The Ashes 2019

[SpookyFrank]

I'm going to have to disagree. He's not a test match anything and has to go. Should have gone before this match.

He might well be a test match 7 but we've got three of them already, all with more experience and better form than Roy.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Tonnes up from Root n Denly & we have a chance

Cmon!

 

[souljacker]

It's definitely not over. Keep building and don't get excited and see what happens tomorrow.

 

[Argonia]

I went to see Woking beat Solihull Moors and have just got back. Looks like its game on!

 

[Argonia]

Come on Rooty

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Denly gone!

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Oh god it's the hope that kills you.

Very welcome to see that fight. Aus are still big, big favourites, but there is just a tiny sliver of a chance now. And play tomorrow for Fez!!!

 

[friedaweed]

Have the crims won yet?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Is it just my imagination, or has Joe Root changed his technique to bat like Kane Williamson? I haven't seen that angled bat from him quite like that before. If it's a conscious thing, well done him.

 

[fucthest8]

Oh god it's the hope that kills you.

Honestly, after that first innings, we don't fucking deserve to win. Obviously, it will be amazing if we do, but really, at this level, that score is beyond shameful. To quote a mate of mine yesterday "if the players don't believe in test cricket, is it any surprise if no-one else does?"

 

[fucthest8]

Have the crims won yet?

Nearly

 

[planetgeli]

Honestly, after that first innings, we don't fucking deserve to win. Obviously, it will be amazing if we do, but really, at this level, that score is beyond shameful.

Exactly this.

It makes you wonder exactly what was said between tests compared to what was said between innings in this test. Aus bowled well yesterday with little reward but the point is they didn't need to bowl that well in the first innings.

Yesterday showed application, significantly from Stokes who at least had the decency to be properly embarrassed by his first innings. It may also have shown a slight change in technique from Root who at least has the brain and ability to do so. But why so late?

It also showed Roy's ineptness good ball or not. He was stumbling down the pitch practically falling over like a drunk as his stumps were shattered. Bye Jason.

And, knowing I'm going to get shit from the Surrey boys, it also added to the doubts about Burns who has been lucky so far. They only need him not to get lucky once etc. I'm not convinced by him. He's there because there is no alternative.

There. Two Thatcher references to one opener. Beat that.

67. Nobody can seriously expect us to win from that.

 

[Cerberus]

Wholeheartedly agree with the above. As much as I’m hoping/praying/clinging onto the sniff of an unlikely win (yeah, I know it’s the hope that kills and all that...) a first innings score of 67 spells defeat every time.

FWIW I’m a Surrey boy/old man and I agree too about our lads. Obviously Roy wants to do well and is desperate to make it as a test cricketer (wherever he is chosen to bat) someone needs to put him out of his misery and drop him, for his and the team’s sake.

I thought Burns might just make it but his technique has demonstrated the gulf in class between county cricket and international cricket.

The whole series is frustrating from an England point of view. A couple of batsmen aside, this is a very weak Aussie side there for the taking. In each match, one batsman backed by a very good attack has been enough. The ECB and the selectors need to take a long hard look at themselves. This situation (red ball malaise) is going to take some turning around....

I don’t see why, with all of England’s resources, one form of the game has to suffer while achieving success in another???

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Yep your last point is a good one. Without anything like the resources wrt both money and player pool , NZ are exactly as good as England at odis but also manage to maintain a solid test team.

 

[butchersapron]

So do we on the whole.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Morning Ashes folks.

We can't, can we?

Root and Stokes are both 0 not out. Start again, slow and steady accumulation, nothing stupid. If they both get 50s from here then (a) the score will be in reach, (b) 2+ sessions of hot and tiring bowling will have elapsed, and the new ball will have been and gone.

Aussies know that one early wicket wins them this, into the one day specialists / all rounders / no hopers. Don't give it to them, make them earn it.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

England talking their chances up. Normally means early wickets.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

So do we on the whole.

Four double-digit first innings in the last two years say different. Some decent results here and there - Sri Lanka, India - mixed in with shite - Australia last time and so far this, New Zealand, West Indies. England have been anything but solid for years now.

Wicket before the new ball. Could be over quickly.

 

[butchersapron]

Four double-digit first innings in the last two years say different. Some decent results here and there - Sri Lanka, India - mixed in with shite - Australia last time and so far this, New Zealand, West Indies. England have been anything but solid for years now.

We collapse in individual tests sure, look at the series record for a better picture though. definition of solid. Nor excelling, not appalling. Some great ones, some shit ones. Solid doesn't mean the best in the world.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

And there it is. After a brilliant, proper test innings for a long time yesterday, Root waltzes after Nathan Lyon bowling his first over of the day and gives the game away.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

We collapse in individual tests sure, look at the series record for a better picture though. definition of solid. Nor excelling, not appalling. Some great ones, some shit ones. Solid doesn't mean the best in the world.

That tells the story of a team that is consistently inconsistent. Follow up a great win in Sri Lanka with a miserable defeat in West Indies, for instance. That's typical England of the last few years. When you look within series, even in the series wins, you see the same patterns, generally - a good performance followed by an awful one. I would date this pattern from the Mitchell Johnson series, which marked the real break-up of the old team.

This Australia team is not that good, that's what is most frustrating about this series. A solid England batting performance would beat this lot.

 

[Casual Observer]

We need another Zimbabwean coach. Amongst other things.

 

[strung out]

If I'm honest, I would have taken the World Cup win over this Ashes series. We've had a couple of absolutely epic and/or nail-biting wins over the Aussies in the last 15 years, so I'm happy to have the memory of that World Cup win too.

Although we're obviously still going to win this one too.

 

[kabbes]

Thank God England have Stokes. He’s the only batsman in the test side I would consistently pick at the top table. He’s the only one that seems capable of adapting his game to the match conditions. And it’s notable that he’s the only one that seems to be able to move from white to red ball and excel at both. The fact he’s also a decent bowler is a wonderful bonus.

The rest are a mix of good on their day and just bad. Even Root has been mediocre since becoming captain.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

If I'm honest, I would have taken the World Cup win over this Ashes series. We've had a couple of absolutely epic and/or nail-biting wins over the Aussies in the last 15 years, so I'm happy to have the memory of that World Cup win too.

Although we're obviously still going to win this one too.

There's a bit of me that wishes Stokes's bat hadn't got in the way of Guptill's throw and NZ had won that final. Somehow that win justifies the trashing of the test team in some quarters. Other teams have managed to be great at both at the same time. In fact, other teams have used success in one format to breed confidence in the other.

 

[Pink Panther]

That tells the story of a team that is consistently inconsistent. Follow up a great win in Sri Lanka with a miserable defeat in West Indies, for instance. That's typical England of the last few years. When you look within series, even in the series wins, you see the same patterns, generally - a good performance followed by an awful one. I would date this pattern from the Mitchell Johnson series, which marked the real break-up of the old team.

This Australia team is not that good, that's what is most frustrating about this series. A solid England batting performance would beat this lot.

The worrying thing right now is that we generally win the home series and lose the away ones, and this time we look like getting comprehensively beaten on our own patch by a side with pretty similar unresolved weaknesses to ourselves. Even when we beat India 4-1 last summer the one we lost was a hammering by 200 runs. We never even seem to go down fighting and get beaten by 20 runs or a couple of wickets in a really hard fought contest. The defeats always seem to involve the wheels well and truly falling off, either by conceding a significant first innings lead or by blowing a favourable position with a poor second innings. The series win in Sri Lanka was excellent, but now looks like a fluke.

Since the decisive break up of the Strauss team (inherited by Cook) that was whitewashed on the 2013/14 Ashes tour there has also been an abject failure to identify suitable new players and integrate them into the squad effectively. Of the debutants since that series I reckon only Moeen Ali can have played many more than a dozen or so Tests out of 60-plus, and even he's now out of the picture.

The problem seems to transcend individual players now. It almost feels like no one brought into the team stands much chance of making a real difference. After all the optimism of Archer's debut we've still contrived to go from bad to worse.

 

[steveo87]

It's the hope that kills you...

 

[SpookyFrank]

30 extras, the Australians have basically given us an extra batsman.

Tim Paine has been shite behind the stumps all series. Lucky his batting has been *checks notes* also shite.

 

[Mumbles274]

We need 130 runs to win

It's.the.hope.that.kills.you.

 

[marty21]

Good morning session for England