The Ashes, Second Test Australia v England @ The Adelaide Oval d/n 16-20 December

[Gough]

Round two kicking off from the greatest cricket ground in the world. One known change for Australia is Hazelwood out with Richardson or Neser to replace him while Khawaja is in the squad to replace Warner if he's not fit. There wouldn't be a member of England's squad with the possible exception of Jack Leach who wouldn't fancy themselves a chance to make the XI after Brisbane, one thing that does seem likely is Anderson and Broad will both play. Weather looks like a dream, should be fun.

Australia, David Warner/Usman Khawaja, Marcus Harris, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson/Michael Neser.
England (likely), Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson

 

[freo_leo29]

Haven't lost a day nighter, hopefully the trend continues

 

[Gethelred]

Cummins and Starc own day night tests. They should bring in Anderson who has looked absolutely ******* unplayable at night here in the past, and Anderson's last 2-3 years are the match of any bowler on the planet.

I really think it depends on what England choose to do. Do they drop Wood for Anderson, and go in with an attack hoping to exploit the swing/grass on the wicket (Robinson, Woakes, Anderson, with either continuing with a spin option in the hopes that last test was not the best we'll see of Leach this series, forlorn as that might be) or do they simply go in and expect Root and Stokes to bowl 20+ overs between them if things start to go poorly whilst picking their best bowling for all conditions (Broad, Anderson, Robinson, Woakes)?

If they do the latter, there's a genuine danger their bowling lacks a genuine point of difference. Broad/Anderson are the potentially the best around the wicket bowlers ever to left handers, but ostensibly all 4 quicks are 125-135km right hand swing/seam bowlers, with minute differences between how they set up.

Definitely will not go for 5 days unless we get some serious rain, and think 250+ will be a decent score throughout the test.

 

[Agent93]

TIL Pie's middle name is 'Avon'. He must have some interesting parents.

 

[Purple Suit]

Round two kicking off from the greatest cricket ground in the world. One known change for Australia is Hazelwood out with Richardson or Neser to replace him while Khawaja is in the squad to replace Warner if he's not fit. There wouldn't be a member of England's squad with the possible exception of Jack Leach who wouldn't fancy themselves a chance to make the XI after Brisbane, one thing that does seem likely is Anderson and Broad will both play. Weather looks like a dream, should be fun.

Australia, David Warner/Usman Khawaja, Marcus Harris, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson/Michael Neser.
England (likely), Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson

Surely Richardson is straight in. I thought he’d be just about in front of Starc by now.

 

[Gough]

TIL Pie's middle name is 'Avon'. He must have some interesting parents.

Good Somerset boy.

 

[Anzacpaul]

I'll be there Saturday!

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I'll be there Saturday!

Better hope we bat first then!

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Really looking forward to it. Should be a cracker.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Jhye in! Good to see, he's better, and 6 years younger than Neser.

 

[freo_leo29]

Onya Richo

hope he takes a 5fa

 

[Torz]

TIL Pie's middle name is 'Avon'. He must have some interesting parents.

It's pronounced Av-on. Not Ay-von. It's got family ties.

 

[Plugger35]

Expecting Warner will cop a few short balls in the rib cage area, that's a weakness for him though anyway, he often gets out playing that sort of ball.

 

[Slysh]

Stoked to finally see Richo back in, was so unlucky to get injured when he did.

Jeez we may not have a great batting line up but it is deep, either he or Starc will be out number 10 with Goat at 11.

 

[TommyD13]

Last chance for Harris I presume. If he fails again in comes Street. Would like to see Hazlewood back in for Boxing Day too, at the expense of probably Starc. Overall, solid lineup and hopefully we go 2-0 up.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Last chance for Harris I presume. If he fails again in comes Street. Would like to see Hazlewood back in for Boxing Day too, at the expense of probably Starc. Overall, solid lineup and hopefully we go 2-0 up.

Warner being under a cloud has saved Harris. They wouldn't want to make two changes to the openers, or have a new opener come in with an injured Warner.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

On a slightly different tangent, I tend to listen to ABC while working, then flick on Kayo to watch wickets (if have Kayo up fulltime work is not productive). Chappelli sounds so old and decrepit. Looked him up, he's now 78, why is he still commentating? He's well past it.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Warner being under a cloud has saved Harris. They wouldn't want to make two changes to the openers, or have a new opener come in with an injured Warner.

They were always going to give him a few matches, dropping Batters after single match is a ver ineffective selection strategy. Agree re: Chapoelli, he’s been cooked for years, should’ve retired 5 years ago.

 

[ROOTA#6]

They were always going to give him a few matches, dropping Batters after single match is a ver ineffective selection strategy. Agree re: Chapoelli, he’s been cooked for years, should’ve retired 5 years ago.

Exactly…those thinking Harris wasn’t going to play are kidding themselves

 

[Nuggetz]

Leach was woeful, he had no accuracy, no plan b/c, he didn't even have a plan a. I hope England replace him with another seamer, imo a seamer could play a similar role as leach in keeping the RR down and building pressure. Leach was utterly hopeless. Hope England pick something like this:

1. Burns 2. Hameed 3. Malan 4. Root 5. Stokes 6. Pope 7. Butler 8. Broad 9. Robinson 10. Wood 11. Anderson

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Leach was woeful, he had no accuracy, no plan b/c, he didn't even have a plan a. I hope England replace him with another seamer, imo a seamer could play a similar role as leach in keeping the RR down and building pressure. Leach was utterly hopeless. Hope England pick something like this:

1. Burns 2. Hameed 3. Malan 4. Root 5. Stokes 6. Pope 7. Butler 8. Broad 9. Robinson 10. Wood 11. Anderson

He was poor, and Australia targeted him, but if the fast bowlers had bowled fuller they may have a few more wickets down and more pressure on the batters - however he was poor. The problem with a bowling lineup like you’ve got above is that it’s very brittle - talented no doubt, but brittle. They’ll have the ability to take wickets, but they’ll need to do it very quickly or they’ll risk injury.

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Just done the Peter Shearer run, got the 2 hoi polloi collared shirts, (essentially the type that don’t show beer stains).

Long tomorrow, Friday.

Village Green will be open.....sweet.

 

[Nuggetz]

He was poor, and Australia targeted him, but if the fast bowlers had bowled fuller they may have a few more wickets down and more pressure on the batters - however he was poor. The problem with a bowling lineup like you’ve got above is that it’s very brittle - talented no doubt, but brittle. They’ll have the ability to take wickets, but they’ll need to do it very quickly or they’ll risk injury.

Possibly but the the Aus RR was okay until Leach came in and then it ballooned out. IMO fast bowlers did their job and were a tad unlucky. That's a fair point regarding health but any england pace lineup will have injury concerns.

You could potentially swap Woakes for Robinson or Wood but both of them provide a point of difference in the england attack. Woakes/Broad are a bit too similar for my liking. I think England must win this match to gain confidence and momentum, the best way to do it is picking the most lethal attack. At worst if there's an injury then root can step up and bowl.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Leach was woeful, he had no accuracy, no plan b/c, he didn't even have a plan a. I hope England replace him with another seamer, imo a seamer could play a similar role as leach in keeping the RR down and building pressure. Leach was utterly hopeless. Hope England pick something like this:

1. Burns 2. Hameed 3. Malan 4. Root 5. Stokes 6. Pope 7. Butler 8. Broad 9. Robinson 10. Wood 11. Anderson

Bowling isn't their problem, it's a woeful batting line-up.
Root averages 50 overall, none of the other top 7 average 40.
And Root doesn't average 40 in Australia, either.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Possibly but the the Aus RR was okay until Leach came in and then it ballooned out. IMO fast bowlers did their job and were a tad unlucky. That's a fair point regarding health but any england pace lineup will have injury concerns.

You could potentially swap Woakes for Robinson or Wood but both of them provide a point of difference in the england attack. Woakes/Broad are a bit too similar for my liking. I think England must win this match to gain confidence and momentum, the best way to do it is picking the most lethal attack. At worst if there's an injury then root can step up and bowl.

They were keeping the RR in check, but they weren’t taking wickets with that length. If I sound like I’m defending Leach, I’m not, he was poor. The issue they have is if they bowl like that again they’ll be bowling a lot of overs, and I don’t think they can with those bowlers.

Woakes would help with that, but without a viable spin option they’re cactus in my opinion.