2019 1st Ashes Test - Edgbaston 1-5 August 2019

[Park cricketer]

They made the prediction despite knowing the forecast for the first day was for rain. I think we've strayed from my original point though. I said I didn't entirely agree with your following statement.



I think I pointed out plenty of examples that prove that batting first isn't always an advantage.

I must have elaborated on that a bit more. What I meant was that always bat first unless there's heavy overcast conditions and you expect the pitch to have juice in it. Most often, the pitch would look green but the weather would be fine and batting first would be a better option there despite the greenish looking pitch. Asian teams often do this mistake of bowling first whenever they encounter a green tinged pitch.

 

[Crankitup]

I must have elaborated on that a bit more. What I meant was that always bat first unless there's heavy overcast conditions and you expect the pitch to have juice in it. Most often, the pitch would look green but the weather would be fine and batting first would be a better option there despite the greenish looking pitch.

Fair enough.

Asian teams often do this mistake of bowling first whenever they encounter a green tinged pitch.

Pakistan opted to bat first in Headingley last year and lost the match, allowing England to win their first test match in 8 matches.

A description of the conditions just prior to the match .....

Headingley has a reputation for favouring the seamers which is still just about justified although the pitch has proven more batsman-friendly in recent times. In early season, however, there could be more assistance to the quicker men than has become usual, particularly given the rain which has been around in Leeds in the lead-up to the match. Wet weather is expected on the first day as well but the rest of the match should be dry.

In the first Test at Lord's England won the toss and batted first but Pakistan won the match. It seems the home team didn't make the mistake that you described above but still lost.

On a cloudy morning and faced with a green-tinged surface, Root opted to bat on winning the toss, only for his team to be undone by a Pakistan pace quartet that exposed their shortcomings.

 

[Park cricketer]

Fair enough.




Pakistan opted to bat first in Headingley last year and lost the match, allowing England to win their first test match in 8 matches.

Conditions description just prior to the match was .....

Not sure I would have batted first especially given the wet weather leading up to the match and the rain prediction on the first day.

A damp wicket plus rain is a nightmare combination for a batsman. I remember the Newlands test that India played last year. Cape Town was facing a water crisis and there was apparently a drought but because Faf was so particular about the kind of wickets he wanted, the pitch was watered well by the curator and was generally difficult to play. But rain came around the end of the 3rd day I think while SA were batting relatively comfortably, and after the rain break on the 4th day, the pitch became unplayable and SA collapsed spectacularly. It was a similar story for India when they came to bat as they failed to chase a 200 run target.

 

[Park cricketer]

In the first Test at Lord's England won the toss and batted first but Pakistan won the match. It seems the home team didn't make the mistake that you described above but still lost.

The enclosed quote literally says that the conditions were overcast and the pitch was green.

 

[Crankitup]

The enclosed quote literally says that the conditions were overcast and the pitch was green.

Yeah. Got mixed up. I meant to say England made the mistake that you suggested Asian teams sometimes make.

 

[The Casey Cat]

Most definitely.

We really aren't much chop barring Smith. If he fails we are well behind.

It's the best bowling attack we have had in England since last time we won there. Batting wise there are concerns. However, Head has been surprisingly consistent. Wade I think will do ok. Now or never with him and as our best shield bat last year I'm happy with that at 6. Warner will fire at some point as should Usman. Bancroft will will be a walking wicket all series. We are a fair bit more solid with bat and ball than we've been in a while.

 

[MinerBoy]

Really wanted Harris to do well in this game. Think he's a better player than Bancroft, despite Bancroft's obvious skill at short leg.

Big 2nd innings now. Likely to go in with the same top 6 if Harris misses again.

 

[RookiePick]

It's the best bowling attack we have had in England since last time we won there. Batting wise there are concerns. However, Head has been surprisingly consistent. Wade I think will do ok. Now or never with him and as our best shield bat last year I'm happy with that at 6. Warner will fire at some point as should Usman. Bancroft will will be a walking wicket all series. We are a fair bit more solid with bat and ball than we've been in a while.

I am not really disagreeing with you but the batting is extremely fragile. 8/122 doesn't lie.

England were down a bowler and a half in the second innings (2 down really if you consider how poorly Moeen was going) when we made good runs. Our attack is not bad at all but the risk they get sold up the river by the batsmen and have no runs to work with is ever present.

England having their own issues doesn't make our weaknesses go away.

 

[corbies]

So that's two groundsmen he has gone after now. What a twat.

Root never said anything about the pitch or groundsman at Edgbaston. It was bullshit journalism by Fox Sports who reproduced his quotes from after the Lords test v Ireland word-for-word to make it look like he had criticised the pitch again. Don't believe everything you read especially if it comes from Fox Sports.

 

[Tugga27]

Really wanted Harris to do well in this game. Think he's a better player than Bancroft, despite Bancroft's obvious skill at short leg.

Big 2nd innings now. Likely to go in with the same top 6 if Harris misses again.

There's definitely an openers available but no one seems to want it.

Saw the highlights of the tour game this morning.
Harris let one go and was bowled middle stump.

 

[The Casey Cat]

There's definitely an openers available but no one seems to want it.

Saw the highlights of the tour game this morning.
Harris let one go and was bowled middle stump.

They really are all hopeless. Bancroft bowled too. He will get bowled or LBW all tour making standard straight balls look amazing as he doesn't approach them properly to play them straight. How he got anywhere I'll never know.

 

[Tugga27]

They really are all hopeless. Bancroft bowled too. He will get bowled or LBW all tour making standard straight balls look amazing as he doesn't approach them properly to play them straight. How he got anywhere I'll never know.

TBF, he chopped on a wide one.

 

[HBF]

Was excellent. Unbiased , good analysis and decent sense of humour . Thought he was clearly the best

I always like listening to Athers.

 

[The Passenger]

Australia should be wary of getting complacent and actually go to Lords with a mindset that the real test starts now. Edgbaston was a great victory but it was not what you normally expect in England. Cricket in England is a lot more about what's above in the sky than what's below in the pitch. Sometimes you have a green wicket that plays a lot like a flat one because the weather is hot and the sun is beating down baking the pitch. Sometimes the pitch looks perfectly fine, but the conditions are muggy and overcast, and the duke ball starts hooping around like crazy.

I remember India touring England a few years ago when we drew on a road at Trent Bridge and had a historic victory at Lords. I remember being wildly optimistic about our chances after leading the series 1-0 going into the 3rd test. We got clobbered in the remaining matches and proceeded to lose the series 3-1. Batting against the swinging duke ball in typical english conditions is a whole new different kettle of fish and is a huge test of the temperament and patience of your team. Australia have got three things going in their way though -

1. Anderson might not be fit for the remainder of the series and that's a huge blow for England.

2. England's batting is not particularly good in those conditions either.

3. Australia have arguably the best batsman in the world in their side.

The toss plays a huge factor in these conditions too. Batting first is always an advantage eventhough it may look daunting and be a uphill battle at the start. Chasing a score with the ball moving both ways in the last innings is one of the most difficult challenges in cricket. I don't remember any side chasing a significant score in the last innings and succeeding in recent times in England apart from Hope and Braithwaite's masterclass at Headingley two years back.

Very good post.

I would say there is one more thing in our favour and we have a much better spinner, although spin has played little to no part at Lord's in recent years.

I think Smith is the best batsmen in the world, but Root is well good enough to at least have a series where the chasm between he and Smith is not series defining - obviously Root needs to start bridging that gap straight away for this to be the case because he has given up a 200-run lead after the first test.

 

[frankrizzo]

Big worry is that we have played a few massive away series in recent years(ind/sa/pak/) and we had two thumping wins first up and a epic game saving effort in the other and yet we have then played worse as every series went on and lost all three, generally you think if touring teams can hang in there and just avoid getting belted early they will adapt and play better as the tour progresses but we have been the exact opposite.

 

[Blues_Man]

Why the fu** didn't they do that an hour ago ******* idiot Paine with his soft s**t attitude.

Mr nice Guy cost us the test ffs

You need counselling..Paine captained the test very well .

 

[Hamingja]

Is it just me, or are media "experts" writing off England too soon? FFS, they were down a great bowler for virtually the whole match.

Yeah we won the toss too. It was overcast day one and England took advantage of that but day 4 was the best batting and day 5 the worst so the toss was important.

England lost Anderson.

We didn't get the rub of the green on a few decisions.

Smith scored a ton in both innings.

So 3/4 things went our way.

 

[danstar]

Neither

a troll

 

[Eagleboy68]

You need counselling..Paine captained the test very well .

And you need a good dose of context and timing

 

[Tugga27]

You need counselling..Paine captained the test very well .

That's mild compared to some of his footy posts