Test The Ashes Fourth Test December 26-30 1000hrs @ The MCG

[DaRick]

Good bowling + braindead batting = another two-day speed trip.

Impossible to know if 175 is enough in conditions like this.

That said, if BazBall is gonna work anywhere, it'll be here - the low target and the lottery-like conditions incentivise a high-risk, high-reward approach.

Not much to say, really.

They chanced their arm, threw the bat and it came off.

Onto Sydney we go.

 

[Ohitsthatguy]

Not much to say, really.

They chanced their arm, threw the bat and it came off.

Onto Sydney we go.

We don't bat like idiots, get 50-100 more and we win it

Sigh

 

[WeightOfTheWorld]

Aus holds the urn. No matter what.

eddiesmith

 

[brutus76]

Anyone who doesn't announce their retirement should be dropped

 

[cats_09]

This was an embarrassment for Australian cricket. This pitch will get the lowest rating possible by the ICC.
Waiting for Adelaide or Perth to put their hat in the ring for the Boxing day test claiming it should be taken off us.
We have seen some shocking pitches in Melbourne, 2017 comes to mind, but this will be right up there in the top 2 or 3 worst ever...

Boxing Day test is secure at the MCG until at least 2030/31

And doubt this gets the lowest rating - it won't get the highest rating like the Perth test, but as we saw in England's second innings, there were runs to be made if you applied yourself

 

[Freofalcon]

Listening to Test Match Special podcast.



The English Cricketers sound like fair dinkum cult members.

Their game plan is ok if it works every once in awhile

 

[010203]

I hate seeing Tests finish inside 3 days, so my frustration at another 2-day Test this summer is immense.

 

[Pistol Night]

Boxing Day test is secure at the MCG until at least 2030/31

And doubt this gets the lowest rating - it won't get the highest rating like the Perth test, but as we saw in England's second innings, there were runs to be made if you applied yourself

Boxing Day at the G should never be changed

 

[kickazz]

Geez two tests in the series only going two days.

This series has lacked a little in the tension and momentum swing department.

I don't know if you could say it's been memorable. Compare last summer.

 

[Pistol Night]

I hate seeing Tests finish inside 3 days, so my frustration at another 2-day Test this summer is immense.

Another boring at batshit Sunday when I should be balls deep in a box of piss cheering on Australia against the Poms.

 

[Around the Wicket]

I hate seeing Tests finish inside 3 days, so my frustration at another 2-day Test this summer is immense.

yea smart ass curator thought it was a wise call to leave 10mm of grass on a pitch when both sides batting is sub par to say the least... absolutely frustrating.

 

[kickazz]

I hate seeing Tests finish inside 3 days, so my frustration at another 2-day Test this summer is immense.

I mean full credit to England for this game, especially their bowlers, especially Tongue.

But apart from that it just seemed to lack something. The runs and the wickets came too quickly, like in T20, rendering them kind of less valuable in a way.

 

[JimmyBC]

Another boring at batshit Sunday when I should be balls deep in a box of piss cheering on Australia against the Poms.

Da sportin' capital let us all down.

 

[sr36]

That innings isn't really a vindication of Bazball. Duckett and Crawley were extremely lucky (Bethell less so, he batted well for his 40) and both of them played and missed enough that they easily could have feathered one in the same way that Stokes did. Throw in Starc dropping that tough caught-and-bowled and an incorrect umpires call LBW and England with their approach easily could have been 3/10 just like they were in the first innings. There was that stat floating around of a 51% control rate after 10 overs or whatever - it's really only dumb luck that England didn't collapse early.

It was clear in the final session with a day of sun beating down it it that he flattened out a bit, and probably would have been good to bat on, and Australia could have been batting in the final session today with an old ball. None of Australia's top order had to be a hero, or score lots of runs, but just find a way to bat a bit of time and overs into the game to make use of the changing conditions - much in the same way that Starc and Boland did in the Brisbane test to flip who benefitted from the conditions.

All any of Labuschagne, Weatherland, Khawaja as top order bats today had to do was execute a hard fought 30 off 85 balls, and all of a sudden our tailenders are coming into an old ball with tired bowlers on a flat deck - who they themselves could have put on 50 or so together for the last few wickets. It really is painful to watch - our batters were so woeful but so were England that our bats only had to tough it out a little bit, not even play a good innings, just a fighting one, to give us the win.

It was a tough one. It was going to get easier, but if they did bat time, it was going to get easier for England. Curator ****ed up.

 

[Pistol Night]

Da sportin' capital let us all down.

All it needed was Dom Sheed to bob up in the Barmy Army today for it to be the ultimate kick in the pills

 

[to1994]

Over the years there's been a lot of techniques deteriorating and talk around needing to fix that to ensure batsmen are of Test match standard.

When no one is Test standard however, everyone is and the game just becomes a lottery as we've seen in this Test. A glimpse to the future of Test cricket once the last group of greats like Smith and Root are gone.

That aside, this loss should be a bit of a wake up call in that it's clear not all of these players should be part of the late 2026/2027 massive run of Tests including an India and Ashes series. The planning for that needs to start now.

Weatherald should probably play in Sydney but realistically he's just another Bancroft or Harris. He's not going to make it.

We all want Green to succeed but he's now in danger of entering Mitch Marsh territory. Time to invest in Webster whose ability I think is being a bit overinflated by fans but he's done enough to be first choice all-rounder at 6/7.

Marnus is perhaps the trickiest. He's back to looking as bad as he did before he got dropped less then 12 months ago. We are now in a position where our top 3 all have question marks given Trav is not a specialist opener and is riding some good form.

Whether they do it at Sydney or against Bangladesh next year, we probably need to be seeing Renshaw as an opener and McSweeney at 5. Marnus may end up staying based on there just being no one else which just shows how bare the cupboard is.

 

[kickazz]

A non bowling no 8 scoring a 4mil payday at IPL auction recently there is your problem with modern cricket.

 

[to1994]

The chickens coming home to roost for CA.

Being 20/20 obsessed, kids coming through with inadequate techniques and turning the Shield into a second rate competition have meant we end up with Tests like this.

And it costs them money. What a shock.

Unfortunately the lesson of this will absoloutly not be developing junior player's techniques.

It'll be going back to the flat decks of the mid 2010s and pretending there's no problem. England have already done it.

 

[JimmyBC]

I mean we get a bit in the moment don't we? we just came off a test that went well into the 5th day on a decent pitch, but suddenly no one is "test standard" with the willow on a turd of a pitch at the G.

 

[icyflakes]

Went to day 1 and 2 (thankfully traded my day 1 for day 3 tickets!)

Very disappointing but this is probably a more realistic score to end the Ashes (Sydney looks like a washout on current weather predictions) with the poms having generally shit themselves out of leads multiple times through the series.

Highlights:

• Nesers first bat/bowling innings. Looked really good finally getting a chance at red ball, shame he couldn't back up either in the second.
• Was on level 2 as the poms started to capitulate in evening of day 1 and the place became an absolute party vibe. Really fun to see even in the expensive seats.
• Boland's first over as the opening batsman. Every person in that stadium was loving it - all the pommies near me were laughing and cheering along with us, what a great time!
• Starc still bowling his heart out at 147 today. The man wanted to claim those receipts so badly with the 5-0.

Lowlights:

• Watching multiple Aussie partnerships finally settle only to have absolutely shithouse decision-making screw it up.
• While Boland and Neser were great, and Jhye was serviceable, it's clear we are missing an impact bowler like Cumdawg to break partnerships.
• Green, I've been more patient than many but I don't care whether Slug's current Shield form isn't great - he can't be any worse. Plenty of players with potential get dropped to go build their skills in domestic cricket.
• Ussie spending an entire career being a (sometimes frustratingly) slow starter, only to come out in an innings where we need slow and safe, and play a braindead pull shot second ball.

The pitch was awfully shithouse, but I do feel for the groundskeepers as this has happened (2-3 day tests) multiple times across the country in recent years, with this easily being the worst. They are trying to curate a ground that will be good to play on for 5 days, which sometimes means early spiciness as a tradeoff. What they are struggling with is working with batting lineups from both sides that are just completely useless. But we can't keep going with these 2-3 day shit tips, I think most people would rather a minefield shitshow on day 5 than what we're getting at the moment.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

It was a tough one. It was going to get easier, but if they did bat time, it was going to get easier for England. Curator ****ed up.

Yep, England didn't necessarily prove that they were better than Australia other than just winning the toss, but I suppose that was true for Australia and Adelaide, with these two tests being a wash in that regard.

England very much lost the Ashes with their boneheaded approach in the first two tests though. Why their plan upon winning the toss and batting in the Brisbane test wasn't "well, we know that we'll get 2 day sessions if we simply bat 100 overs here and force Australia's next 2 innings to more likely be in the challenging evening and night conditions" I'll never know.

 

[kickazz]

As much as I hated all the draws in the eighties, it did mean that a victory was really earnt and deserved, not given by default to the team that was the least shit.

 

[Around the Wicket]

ut I do feel for the groundskeepers as this has happened (2-3 day tests) multiple times across the country in recent years, with this easily being the worst. They are trying to curate a ground that will be good to play on for 5 days

So your saying if the sides grinded and found a way the first couple of days it would have got easier to bat on?

 

[kickazz]

What they are struggling with is working with batting lineups from both sides that are just completely useless.

Aren't we all

 

[Cookie]

Over the years there's been a lot of techniques deteriorating and talk around needing to fix that to ensure batsmen are of Test match standard.

When no one is Test standard however, everyone is and the game just becomes a lottery as we've seen in this Test. A glimpse to the future of Test cricket once the last group of greats like Smith and Root are gone.

That aside, this loss should be a bit of a wake up call in that it's clear not all of these players should be part of the late 2026/2027 massive run of Tests including an India and Ashes series. The planning for that needs to start now.

Weatherald should probably play in Sydney but realistically he's just another Bancroft or Harris. He's not going to make it.

We all want Green to succeed but he's now in danger of entering Mitch Marsh territory. Time to invest in Webster whose ability I think is being a bit overinflated by fans but he's done enough to be first choice all-rounder at 6/7.

Marnus is perhaps the trickiest. He's back to looking as bad as he did before he got dropped less then 12 months ago. We are now in a position where our top 3 all have question marks given Trav is not a specialist opener and is riding some good form.

Whether they do it at Sydney or against Bangladesh next year, we probably need to be seeing Renshaw as an opener and McSweeney at 5. Marnus may end up staying based on there just being no one else which just shows how bare the cupboard is.

How bare is the cupboard?
Sydney is a dead rubber, so I wouldn't mind seeing wholesale changes.
Marnus - out of form (again).
Weatherald - unfortunate but very sus against genuine pace and new ball.
Green - his head is in India, and that's where his future is.
Khawaja - he certainly isn't the future.

Not sure who would come in, but we have to be thinking next Ashes and 150th Test.