The Ashes 2023

[WhyLikeThis]

Rain is forecast for Sunday.

The wicket looked like 500+ to my ill informed eyes but we will see tomorrow.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I don't know that you get 500 par pitches in England tbh. It didn't look like the sort of totally dead pitch you can get in places like Pakistan. If Australia get those sorts of runs they'll need to play very well to do it. Which they might well do of course given their batting lineup.

 

[Petcha]

I really don't think that was a good idea. They have the three top ranked batsmen in the world.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Bloody hell!

I didn't see a declaration coming.

Why the fuck did he do that?

Surely not on a chance of thundery downpours that may disrupt play on Sunday?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I don't think it's weather-related.

Make the openers get themselves in twice. That's the calculation. It didn't work, but it could have done.

My argument against it is that both Root and Robinson were having fun. They could easily have scored another 30 or 40 in that last half hour. Feels like a mistake to me, but we'll see how it goes. Now that Aus have survived that 20 minutes, it feels a bit like Stokes has handed them back some of the initiative. This is a belter of a wicket. No reason Aus can't take a first innings lead.

Overall, England did bazball and did pretty well. Well done to Crawley for his attitude as much as anything. And to be fair to him, he was out to a snorter. Brook out to a freak bit of bad luck. Two batters out stumped charging Lyon. They may need to rethink that. Lyon's too a good bowler to be taking liberties against. Both times he saw them coming and dropped it shorter and both times it span past the bat.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

Pic of the day!

 

[Idaho]

I liked the declaration. It's aggressive and confident. That's the style, so silly to suddenly switch to cautious and try and get 20 more runs.

 

[Petcha]

Root was on fire and Robinson is very capable. I mean it's classic Bazball but they could have piled on another 40-50.

 

[Idaho]

Root was on fire and Robinson is very capable. I mean it's classic Bazball but they could have piled on another 40-50.

Could have. Could have lost root and dithered about meaninglessly for a dozen runs.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Conditions update (albeit from about 20 miles up the road).

Cloud cover, lots of it. Humid. Much more of a possibility of movement through the air than yesterday.

 

[planetgeli]

Could have. Could have lost root and dithered about meaninglessly for a dozen runs.

Root and Robinson were on fire. If one had got out, then declare. They weren't messing around, they'd just taken something like 18 off an over.

This will prove costly, and it was unnecessary.

Earliest declaration of a 1st innings ever.

 

[pbsmooth]

Seemed a bit contrived and stupid. Sure if they'd nicked a wicket might have looked better but this Aussie team are a bit too good to be worried by a few late overs on a flat pitch.

Enjoyed Barney Ronay.
"And yes, arguably a lot of the Bazball mantras and mottos, the things Stokes and McCullum actually say, sound a bit like Oasis album tracks. Be with us. Drink the moment. Where your feet are that’s where you are. Whatever you do, whatever you say yeah I know it’s all right."

Joe Root paints an Ashes masterpiece amid blood and thunder of Bazball | Barney Ronay

Batter’s post-captaincy bloom is one of the simpler joys of England’s new no-bad-shots style under Stokes and McCullum

www.theguardian.com

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Seemed a bit contrived and stupid. Sure if they'd nicked a wicket might have looked better but this Aussie team are a bit too good to be worried by a few late overs on a flat pitch

Yeah it's not like they were caught on the hop. Will already have been mentally preparing to bat that kind of session.

Some runs in test matches are easier than others. Root and Robinson were getting the easy ones - at the end of the day, tired opposition, old ball, no pressure.

 

[Wilf]

I liked the declaration. It's aggressive and confident. That's the style, so silly to suddenly switch to cautious and try and get 20 more runs.

I don't think finishing your first innings and trying to build a decent score against the best team in the world would have been silly. It's not as if they were scoring slowly either. The way Root and Robinson were playing they would have wither been out or put on another 20/30 in quick time anyway. May well not affect the outcome, but it was a very odd decision. However aggressively you want to play, there are still good and bad decisions.

 

[Wilf]

Weird double post...

 

[kabbes]

I’ve been reflecting on it, having read the various opinions on this site and elsewhere, and I’ve come to the conclusion that my initial instinct was right. It was a terrible decision to declare.

 

[Petcha]

Yeh it really was. Root had just taken Lyon for 20. So what do you do? Bring him in. There's courageous captaincy and then just plain stupid captaincy.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

If you go by the measure 'what would the opposition captain like to happen now?' the answer last night was 'one of these two to get out, please'. The declaration was that - effectively giving away a wicket. The openers may not have relished the prospect of four overs at the end, but that's their job. They won't have been complaining either.

 

[Idaho]

I’ve been reflecting on it, having read the various opinions on this site and elsewhere, and I’ve come to the conclusion that my initial instinct was right. It was a terrible decision to declare.

If they had skittled two then it would have been viewed as genius.

 

[kabbes]

If they had skittled two then it would have been viewed as genius.

No, that would be hindsight bias. The media is certainly full of that kind of shit but I am professionally trained to avoid it. It would still have been a terrible decision even if it had worked. Benefiting from a lucky near miss is not the same as successful risk mitigation

 

[Wilf]

If they had skittled two then it would have been viewed as genius.

Maybe, but at the point the decision was made it was a bad one. In fact, I'd say, a very bad one.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

Warner consistently maintaining that average of 9.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

Fucken hell

 

[two sheds]

 

[two sheds]

Genius declaration that. Thought so from the moment

 

[WhyLikeThis]

Winds up the crowd, squares up the plod and gets Labuschagne out for a golden duck. On a hatrick!

What a wicket!

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Hee hee!!! Great stuff!

 

[Mumbles274]

Broady on fire!!! Love it!!!

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Beauty!

 

[WhyLikeThis]

3 more wickets and they’ll be into Carey.