Ashes comments

[shanegrambeau]

Moeeb Ali at 3?

This has the sniff of Manoj Phrabaker about it.

[saynta]

Aussies need to get Creepy out.

[B.M]

Crawley looks right at home

Hardly hit one out of the middle

[The_Dud]

Boland needs to pull something out of his trick bag and quick, these aren’t the juicy pitches he got in Aus, he’s becoming a liability!

[shanegrambeau]

England are dissolving like a Scotch Finger biscuit dipped into a cup of English tea.

[asiu]

ha

its on now

[The_Dud]

Just not enough runs in the end, 50-100 short at least.

Also too much left to too few with the ball, Cummins and Starc taking 14 of the 17 wickets.

[Ghost Like]

Just not enough runs in the end, 50-100 short at least.

Also too much left to too few with the ball, Cummins and Starc taking 14 of the 17 wickets.

Agree regarding the runs, badly let down by the Top order, Usman excused.

Unfortunately Cummins may be partly to blame with the bowling. He and Starc effectively bowled near 66% of the available overs. He could have rotated the bowlers more, especially giving Marsh a few more spells.

Ultimately not enough runs, now England have their tail up & Wood has genuine belief our bats don't want to face him.

[perfectionist]

Just not enough runs in the end, 50-100 short at least.

Also too much left to too few with the ball, Cummins and Starc taking 14 of the 17 wickets.

Labuschagne and Smith are responsible for the the lack of runs with totally irresponsible shots. I don't blame Warner, he's finished and has been finished since before India. It's just that the selectors are too stupid to see it. If he plays again you can already write down a single figure score for him.

As for the bowling, you can't lose the best "non-sub-continental" off spinner ever and think it won't have an effect on the result. Todd Murphy is OK, but he lacks one thing that Lyon has that he can never have - height, and therefore bounce. It's been the source of half of Lyon's wickets, as it has been for Ashwin. There is no bowling fix. We just have to score even more runs to make up for it.

Unless the selectors dump Warner, the series is as good as lost - bad weather withstanding.

[shanegrambeau]

Well, well
Another climatic finish
These games are incredible!

From ball-to-ball you never you

I fair dinkum thought that Australia would win until I saw Wood come in

And even then, it was only until they needed 12

Side note
Honestly didn’t think a cricket thread would survive in the footy subforum but I guess it’s a mark of how enthralling the games have been - and St Kilda’s lackluster ‘streak’

[shanegrambeau]

Well, well
Another climatic finish
These games are incredible!

From ball-to-ball you never you

I fair dinkum thought that Australia would win until I saw Wood come in

And even then, it was only until they needed 12

Side note
Honestly didn’t think a cricket thread would survive in the footy subforum but I guess it’s a mark of how enthralling the games have been - and St Kilda’s lackluster ‘streak’

[Killa]

Granted we lost the toss and were sent in in conditions suiting bowlers.

And, in our second innings, we copped the rain and more clouds (and the lights on!!)

So we didn't cop the best of it - as acknowledged by one of the local commentators on the TV coverage.

BUT

The contribution from our top 7 batsmen was below expectation.

In the first dig, Head and Marsh contributed 155.

In the second dig, it was down to Head to set the target of 250, which was not enough including because it did not allow us to deploy our attack, there simply being not enough runs in the bank to allow us to deploy our spin bowler for more than 2 Overs.

Khawaja contributed modestly, and Marsh performed BUT Warner, Labuschange (both of whom average less than 40 against the Poms), Smith and Carey did not contribute with the bat.

You do not win Test Matches with 2 of your top 7 contributing and another adequate.

Boland was disappointing (again) in conditions which should have suited.

So it was left to Cummins and Starc, with some help from Marsh

The all up result was losing by 3 wickets.

We just never got the average of runs needed per wicket above 20 - and that gave them the license to swing in hope.

IF we could have pushed that 20 when we had it to 30 or even 40 different story.

Which gets back to us not making enough runs.

We trust our batsmen look to protect their reputations, dig in and make big runs.

So an absolute hard nosed approach.

[B.M]

The decision not to use the spinner befor lunch was poor

Wtf was he in the side for, if not trusted to bowl?

They were playing Boland like he was a military medium up and down trundler

Probably 50 runs short. Somewhere
Either in our batting innings or we let them get too close when we had them on the ropes in the first.

[shanegrambeau]

The decision not to use the spinner befor lunch was poor

Wtf was he in the side for, if not trusted to bowl?

They were playing Boland like he was a military medium up and down trundler

Probably 50 runs short. Somewhere
Either in our batting innings or we let them get too close when we had them on the ropes in the first.

Boland had some good spells, no?
I thought he was fine.
Paul Reiffel but quicker

He is still sharper than the English bowlers, maybe not as threatening.

Interesting comment by Tubby Taylor last night.
He said that among the Aussie bowlers, Mitch Marsh had the most swing.

Now here is a question...

Mitch Marsh or Cam Green or both???

[The_Dud]

I think Green straight back in, I’m not buying the Marsh comeback, he averages 25 with the bat and 38 with the ball for a reason. Marsh’s career so far has been one good game followed by a bunch of poor ones, then he has another good game just before he’s about to get dropped, rinse and repeat.

I keep Warner at the top mostly because there are no other decent options.

Hazelwood back in for Boland.

We got closer in the end than I thought we would, it’s crucial we win the next Test, can’t go into the last one 2-2!

[saynta]

I would post some of the f****** barmy army's chants on here but they are too disgusting for a family site.

I just hope we repay those pricks with 'Aussie Hospitality' next time they venture to our shores.

Better still don't grant any of those see you next tuesday's visas to enter the country.

And people wonder why they sun set on their f****** empire.

[Yorkeys]

Granted we lost the toss and were sent in in conditions suiting bowlers.

And, in our second innings, we copped the rain and more clouds (and the lights on!!)

So we didn't cop the best of it - as acknowledged by one of the local commentators on the TV coverage.

BUT

The contribution from our top 7 batsmen was below expectation.

In the first dig, Head and Marsh contributed 155.

In the second dig, it was down to Head to set the target of 250, which was not enough including because it did not allow us to deploy our attack, there simply being not enough runs in the bank to allow us to deploy our spin bowler for more than 2 Overs.

Khawaja contributed modestly, and Marsh performed BUT Warner, Labuschange (both of whom average less than 40 against the Poms), Smith and Carey did not contribute with the bat.

You do not win Test Matches with 2 of your top 7 contributing and another adequate.

Boland was disappointing (again) in conditions which should have suited.

So it was left to Cummins and Starc, with some help from Marsh

The all up result was losing by 3 wickets.

We just never got the average of runs needed per wicket above 20 - and that gave them the license to swing in hope.

IF we could have pushed that 20 when we had it to 30 or even 40 different story.

Which gets back to us not making enough runs.

We trust our batsmen look to protect their reputations, dig in and make big runs.

So an absolute hard nosed approach.

And of course the Pommy catching was diabolical. If they had held the chances they would have flogged us.

[Yorkeys]

Granted we lost the toss and were sent in in conditions suiting bowlers.

And, in our second innings, we copped the rain and more clouds (and the lights on!!)

So we didn't cop the best of it - as acknowledged by one of the local commentators on the TV coverage.

BUT

The contribution from our top 7 batsmen was below expectation.

In the first dig, Head and Marsh contributed 155.

In the second dig, it was down to Head to set the target of 250, which was not enough including because it did not allow us to deploy our attack, there simply being not enough runs in the bank to allow us to deploy our spin bowler for more than 2 Overs.

Khawaja contributed modestly, and Marsh performed BUT Warner, Labuschange (both of whom average less than 40 against the Poms), Smith and Carey did not contribute with the bat.

You do not win Test Matches with 2 of your top 7 contributing and another adequate.

Boland was disappointing (again) in conditions which should have suited.

So it was left to Cummins and Starc, with some help from Marsh

The all up result was losing by 3 wickets.

We just never got the average of runs needed per wicket above 20 - and that gave them the license to swing in hope.

IF we could have pushed that 20 when we had it to 30 or even 40 different story.

Which gets back to us not making enough runs.

We trust our batsmen look to protect their reputations, dig in and make big runs.

So an absolute hard nosed approach.

And of course the Pommy catching was diabolical. If they had held the chances they would have flogged us.

[bigcarl]

I’d the skipper doesn’t have faith in his spinner then there’s really no point in playing one.

Murphy got two overs in the entire last innings of a Test.

No doubt Cummins was worried he’d get carted. Well everyone else was carted, so why make an exception of the spinner.

I think Warner out. It’s time. Marsh or Green can open. Surely they’d do no worse than Warner.

Out Warner, Murphy. In Green, Hazlewood.

[The_Dud]

I wouldn’t want to move Head from the middle order and expose him to the new ball.

Marsh wouldn’t last long trying to bat against the swinging ball, but maybe just get him to go out and swing like it’s a T20?