Preview The Ashes 2017/18

[Pedro]

Glen Maxwell not doing his recall chances any harm. 213 not out at the moment in the Shield game. Couldn't come at a better time for him

 

[Pedro]

Been away for work so have missed a fair bit of it. Been listening all day on the radio, and it really is obvious Australia don’t have enough batsman that want to grind it out. Until they sort this out we’ll never be a threat. Credit to SM and SS they are having a dig but everyone needs to pull their weight.

This is what surprised me about Renshaw getting dropped.

 

[Soups]

This is what surprised me about Renshaw getting dropped.

Yeah I’m a fan of Renshaw. Wears down the bowlers down and then gets his strike rate back up. Exactly what an opener should be doing imo.

Maxy double ton puts pressure on Uzzy and Petey.

 

[TheSierBear]

I like uzzy but he cant play spin. Maxeell in for him. Cant droo swampy marsh. His game so far in the circumstances is yhe equivalent of blair kicking five goals and lookibg better than pendles. Plus hes Marsh.

 

[Schraderbrau]

This is what surprised me about Renshaw getting dropped.

Yeah I’m a fan of Renshaw. Wears down the bowlers down and then gets his strike rate back up. Exactly what an opener should be doing imo.

Maxy double ton puts pressure on Uzzy and Petey.

Renshaw's probleem is that (a) his form has been bad since first test in india and (b) they couldn't ignore Bancroft's form in shield cricket which went in stark contract to Renshaw's run of failures at that level.

Openers job of wearing down fast bowlers is grossly overrated imo. The three best opening batsman of the last 20 years are Warner, Hayden and Sehawag and they're all guys who sought to get on top of the opening bowlers. With flat tracks, better bats and faster outfields opening the batting is a great time to bat in modern cricket. This is especially so now that teams are getting more proficient at using reverse swing or in the sub continent where it is much more difficult to score once the new ball is softer and the pitch is turning.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

So everyone in England was real chirpy Wednesday last week about the Ashes... now all I hear is a lot of avoiding the topic of cricket at all costs.

Music to my ears. Four more Aussies!

 

[Soups]

Game 2 has begun. Poms choose to bowl first and they will be hoping to continue the trend of teams bowling first in the Day nighter have won.

Have picked uzzy for MOTM as he hit a big ton in the last test at Adelaide. Hopefully he wins me some $$. If not he can pack his bags lol.

 

[Pedro]

Game 2 has begun. Poms choose to bowl first and they will be hoping to continue the trend of teams bowling first in the Day nighter have won.

Have picked uzzy for MOTM as he hit a big ton in the last test at Adelaide. Hopefully he wins me some $$. If not he can pack his bags lol.

Hope you got some decent odds. He's got a bit to prove imo. I know the day/night test is a bit of a fifferent beast, but winning the toss and bowling in Adelaide is a fantastic idea, said no captain ever!

 

[Soups]

Hope you got some decent odds. He's got a bit to prove imo. I know the day/night test is a bit of a fifferent beast, but winning the toss and bowling in Adelaide is a fantastic idea, said no captain ever!

$15 not too bad. He’s not out of form I think he’s just got to face the fact they are going to bowl spin to him. Gets past that and he’ll score runs imo.

As Chappelli always says:

If you win the toss.....bat

If you’re unsure .....think about it for a minute....and then bat

If you’re still very uncertain, consult your leadership team....and then bat

 

[TW Sherrin]

Handscomb out LBW...

who would've thought.

 

[Soups]

Handscomb out LBW...

who would've thought.

When he’s not in great form it’s going to happen. When his eye is in he’s going to hit every ball. I just don’t know why he stands so close to the stumps when he isn’t going so well.

 

[Soups]

Pitch is like a new one today. Bounce and zip, it’s good watching. Pom’s get in tonight they will be in trouble when Starc’s steaming in.

 

[TW Sherrin]

350 will be a good score.

 

[Soups]

Credit to Smarsh that is a brilliant ton. Thought it was a questionable like most but it’s paid off for the selectors.

Cummins is awesome to have in the team as well. What a star. Should be ahead of Starc in the batting order.

 

[Pedro]

Aussies should be raring to have a red hot crack at the Poms top order at the optimum time. Couldn't have gone much worse for England. I just hope we don't make the mistake that they have and bowl too short.

 

[Soups]

Aussies should be raring to have a red hot crack at the Poms top order at the optimum time. Couldn't have gone much worse for England. I just hope we don't make the mistake that they have and bowl too short.

Starc won’t be. He’ll be locked on to those stumps straight away.

 

[Obese Arachnid]

Credit to Smarsh that is a brilliant ton. Thought it was a questionable like most but it’s paid off for the selectors.

Cummins is awesome to have in the team as well. What a star. Should be ahead of Starc in the batting order.

Yep Smarsh has done well, Handscomb out, Maxwell in?

Aussies should be raring to have a red hot crack at the Poms top order at the optimum time. Couldn't have gone much worse for England. I just hope we don't make the mistake that they have and bowl too short.

Makes me smile, laugh.

What do we think about a declaration guys?

I'm for going hard & if we aren't bowled out then declare after 50/60mins or so.

Go hard for an hour & still have a relatively new ball tomorrow.

I love beating the Poms!!!!!!

 

[Soups]

Yep Smarsh has done well, Handscomb out, Maxwell in?



Makes me smile, laugh.

What do we think about a declaration guys?

I'm for going hard & if we aren't bowled out then declare after 50/60mins or so.

Go hard for an hour & still have a relatively new ball tomorrow.

I love beating the Poms!!!!!!

Yeah Handscomb looks out of form. If Maxwell hits runs I think Handscomb could be in some trouble.

 

[Soups]

Root and this bloke have a lot in common and it’s not a premiership.

 

[Soups]

Haha, the look on Broad’s face when Marsh smoked that 6 back over his head. Take that you smug bastard.

 

[Obese Arachnid]

I would've at least batted until the fall of the next wicket.

 

[danielnajdek]

England got lucky with the rain 2 days in a row yet still way behind.

 

[pugsville]

sportsbet have us at 1:36 to take down the series, that seems like raging favourites to me.

Paine averages 29 in first class cricket and Darren Lehman has made a first class century more recently than he has. That is not solid, it is barely satisfactory for state level which is probably the reason why he found himself out of the state team. As for wicketkeeping, Neville is a very good keeper and would be one of the better pure keepers playing at international level (admittedly because most of them are batsman/keepers as opposed to keeper/batsman as Neville is.). He also averages 40 and made several 100s at state level which makes him significantly better with the bat than Paine.

See my other post for reasons why selecting Marsh is terrible although I would add that in no world is selecting an injury prone 35 year old with a mediocre test record the 'least worst option'. Even forgetting about Maxwell, batting Bancroft at 6 and retaining Renshaw is easily better 'least worst option' as is playing any younger player for experience. I mean if a 35 year old with no future is being gifted a game, we'd be better off giving it to a young player who might at least help us down the track. Very unlikely either help us at all in the immediate future but at least the second option has some future. Selecting Marsh was the worst 'least worse' option I can think of tbh.

Well Events have gone a long way to validating the selectors call.

 

[Soups]

Good call pugsy. I’m happy to be wrong, I was skeptical about the 3 selections but they are going well. Have always liked watching Marsh bat but like most, grew tired of watching him play well and then get injured. He is an unlucky bloke in that sense.
Seems like Handscomb is going to be next on the chopping block if he can’t sort out his trapped on the crease problem. Maxwell to come in?

 

[WalterBlaknWhte]

Seems like Handscomb is going to be next on the chopping block if he can’t sort out his trapped on the crease problem. Maxwell to come in?

Maxwell has the added advantage of his bowling. Not that he is likely to bowl us to victory, more that he can help share the load in a compacted series. Quite possible that he comes in for Melbourne and Sydney.