Test The Ashes Second Test December 4-8 1430hrs @ The Gabba

[Westend]

AC/DC was good

 

[Bedi]

Joe Root has made Boof Lehmann look very silly with that ton

 

[Jim Prideaux]

That’s more like it, we’ve got a proper game on our hands.

Well done to Root, batted superbly. And well done Archer, that last wicket partnership gives England the day.

For Australia, we simply must wrap up the last wicket quickly today. Going off the recent shield game here, Englands score is about par/slightly below at the moment. But it is plenty to put some pressure on the Australian bats.

Australia must but well, and bat long. Very important that we put plenty of miles into their quicks legs.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Joe Root has made Boof Lehmann look very silly with that ton

Boof does that all by himself, he doesn’t require any help thank you

 

[Daka]

Neser, Doggett & Boland have been disappointing... big mistake leaving Lyon out. this looks like a Day 4-5 Test match.

 

[Big Bryza]

Every single player on the fence for Archer is dogshit coaching

Cummins has done the same to the tail so it's not a Smith thing

These tactics to tailenders are simply bizarre. Set a proper field and if the shitfish is good enough to whack you for a few, then so be it. Enough with the short crap as well. If they can hit you off a good length then all the best.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Apparently 260 is the first innings score in a pink ball test that has never been beaten.

 

[Peter Bixley]

Apparently 260 is the first innings score in a pink ball test that has never been beaten.

Time to make history then. I looked at the scorecard from the D/N shield match at the Gabba a week or two ago. Victoria posted 318/9 dec, but Queensland followed up with 430. They then skittled Victoria for 143 and won inside three days. That's the precedent I'm clinging to right now. Can't deny I'm worried though.

 

[revo333]

Pretty ordinary if Lyon went to the game without any warning from selectors that his spot in the team wasn't a certainty.

You just don't treat a player who has taken over 500 wickets like that.

 

[Big Bryza]

It was a sublime innings from an all time great of the game.

Had plenty of luck but his record is too good to not have made a ton in Aus.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Time to make history then. I looked at the scorecard from the D/N shield match at the Gabba a week or two ago. Victoria posted 318/9 dec, but Queensland followed up with 430. They then skittled Victoria for 143 and won inside three days. That's the precedent I'm clinging to right now. Can't deny I'm worried though.

If we can bat for 5 sessions it'll put us in front in the game.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Pretty ordinary if Lyon went to the game without any warning from selectors that his spot in the team wasn't a certainty.

You just don't treat a player who has taken over 500 wickets like that.

It's been in the media all week. Be surprised if he wasn't aware. That said the way the pitch has played it looks like we got it wrong anyway.

 

[darcytiger]

I was calling for Lyon to be dropped. I was wrong.

Worrying signs with Starc limping at the end of play.

 

[Big Bryza]

Starc to Duckett and Bolo to smith aside, the pitch is flat as a pancake. Bat properly and we get 400+ easily.

 

[Big Bryza]

74 overs for a day's cricket, with extra time given is disgraceful. They need to start penalising runs, rather than just fining players match fees. Umpires need to be more on top of it too.

This i agree with, it's a fcukin mockery the way the players treat it. Penalty runs must come in.

 

[crows dude]

They needed to play Webster if not Lyon so we had the option to slow it down with some spin. Head should have been given some overs as well. 16 test wickets at an average of 32 shows when he bowls he takes wickets.

 

[Big Bryza]

Dropping Lyon is up there with Ponting sending them in at Edgbaston 2005 and Paine doing the same at the Oval in 2019 for needlessly giving England momentum in a series when Aus is on top. I haven't really got the criticism of Bailey before but he should walk for this, way overthinking the DN conditions to massively weaken the side.

The last half hour will also give England enormous belief that they've got the Australian batters shook-- reminiscent of celebrating the draw at Old Trafford in 2005 which let England know they were on top in the fight.

Not only bad sportsmanship from Smith but such a negative mentality to have the team in. He really shouldn't be captain if this rudderless and brainless lack of leadership is still happening.

Bailey is shithouse but Lyon is cooked. Time for Murphy to come in.

 

[Big Bryza]

Pretty ordinary if Lyon went to the game without any warning from selectors that his spot in the team wasn't a certainty.

You just don't treat a player who has taken over 500 wickets like that.

Lyon's dummy spit to the media is pathetic.

 

[Peter Bixley]

If we can bat for 5 sessions it'll put us in front in the game.

Bat for five sessions and we'll win the game. Can't see it though. We know Archer is electric in his very first spell, but we also know that as he comes back for each further spell, his pace drops and by the end he looks absolutely shagged.

 

[Nicho50]

England certainly missed a trick not having a bowl at Australia last night. Don’t really care about the extra 60 runs they’ve added for mine that is almost irrelevant.

They will now have to bowl at Australia with a new ball during the daylight. If Head gets going or even if Smith and Marnus bat in the first two sessions then it’s so much either for them at the night session with a soft pink ball that won’t do much.

Australia don’t even need to get infront, bat for most of today and we would be around the 260-300 mark anyway and have a bowl again at England with the new ball under lights.

Not picking Lyon was a massive mistake, the pitch had minimum sideways movement. I didn’t mind the Neser inclusion on paper but I haven’t seen him bowl in a while and he’s lost a yard not that he was quick to begin with but unless there is sideways movement he’s not going to take a bag of wickets against England.

Doggett well that was just awful , again they read the pitch and conditions wrong but how do you leave one of two experienced bowlers out and your relying on an attack of Dogget Neser and Boland who hasn’t played a ton of test cricket either and all 3 of those guys seem very same same bowling wise.

People wonder why Abbott was picked in the first place , after what you saw last night you got your answer.

It’s a shame Morris and Richardson are always injured, not sure what’s happening with Meredith but they have surely got to look at guys like Bartlett, Spencer Johnson and anyone else that’s got a bit of speed about them in the future.

 

[juss]

That last wicket stand from Archer and Root puts England ahead, ideally we needed to wrap them up quickly in the 270s/280s when we had them there.

Can't let them stretch out this final wicket or put on another 30+ runs, need to get them in the first few overs because you assume they'll be going hard again.

 

[Gough]

Misread the pitch and conditions, and picked the wrong bowlers if the first day is anything to go by but they've still got to bowl to us on what should be a good batting wicket.

 

[Peter Bixley]

Misread the pitch and conditions, and picked the wrong bowlers if the first day is anything to go by but they've still got to bowl to us on what should be a good batting wicket.

Day 2 should be the best day. The tennis ball bounce of early day 1 should give way to a quicker, more even-paced surface.

 

[Gavin Excell]

England certainly missed a trick not having a bowl at Australia last night. Don’t really care about the extra 60 runs they’ve added for mine that is almost irrelevant.

They will now have to bowl at Australia with a new ball during the daylight. If Head gets going or even if Smith and Marnus bat in the first two sessions then it’s so much either for them at the night session with a soft pink ball that won’t do much.

Australia don’t even need to get infront, bat for most of today and we would be around the 260-300 mark anyway and have a bowl again at England with the new ball under lights.

Not picking Lyon was a massive mistake, the pitch had minimum sideways movement. I didn’t mind the Neser inclusion on paper but I haven’t seen him bowl in a while and he’s lost a yard not that he was quick to begin with but unless there is sideways movement he’s not going to take a bag of wickets against England.

Doggett well that was just awful , again they read the pitch and conditions wrong but how do you leave one of two experienced bowlers out and your relying on an attack of Dogget Neser and Boland who hasn’t played a ton of test cricket either and all 3 of those guys seem very same same bowling wise.

People wonder why Abbott was picked in the first place , after what you saw last night you got your answer.

It’s a shame Morris and Richardson are always injured, not sure what’s happening with Meredith but they have surely got to look at guys like Bartlett, Spencer Johnson and anyone else that’s got a bit of speed about them in the future.

Not sure I'd class those 60 extra runs as irrelevant

 

[Aussie in exile]

I was calling for Lyon to be dropped. I was wrong.

Worrying signs with Starc limping at the end of play.

Without Starc we are a fisherman without a hook