't look good enough to take 20 wickets at the moment. Its all doom and gloom I tell you.
The annoying thing is the number of gifted wickets in the 2 tests.
On the bowling side, they don't look good enough to take 20 wickets at the moment. Its all doom and gloom I tell you.
Fair play to our last two, they know they're fecked. I hope they just play the most defensive, cowardly cricket ever and stand together for hours. It would be so perfect.
I'd happily see them bat for 6 hours and score 3 runs, it'd be perfect
Am I right in thinking that in Test cricket you only are allowed to bowl 2 bouncers per over?
because some of the short stuff has been in excess of that.
because some of the short stuff has been in excess of that.
At least they didn't make us endure a whole night of that shite.
Has anyone ever come from 2-0 down?
This series is all but over, especially with Perth next.
This series is all but over, especially with Perth next.
Thankful for small mercies. Terrible mentality from England just bent over and spread'em.
Well that was all a bit pathetic.
What a pathetic and gutless attempt from the boys this morning. Have they never heard of leaving the ball?
Good to see Prior back in form, good batting, a in form Prior is invaluable to the team. First 50 he's got since New Zealand away tour last February so it should give him a confidence boost. That was the only thing to hope for today really, a hopeless situation to be in for the remaining batsmen. I wouldn't be too critical of the batsmen this morning (well Broad aside), once Broad went they might as well go down playing a few shots.
The series win is gone but the draw remains a possibility, England need to come up with something big next game. It's a real test of them, I'm going to stick my neck out and say Johnson won't be as good next match (indeed he wasn't the 2nd innings) regardless of how much the pitch suits him, he's not a 3 great games in a row kind of player, he's Broad like in that respect. Likewise their batsmen, Clarke aside, are brittle, if we can for once post a big innings total, I'd expect them to collapse. So far its been very, very easy for their batsmen, first innings of the first game aside (when they struggled), no pressure on them at all.
The batsmen need to show something next game, the first innings was pathetic, had they batted even remotely decently and avoided the follow on total it'd have probably been late enough in the game that they'd have got a draw out of it. The bowling could standard to improve too, but to be fair, Australia I don't think would have got above 400 that first innings had Carberry taken the Haddin catch, let alone the many other examples of bad fielding. Australia have taken every quarter chance these two games whereas England's fielding has generally been appalling so far.
Otherwise i'd drop Swann for Finn, and Panesar for Bresnan, with Ballance replacing Stokes as number six.
The series win is gone but the draw remains a possibility, England need to come up with something big next game. It's a real test of them, I'm going to stick my neck out and say Johnson won't be as good next match (indeed he wasn't the 2nd innings) regardless of how much the pitch suits him, he's not a 3 great games in a row kind of player, he's Broad like in that respect. Likewise their batsmen, Clarke aside, are brittle, if we can for once post a big innings total, I'd expect them to collapse. So far its been very, very easy for their batsmen, first innings of the first game aside (when they struggled), no pressure on them at all.
The batsmen need to show something next game, the first innings was pathetic, had they batted even remotely decently and avoided the follow on total it'd have probably been late enough in the game that they'd have got a draw out of it. The bowling could standard to improve too, but to be fair, Australia I don't think would have got above 400 that first innings had Carberry taken the Haddin catch, let alone the many other examples of bad fielding. Australia have taken every quarter chance these two games whereas England's fielding has generally been appalling so far.
Otherwise i'd drop Swann for Finn, and Panesar for Bresnan, with Ballance replacing Stokes as number six.
Totally bollockless stuff.
Cookie, Carberry, Root, Pietersen, Bell, Ballance, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn
Although England will play Bresnan instead and bat him at 8.
Although England will play Bresnan instead and bat him at 8.
Well done Aussies, would have been a shame had the weather spoiled the game.
Now march on to Perth and seal the ashes. Hoping for a 5-0.
Now march on to Perth and seal the ashes. Hoping for a 5-0.
Good to see us go 2-0. It is odd though before the series started wasn't England faviourites on the back of the last series, with the thought it would be closer than in England, but them still slightly ahead. I'm actually suprised at how far apart the teams have seemed in the first two games.
Yep, you're correct, but you need to check the height of the ball - they're not very strict enforcing the rule in tests, as they are in 1 dayers.
I'm pretty sure most of the balls would have been borderline "shoulder height" and thus deemed not to be a 'bouncer', especially if, as you said, there has been an excess of that.
I believe the umpires are allowed to no ball a bowler if they think it's over the top but they rarely do because a lot don't believe in the rule.
Yeah, sounds about right. Like I said, you'd hardly ever see a bouncer getting "no-balled" in test cricket as the rule isn't applied as strictly (if at all!!) as the 1 day rule.
Should stay that way. Love watching a shorter
We could do with some Anderson magic in Perth.
We need a bit more than that, we could do with the batters actually putting over 300 on the board.
I've never heard of Ballance but I don't think it helps the younger players like Stoke if you drop them after one test. Not the way things should be done imo. Thought he looked good in the 2nd innings as well even if he didn't score many
Stokes only played this test because the pitch was slow and they wanted the 2nd spinner so put the all-rounder in for a 3rd seam option.
Ballance was probably the best bat in the County Championship last season (although I think Moeen Ai should rightly feel a little bit hard done by to not be closer to the test team).
In fairness I can see them dropping Swann and going with Bresnan in his place. Which would mean the team would have an incredibly short tail. Might be the way to go in the name of actually defending some runs.
That's fair enough but like I said once you give someone a go, dropping them immediately after a poor game is not the way to do things. And I like the look of Stokes tbh. Given time and some patience think he'll turn out to be a good player
I don't think he really had a poor game and I think the England team had the sense to tell him why he was picked. Which he should understand, I think Woakes should feel harshly done by but I'm not sure Stokes could complain if he was replaced for Friday.
I think England would be naive to go in to Perth with him at 6, even if Prior has found some form.
Good point about Perth but on the other hand this is probably not the best time to make your debut either. Ballance better be good playing the short ball
Yeah, thats the worry. He's probably the better bat out of him and Bairstow though; I wonder if how well Bairstow stood up to that Steyn/Morkel barrage might come in to it 94 and 54, I think, in his only test in that series.
What happened to James Taylor as well? I really liked the look of him.
Its a shame James Taylor is not in the squad, he is class player and looks suited to test matches however its a case of dropping someone from the lineup. I think he will be making his claim stronger over the next season.
Agreed, think England should go back to the 6 batsmen, keeper and 4 bowlers which has served them well. I would give Ballance a shot, the man averages over 50 in first class cricket so deserves his chance plus a left hander down the line up might help Australia changes their line/length when bowling as its currently all right handers after the openers.
I would personally pick Finn as the third seamer however think England will go with Bresnan to give them some cover with the batting.
Ballance did really well with Yorkshire last season, one of their players of the season, averages just over 50 in first class cricket. Would also fit in well on the ODI game as well.
Last chance saloon for England tonight.
Seems the only change to the team is Bresnan in for Panesar. I'd have dropped Swann but I guess they're looking at it from the perspective of he'll eventually come good. That said I'm not sure about the wisdom of not picking a specialist batsmen at 6 given the brittle nature of the batting line up, but again I can understand that Stokes pace is desireable on this pitch, and Bresnan gives us a extremely long batting tail. Although Johnson has knocked over the tail with extreme ease so far, they've had Swann's number in particular.
Still not sure where the 20 wickets are coming from mind. We desperately need Anderson to find his best wicket taking form, particularly given Broad is always liable for a couple of horrible games a series. Personally i'd have gone for Finn (who for all his faults will take wickets), and Ballance.
Hopefully we win the toss, bat well for once, and put on a decent score. This Aussie batting line up is mediocre at best Clarke aside, they looked dodgy in the first innings of the first match, they've just been lucky that they've had absolutely no pressure on them on the 3 innings since. A substantial rise in fielding standards is needed too, as much as there can be complaints over the batting, that last game would have been a lot, lot different had England fielded to even half the standards the Aussies did.
Still not sure where the 20 wickets are coming from mind. We desperately need Anderson to find his best wicket taking form, particularly given Broad is always liable for a couple of horrible games a series. Personally i'd have gone for Finn (who for all his faults will take wickets), and Ballance.
Hopefully we win the toss, bat well for once, and put on a decent score. This Aussie batting line up is mediocre at best Clarke aside, they looked dodgy in the first innings of the first match, they've just been lucky that they've had absolutely no pressure on them on the 3 innings since. A substantial rise in fielding standards is needed too, as much as there can be complaints over the batting, that last game would have been a lot, lot different had England fielded to even half the standards the Aussies did.
Aussies win the toss. Match over.
Should be but the pressure's all on them, this time. They could choke.