English cricket thread
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Yeh. I agree. Starc is a top class bowler with a very big heart.
2-2 was fair, all the chat about the weather costing England are OT we have to be honest and admit it helped us out in this test.
Brilliant series both teams deserve credit for sticking to their own style of play the contrast made it more enjoyable.
Of course it had to be Broad who got the final wicket, a six with his last ever shot and a wicket with his last ever delivery is just fairytale stuff . He'll be sorely missed an England legend.
Brilliant series both teams deserve credit for sticking to their own style of play the contrast made it more enjoyable.
Of course it had to be Broad who got the final wicket, a six with his last ever shot and a wicket with his last ever delivery is just fairytale stuff . He'll be sorely missed an England legend.
Overriding feeling is that England, but a handful of idiotic moments and decisions, could have won this series. Sure the weather was not fortunate for them in the 4th but they made some avoidable and costly errors in tests 1 and 2. Australia never looked comfortable, this was a great chance for England.
Glad Broad is seen off by taking the last two wickets to win the test though. Fitting end his career.
Glad Broad is seen off by taking the last two wickets to win the test though. Fitting end his career.
The weather didn't rob us, we robbed ourselves with some poor decision making at crucial times
I wouldn't say it has been 'bizarre'. Australia have simply underperformed and struggled without Lyon, while England have got stronger after adding Woakes and Wood. The last three tests England were simply stronger side, whereas the first two tests felt even.
Woakes took 19 wickets over three tests (one of them brought to a premature end). Wood took 14 wickets. They've both topped the averages having only played in the matches in which England were dominant.
England were wasteful in the first two tests, but once they had finally won the third, Australia clearly struggled with Woakes and Wood; in addition, Broad was consistently good. James Anderson, for whatever reason, had a forgettable series and somehow took less wickets than Joe Root.
I agree with Pogue - this was England's to win, but the sloppiness they showed at Edgbaston and Lords cost them.
More to do with the attention span of young people IMO, the T20 has a lot to answer for
Plenty of appetite for test cricket across all age brackets in the hubs of the game. England/Australia/India (with the latter being a slight exception) are still thriving.
It's everywhere else we have a problem, and have for years.
Good win England. Well done with the last 3 matches. Some real talent in the team. But I dislike the bazball nonsense and the English team and their high handedness in thinking of themselves as the saviors of test match cricket. Feck off.
This would be a great way to close the thread - sums up the vibe perfectly.
I mean you’ve given as good as evidence as it gets for why it was bizarre.
"Bazball nonsense"
How are people still saying utter shite like this?
How are people still saying utter shite like this?
This view is pretty disingenuous to Australia. Cummins and Lyon won that first test for them, whatever you think about the declaration. England did throw away a good start in the second innings of the second test, but no one is saying the same about today, despite it being a fairly similar position, it’s all been about how England did well to bowl them out.
The result is fair, even though I think the only time Australia were far ahead of the game was in the second test, which does back up your point. England had more dominant periods of the series for sure.
New Zealand I'd add into the 3 that take test matches seriously our games with them have been pretty good the last times we played them, we had to get some significant run chases in the 4th innings to win those games last summer
If only we scored at a slower run rate on Saturday and added an extra 30 overs into the game. A dour draw would have been lovely.
Also I think this test showed that Murphy is a pretty good replacement for Lyon. Sure he bowls a few more boundary balls but I think he showed this test he has the ticker for the battle and that Cummins made an error not backing him at Headingley.
I wasn't talking about the teams mate - meant the general population.
He's also a test match 8 with the bat on this tests evidence.
Another draw would have ended Test Cricket. Everyone was rattled enough as it is. Total head loss.
Fair enough, it's a shame the way West Indies cricket has gone these days they used to be fearsome when I was a kid, but as you said it's the coverage and attendances outside of the 3 teams mentioned, it was noticeable when we were playing Pakistan the lack of crowds at some of the days play
Of all the things that has been said this series, Pat Cummins saying he was a bit young for the 2005 Ashes is the biggest one I have a bone to pick with. He wasn’t watching cricket when he was 12? He made his test debut in 2011, I honestly need to know why or how he missed the 2005 Ashes. Was it paywalled in Australia at the time? The Australian cricket captain being the same age as me but his first Ashes memory potentially being the 06/07 series is annoying me.
Presumably he meant that he didn't watch it due to time difference/age? I don't really remember following any tests down under until I was 16 or so.
Being past his bed time makes sense, maybe catch the first session but time out on the rest. With tests in Australia I do the first two hours at a push and the final hour early in the morning if it allows. Even then, when I don’t get to watch the tests I will follow it on Cricinfo, BBC, watch the highlights etc.
Buzzing so much after what happened. I was so down at lunch time that I was arguing with random people in this thread about Aussies being lucky 
Yeah would certainly have been
Yeah very bittersweet indeed and so wished we could have won it in Broady's last Ashes. Totally agree with the people who say our own mistakes at Edgbaston & Lord's were ultimately why we didn't regain the urn.
Think selectors probably held back on Woakes until Headingley as thought Anderson would find his mojo but not to be.
Having said all that I will give us the credit for fighting back to get a draw from 2-0 down
Will be very interesting to see who is our bowling attack in that next Ashes,like others have said only Tongue is our real pace option so much to be done in next 2 and a half years.
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Yet test series are getting shorter and shorter because one day cricket is where the money is, 6 match series used to be the norm for the big test sides but not anymore
England did very well to get it back to 2-2 after being 2-0 down. I do think the Ashes would be returning to England if rain hadn't hit the 4th test so bad.
Over-all a very good ashes series.
Over-all a very good ashes series.
Money issues. It's all nice for the 3 richest countries to say that test cricket is dying while keeping most of the money generated for themselves. Add to that the ridiculous scheduling where those three countries play the most tests during the WTC cycle.
With random foreign T20 leagues generating most revenue for players from those countries, it's obvious those players will shift their focus on that format compared to tests with the lack of money their board can provide and also lack of matches.
Really disappointing to only see four women’s games of the hundred on BBC before the eliminators. I’m not sure how many total games there are but that seems pathetic.
I guess you can make the argument that any live cricket on tv is good as nothing else is ever free to air, but it really seems like they’re missing an opportunity to draw new eyes in.
I guess you can make the argument that any live cricket on tv is good as nothing else is ever free to air, but it really seems like they’re missing an opportunity to draw new eyes in.
Cummins was so poor as a captain in this series. Australia have a really good ODI team but I struggle to see them winning the World Cup with him as captain
not a good captain and also a better bowler pre-captaincy
Just hand it to Smith till a new captain is found
Yeah they did well under Smith in India when Cummins left but I think it’s very unlikely they make any changes at this stage
Didn’t really seem like the inspirational type when he was being interviewed yesterday.
The guy has led his team to a WTC win, and come away with retaining the Ashes against a good England side. He's done fine as a captain.
My criticism of him is that he was a bit too defensive too early, but for his first tour of the UK as captain, he definitely didn't want to lose the Ashes, so he's done well in my books. Also he had a couple of great performances with the bat and was superb with the ball throughout. He also was inspirational and led his team from the front in the first test. It seems like sour grapes from a few of you lot if anything.
My criticism of him is that he was a bit too defensive too early, but for his first tour of the UK as captain, he definitely didn't want to lose the Ashes, so he's done well in my books. Also he had a couple of great performances with the bat and was superb with the ball throughout. He also was inspirational and led his team from the front in the first test. It seems like sour grapes from a few of you lot if anything.
England should have won the series. Made mistakes at Edgbaston, got unlucky with weather at Old Trafford.
Stokes is an excellent captain overall but needs some time out to fix his knee.
Cummins is an ok but not great captain. He can handle the responsibility fine but he doesn't set the right tone and fire people up like Stokes does.
Stokes is an excellent captain overall but needs some time out to fix his knee.
Cummins is an ok but not great captain. He can handle the responsibility fine but he doesn't set the right tone and fire people up like Stokes does.
Superb series with the perfect end. Disappointing that England couldn't win overall but this team has come such a long way in the last year or so, you can look back at decisions they maybe got wrong, poor fielding, weather etc but ultimately they just keep producing test cricket at a great level and hopefully that continues.
Series hinged on the absence of Lyon and the shocking continual inclusion of Anderson who I hope calls time too.
England super sloppy in the first, got beaten in the 2nd, in the ascendancy from thereonin. Despite functionally playing with 10 men. Big shout out to Moeen who did a fine job in the circumstances and had a good end to his career now.
England super sloppy in the first, got beaten in the 2nd, in the ascendancy from thereonin. Despite functionally playing with 10 men. Big shout out to Moeen who did a fine job in the circumstances and had a good end to his career now.
Brilliant series.
England will feel like they were the better side overall and were a bit of dodgy weather away from a 3-2 win which would have guaranteed it the greatest series of them all (bearing in mind despite all the raving about 2005, two of the matches were drawn).
Australian cricket fans I think will believe they would have won, perhaps comfortably if it hadn't been for sandpaper-gate. What I mean is Smith would still be captain and Bancroft would almost certainly still be in the team scoring runs or at least breathing down the necks of the batters and providing competition.
Their lack of urgency and spark in the field has been a big feature of the series and I don't think the modern game is the place for a strike bowler to double up as captain.
I'd be amazed if Cummins carries on in the job going forward.
Both teams will look very different by the time of the return series down under.
I thought Cummins nailed it in his post-match interview when he mentioned about how entertaining bazball was but that its true test will come this winter as it's hard to think of a more difficult place to play like that than India!
Having said that overall, as much as I'm an old school cricket fan and have taken some persuading to bashing the ball at every opportunity in Tests, the results since Stokes and McCullum do not lie and but for a sloppy start to this series it would be impossible to counter-argue.
England will feel like they were the better side overall and were a bit of dodgy weather away from a 3-2 win which would have guaranteed it the greatest series of them all (bearing in mind despite all the raving about 2005, two of the matches were drawn).
Australian cricket fans I think will believe they would have won, perhaps comfortably if it hadn't been for sandpaper-gate. What I mean is Smith would still be captain and Bancroft would almost certainly still be in the team scoring runs or at least breathing down the necks of the batters and providing competition.
Their lack of urgency and spark in the field has been a big feature of the series and I don't think the modern game is the place for a strike bowler to double up as captain.
I'd be amazed if Cummins carries on in the job going forward.
Both teams will look very different by the time of the return series down under.
I thought Cummins nailed it in his post-match interview when he mentioned about how entertaining bazball was but that its true test will come this winter as it's hard to think of a more difficult place to play like that than India!
Having said that overall, as much as I'm an old school cricket fan and have taken some persuading to bashing the ball at every opportunity in Tests, the results since Stokes and McCullum do not lie and but for a sloppy start to this series it would be impossible to counter-argue.