The Cricket Thread

[Michael W]

Hit wicket 

What a flange. 

[peasy23]

Hit wicket [emoji38]
What a flange. 

After surviving 206 balls. [emoji85]

[Benjamin_Nevis]

All out for 192. Buttler and Woakes aside, that was a fairly pathetic innings. No idea why they're getting the "bravery" plaudits on the BBC. 428 for 20 wickets against an attack minus Cummins and Hazelwood is risible. This is going to be 4 or 5-0 job.

[Ro Sham Bo]

5 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

All out for 192. Buttler and Woakes aside, that was a fairly pathetic innings. No idea why they're getting the "bravery" plaudits on the BBC. 428 for 20 wickets against an attack minus Cummins and Hazelwood is risible. This is going to be 4 or 5-0 job.

It's fine. They've realised what they have to do now so everything will be alright for the rest of the series.

[die hard doonhamer]

7 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

All out for 192. Buttler and Woakes aside, that was a fairly pathetic innings. No idea why they're getting the "bravery" plaudits on the BBC. 428 for 20 wickets against an attack minus Cummins and Hazelwood is risible. This is going to be 4 or 5-0 job.

It was always going to be a 4 or 5 nil. Yes, it’s awful, but it’s also exactly what we all expected. The current England test match team is not very good. 

[peasy23]

It was always going to be a 4 or 5 nil. Yes, it’s awful, but it’s also exactly what we all expected. The current England test match team is not very good. 

It's a mindset thing too imo, although 100% agree that poor technique is the bigger problem. For about 2/3rds of their first innings Australia were barely scoring 2 an over, and quite happy to do so with the aim of cashing in as the ball gets softer and the bowlers get tired. Too many England batsmen struggle to get away from their ODI and T20 thinking, as soon as a run of dot balls happens they start to panic and look to play at balls they should be leaving.

[die hard doonhamer]

2 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

2 hours ago, die hard doonhamer said:

It was always going to be a 4 or 5 nil. Yes, it’s awful, but it’s also exactly what we all expected. The current England test match team is not very good. 

It's a mindset thing too imo, although 100% agree that poor technique is the bigger problem. For about 2/3rds of their first innings Australia were barely scoring 2 an over, and quite happy to do so with the aim of cashing in as the ball gets softer and the bowlers get tired. Too many England batsmen struggle to get away from their ODI and T20 thinking, as soon as a run of dot balls happens they start to panic and look to play at balls they should be leaving.

Indeed. Buttler is the perfect example. He showed today that he is technically capable of leaving the ball alone and surviving. We need to see much more of that. 
 

I’d be making loads of changes for the next game. Let’s see

 Crawley 

Malan

Bairstow

Root

Stokes

Buttler

Lawrence

Robinson

Bess

Overton

Wood

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

I can't stand this BT coverage. Matt Smith is a football commentator shoved into covering cricket, and you can tell. 

I miss the superb Sky Sports coverage, where it's hosted by 100% cricket men. 

[Boo Khaki]

2 hours ago, peasy23 said:

5 hours ago, die hard doonhamer said:

It was always going to be a 4 or 5 nil. Yes, it’s awful, but it’s also exactly what we all expected. The current England test match team is not very good. 

It's a mindset thing too imo, although 100% agree that poor technique is the bigger problem. For about 2/3rds of their first innings Australia were barely scoring 2 an over, and quite happy to do so with the aim of cashing in as the ball gets softer and the bowlers get tired. Too many England batsmen struggle to get away from their ODI and T20 thinking, as soon as a run of dot balls happens they start to panic and look to play at balls they should be leaving.

They're still in this mindset that Fletcher instilled of being aggressive, counter-attacking the bowling, and trusting yourself to play your shots. 

That's fine when 1) You actually have the inherent talent and ability to do that to the bowling attack bowling at you, and 2) the match situation permits it

Unfortunately this batting line-up is nowhere near good enough to play like that in red ball cricket and get away with it, and also, they are totally incapable of realising when it's just not appropriate to play like that and knuckle down and grind out an innings.

Counter-intuitively, I think it's an approach that is actually far more suited to playing in English conditions than it is in Australia and the Asian Subcontinent despite the preponderance of road-like wickets and hot, cloudless days. On English wickets and in typical English conditions the ball tends to do a bit, so there's an argument that says you are going to get one that's too good for you eventually, so you might as well go after the bowling. In flatter, less variable conditions, you are less likely to see so many unplayable snorters, but the determination to go after the bowling leads to the English batsmen playing at balls that are innocuous and in no danger of getting them out bowled or LB, hence the number of totally unnecessary dismissals.

Even though England have been comprehensively beaten in both Tests, had they just been a lot more stubborn with the bat, played a totally anodyne and boring innings hell bent on not giving their wicket away, they may have been capable of extending play in both Test for long enough that the series would still be tied 0-0. I think it's perfectly reasonable to suggest that they are as guilty of causing their own downfall as they are the Aussies defeating them. I honestly don't care about perceptions of being boring, or accusations that they would have no ambition to win a Test match, at some point you have to stop losing and beating yourself, and that's exactly where I think England are stuck right now.

Right now the Aussie pacemen can trot in and bowl it straight up and down outside off, and still the English batsmen will nibble at it and get themselves out. If they just refused to play outside off, ok, they lose a lot of scoring potential, but the bowler can't get you out either, and so has to change his line and/or length. That's a net win for the batsman, but this is the degree of muddled approach and lack of mental aptitude in the English batting lineup. They can't help but throw their wickets away needlessly.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Boo Khaki

[Mark Connolly]

3 hours ago, die hard doonhamer said:

Indeed. Buttler is the perfect example. He showed today that he is technically capable of leaving the ball alone and surviving. We need to see much more of that. 
 

I’d be making loads of changes for the next game. Let’s see

 Crawley 

Malan

Bairstow

Root

Stokes

Buttler

Lawrence

Robinson

Bess

Overton

Wood

To be honest, they could do with shoehorning Gooch and Boycott in there, that way they might last a few sessions…

[Boo Khaki]

I'd love this to totally descend into the same sort of farce that saw the summer of four captains and playing seven specialist batsmen in an effort not to get rolled over inside two sessions. Let's face it, they are going to get fucked 5-0 anyway, so they might as well add something for comedic effect.

[peasy23]

Bumble the latest to put down his Sky mic for the last time.

[Boo Khaki]

I thought he was semi-retired in any case? Only time I've heard him commentate over the past few years was on T20 Finals days.

[die hard doonhamer]

7 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

Bumble the latest to put down his Sky mic for the last time.

A sad day, as he’s one of the best out there. 
 

However, this was always going to happen after he was named in the Rafiq stuff. 
 

Start the car. 

[trgf]

Ironic that if he'd said Yorkshiremen were stingy nothing would have happened

[ecto]

The England top order, Root aside, were never going to be good enough, for the conditions in Australia, if it's not 5-0, it will be 4-0

[peasy23]

England make 4 changes for the Boxing Day tesr.

Burns, Pope, Woakes and Broad out.

Crawley, Bairstow, Wood and Leach in.

Rearranging Titanic deckchairs imo.

[peasy23]

Ray Illingworth - Yorkshire and England great dies - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59789915

[Fuctifano]

Raining in Melbourne which means England will win the toss and make the wrong decision. 

Agree with Wood coming in and Pope and Burns going out but agree it has a large look of deckchair shuffling. Leach to get pumped for over 100 again must be a decent bet. 

[peasy23]