English cricket thread

Dan_F said:
You know when you want to have a discussion and then take a step back and think, why am I even bothering.

Someone saying it’s an average Australian batting line up, when England are opening with players like Duckett and Crawley :lol:
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Well, compared to past great aussie sides it's average. Still better than england's. Just.
 
Anyone else feel the Ashes feels bigger then it has in ages this year? Loads of people at work talking about it, and the discussion on here feels way more active then ever getting 2 anecdotal bits of evidence.
 
TheGame said:
You really do seem to have some issues against England, don’t you. People were saying if England won Root would be man of the match and if Australia won then Khawaja wouldbe man of the match. That was all.

You are also showing your lack of knowledge on test cricket. Head has been one of the best test performers recently hence he is ranked number 3. Marnus and Smith above him.

Australia have a better all round batting and bowling lineup hence being test champions. You are trying to make some weird case to make England better so you can celebrate further if they lose. Bit sad really.
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How is it lack of knowledge on test cricket? Head averages below 30 away from home.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Anyone else feel the Ashes feels bigger then it has in ages this year? Loads of people at work talking about it, and the discussion on here feels way more active then ever getting 2 anecdotal bits of evidence.
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It's because its Bazball vs the World Test Champions. It's also being played at the best time for cricket - No football worth of note. I think the latter really has a big factor in this.
 
DixieDean said:
Well, compared to past great aussie sides it's average. Still better than england's. Just.
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Position for position in the batting line ups, who would you take from England and replace in the Australia line up?
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Anyone else feel the Ashes feels bigger then it has in ages this year? Loads of people at work talking about it, and the discussion on here feels way more active then ever getting 2 anecdotal bits of evidence.
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I think everyone knows and feels that this will be a special one
 
Dan_F said:
Position for position in the batting line ups, who would you take from England and replace in the Australia line up?
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Honestly man for man, there's not a single England player that would get in a combined XI besides possibly Crawley or Duckett. Not being serious on that one either
 
Scottynaldinho said:
Gloating was when the thread was selecting Root for the Man of the match.

Bar Smith and Labuschane this is an average Australian batting. Khawaja performing in English conditions was not expected.

English batting is far more balanced and then you have Stokes and Bairstow to take the game away from you.
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I mean most people added the caveat to Root being MoTM with if England win and then most said Khawaja if Aussies won with some shouts for Cummins too

England batting lineup is a disaster at the top of the order our opener averages less than 40 and Ducket plays every single ball always, where as the Aussies have the top 3 test batsmen in the world, bar Root its hard to see which England batsmen get into the Aussie team maybe Brook maybe but the rest wouldn't thats for sure
 
I think some are being extra critical of Stokes and England here. Yes, the declaration was a stupid call, bazball or no , that was an idiotic call but series is still to be won. Maybe if they lose 4-1 or 5-0 then one can really question this approach. Otherwise good till now.
 
I think it's obvious Australia are better man for man. One of the best test batters ever and a proper frontline spinner, that's enough for it to be clear in itself. But home advantage is enough to level the playing field and keep it competitive. Imagining this series in Aus is not pretty.

The problem I see is that if its not Khawaja, then it will be Smith or Labuschagne. Warner will come off a few times as well. I just don't see many ways we're getting 20 wickets cheaply with this current attack with no spinner, there's always going to be a lull where they get back into the game and get a total. On a seamer we might but that's unlikely and that will give their excellent bowlers assistance too.

We also have the problem that we WILL fold like a pack of cards at least a couple of times. Inevitable playing like this. Which means we can't afford to lack compelling threat in our attack, we have to be able to bowl them out cheaply on occasion which I don't see any indication of. We're not going to have a Khawaja saving us, we will go out on our sword.

Something about both sides of that equation make me think it's going to be hard to come out ahead at the end of it.
 
Combined XI

Khawaja
Bairstow
Root
Smith
Head
Stokes/Green
Carey (wk)
Cummins
Lyon
Broad
Hazlewood
 
Agent Red said:
Result was a bit of a gut punch in the end but I felt better about it going right down to the wire than if we’d just let Carey/Green take it away from us when it looked that way a couple of hours out.

The missed chances obviously need to be ironed out but otherwise our patched together bowling attack felt like the biggest issue so interested to see how we manage that over the rest of the series.

Our record at Lords is poor so not feeling very optimistic about our chances there, but fingers crossed, especially as I’m going. Headingley and OT should be good for atmosphere.
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We missed a load of chances. That’s a positive for us going forward. What’s less positive is that the Aussies didn’t actually bat very well IMHO…you can only see them improving, especially in the middle order
 
Samid said:
Combined XI

Khawaja
Bairstow
Root
Smith
Head
Stokes/Green
Carey (wk)
Cummins
Lyon
Broad
Hazlewood
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Stokes is a push with his knee. Genuinely think this is the best Australia side over here since 2005, only weak spot is Warner and Green gives them a balance they’ve never ever had here.
 
Samid said:
Combined XI

Khawaja
Bairstow
Root
Smith
Head
Stokes/Green
Carey (wk)
Cummins
Lyon
Broad
Hazlewood
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Broad's a push over Starc/Boland and you're effectively having to bat Bairstow and Root out of position to get them in.
 
Also whilst we’re all here musing, I’ve got this feeling I can’t shake that Stokes will retire at the end of this series.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Also whilst we’re all here musing, I’ve got this feeling I can’t shake that Stokes will retire at the end of this series.
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Would be a shame if he does. One of the best in the last decade to play this game. Shame he won't play in this 50 over wc. Brilliant player.
 
AshRK said:
Would be a shame if he does. One of the best in the last decade to play this game. Shame he won't play in this 50 over wc. Brilliant player.
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Being an all format all rounder has really taken a toll on him, he looks physically shot out there nowadays.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Stokes is a push with his knee. Genuinely think this is the best Australia side over here since 2005, only weak spot is Warner and Green gives them a balance they’ve never ever had here.
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Yeah Green is awesome. Fully fit Stokes is better but he’s a bit of a dud if he can’t bowl and doesn’t have the consistency with the bat. He’s a specialist captain at this stage.
 
TheGame said:
It all depends on how the knee is. Hopefully by committing to test cricket and this project he carries on for a bit so he can make a big impact.
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It does, maybe he gets an operation at the end of this series and comes back by the India tour. Long term, I think this style of play fades away without his leadership, no one else has his aura to pull it off, nor the conviction to stick with it when it doesn’t work out.
 
T00lsh3d said:
We missed a load of chances. That’s a positive for us going forward. What’s less positive is that the Aussies didn’t actually bat very well IMHO…you can only see them improving, especially in the middle order
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Yeah agree, Labuschagne and Smith unlikely to stay quiet all series. It feels like our best chance to win the Ashes in ages so I really hope we win the next one to keep things alive.
 
Abraxas said:
Forecasts are forecasts. I wouldn't base my first innings score off a forecast, on day 1 of 5. Getting way ahead of ourselves there. Just do the basics, set a score - we'd already batted aggressively and skewed the game towards a result, why go to such artificial lengths to say you're aggressive. That's just vanity, there is a huge database of history that says strong first innings batting wins games and instead of using that we decide to go off piste.

Besides why equate declaring with more chance of winning? Not neccessarily, runs scored plays a huge part, not just the time to take wickets. Time comes into play as the game progresses not on day 1. The most crucial thing to me is we didn't declare with Jimmy Anderson stood there blocking it up and doing nothing, that would have been more justified because then you can say the opportunity to bowl is better than watching Anderson block. We declared moments after Root just punted their spinner for a couple of big 6s. So by declaring you also have an opportunity cost that says Root was set and could have been extremely efficient in strengthening our position there.

Wasn't a masterstroke, it was just bad. Bad in theory and unfortunately for us it was also bad in practice.
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Yeah I am sure most of us fans could maybe understand the declaration if it wasn't a settled batsman but Root was so comfortable
 
TheGame said:
If Crawley fails again next game, England need to have Brook open and bring in Foakes.
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They need to bring him in for Lord's,if we wait until third test to make change then I fear it will be too late to save these Ashes.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Also whilst we’re all here musing, I’ve got this feeling I can’t shake that Stokes will retire at the end of this series.
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Nah. Unless his knee literally can’t cope and he has to retire, I don’t think there’s any indication that’s the plan from the way he’s talking. He still bowed in this test, surely he’d have a go at being a specialist batsman before retiring completely.
 
iKnowNothing said:
Great game overall. It’s not the declaration on day 1 that cost England. It was the missed chances. They should consider having YJB as a specialist bat and drop Moeen and bring in Woakes in the next test.
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Who would be your keeper?
 
Gavinb33 said:
Who are the next young quicks? Potts is decent but again very one paced is there another Archer/Wood type anywhere?
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Tongue can hit 85-90mph and played the Ireland game at Lord's so experience of that wicket. My gut feeling is they don't see him ahead of Robinson unfortunately.
 
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One potential disadvantage of BazBall is English bowlers spending more time in the middle & less recovery time.
England bowled ~72 overs more already in this series. especially with older bowlers this can become an issue in a long series.
 
dpansheth said:
One potential disadvantage of BazBall is English bowlers spending more time in the middle & less recovery time.
England bowled ~72 overs more already in this series. especially with older bowlers this can become an issue in a long series.
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Such a pain we have bowlers who either can't stay fit or not quick enough to do damage
 
TheGame said:
Not as good a batsmen. Brook is the closest to an opener without actually being one.
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That's my problem - you're losing more runs by getting Brook to open if he struggles there, rather than getting Foakes to open.

You're not really expecting much from Foakes the batsman in the lower middle order or opening.
 
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