I am more & more convinced that Woakes might bat at 3 tomorrow. Can’t see Stokes or Bairstow doing it and would be madness to move Brook again.
English cricket thread
- Thread starter Samid
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran discuss a horrific month of December and a depressing FOUR defeats in a row - the latest coming against Wolves and Newcastle.
They discuss how much blame is on Ruben Amorim and rank our squad against other Premier League teams.
Do we have any chance of avoiding defeat at Anfield?
Most likely Moeen will do a Lyon and just stand and slog.
I think it's more likely than unlikely.
He hasn’t been fielding, can’t bat before no. 7 or the amount of overs he has been off the field (whichever comes first).
Mate I am not English I have no dog in the fight but We are talking about Elite sportsmen here who tend be highly competitive lot due to very nature of their trade and to think they would come up with a deliberate strategy to make themselves look like rank amateurs and silly on the field is just preposterous .
No, they won't risk worse injury doing that, its possible the rest can make the runs. If they think they need some he'll come in at 8 or 9.
He can't, with how long he's been off the field.
I'm going for Broad, night-hawk special.
People were applauding Australia ticking along at 2 an over in the morning session and saying they were 'grinding England down': they ended up with roughly the same amount of runs as England, who scored nearly twice as fast.
If Australia had been more positive, they would be comfortably ahead in the game.
If Australia had been more positive, they would be comfortably ahead in the game.
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Totally correct. Selectors should - and could - have found space for Bairstow as a specialist bat, and Foakes as a ‘keeper, bearing in mind his record at Test level is seriously good with the bat anyway.
Bairstow had a very good 2022 but seems to think he has a divine right to the gloves - he doesn’t. At Test level he’s well below par behind the stumps.
The concern I would say from England's perspective is that their bowlers had to bowl more than 20 overs each while Starc bowled the most for Australia with less than 15. That could come back to bite England when they're defending a total.
Do agree though if Australia had been a bit more positive, they'd be at least 100 runs ahead.
Englands bowlers are knackered though as a result, Aussies are relatively fresh. Makes a difference over 5 days
I agree. I think a similar thing is going on with anderson. He got a wicket yesterday sure but prior to that he looked like he didn’t even want to be out there. He’s worth nothing with the bat and has 1 wicket this whole series. You might say in hindsight this is obvious but it was pretty clear he had nothing to offer after the 2nd test.
It reeks of sentimentality keeping Anderson. Josh Tongue was great and took a 5-for at Lords. Selectors really should have kept him in throughout.
They can't fit both in when stokes doesn't bowl
He hasn't been a poor keeper, and whilst Foakes is a quality keeper he isn't far superior to Bairstow in tests.
You can't have both in the team and only one suits England style of play and that's Bairstow.
Yes he has been poor. Particularly this series. Foakes is far superior to him with the gloves.
Yes both could be in the team but Bairstow as a batsman only if he's playing well enough.
It's a pitch that eventually you get one with your name on it so I think Englands approach will be the usual.
All about execution (horrible word i know) - if we get the Bazball tempo right like OT we should be setting them 330+.
All about execution (horrible word i know) - if we get the Bazball tempo right like OT we should be setting them 330+.
England score more in the first over than the genius Marnus did in the whole session.
Just the 40 off 5 overs
First five overs for 40 is good by white ball standards. 
Stokes has his pads on, guess he’s batting 3 then.
Yeah what might have been is definitely the story from the third test onwards
Stokes at 3.
Or the fact England have been superb .
I'd like to see that reverse sweep LBW again - looked out!
It would have been out.
Did they show a replay with DRS and I missed it?
They didn't review it but it very much looked like it was going to hit the stumps.
Loved the first half hour this morning. Ponting almost had an aneurysm on commentary
Just wish it hadn't been a fraction too late
In some ways it wasn't - it just rained. Nothing you can do.
From the BBC:
Comparing today's morning session with yesterday's:
Australia scored 54 runs, 41 off the bat, for the loss of one wicket from 26 overs.
England have scored 130 runs, 126 off the bat, for the loss of one wicket from 25 overs.
Comparing today's morning session with yesterday's:
Australia scored 54 runs, 41 off the bat, for the loss of one wicket from 26 overs.
England have scored 130 runs, 126 off the bat, for the loss of one wicket from 25 overs.
Crawley deserves all the praise in the world. Always able to score quickly and elegantly, Vince style, but this series he’s converted into big runs and will probably finish the series now as the highest run scorer.
I meant in the sense of blowing opportunities to win those first two games
Agreed, what people don't seem to understand is you can lose matches it happens same with football too, were mistakes made maybe but that's also part of the game too.
I absolutely look forward to seeing this Englnad team play it has not always been like that over the past few years so whatever happens happens but it's good to have a team you look forward to watching again.
Will we get yet another fightback from a side in this session? Feel like it needs to happen in the next hour for the Aussies.
This is an absurd stat.
A good series for Crawley to be fair to him, this must be the first series in a while where there's been no real questions about the openers. Far too early to say they've solved the opening problem but the most promising signs for a long time, the left/right-hand combination and difference in height is also useful.
Will be very interesting to watch them India. I think they could go ok.