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Cricket 2023

Well done Australia. Great game, but you really can't afford a couple of front line bowlers to be less than fit. Many will point at the declaration, but the spilled chances and subdued attack have proved decisive. The bowling needs re-thinking if lifeless pitches are going to be the way of the summer.
 
Better get that brasso ready cabin-boys. Whose no.2 after Spraggon's got my quarters warmed up-?
I reckon that's Woodywoodface. Here's the itinery:

Woodywoodface: 8am- 8:40am
Matthewr 8:50- 9:30am

I'll need a break then to 'reload' & type up the next pair.

Capt
 
Entertaining. Well played Pat Cummins. Proper captains knock that.

Bowling is an issue for England. As Sir Geoffrey used to say - Pitch it up and aim at the stumps! How many LBW close calls happened there today? Err. None.

Pains me to say it but JA isn't up to snuff and a half decent spin bowler could have had the ball turning 90 degrees on that pitch towards the end.

Mark Wood or Chris Woakes in for Jimmmy. Spin bowler? Dunno.
 
This wasn't an issue because he was the fittest in the end but Stuey rolled up a few kg overweight - he was sporting a double chin!

I don't agree about Jimmy, there was nothing in the pitch for him here, this was the game to rest him for Wood.
 
They also need to put more thought into their timing of shots . Root seemed to have taken a stupidity pill when he tried to reverse sweep his first ball , missed and luckily for him the ball went over the stumps ! inches away from being out for a duck .He was out charging down the pitch and stumped , brainless when we needed him to make 100 .At least it was a close game but we made mistakes that cost us the match
 
peter bj said:
They also need to put more thought into their timing of shots
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I can’t see England changing their batting. Same ridiculously high run rate, ramp shots and all, early declarations, and so on… all with the aim of having the time to take twenty wickets and win. With a tame attack and such a docile pitch, it was always going to be a struggle today though.

Saying that, well done to Australia. A brilliant knock from Cummins to see them home, and a well-deserved potm award for Khawaja, batting all five days and out in the middle almost the whole game.
 
Lots of extras (compares to aus), which could have cost us the win. Declaring when your best batsman is on 115 doesn’t help either. Can’t take 4 more like that, but I think we’re better than them and can win it.
 
This test is already forgotten to me. We'll now struggle to just level the series.

Anyway at least we have funnier characters than the crims. Here's my other fabourite Ashes yarn from the 1980's (Arkle= Derek Randall). Here he is (immediately) up for some antics in a hotel in Aus, mid 80's..

37704983-4-EF5-4-E78-8-FFA-BAB93-B9848-DE.jpg


Capt
 
Saw that at declaration time. Interesting that. Cummings had a great knock but that bowling was never a huge threat on that pitch. Well done the Aussies however.
 
Ponty said:
Lots of extras (compares to aus), which could have cost us the win. Declaring when your best batsman is on 115 doesn’t help either. Can’t take 4 more like that, but I think we’re better than them and can win it.
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Thing is Ponty the filthy crims usually win at Lords, customarily being the 1st test, up until this series.. which is why the TCCB changed it to Edgbaston this time, I would surmise.
 
So even playing eight batsmen (Stokes only bowled two overs, Bairstow is a part time keeper, Moeen a part time spinner) we were unable to amass enough runs to beat them, even when Warner, LabBureau de Change, Smith and Head are subdued. Am I pessimistic …nope because we proved we are mentally strong enough to go toe to toe with them.

There were many areas where we could have been better but the Aussies could say the same. Congratulations to Cummins he’s a class act both on and off the pitch.
 
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We need to accommodate a proper keeper plus Bairstow and get Wood fit to have a chance I think - great game and the risks didn’t pay off today - still great cricket
 
Well done Pat Cummings, Nathan Lyon and Khawaja, who pretty much won the match barring our dropped catches. It took coolness and grit to win there.

Warner and Smith, who both did sweet fanny adams, will take unwarranted credit like it's some sort of redemption for them. You just know that they'll revert to type and become arrogant, swaggering tw@s again. I wonder if Cummings will use the kudos he has to finally drop them.
 
And yet still, everyone avoids the bleeding obvious.

We. Didn't. Have. Enough. Runs. And we could have had, if we just didn't do -one stupid ass thing- & declare 30 bloody runs too early.

Nothing to with dropped catches, or to do with the crims batting so outrageously well; they didn't, the run chase was made do-able by one idiotic OTT-Bazball decision.

Bazball.... lost us this test. But still to everyone says, even after the loss, that it was "great excitement! bazball's great!". Incredulous. I mean has everyone taken leave of their senses??
 
everyone says?
look up 5 posts.
Bazball is one way to play. All shock tactics work whilst they are a shock. When you see a shock 100 miles off, it's less effective.
But the declaration might have cost the runs. However, like everything in life, if you go back and alter 1 thing, everything that follows that change may change also, so we don't know.
We do know Australia won.

What happens next will be interesting. My guess is bazball fills stadiums and will therefore continue. Stupid decisions however? One or two more and a change of captaincy might be in the air.

PS. 'Crims' isn't funny any more.
 
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