Test The Ashes Third Test December 17-21 1000hrs @ The Adelaide Oval

[jannissary]

How i saw it too. They'll probably get dropped, cant have that in the English team

independent thinkers! even crawley showed he could do it and still got out like an idiot

 

[smasha]

Well that's it...AUS win Ashes (again), my thoughts:

1. AUS too good and did the basics right plus with strike bowlers out at various times during this series so far.

2. ENG have not made it easy for themselves. Poor shot selections all series so far, Bazball high risk high reward mentality means they have to play at everything. Poor thinking. AUS didnt do that - just smart cricket.

3. So far this series, ENG their top order hasnt fired collectively and consistently. Not good enough. Can not rely on middle and lower order regularly.

4. ENG - their preperation hasn't been good. One warm up match leading up to the 1st Test in Perth, a warm up game at Lilac Hill against themselves basically.....ENG vs ENG A.

5. All the talk was about how good this ENG team was. They have either underachieved and are not good enough. Bazball batting does not work consistently and the question has to be asked...does a team REALLY need Bazball in order to score runs? I say no.

6. ENG - their fielding, specifically their catching has been bad. So many times we see touring teams to Aust and their fielding/catching isnt good enough. That is the perfect way to take pressure off AUST and the perfect way to apply pressure on themselves.

7. This series says more about ENG than AUS in my opinion. Did ENG come into the Test series thinking it would be easy? Who knows.

We now move onto the 4th Test at the MCG.

One area where Australia are definately better than the rest,the fielding.

 

[Nicho50]

Head Weatherald Lab Smith Uzzie Carey Webster Starc Neser Roccocelli Boland

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Genuine question but is Weatherald's place under threat if he has two more low scores in Melbourne?

Inglis might not come back into the team again but Carey being good enough to bat 6 as opposed to 7 (and the decision to bat Inglis two Tests at 7 and not 6) opens up lots of different configurations for the team. And therefore, Khawaja can potentially move back up to open with Head for Sydney, and then you don't necessarily have to pick a specialist bat to bat at 7 - you can pick any version of an all-rounder there, whether it's Green, Connolly or whatever, because the expectations of being a good bat at 7 are obviously lower than in the top 6, and the importance of the skillset other than batting is important at 7.

I would assume Weatherald gets the rest of the series. If he doesn’t get another score in the last two Tests then they probably look elsewhere for our next series (which I think is a long way away)

We’ve barely needed a fifth bowler this series, Green bowls about 5 overs an innings. There is no need to weaken a still vulnerable batting lineup. Green is playing perfectly poor enough to make way if we want to get Webster in. There is no reason for them to ever play together

 

[smasha]

I hope our weather comes good for the cricket.
Been all over the place so far.
A few days of heat then miserable days of rain and cold.

Looks like the first four days are Sunny.

I miss the Sun.

 

[A Pom]

Saw this on the BBC website.
Unbelievable really.

"Darren Lehmann gave an interview after play yesterday (day 4), and as coach of Northamptonshire he has never seen or spoken to a selector.

That is unfathomable. Here in Australia, selectors are in contact with the state squads and watch plenty of shield games. How can selectors make an informed decision without doing their job?"

I'm not sure I see much benefit of selectors attending games when every single ball is available to them remotely with a far better view of what's actually happening than they'll get at the ground. Added to that Lehman coaches a division 2 team that were the 17th out of 18 with no one remotely on the radar for England selection.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Starc's body is cooked? He was still bowling 145km today.

He was bowling fine but he looked dead and gassed out there. With the serious done and the fact that at his age one serious injury could be a career ender i dont see why you would risk playing him in Melbourne.

 

[Substance]

4719 Balls bowled in the series, the 2nd lowest to decide an ashes series ever. Doesn't come close to the record though(3991 balls, 2001).

 

[Pollywaffle]

Whoever is responsible for this deluded mindset of constant positivity and vibes, zero self reflection, seriousness and common sense needs to go. I have never been as pissed off by an England test team as much as these guys, and have seen absolute dross over the years."

This.
What a train wreck this tour has become. But not entirely unexpected.
All the criticisms and predicted shortcomings of this current England squad and ‘Bazball’ approach have come to pass.
The entertainment sadly will come from the post mortems and the wailing and gnashing of teeth yet to come.
Hopefully something good will emerge. There is still some talent there to work with.

 

[sherb]

Big difference to "full speed but full and targeting the stumps" and "I'm going to bowl halfway down the pitch at his body and bowl no-balls by over a metre".

If the point was to make Piers Morgan look foolish you don't think sending stumps cartwheeling three or four times would have achieved that just as much as a broken rib?

It was stupid and it was dangerous, for the reason you have succinctly outlined.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Jeez he needs some runs. But our strength is keeping the relentless bowling pressure up. He's got his bowling back up to scratch and is the only genuine 5th bowler who can keep challenging batsmen.

Green barely bowls and Webster can bowl those overs. Our batting is actually crap and is being wallpapered over by head. If green cant make runs he shouldn't be in the team.

 

[Peter Bixley]

Murphy was dreadful filling in for Lyon in the last ashes

I’d be shocked if they just don’t go Webster anyway. His offies are fine with Head.

Sydney different but people have to remember the Syd pitch is not the same as the one in the 1980’s turning square. Quicks get heaps of wickets there

Murphy took 7 wickets at 25, thought he did alright personally.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

That Jamie Smith wicket really was shades of stupid, stupid, stupid from Pant last summer. Hitting them beautifully, England have momentum and are right in the match, and then just throws it away.

Everything wrong with Bazball summed up with that dismissal.

 

[sherb]

What was he supposed to do? Bowl some gentle offies to him?

Bowl quick but full.

 

[grumbleguts]

Thus far we have had the following players missing from the test side at various points:

Smith, Khawaja, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood

All five could make a case for being in the Australian team of the century.

We are up 3 - 0.

 

[Young Redleg]

That Jamie Smith wicket really was shades of stupid, stupid, stupid from Pant last summer. Hitting them beautifully, England have momentum and are right in the match, and then just throws it away.

Everything wrong with Bazball summed up with that dismissal.

Same with Brook's dismissal too. His shot was so mind-numbingly stupid. Paid no regard to the context of the game.

I reckon Brook is the face of bazball.

 

[icyflakes]

I can't recall from when they were winning, but I've noticed Stokes (and most of the English camp) doesn't like to talk specifically about players in media interviews in this series. I get it, doesn't want people in the spotlight and protecting the group etc etc. They talk in platitudes and about the group a lot, without much specifics.

But you listen to the Aussie players get interviewed and they spend most of their interviews talking about how brilliant x or y player was. And even in losses or poor days, Cummins is usually happy to say "x player probably didn't get what they wanted today" - its not shitting on them, doesn't create a headline, but acknowledges failure. And they'll still celebrate great efforts in a losing day.

 

[sherb]

That Jamie Smith wicket really was shades of stupid, stupid, stupid from Pant last summer. Hitting them beautifully, England have momentum and are right in the match, and then just throws it away.

Everything wrong with Bazball summed up with that dismissal.

Smith is a graduate of the Harry Brook Academy of Brainless Batting.

 

[bigblueboy]

Harry Brook has all the talent in the world. Could be the next Root or Smith.

Bazball is consigning him to be the next Damien Martyn.

 

[bigblueboy]

Thus far we have had the following players missing from the test side at various points:

Smith, Khawaja, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood

All five could make a case for being in the Australian team of the century.

We are up 3 - 0.

Yep, they’ve also batted first in Perth and Brisbane and batted on the pristine day 2 pitch in Adelaide when it was 40C.

They are the weakest, softest international cricket team you will see.

 

[The Lobbster]

Same with Brook's dismissal too. His shot was so mind-numbingly stupid. Paid no regard to the context of the game.

I reckon Brook is the face of bazball.

I would argue Ducketts shot is worst of all.

Brooks was bad because he was trying to reverse it for 12. If he went less hard, he has better balance and he probably gets something on it. Crawley and Root reverse swept with little issue.

Smiths shot was unnecessary and poorly executed but there was a chance he could score.

Ducketts shot was high risk with it away from his body on the up. Even if he middles it, he doesn’t score he just gets bat on ball. A pointless shot that exposed a fragile Pope to the new ball. Even with his current woes, Pope could’ve made runs when it flattened out. But old Hobbit just couldn’t bring himself to leave one.

 

[Grumpyshades]

Harry Brook has all the talent in the world. Could be the next Root or Smith.

Bazball is consigning him to be the next Damien Martyn.

lame comparison

marto was a jet

 

[Mitchell Madness]

For who though? I don't think they have the replacements, especially Jacks given the state of the English spinning ranks.

It wasn't a serious comment...

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Harry Brook has all the talent in the world. Could be the next Root or Smith.

Bazball is consigning him to be the next Damien Martyn.

He wishes he could be as good as Martyn.

 

[bigblueboy]

lame comparison

marto was a jet

Total fraud given his talent. Exactly what Brook is becoming.