Cricket Discussion - Part 3

[Duckimus Prime]

He is of the belief you attack with the aim to win from the first ball of the game, not try and get a draw. That's why he doesn't criticise Bazball. Score quickly and give your bowlers the longest time possible to get 20 wickets has always been his driving principle of how to play the game at the top levels.

One of the biggest problems with Bazball is how short England's batting innings are. even if they do score runs. At home they put out flat wickets, and have their bowlers toil for a day and a half. Then they bat for 3/4 of a day and score as many runs. And have their bowlers out there again.

They play a close 5 day test and they're in the field for 3.5 days.

My concern with Head is he's too likely to get out playing a stupid shot (trying to hit the ball out of the ground).

Narrator: He did get out playing a stupid shot.

Also Narrator: It was after scoring 120+ run in one of the best Ashes innings ever and winning the Test.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

One of the biggest problems with Bazball is how short England's batting innings are. even if they do score runs. At home they put out flat wickets, and have their bowlers toil for a day and a half. Then they bat for 3/4 of a day and score as many runs. And have their bowlers out there again.

They play a close 5 day test and they're in the field for 3.5 days.

Narrator: He did get out playing a stupid shot.

Also Narrator: It was after scoring 120+ run in one of the best Ashes innings ever and winning the Test.

That wasn't the case in the recent 5 test match series v India in England where it was 2-2 and all 5 tests went into the 5th day, most of them late on the 5th day and weather only badly affected 1 of those tests. I watched a decent chunk of those 5 tests.

 

[240volt]

Funny fact.
Travis Head scored more runs in one over than Crawley, Root and Stokes managed in their 6 innings combined.

 

[raptalia]

The Murdoch Press going overboard with no fewer than seven colour pages devoted to our boy Trav. I hope Travis resists reading the morning paper and focuses on the job at hand.

I also hope the selectors resist the media calls to pick Head as an opener. Head is Australia's biggest batting asset at the moment and if he falls early to the new ball Australia is well and truly rooted.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Don't worry, Travis won't let it go to his Head.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Just because

 

[philreich]

The Murdoch Press going overboard with no fewer than seven colour pages devoted to our boy Trav. I hope Travis resists reading the morning paper and focuses on the job at hand.

I also hope the selectors resist the media calls to pick Head as an opener. Head is Australia's biggest batting asset at the moment and if he falls early to the new ball Australia is well and truly rooted.

On the other hand, Head's presence at the top of the order seemed to do wonders for the confidence of Jake Weatherald - he looked a different player in the second innings. It's a gamble to keep Travis as an opener, but wowsers: if it comes off again, we could easily be 2-0 up, with 3 to play.

 

[Grave Danger]

101,514 at the TWO days of the West Test - about what they would get for five days at the WACA.

 

[raptalia]

Don't worry, Travis won't let it go to his Head.

As posted Australia will be well and truly Joe Rooted if he does.

 

[Festerz]

Just because

Ditto

 

[philreich]

Ditto

LOL I assume this was written before Head smoked 17 runs off a Stokes over?

 

[Festerz]

LOL I assume this was written before Head smoked 17 runs off a Stokes over?

Yep - Friday night our time.

His post talking about shoving the Aussie media's 'jibes right back down their prematurely smug little throats' was peak irony.

 

[philreich]

Yep - Friday night our time.

His post talking about shoving the Aussie media's 'jibes right back down their prematurely smug little throats' was peak irony.

Glorious!!!

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Australia's 2nd innings run rate of 7.23 is the highest ever by a team in the 4th innings of the test to score 200+ and win the test.

For the poms to get back into this series they have to bat for around 120 overs in at least one innings of each of the 4 remaining tests. Be happy with scoring 375-425 off that 120 overs not try and score 650-800. This gives their pace bowlers a decent rest.

At lunch on day 2, with a 105 run lead and only 1 wicket down, they had already worked out how to get on top of Boland and smack him around in the 1st innings, Doggett was making his debut so he was potentially vulnerable if they batted for 120 overs, Green can only bowl a limited number of overs per innings and Starc at this stage had bowled 17 overs in 4 sessions so far.

If the poms batted for the next 3 hours after lunch in a conventional manner, Oz would have bowled 40 or so overs in that time, lets say the poms only made say 80-100 runs and only lost 1 wicket, Starc probably has by then racked up 25-27 overs, the ball is about 55 overs old and scuffed up by then. They then could have gone on the full Bazball attack and whacked on another 100 before stumps and could have started day 3 around 250-300 runs in front and maybe only 4, 5 or 6 down.

The poor pommie quicks who did a great job bowling out Oz 132 only had a 3 hour rest, so no wonder Head was able to easily put them off their game.

All is not lost for the poms but they need a big mindset change, which I don't know if Stokes and McCullum are prepared to implement.

If you look at the Stokes-McCullum era they won 10 of their first 11 tests in charge, losing to SAF at Lord's in 2022 and then lost the 12th one to NZ by 1 run in the 2nd and final test in the 2022-23 series at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.

Since then Stokes as captain has a a 12W 11L 2D =25 record, including Perth result, and Ollie Pope filling in a full 3 test series v Sri Lanka and one off games v Pakistan and India is 3W 2L 0D =5 record.

So after the initial shock of Bazball attack, attack game plan, its barely better than a 50/50 method as everyone has watched them long enough to try and counter it.

 

[philreich]

I just bought the paper for the first time since North Melbourne last won a final - or probably longer than that. Why today if all days? Because of the ingenious decision to change the name of the paper for today only - The Travertiser.

 

[philreich]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I just bought the paper for the first time since North Melbourne last won a final - or probably longer than that. Why today if all days? Because of the ingenious decision to change the name of the paper for today only - The Travertiser.

The West oz tried to match it

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Head is only the 3rd SA born and bred in the SA cricket system player, to make 4,000 test runs behind the Chappells.

Next are Clem Hill on 3,412 @ 39.22 who played between 1896-1912 and Greg Blewett 2,552 @ 34.03.

For comparison with other smaller states:

• Tassie Ponting 13,000+ and Boon 7,000+
• Qld Hayden 8,000+, Labuschagne 4,000+, Healy 4,000+
• WA Langer 7,000+ Hussey 6,000+, Hughes 4,000+, Martyn 4,000+, Katich 4,000+

There have been 29 Aussies who have reached the milestone so 16 have come from NSW or Victoria.
Edit only 3 from Victoria - Neil Harvey, Bill Lawry and Ian Redpath

 

[Duck Farmer]

On the other hand, Head's presence at the top of the order seemed to do wonders for the confidence of Jake Weatherald - he looked a different player in the second innings. It's a gamble to keep Travis as an opener, but wowsers: if it comes off again, we could easily be 2-0 up, with 3 to play.

Head opening with a recalled Konstas playing ramp shots from the get go is where it's at.

 

[Festerz]

The Balmy Army used to be revered as being knowledgeable and witty followers of cricket. Their presence and banter was always welcomed at Australian grounds during previous Ashes series.

Something’s changed. They’ve now become as drunkenly boorish and predictably ignorant as their soccer hooligan compatriots.

 

[raptalia]

The Balmy Army used to be revered as being knowledgeable and witty followers of cricket. Their presence and banter was always welcomed at Australian grounds during previous Ashes series.

Something’s changed. They’ve now become as drunkenly boorish and predictably ignorant as their soccer hooligan compatriots.

That boorish behaviour extends beyond the terraces and into the Long Room at Lords. The reception the MCC Members gave the Australians in 2023 after the Bairstow run out was simply not cricket. I have no sympathy for England cricket fans re their treatment by sections of the Australian media.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

If the poms don't change their approach to batting on a bouncy Gabba pitch, Bazball will become known as Spazball.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I was watching a Wisden Cricket podcast last night and they said the following about the Perth test;

This was the 26th time in 2608 tests that a test has ended by end of day 2 - so its a 1%er type result.

7th time in Ashes tests and first time since 1921 that a test has been decided in 2 days. Those other 6 times happened in the days of uncovered pitches.

847 balls bowled in total, is the 9th lowest in a test ending in a result, and the 3rd lowest in Ashes tests.

Head's 69 ball hundred was 2nd fastest in Ashes tests, equal 3rd fastest by an Australian and the fastest ever in a 4th innings of a test.

Australia became the first team chasing 200+ runs to win and succeed by scoring at a run rate at better than a run a ball. The average run rate per over was 7.23.

The first time ever in test cricket that teams in the first 3 innings of a test, lost their first wicket with ZERO runs on the board.

A truly unusual and history making test match.

 

[philreich]

If the poms don't change their approach to batting on a bouncy Gabba pitch Bazball will become known as Spazball.

If they try Bazball under lights against Starc and Boland, your average Crows fan will seem intelligent by comparison.

 

[Greasyrhys]

Another heavy loss by india, the gift that keeps on giving .