England should go ODI mode for a bit, feck it.
English cricket 2015 - NZ, The Ashes, Pak and SA
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Surely we must be coming to the end of Bell's time in the team?
Am I the only one who thinks England have no chance whatsoever of winning this game?
The drop in standard by England in all facets of the game since Cardiff has been startling, guess it's to be expected with a young-ish side.
EDIT: Within reason of course mind, the drop off from Cardiff is just unacceptable.
It's just Australia who now have turned up after underestimating the series in the first game. England just aren't better.
Moeen Ali is not good enough to be in a test side as the main spinner. Gets most of his wickets when other team is trying to slog him. Drop Lyth, promote Ballance to open, Ali up the order and get a proper spin in.
This test is the same as the last one but with both teams swapping effectively, think England have underestimated the Australians here and Australia took advantage of batting first on a poor pitch. Scoreboard pressure will always be king. Hope we get some decent wickets for the rest of the series, there needs to be a greater incentive for boards to prepare good pitches as opposed to trying to fill out the 5 days.
It's an option but it's not a great one. Obviously Stokes shows what confidence can do, couldn't hit the ball last summer and now he looks accomplished. Really tough for England that Lyth, Ballance and Bell all look completely lost out there. You can't drop all three can you? But this 3/4 down for nowt business isn't good cricket. Do you experiment with Ali in the middle of a series like this? Ballance and Bell need to go and score runs in country cricket and come back I feel:
Cook
?
Root
Bairstow
Ali
Stokes
Buttler
Rashid/4th Seamer (Finn?)
Broad
Wood
Anderson
That could be a work around for now but jeez that middle order is inexperienced, if only England had an arrogant, world-class middle order batsman who can take games away from teams in a session hey?
Another wicket! Johnson first ball after tea. England have capitulated.
It's ok, Ali will score 400, we got this
Brilliant aggression from Johnson. Should be done with today.
Or not...
One test to forget the mental scars of the last series, one test to bring them all back 
Have Ali open, need a stroke-maker to take the pressure off of Cook and Ballance. Bairstow in for Bell. Rashid in at 8.
Ali isn't going to make it as a test batsman and if you put him up the order he'll be forced to try to, neglecting his bowling.
Ali isn't going to make it as a test bowler either.
The performance here has been so so bad that England have to make changes surely. I know they won the first test, but all of that has been eradicated.
Stuart Broad top scorer after 7 balls, think that sums it all up.
No, I don't think he is. For me, he's an allrounder for spinning pitches (as the second spinner).
This is pathetic.
At least broad tried to force the issue, fair play. This has been so bad though.
This is the worst I think I've ever seen England play at home.
Root out.
Start the car...
Lovely delivery by hazlewood that.
Wow, they got intro triple figures at least, I guess. That didn't look likely earlier on. Pretty woeful though.
Embarrassing batting performance from England. Tbf the Aussie bowlers have got England's arseholes quivering.
Yeah it's been woeful, it will be interesting to see how we pick ourselves up for the third test, changes definitely need to be made. I would give Hales a shot, drop lyth, keep Ali at 8 and look for an effective spin bowler. More patience with the bat is needed to, continual collapsing needs to be cut out as soon as we were 30/4 in the first innings we were fecked.
What a ball to win it too, fair play
Wow.
Australia made the right changes after the first test and it paid off. Lets see what England do before the third test.
One of Bell/Ballance needs to go. Too much pressure on Root to perform when they're constantly 3 down for few runs.
Brilliant from the Aussies. Terrific turn-around after the first test, going with Marsh was a good decision. Lets see how England respond now, nice period of rest now until Edgbaston.
Brilliant from the Aussies. Terrific turn-around after the first test, going with Marsh was a good decision. Lets see how England respond now, nice period of rest now until Edgbaston.
Between those pair, it's Bell, and it's not even close.
England need some positive intent at the top of the order. Never replaced Trescothick as an opener. Very underrated batsman.
Congratulations to the Lords ground staff in managing to prepare probably the worst international wicket ever seen whilst simultaneously managing to replicate a drop in pitch. I don't think you could have produced a pitch that suited Australia more, even a belting fast wicket would have given our bowlers something.
Still, no excuse for Anderson who was shocking. Broad bowled well throughout and Wood plugged away admirably. No problem with Ali's bowling either, there's no one better in country cricket.
As for the batting, I suppose you have to stick with Lyth. There's no opener knocking the door down and England are too pig headed to go back to Compton. Hales will get blown away by the Aussies and hasn't had any real success as a red ball opener.
I'd stick with Ballance, but a move down the order away from the swinging ball might be beneficial at the minute, he bats below Root for Yorkshire and I don't see any reason not to go with that, I have been opposed to Root batting at 3, but he's basically doing it anyway so what difference does it make. Bell's done as an international cricketer.
The rest of them haven't become bad players over night, they just need to put away talk of 'aggression' and remember they need to protect their wickets, too many threw it away.
Still, no excuse for Anderson who was shocking. Broad bowled well throughout and Wood plugged away admirably. No problem with Ali's bowling either, there's no one better in country cricket.
As for the batting, I suppose you have to stick with Lyth. There's no opener knocking the door down and England are too pig headed to go back to Compton. Hales will get blown away by the Aussies and hasn't had any real success as a red ball opener.
I'd stick with Ballance, but a move down the order away from the swinging ball might be beneficial at the minute, he bats below Root for Yorkshire and I don't see any reason not to go with that, I have been opposed to Root batting at 3, but he's basically doing it anyway so what difference does it make. Bell's done as an international cricketer.
The rest of them haven't become bad players over night, they just need to put away talk of 'aggression' and remember they need to protect their wickets, too many threw it away.
Hilarious.
@Lords shame for not making any day five money
On the plus side Jonny Bairstow's scored another 100 today, IIRC didn't he struggle vs. the West Indies with the short stuff?
Keep the same team as the selectors are
England.
Bairstow is the leading run scorer in the first division. He should come in for Bell. But we are struggling on the openers front. Hales isn't exactly scoring loads of runs at the moment. Lyth should be given a further shot. Rashid should come in for Ali as well. Move Root to 3, Ballance at 4 then Bairstow in 5.