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The English crowd were getting extremely cocky as Leach and Overton blocked everything, not so cocky now 😎

Handing Labashuagne the ball as Lyon was struggling a bit proved in hindsight a masterstroke that initially had everyone scratching their heads, make no mistake Australia were showing signs of panic and even desperation as Headingley prayed on their minds, as Ricky Ponting said in the commentary box, he only needs to hit the foot marks once and it will deviate and his fifth delivery did exactly that, sounds bizzare to say the wicket of Jack Leach, the tail ender proved key but, with overs running out and light fading having gone an hour without a wicket it proved just that. A part time spinner getting a tail ender out gave Australia the belief that was slowly ebbing away. 

The Aussies thoroughly deserve to retain the urn and need to avoid defeat at the Oval to win a series in England for the first time in 18 years, a scenario that back in the days of Warne, McGrath, Gillespie  Langer and co in the 90's would seem bonkers. 

Edited by Flybhoy
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The Australian bowling has been a level above all bar Broad. That and Smith is the difference. 
Without Smith and to a lesser extended, Labuschange, they would have not won either of those tests.

England had their chances - dropping him on 65 (it was hard) - but the no ball catch on 118 cost them the game IMHO.

Same in the previous test victory - Australia were in all sorts of trouble until Smith came in and rescued them.

Still not convinced that Root's persistence with pace against Smith was the right tactic - he definitely does struggle against left arm finger spin - don't think England utilised that enough against him.
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48 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:
56 minutes ago, Henderson to deliver ..... said:
kenneth-williams-00f267e5-4417-41c3-a10f-b989e80a4b8-resize-750.jpeg.4cbfb931b01f239efde794face90aeb0.jpeg
 

Not quite the batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey . . .

Or Botham failing to get his leg over.

While I'm here, GIRFUY, England!

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16 minutes ago, Bob Mahelp said:

It should really be 3-0 in the series,

If your bowling discipline disintegrates under an aggressive counter attack and your fielding goes to shite you do not "deserve" to win any more than England "deserved" to win because they got Smith out of a no ball and shelled catches. 

They nearly screwed themselves tonight by panicking and trying to bounce Leach out. It took a part timer to come on, calm it down and go through the basics. 

in sport executing your core skills under pressure is critical. 

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Guest Bob Mahelp
17 minutes ago, dorlomin said:

If your bowling discipline disintegrates under an aggressive counter attack and your fielding goes to shite you do not "deserve" to win any more than England "deserved" to win because they got Smith out of a no ball and shelled catches. 

They nearly screwed themselves tonight by panicking and trying to bounce Leach out. It took a part timer to come on, calm it down and go through the basics. 

in sport executing your core skills under pressure is critical. 

In a 5 day test match there will always be times when the opposition are on top, or when some of your batsmen and/or bowlers fail .

At Headingley, Australia won pretty much every single session aside from one.  It took a once in a lifetime effort from Stokes to defeat them. 

I don't think they 'panicked' today, they just went through their options against a team that were fighting tooth and nail to hold on, and eventually they won out. 

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The urn is deservedly coming home. A superior bowling unit and the outstanding batsman were the difference.

The last test is basically a dead rubber. Hoping Australia move Sir Steve Smith to opener and he can bat the full 5 days for a laugh.

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26 minutes ago, Bob Mahelp said:

At Headingley, Australia won pretty much every single session aside from one.  It took a once in a lifetime effort from Stokes to defeat them. 

Away and dont talk pish man. They were bowled out for 179 in the first innings. They were also 82/3 on day two at tea. That is your idea of "winning every session" then perhaps you may want to watch a bit of test cricket. England were looking nailed on to win after the Australian first innings. 

England were also 238/4 at one point on day 4. Again they looked to be going very well and had their noses ahead before wicket fell again. It was a seesaw match that had people rivited with its constant twists and turns. It really was not an Aussie cruise till the last session. 

Edited by dorlomin
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16 minutes ago, Henderson to deliver ..... said:

The last test is basically a dead rubber. 

The series is still on the line and the world test championship points are still up for grabs. You will not find Australian cricket fans or players calling it a "dead rubber", that was the wins they used to get against Tugga's team after they had lost the series. 

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Australia definitely deserve the Ashes by quite some distance which feels weird to say considering it was a matter of minutes from going right down to the last test.

They’ve obviously had their woes too. 2 out of their 3 top level Test batsmen (Warner and Khawaja) have failed to deliver, and the two inexperienced openers Harris and Bancroft have been the same. The middle order has been pretty shite, with Wade (other than his 100), Paine and Head failing to deliver on most occasions. Ultimately, Steve Smith, Labuschagne and their deep bowling lineup were the difference.

As for England, a poor Ashes all round and the results don’t really reflect how poor it’s been. Root’s captaincy is under severe pressure IMO. The deep bowling lineup helped Australia and allowed to rotate, whereas England’s thin lineup (due to Wood and Jimmy’s injuries) showed. Woakes and Archer both got worse as the series went on and Broad was the only real consistent bowler.

As for the Test team going forward to NZ, I think Burns and Sibley have to open, Denly has done enough to keep his place and I think he should come in first drop with Root dropping back to 4 (he is clearly struggling coming in first drop to the powderpuff openers). I want to see Moeen back soon although Leach hasn’t done too much wrong.

Burns
Sibley
Denly
Root
Bairstow
Stokes ©
Moeen
Foakes (WK)
Archer
Broad
Jimmy

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Guest Moomintroll
Australia definitely deserve the Ashes by quite some distance which feels weird to say considering it was a matter of minutes from going right down to the last test.

They’ve obviously had their woes too. 2 out of their 3 top level Test batsmen (Warner and Khawaja) have failed to deliver, and the two inexperienced openers Harris and Bancroft have been the same. The middle order has been pretty shite, with Wade (other than his 100), Paine and Head failing to deliver on most occasions. Ultimately, Steve Smith, Labuschagne and their deep bowling lineup were the difference.

As for England, a poor Ashes all round and the results don’t really reflect how poor it’s been. Root’s captaincy is under severe pressure IMO. The deep bowling lineup helped Australia and allowed to rotate, whereas England’s thin lineup (due to Wood and Jimmy’s injuries) showed. Woakes and Archer both got worse as the series went on and Broad was the only real consistent bowler.

As for the Test team going forward to NZ, I think Burns and Sibley have to open, Denly has done enough to keep his place and I think he should come in first drop with Root dropping back to 4 (he is clearly struggling coming in first drop to the powderpuff openers). I want to see Moeen back soon although Leach hasn’t done too much wrong.

Burns
Sibley
Denly
Root
Bairstow
Stokes [emoji2398]
Moeen
Foakes (WK)
Archer
Broad
Jimmy

Can't argue too much with that, as I said earlier though as part of long term planning I would bring in Ollie Pope in place of Denly.
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The urn is deservedly coming home. A superior bowling unit and the outstanding batsman were the difference.
The last test is basically a dead rubber. Hoping Australia move Sir Steve Smith to opener and he can bat the full 5 days for a laugh.

Absolutely this. Even put out a few extra fielders after tea on day 3, you know to keep things interesting.
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