The Ashes. Fifth Test Australia v England @ Blundstone Arena, Hobart, 14-18 January 2022

[philreich]

I think my years of facing 55 year old accountants wearing white Kmart polo shirts and dismissing their 12 year old sons on synthetic wickets in the middle of primary school ovals makes me more than qualified to critique every movement by professional cricketers, thank you very much.

Dude - if I had to face Mark Wood under lights with a pink ball, I'd invent a new mode of dismissal: RETIRED SCARED!!!

 

[ABAB]

Fair call, I guess I was talking sh*t

I think a few years ago Lyon did start to bowl around the wicket to RH for long period and the batsmen milked him on the leg side so he was less effective against them, I'm still not sure why he did this and the commentators continually said this as well.

 

[JackFlash]

Pucovski is still the "great" opening hope at the top of the order for the future, Warner is Broad's bunny and Khawaja is not an opener. This game is not over, 3 days to go and England will be chasing by the end of it, anything less than 300 is gettable. It's up to Head, Green and Carey to get Australia past that figure...They need to get 200 more IMO? With Mr fidgety still batting who knows?

 

[philreich]

Who misses out then? 5 tests in a summer so Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth would need to not get one. Boxing Day and New Years will always be in Melbourne and Sydney.

Go back to playing 6 Tests per summer, and cut back on the number of T20 internationals.

 

[Linda Lovelace]

The stat watching white knights are probably fully aware of the fact that he takes a higher percentage of specialist batsmen or keeper batsmen than he takes tail Enders so simply enjoy pointing out that those who love to point out that he mops up the tail to pad his stats, are reluctant to actually embrace reality.

Tilting at windmills with stat sheet in hand - this is the Starc white knight in his element.

I didn't say anything about padding stats by mopping up the tail, that's just you straw manning me. I said that he is good against the tail, I didn't say he is only good against the tail. The lack of reading comprehension and your obsession with stats is precisely the problem.

Try to understand that to understand the criticisms of Starc, you actually have to watch the games. And you also have to not be a simpleton who thinks in black and white absolutes, where Starc is either flawless or terrible. The issue with Starc isn't that he can't take wickets or produce damaging spells, it's that too often he is a liability that produces spells of complete garbage.

 

[PhatBoy]

Tilting at windmills with stat sheet in hand - this is the Starc white knight in his element.

I didn't say anything about padding stats by mopping up the tail, that's just you straw manning me. I said that he is good against the tail, I didn't say he is only good against the tail. The lack of reading comprehension and your obsession with stats is precisely the problem.

Try to understand that to understand the criticisms of Starc, you actually have to watch the games. And you also have to not be a simpleton who thinks in black and white absolutes, where Starc is either flawless or terrible. The issue with Starc isn't that he can't take wickets or produce damaging spells, it's that too often he is a liability that produces spells of complete garbage.

No, I like the way I wrote it better.

Mainly because you’re full of s**t and he is no more often garbage than anyone else and if he’s taking 3-50 when he’s garbage, you don’t have a leg to stand on.

And by the way? I neither rate nor like the guy.

Quit with the white knight s**t. You sound like a w***er. You don’t have to be a ‘fanboy’ or a ‘white knight’ to point out facts.

 

[Stax on the mill]

How about giving Carey a break, without the "but ..."?
It's his first series.
It's a dream come true; he's probably still nervous as all hell, and maybe even trying too hard ...?

I don't like the catches that went between him and Warner, but I would've liked to have seen both players going for them. Not just Carey's fault.
The two he dropped when he did go for them, he went too far. It's an error, sure, but all players overcompensate like that.

As for runs, he scored more than Warner/Ussie/Smith combined in the first dig ... came in at 5/204, dismissed @ 9/280 and helped to stabilise the tail. His keeping to Lyon is very good, in Lyon's opinion too, not just mine.

Don’t think it would have worked out too well, if both players had gone for those catches which were clearly keepers catches. Apart from that his keeping has been tidy, without doing anything out of the ordinary, (but that’s ok).

Of course Lyon, being a teammate is not going to criticise Carey’s keeping. I think I would prefer the opinion of an ex keeper outside the team, perhaps an Ian Healy.

As far as his batting goes, I was glad to see that he finally put a price on his wicket. Up until then he had been dismissed to a succession of rash strokes. I’m not including the 2nd innings dismissal in Sydney in that, as it was stupid to send him in at that stage, and he was in a no win situation. However prior to that he’d played some silly, almost T20 type strokes to get himself out. This is test cricket, and he’s batting number 7. He is expected to make a contribution with the bat. He’s not a tailender after all.

Yes, he made more runs in the first innings than Ussie, Smith and Warner combined. Not sure though how he would have fared if he had batted under the pitch conditions that they had to.

For me, jury still out. Prepared to give him a go. But he’s not beyond criticism just because he’s a new guy.

 

[Linda Lovelace]

No, I like the way I wrote it better.

Mainly because you’re full of sh*t and he is no more often garbage than anyone else and if he’s taking 3-50 when he’s garbage, you don’t have a leg to stand on.

And by the way? I neither rate nor like the guy.

Quit with the white knight sh*t. You sound like a w***er. You don’t have to be a ‘fanboy’ or a ‘white knight’ to point out facts.

The fact that you seem to think it's impossible to bowl 3/50 while bowling poorly proves that you are a genuine pillock that doesn't understand cricket at all.

You can get 0/50 in an innings and bowl well too. I shouldn't have to explain that to a grown adult that has ever watched a game of cricket before.

 

[peternorth]

A lead of 350 will be the aim

 

[FredLeDeux]

Pucovski is still the "great" opening hope at the top of the order for the future, Warner is Broad's bunny and Khawaja is not an opener. This game is not over, 3 days to go and England will be chasing by the end of it, anything less than 300 is gettable. It's up to Head, Green and Carey to get Australia past that figure...They need to get 200 more IMO? With Mr fidgety still batting who knows?

The Warner-Broad issue is now finished forever and is no longer relevant.
150 more gives us a lead beyond any score England has made in this series.

 

[CrowBloke]

1) Don’t think it would have worked out too well, if both players had gone for those catches which were clearly keepers catches. 2) Apart from that his keeping has been tidy, without doing anything out of the ordinary, (but that’s ok).
3) For me, jury still out. Prepared to give him a go. But he’s not beyond criticism just because he’s a new guy, and from S.A.

Thoughtful reply, thanks.
1) To my eye, Warner (or whoever is at first slip) stands slightly behind Carey. If Carey goes to his R and first slip to his left they are not going to dive into each other.
Moot point.
Fact: the ball went between them for four both times, without affecting the Test result negatively, but they need to work that out (Cummins with Warner and Carey).
2) yeah, 'tidy' is about right. I like the way he takes the ball with soft hands.
3) yeah, for me too. Yes, he is not 'beyond criticism' but it has nothing to do with SA parochialism.
In fact, pre-series I thought they'd go with Inglis.

P.S. I think Oz's first 3 slips stand too close together and I'd like to see first slip about 30cms further away from Carey.

 

[Quadzilla]

P.S. I think Oz's first 3 slips stand too close together and I'd like to see first slip about 30cms further away from Carey.

It looked as if Warner had moved away from Carey but he, Smith and Ussie seemed too close still. Punter mentioned it.

 

[FredLeDeux]

It looked as if Warner had moved away from Carey but he, Smith and Ussie seemed too close still. Punter mentioned it.

Mark Carper-in-Chief Waugh mentioned it too, but only 1000 or so times.

 

[grumbleguts]

I hope Cummins doesn't declare today, and lets Boland get his century.

 

[ABAB]

The fact that you seem to think it's impossible to bowl 3/50 while bowling poorly proves that you are a genuine pillock that doesn't understand cricket at all.

You can get 0/50 in an innings and bowl well too. I shouldn't have to explain that to a grown adult that has ever watched a game of cricket before.

He could also bowl poorly and not take wicket which will be worst like he did in the Sydney Test were he only took 1 wicket. Starc did start to swing the ball under lights which is expected of him in a D/N Test and if he takes another 2-3 wickets either way he would have a good Test.

 

[Whiskers]

Bellerive ran out of beer at 8pm last night, that’s with 1 beer at a time limits. Imagine how much worse if the crowds were over 10k?

Some reckon the crowd figures are wrong as they have had issues with scanning tickets, but I think that’s tassie fans not trying to look so bad.
I would have been there had I not got covid. It’s definitely an issue!

 

[troybe]

Boland’s 2 FC 50’s have come at Hobart


Sent from my Louis Vuitton Jaffle Maker

 

[madmug]

Something is a bit simple. Sensitive too.

Something is a bit stupid too.

Anyway, back to the cricket.

 

[PhatBoy]

The fact that you seem to think it's impossible to bowl 3/50 while bowling poorly proves that you are a genuine pillock that doesn't understand cricket at all.

You can get 0/50 in an innings and bowl well too. I shouldn't have to explain that to a grown adult that has ever watched a game of cricket before.

No, the fact that I think you can bowl poorly and still make a contribution means I understand cricket.

I’ve forgotten more about the game than you’ve ever learned, based on your teeth gnashing on this particular subject.

Again, I’ll ask it.

What should Starc do, on a day when he’s not bowling his best - which incidentally has happened to, ooh, 100 per cent of players to ever play the game.

Should he try and bowl worse? Should he try and give away MORE runs and take less wickets? Should
He drop some catches and throw some overthrows? Or should he at least try and salvage something from a day when he’s a little off, and keep bowling and take a few wickets?


Are we literally at the point where we need to start changing selection rules so a player can be dropped between innings’ because hey, everyone should be at their best every single innings right?

 

[madmug]

Bellerive ran out of beer at 8pm last night, that’s with 1 beer at a time limits. Imagine how much worse if the crowds were over 10k?

Some reckon the crowd figures are wrong as they have had issues with scanning tickets, but I think that’s tassie fans not trying to look so bad.
I would have been there had I not got covid. It’s definitely an issue!

I would have gone but have other people, some family health issues, to consider. Also we're waiting for our booster, still 2 weeks away.

I know quite a few people who would have gone in more 'normal' times.

Very disappointing to have such an opportunity at such an awful time.

 

[Sphynx]

Bellerive ran out of beer at 8pm last night, that’s with 1 beer at a time limits. Imagine how much worse if the crowds were over 10k?

Some reckon the crowd figures are wrong as they have had issues with scanning tickets, but I think that’s tassie fans not trying to look so bad.
I would have been there had I not got covid. It’s definitely an issue!

As much as they are different sports, it’s an issue for them with the AFL license bids and these sorts of games will be brought up as examples.

First Ashes test in history there etc

 

[Messenger]

Come on mate - you know the routine by now. Any batsman who scores less than 50 every time he goes out to bat, and every bowler who fails to take 5 wickets in an innings, deserves to be dropped. Am I doing it right?

Spot on. It’s the knee jerk cricket board.

 

[philreich]

No, the fact that I think you can bowl poorly and still make a contribution means I understand cricket.

I’ve forgotten more about the game than you’ve ever learned, based on your teeth gnashing on this particular subject.

Again, I’ll ask it.

What should Starc do, on a day when he’s not bowling his best - which incidentally has happened to, ooh, 100 per cent of players to ever play the game.

Should he try and bowl worse? Should he try and give away MORE runs and take less wickets? Should
He drop some catches and throw some overthrows? Or should he at least try and salvage something from a day when he’s a little off, and keep bowling and take a few wickets?


Are we literally at the point where we need to start changing selection rules so a player can be dropped between innings’ because hey, everyone should be at their best every single innings right?

The key to this Aussie bowling line up is that they complement each other so well. It doesn't matter if they're not all taking wickets every over - with someone like Boland giving nothing away at one end, the batsmen feel they have to score somehow, so they'll have a crack at someone like Starc. I hope our bowlers just keep doing what they've been doing, because it's working very effectively.

 

[the_interloper]

A lead of 350 will be the aim

And in reality be twice as much as we need. Only thing might be how the pitch wears (as in if it does)

 

[Mr Taswegian]

Bellerive ran out of beer at 8pm last night, that’s with 1 beer at a time limits. Imagine how much worse if the crowds were over 10k?

Some reckon the crowd figures are wrong as they have had issues with scanning tickets, but I think that’s tassie fans not trying to look so bad.
I would have been there had I not got covid. It’s definitely an issue!

Definitely disappointing numbers considering the first three days sold out within hours and that is at 14000 capacity but Covid has hit Tassie just two weeks before this and it has clearly scared thousands away.