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

[MarcMaverick]

The commentary narrative of there's nothing to see here about Green, everything is fine.

 

[Peter Bixley]

Anyone know what this headline is about?

Can’t believe it’: Aussie’s shock 140-year first turns ugly as umpires’ shock call stuns.​

Kamala Harris became a cricket writer?

 

[Jimthegreat]

Yep, this could be the best series of cricket ever and next summer will have shit crowds comparatively. We've had BGT and The Ashes back to back, of course next year is going to be lower crowds.

And every ****ing moron is going to be trying to attribute it to other factors because you have to have a storyline.

Yep, we have the Kiwi's. Don't have the bowlers they once did. Still be 90,000 on Boxing Day and sell out day 1 of the Pink Test in Sydney as they are occasions but crowds will be certainly lower. Hopefully we have quite a newer side too in preparation for the 2027 Ashes. Then again we have idiot Bailey selecting the side.

 

[swingdog]

I'm not sure England did underperform in the first three tests.

They had 3 batters (Duckett, Smith and Brook), who had never played here and of the other 4 in the top order, Crawley averaged 31.55, Root averaged 51.29 (but only 35.68 in Australia), Pope averaged 35.36 and Stokes averaged 35.69.

Of the bowlers, Archer, Atkinson, Carse, Tongue and Potts had never played top flight cricket in Australia (I'm not counting Archer's BBL stints). Only Wood had bowled here (and very well on the last tour). Archer and Wood were both coming off long injury layoffs.

Given all that, I think they performed as well as expected. A lot of their media talked them up but they were never likely to win or even come close.

In terms of missing their opportunities, they did but it's easy to say it was all on them rather than them not being allowed to take their opportunities. The things that stood out for me in terms of England not being able to play their game, were:

• the tight lines of the Australian bowlers (Crawley remarked how surprised he was by Boland's ability to hit the same mark again and again)
• Carey's standing up to the stumps which negated their ability to walk at the bowler
• the inability of their bowlers to build pressure (Head's innings counts for something here as they looked shell-shocked by going through that)
• their catching in the first 3 tests (which was a continuation of their sloppy fielding in the summer against India)
• Stoke's generally unimaginative captaincy in the field (though, he's not alone in that)

They had one plan and as soon as it faced resistance, it crumbled.

 

[Portmagpies36]

Steve Smith looks better with no Jofra and Wood too champion.

What a ****ing stupid comparison, do your homework champ. How many times has Archer dismissed Smith?
Have a look at Smiths record in England and against England compared to Root.

 

[Kappa]

We didn't get through a full days play, go and check the overs bowled..

I'm not arguing that we did get through a full days play...

 

[SC_Power]

So it's a case of "we can't be arsed preparing properly when we come to you, so you we won't let you prepare properly when you come to us".

How about both sides preparing properly for every series to give the public the highest standard of cricket possible?

Which shield teams are going to give the English XI a spot next time around?

 

[Portmagpies36]

Exactly. It works both ways.

Do your homework champ

 

[SC_Power]

Yep, we have the Kiwi's. Don't have the bowlers they once did. Still be 90,000 on Boxing Day and sell out day 1 of the Pink Test in Sydney as they are occasions but crowds will be certainly lower. Hopefully we have quite a newer side too in preparation for the 2027 Ashes. Then again we have idiot Bailey selecting the side.

From what I can tell Ponting reckons only two squad changes from now to the next Ashes series. One forced by Khawaja retirement.

Ricky Ponting's 2027 Ashes squad:​

Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Campbell Kellaway, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Oliver Peake, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Josh Inglis, Jhye Richardson, Todd Murphy, Beau Webster

 

[PhatBoy]

As they should. They have a duty to do what is best for them and their members. If the ECB tries to withhold funding then it becomes a different matter.

If it’s purely about denying Australian players a chance to play (as opposed to the dual benefit of denying Australian players a chance to play, AND affording more places to local players to grow and develop) any County worth its salt will find an overseas recruit of at least comparable value anyway. Sure you might not find a Pat Cummins or Steve Smith popping out of any old country but these guys play little or no County cricket anyway; Smith played 3 games in 2023 as a tune up for the Ashes (and didn’t even do that well) and Cummins I don’t think has ever played County cricket. So most of the Counties in such a scenario should still be able to look after their own interests

 

[ABAB]

If we had've been 4-0 like we should have then we might've bowled with more focus today to get a 5-0 Today we looked like a side content with the Ashes.

If Australia bat like they should, especially having Starc at 10, then we should have a boring draw. Will Australia bat as they should though.

Almost playing like a team who is relief to win the Ashes 3-0 given how undermanned the team was in the first 2 Tests, near full strength in the 3rd Test with only Hazelwood out. There has been 12 times a side has won 3-0 (11 by us and 1 by England) and only 3 of them were whitewash by us.

 

[Peter Bixley]

Which shield teams are going to give the English XI a spot next time around?

If you don’t ask, you don't get. But there are 18 counties and only 6 states, hence three times the opportunity. England have shown that when they prepare properly (2010-11), they perform better. It doesn't have to be about English batsmen playing Shield cricket. They just need to do the hard yards in tour matches.

 

[PhatBoy]

Yep, we have the Kiwi's. Don't have the bowlers they once did. Still be 90,000 on Boxing Day and sell out day 1 of the Pink Test in Sydney as they are occasions but crowds will be certainly lower. Hopefully we have quite a newer side too in preparation for the 2027 Ashes. Then again we have idiot Bailey selecting the side.

Depending on what sort of tracks get rolled out I think their bowlers might surprise a few people if they’re all fit.

Henry is an excellent bowler, one of the best in the world in the last few years. Jamison is a giant and they need him fit.
Jacob Duffy, admittedly against some poor opposition but at times in an attack with just two specialist bowlers, was absolutely huge against the West Indies and went from being a peripheral bowler to a leader out of necessity with all the injuries they had.
Some helpful wickets would make them a decent proposition.
Their batting is still dicey away from home unfortunately for them and there’s still the small matter of them being seemingly incapable of finishing the job when they play Australia

 

[Peter Bixley]

If it’s purely about denying Australian players a chance to play (as opposed to the dual benefit of denying Australian players a chance to play, AND affording more places to local players to grow and develop) any County worth its salt will find an overseas recruit of at least comparable value anyway. Sure you might not find a Pat Cummins or Steve Smith popping out of any old country but these guys play little or no County cricket anyway; Smith played 3 games in 2023 as a tune up for the Ashes (and didn’t even do that well) and Cummins I don’t think has ever played County cricket. So most of the Counties in such a scenario should still be able to look after their own interests

There's an argument to say that county cricket is so bad nowadays that it doesn't serve as proper preparation for an Ashes contest. The WTC final was much better for Australia than any tour match could have provided.

 

[Peter Bixley]

Interesting to see the draw has come in from 11.00 before the start of play to 4.00 now.

 

[Westend]

Picking Murphy here is more for 2027 BGT in India than for this match. Can't expect Murphy and Kuhnemann to perform with limited international cricket.

Well for me they picked the wrong spinner for Aussie conditions .....and they didn't back him on seaming wickets

Smudge says the wickets have changed and they hate it but can't back the spin option

Well smudge the shield wickets having been like that for the past few seasons...and guess who is in the top 5 wickets bowling on seaming shield wickets where every bloody captain wins the toss and bowls first

Rocco

 

[Buzz Hawk]

Ok so the theory seems to be we keep playing Green until he finds his groove in test cricket.
Could be the luckiest 100 test player ever at this rate.

 

[icyflakes]

There's an argument to say that county cricket is so bad nowadays that it doesn't serve as proper preparation for an Ashes contest. The WTC final was much better for Australia than any tour match could have provided.

There's been a lot of conversation about how more game time for England in Aus wouldn't have been helpful for this team - many former players have said as much.

• The pitch wont be the same (PMXI excuse) - well it still would have helped you practice with the pink ball, given the dropped catches that are a significant part of the game being lost. Maybe catching practice isn't the same as a real match?
• The game doesn't have the same energy - Heals and Haddo said as much on Willow Talk in the last couple days. I completely accept that, but maybe this team simply needed more time on Aussie pitches and some state/practice matches would have helped?
• The argument that Australia has stopped playing tour games is not a good one. We don't have any good results overseas against the big 3 in recent years.

We're seeing an England team perform better as they abandon the thing they spent 3 years building the team around. If only they had played some extra games prior to get a better feel for Aussie conditions - especially with several players that haven't experienced it before.

Aussies should be able to play county, Poms should be able to play Grade and Shield. Most test-contention-Aussies only play div 2 county anyway.

 

[brutus76]

Sydney to be given the Chinese New Year test dates from 2027 in hope of having no rain

 

[icyflakes]

Sydney to be given the Chinese New Year test dates from 2027 in hope of having no rain

Blind Melon to play at the opening ceremony

 

[grumbleguts]

In that one confrontation he beat him 3 times, found the edge twice, had a hook shot fall short of fine leg and hit him 4 times - abdomen, shoulder, glove, and head - so I’m guessing Smith wasn’t at his absolute career peak of comfort in that specific innings unless those were deliberate tactics.

One confrontation? He bowled 284 balls at him in that series. Never even looked like getting him out, but you paint your idiotic rhetoric memory how ever you like.

 

[Lunchtime]

Interesting..

 

[icyflakes]

Interesting..

I have no idea what you needed an AI to do here but I'm not happy about it

 

[sabso]

Ok so the theory seems to be we keep playing Green until he finds his groove in test cricket.
Could be the luckiest 100 test player ever at this rate.

Zak Crawley is way ahead of him.

 

[SC_Power]

If you don’t ask, you don't get. But there are 18 counties and only 6 states, hence three times the opportunity. England have shown that when they prepare properly (2010-11), they perform better. It doesn't have to be about English batsmen playing Shield cricket. They just need to do the hard yards in tour matches.

And England may be asking the Australians to do the same, rather than provide them extended county stints