Test The Ashes Fifth Test January 4-8 1000hrs @ The SCG

[Pakenhamsaint]

10am start again?

Yes. It's 10am since the rain happened.

 

[the_interloper]

Yes. It's 10am since the rain happened.

They should do this every test, not that they'll end up bowling 90 overs in a day but they'll get closer at least.

 

[TazHawk15]

Dear Aussie selectors.

At the risk of repeating myself, you at last got Webster in.

That it took so long and you kept picking Green before him, still has me baffled.

 

[BGman]

Steve Smith now stands behind only The Don as the greatest batsman in Ashes history, after jumping English great Jack Hobbs and marching to his 37th Test ton to now be standing sixth on that list with Ricky Ponting,41 tons, the only Aussie ahead of him..

 

[pebblesofsand]

Dear Aussie selectors.

At the risk of repeating myself, you at last got Webster in.

That it took so long and you kept picking Green before him, still has me baffled.

Hey - back off - Cam Green made 37, that means the selectors will give him another 37 chances.

He's the player they are planning to build the next gen Ashes side around.

 

[Bedi]

Dear Aussie selectors.

At the risk of repeating myself, you at last got Webster in.

That it took so long and you kept picking Green before him, still has me baffled.

Both played in the same side before this series so I reckon it was more Inglis who kept out Webster. But yes, I agree, was a shocking decision to ever drop him

 

[norway blue]

Let’s go. Test cricket

 

[MarcMaverick]

Need to last at least til lunch. Lead of 124 ON is a little too slender.

 

[madjoe]

Safe to say England can't win it from here. Just can't see their bowling attack ripping through us tmrw. So 4-1 would be a brilliant result as it would mean it's been a comprehensive thrashing.

England can very much win this just depends how are they mentally. This is a 350 deck in the 3rd innings but agree will be hard to see them ripping us out for 200 in 70 odd overs on day 5

 

[The Blue Max]

Steve Smith now stands behind only The Don as the greatest batsman in Ashes history, after jumping English great Jack Hobbs and marching to his 37th Test ton to now be standing sixth on that list with Ricky Ponting the only Aussie ahead of him..

And Kohli the Rat below him for most test runs.

 

[HirdyLannister]

Tongue and Stokes will notch up their ton today.

 

[jb04]

Smitty is much better placed than Trav to go on. He has the hunger. I'd love to see him and Slug pile on and get us closer and closer to 600, set them a target and not bat again.

 

[MisterMarcus]

That Potts pitch map is hilarious.

Absolutely sprayed them all over the place....

 

[norway blue]

Laying into Potts.

 

[MarcMaverick]

That Potts pitch map is hilarious.

Absolutely sprayed them all over the place....

Like a drunk at the end of a very heavy night.

 

[swingdog]

In terms of selection, what we have found out this series is that Inglis and Weatherald have significant technical flaws that limit their ability to play test level cricket.

We also have eased Khawaja out relatively smoothly, and have recognised that Labuschagne also has technical and mental flaws.

Similarly, we have also discovered (or had it confirmed) that Green has technical flaws (slow or no foot movement early) as a batter allied to mental flaws (tentative approach).

If we think he is still a potential test player, then he needs to be dropped and work out his game whether that's in white ball or first class (remember, Head was dropped in 2020-21 before coming back stronger).

If we think he is just going to be a good white ball player, then fine, play him as that. The bonus is he may use that as a springboard back to test level, if he can sort out those flaws.

Right now, he appears mentally shot and it's actually more damaging to keep him there.

In terms of replacements, for the now, Webster should be the obvious all-rounder though he is likely to be replaced at some point in the near future.

The other option is to forget the search for a true all-rounder and player a good batter at number six, hopefully someone who can turn their arm over as well. If Cooper Connolly can come on, then great.

We know now that we need a spinner lined up for Lyon and it's probably not Murphy or Kuhnemann, outside of specific conditions. It's probably Rocchiccioli.

And, we need to start pumping games into young pace bowlers.

I'd actually be fine with us ignoring the WTC this round and really focusing on re-building. The two year cycle of the WTC actually works against this for teams that always want to be up there.

 

[SC_Power]

How stupid were England yesterday?

I mean, bowling 90 overs in the day was like shooting yourself in the foot.

They should have been smarter like the Aussies were on Day 1, when they only bowled 45 overs in 2 sessions less 15 mins.

If England only bowled 72-75 overs yesterday, Australia would only have a lead of about 60-70 and the game situation would be a lot different.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

We will bat until we are all out, unless we still have an established batter there at lunch. Another 75-100 runs is plenty. Even 50 is fine. Pressure is on England as of now to get a result in the game. They will be bazballing once their 2nd innings starts to try and give us a target to chase. That is of course we don't bat them completely out of it beforehand.

 

[icyflakes]

That Potts pitch map is hilarious.

Absolutely sprayed them all over the place....

Higgos on the Grade Cricketer described it as his face in year 9

 

[MisterMarcus]

So weird seeing Hussey 'bat' right handed

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

I agree. Keep web and green in the team. And also Jake as opener. Chopping and changing meh. Let them settle. And green to work on his footwork and body positioning. Just my take.

Have Green at 5, Webster at 6 and Carey at 7, Carey has had a good series with the bat but Green and Webster are the better batsman. Green doesn't bowl he just focuses on his batting. We use Webster for the extra overs.

 

[Bedi]

England can very much win this just depends how are they mentally. This is a 350 deck in the 3rd innings but agree will be hard to see them ripping us out for 200 in 70 odd overs on day 5

Would be good for cricket if we were challenged and the game went down to the final session tmrw, but Eng would have to steamroll through us this first hour

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

Tongue and Stokes will notch up their ton today.

Won't that make Ginger Stokes happy.

 

[PhatBoy]

Stokes built his entire reputation off two innings. One in the chase at Headingley and the other in the World Cup final

Take that away and he is really just England’s equivalent of Shane Watson.

His second fastest test double century in 150 years of the sport’s history. scored away against Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel counts for nothing, then.

Interesting take.

Seriously does anyone actually bother anymore?

 

[lionbear]

How stupid were England yesterday?

I mean, bowling 90 overs in the day was like shooting yourself in the foot.

They should have been smarter like the Aussies were on Day 1, when they only bowled 45 overs in 2 sessions less 15 mins.

If England only bowled 72-75 overs yesterday, Australia would only have a lead of about 60-70 and the game situation would be a lot different.

Sad part of test cricket, doing your job correctly and bowling the allocated overs is seen as bad tacticts.