English cricket thread

I’ll be the portent of doom here….but the BBC weather forecast is a complete lottery, I swear it’s correct less than 50% of the time
 
T00lsh3d said:
I’ll be the portent of doom here….but the BBC weather forecast is a complete lottery, I swear it’s correct less than 50% of the time
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I generally go with the Met Office as it's literally their job to do the weather.

BBC have actual news and stuff getting in the way of their accuracy!
 
the_cliff said:
Yes but we need a big enough lead so we can get the 10 Australian wickets and not have to go out and bat again, we're in a good rhythm in terms of batting and the conditions are helping, I reckon we declare at lunch regardless of how much we're up by but it's better to get a big enough lead right now and try to get them all out without having to go out and bat again, which would not have been the case had we declared last night.
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Going out and batting should be the least of our concerns. Taking 10 wickets is harder than smashing 100 runs in 10 overs to save the ashes. You can always speed up your batting if needed, you can’t speed up taking wickets.

We might already have too many runs if they collapse.
 
NicolaSacco said:
This just doesn’t seem to make logical sense to me, though I’m absolutely not an expert, and I’d be pleased to be enlightened.

Are you saying that England scoring another 50 runs now doesn’t mean anything? Surely it saves time at the end because England are less likely to need to bat again if the Aussie target (to match our score) is 200. If we declare now we save time, sure. But if the Aussies then score 250 then we’ll need 100 runs not 50 runs, so that ‘saved’ time will be needed again at the end, but on a roughed up wicket.
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In a scenario where England bat again, they are going to chase < 150 given current lead. Anything longer than that is not likely because if Aus bat that long, time has been taken out and the match is washed out. England will get that < 150 runs much faster in the 2nd dig because a) they know the target b) they'll have 10 wickets in hand than now trying to wag through that with most batters to come being tailenders.
 
NicolaSacco said:
This just doesn’t seem to make logical sense to me, though I’m absolutely not an expert, and I’d be pleased to be enlightened.

Are you saying that England scoring another 50 runs now doesn’t mean anything? Surely it saves time at the end because England are less likely to need to bat again if the Aussie target (to match our score) is 200. If we declare now we save time, sure. But if the Aussies then score 250 then we’ll need 100 runs not 50 runs, so that ‘saved’ time will be needed again at the end, but on a roughed up wicket.
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This would make sense if England weren't plodding along in the final hour last night and this morning session.

You’d rather have to chase 100-150 in 15-20 overs than having Australia 7-8 down and trailing them by 50 runs in the dying moments of the match.

This is a must win game for England. They haven’t treated it as a must win since Crawley and Root got out.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I generally go with the Met Office as it's literally their job to do the weather.

BBC have actual news and stuff getting in the way of their accuracy!
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Yeah I should convert to the met office instead of planning around the BBC weather then moaning when it’s completely wrong
 
zing said:
In a scenario where England bat again, they are going to chase < 150 given current lead. Anything longer than that is not likely because if Aus bat that long, time has been taken out and the match is washed out. England will get that < 150 runs much faster in the 2nd dig because a) they know the target b) they'll have 10 wickets in hand than now trying to wag through that with most batters to come being tailenders.
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This thought has been swimming around my head since I made that post tbf
 
Aussies are getting it to swing. If Anderson can get a couple early wickets they'll start to feel the pressure.
 
NicolaSacco said:
General feeling is that they might have reached this point a bit quicker, given the (likely) time constraints. But a lead of 190 is not to be sniffed at.
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Aussies bowled super slowly and extremely defensive fields so would be harsh to criticise England.
 
The bookies very roughly have the draw at evens, an England win at evens, and an Aussie win comfortably longer than 10 to 1.

Where do we think the value is, here?
 
Dannn411 said:
And this now resurfaces the question of draws in test cricket. Why in God's name can a test match not be won in two innings after over 180 overs?
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The format and possibility of a draw is fine. The slightly frustrating thing is that if it rains early in the test you play extra time to make up the overs, but there's no mechanism to do that if you know you'll lose time at the end.
NicolaSacco said:
This just doesn’t seem to make logical sense to me, though I’m absolutely not an expert, and I’d be pleased to be enlightened.

Are you saying that England scoring another 50 runs now doesn’t mean anything? Surely it saves time at the end because England are less likely to need to bat again if the Aussie target (to match our score) is 200. If we declare now we save time, sure. But if the Aussies then score 250 then we’ll need 100 runs not 50 runs, so that ‘saved’ time will be needed again at the end, but on a roughed up wicket.
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In a normal game you're 100% right, score all your runs when you're in, settled and the wicket is good. But this is not a normal game because there's every chance today will be the last day of play with the weather forecast. So to win it is 100% about taking 10 wickets, probably today, that means getting as much time as you can at them today. So yes, I would say the real terms difference between 200 and 250 lead right now is 0.
 
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slyadams said:
The format and possibility of a draw is fine. The slightly frustrating thing is that if it rains early in the test you play extra time to make up the overs, but there's no mechanism to do that if you know you'll lose time at the end.

In a normal game you're 100% right, score all your runs when you're in, settled and the wicket is good. But this is not a normal game because there's every chance today will be the last day. of play with the weather forecast. So to win it is 100% about taking 10 wickets, probably today, that means getting as much time as you can at them today. So yes, I would say the real terms difference between 200 and 250 lead right now is 0.
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Was discussing this yesterday. It's even more annoying when you see how rarely the maximum number of overs are bowled in a day. I think they should focus on the latter more than the timings of a day, especially when the light is good/you're probably talking about squeezing in an extra 6 or so overs on average on good weather days. I would also like them to factor in reserve days again.
 
the_cliff said:
Exactly my point. Better to bat now while the conditions are favourable. There's no guarantee it will be the the same condition after the rained off Saturday.
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You're treating this like a normal game, the weather is the enemy here. Say we get a 200 lead and go on to get another 50 to make the target even bigger, what does that achieve? If England have to chase anything at the end it will likely be a tiny number. Given the likely time in the test though that's completely moot because Australia won't have time to score enough runs to set anything meaningful. So again its 100% now about taking 10 wickets and then doing whatever we need to do with the bat. There is absoluely no point in runs on the board if you don't take 10 wickets.
 
I think we should get straight to bowling now.... ball is swinging, and we'd lose time with the changeover if we came back out to bat wouldn't we?
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I think we should get straight to bowling now.... ball is swinging, and we'd lose time with the changeover if we came back out to bat wouldn't we?
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Getting them in to bat now is the only chance we've got. Weekend is gunna be a complete washout. Would be surprised if any cricket was played whatsoever.
 
Another tiny thing to consider: you lose 2 overs changing inngs during a session. Every little helps. Declare now!
 
slyadams said:
You're treating this like a normal game, the weather is the enemy here. Say we get a 200 lead and go on to get another 50 to make the target even bigger, what does that achieve? If England have to chase anything at the end it will likely be a tiny number. Given the likely time in the test though that's completely moot because Australia won't have time to score enough runs to set anything meaningful. So again its 100% now about taking 10 wickets and then doing whatever we need to do with the bat. There is absoluely no point in runs on the board if you don't take 10 wickets.
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I agree with this point. I think we should declare now and not come out after lunch especially with the Aussies getting some swing. My argument was not declaring last night. Declaring last night with a lead of 67 in favourable batting conditions would have been ridiculous.
 
If England feel there's not time left in the game for them to bat again, then there's unlikely enough time for the Aussies to reach the 190 mark without taking risks with the bat. This total is actually a decent one to set. It will split opinion amongst the Aussies how to defend - surpass the total or block out balls? England need the Aussies to try and score. Too large a total would be counterproductive.
 
Sounds like no roller has been on the pitch. Utterly mental decision if England are going carry on batting from here.
 
As long as Bairstow is there I'd keep going for now. It's a difficult one with the weather but I'd want as many runs as possible to limit the chance of needing to bat again. Might be a small total but if there's only a brief period of play on Sunday, Australia can take it out of England's control by going as slow as possible. At least with England bowling you can get through overs quicker.
 
said all morning that we should declare early with the weather about.
 
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