Cricket 2023
- Thread starter Spraggons Den
- Start date
Rockmeister
pfm Member
remove either of Smith or l and it's going be much closer.
The Captain
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Ah now we see you motive. FWIW I don’t see an Oz win as a forgone conclusion as tomorrows overcast weather will make their run chase very tricky.
Spraggon I think you're first up.
Well well, I never expected we'd get 3 prime wickets this ev. Broad can be inspired in his latter years. But Kuwahara's still there. I'll reduce my odds to 60-40 crims-england.
If Stokes' rain dance comes tmrw though, & conditions favour the bowlers at last afterwards.. then it could reduce to 50-50. Then I'll stop moaning, & you can put the brasso top back on the bottle. Ok?
Andrew C!
Been around a while....
Blimey some of you on here are right pessimistic, aren’t you? Nothing in the last 12 months has changed your view
We are toe to toe with the best team, and are edging it.
England to win, or certainly go down with no lack of effort. I can’t, and won’t, ask any more of them.
We are toe to toe with the best team, and are edging it.
England to win, or certainly go down with no lack of effort. I can’t, and won’t, ask any more of them.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
As a leading meteorologist and former Test player (my modesty and desire for anonymity mean I can’t say more) my feelings are these… despite my currently sitting outside in the evening sun under blue skies just 12 miles south of the match, the forecast suggests heavy morning rain - so probably no play before lunch, and maybe until 3-ish. Australia will then need to score at a faster rate than they did this afternoon, in potentially dodgier conditions and possibly being interrupted by one or two further showers.
2ManyBoxes
pfm Member
This might sound a bit wet talking about an Australian, but I'm actually a bit worried about Steve Smith's mental health. He looks a mess to me, nervous twitches, no confidence, missing catches. He must be so thankful that he's not getting booed like he was last time.
I think that he's worried that if he doesn't perform in this series he'll get dropped and he'll be staring down the barrel of retirement. He must be dreading that as he'll be a pariah in his own country.
I'm finding it not nice to watch.
Warner, on the other hand, should be spit roasted with a prickly pear up his bum
I think that he's worried that if he doesn't perform in this series he'll get dropped and he'll be staring down the barrel of retirement. He must be dreading that as he'll be a pariah in his own country.
I'm finding it not nice to watch.
Warner, on the other hand, should be spit roasted with a prickly pear up his bum
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
Scoring rate is one of the things I think people get wrong about Bazball. The idea is not so much that scoring means you score more runs but that because you score more runs, more quickly you end up with more time to take 20 wickets, to chase down a score or to come up with different ideas or to take advantage of changes in the weather or whatever. It's a classic sports analytics play where learning how and being willinging to take increased risk makes it more likely you will win more often, not that you will necessarily win this particular game. It's going to be fascinating to see how it works in the long run when more statistics are available and if it turns out that playing this way actually increases a team's likelihood of winning games.
The counter-argument of course is that it's really a function of Bazball at all and has only be working for England in the last year because they happen to have so many batsmen who can score very quickly and creatively and a couple of middle-aged outlier bowlers who can magic up some wickets from nowhere. It might well all fall apart once they no longer have this particular group of players.
It's also interesting to me having followed very similar debates in American Football where all sorts of "accepted wisdom" type rules of how to play and win are getting thrown out as people start to look at how these very analysable / statistic laden games and what everyone thought was true actually wasn't and my sticking to the old rules coaches and teams are often leaving value on the table.
Just spitballing here, so don't all freak out. Analytics really is fascinating and if it's going to change any of the English sports, surely it will be cricket.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
I’ll never forget being at work (ie standing on the balcony of the bar, Guinness in hand) at the old BBC Birmingham building on that Sunday afternoon in 1981 when Botham took his five wickets. A cheer could be heard for each one from the TV behind the bar, then several seconds later a tidal wave of noise would hit from the stadium, a km or so away.
Spraggons Den
pfm Member
You might be right and nobody wants to see a repeat of something similar to what happened to Trott down under. I thought Cummins too was showing signs of stress when England were batting. The captaincy is such a burden in cricket, I remember Atherton talking about the unique demands it places on a person from his time at the helm. Look at the way Root is enjoying playing again now that he no longer has the weight of the team on his shoulders.
2ManyBoxes
pfm Member
The Aussies are certainly under a lot of pressure. They're missing that old swagger, it's more relief when they get a wicket.
It'll make a big difference if they win this first one, it'll get the Australian press and all those previous generations of Australian cricketers off their backs.
This is why Test cricket is one of my all time greatest sports of all time. The clue to what it does to you is in the name
This is all very true. Every dominant team switches things up. Look at the dominant Windies sides, very aggressive, quick scoring. Australia were seen as fast scoring at 3 per over.
20 20 cricket has opened up new possibilities in terms of run chases.
I am loving the Smith meltdown. Cannot stand the cheat.
2ManyBoxes
pfm Member
I think he was undoubtedly bullied by Warner, who was probably a national hero in Oz and therefore undroppable. I think that Warner was the driving force because he was secretly scared out of his mind by losing and was willing to do absolutely anything to win.
It wasn't nice for me to see the humiliation Smith went through when the story finally broke. He's now so obviously like a broken vase that's been glued back together badly, he's leaking all over the place.
He could end up like Trott, who thankfully made a recovery. Smith could end up worse than that.