The Ashes 2021-22

Gizmo55

So disappointing after yesterday. 20 to win. It’s possible they’ll get them :)

Strumms

English about to get beaten in three and a quarter days... doesn’t bode at all well for the series, one thing getting beat but the manner of defeat..

From a runs point of view...2 scores of 50 or more and only a total of 4 batsmen scoring more then 20... including those two 50+ scores..... That’s just dogshît.

MFPM

Facile victory in the end for Australia. Adelaide probably offers England a better prospect, you'd expect Anderson (if fit) and Broad have to come in for Leach and probably Woakes. Not sure they'll make changes to their batting lineup yet but a few of them are on thin ice. Issues around Warner and Hazelwood for Australia.

VillaMad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118299331#Comment_118299331

Wow, that prediction was good!

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118304154#Comment_118304154

Haha, yeah disappointingly so.

Strumms

Looking at the English squad they are desperately short of batting options.

loads of bowling options p, a bewildering number but if the selected top 5/6 are not putting runs on the board... they have feck all options aside from Dan Lawrence, who is 24, relatively inexperienced, 8 tests and not many runs...averages 27.33 with three 50’s to his name...not a great option to have to fall back on.

another reason why you’d be questioning the management/leadership in the side...

• Joe Root (captain/Bat)
• James Anderson (Bwl)
• Jonny Bairstow (Wkt/Ar)
• Dom Bess (Bwl)
• Stuart Broad (Bwl)
• Rory Burns (Bat)
• Jos Buttler (Wkt)
• Zak Crawley (Bat)
• Haseeb Hameed (Bat)
• Dan Lawrence (Bat)
• Jack Leach (Bwl)
• Dawid Malan (Bat)
• Craig Overton (Bwl)
• Ollie Pope (Bat)
• Ollie Robinson (Bwl)
• Ben Stokes (AR)
• Chris Woakes (Bwl)
• Mark Wood (Bwl)

Far to many bowlers and not enough quality batting options...

you have already put yourself behind the 8 ball picking that squad... before a ball is even bowled...

Richard Hillman

I liked the look of Dan Lawrence. I don't think he should have been judged too much on the series in India. Everyone got battered there (bar Root).

They have a big problem with spin though. Leach was battered. Dom Bess will come into the next test. They'll go after Bess the same way India did earlier in the year.

They have Parkinson and Crane over there on the A Tour. I can see both coming in for Tests 3 and 4. And will probably end up with Joe Root spinning in the 5th test.

They may even go with no spinner (bar Root) in the 2nd test, a day nighter. Broad, Anderson, Robinson, Stokes, Root and bolster the batting.

They could really do with somebody like Moeen Ali right now. Now they are paying the price for messing him around for years.

SeeMoreBut

England obsession with white ball in domestic cricket in summer comes home to roost.

I enjoy listening to Hussain, key and atherton on the podcast. No bs. Say it how they see it

Gillespy

Would like to see Parkinson get a run of games. He has the ability to bowl the perfect leg break that drift and turn miles. Unlikely to be any less economical than the other options. As it is, Root has to be the spinner. Malan bowled some leggies last time too

Dan Lawrence didn't do much wrong I thought either. Impressed a few times in those Sri Lanka and India games.

VillaMad

Next test starts tonight and with it being a day/nighter it begins at 4am with the last session under the lights.

Australia have made one change. Hazelwood has a side strain and so Jhye Richardson will play. He has been in excellent form in shield cricket and with the emergence of Cameron Green with the ball, Australia won't really miss Hazelwood whatsoever.

England surprisingly leave out Mark Wood who was arguably their best bowler in Brisbane. A strange decision as they don't have anyone else like him in their squad but he has had fitness issues over the years and so they will be keeping him back for Melbourne it appears. Jack Leach is strangely named in the 12-man squad despite an horrendous first test. Perhaps if England do score 400 plus, it might bring him more into the game rather than the Australians being under no pressure when he bowls. So it appears once again that the last spot will be between Broad or Leach as Anderson is surely set to play. England will also be under pressure with their over rate after heavy fines and a point deduction and that may factor their thinking also. Despite the top 6 largely failing in the first test, they once again get another go.

Australia will have happy memories of Adelaide. They bowled India out for just 36 last year on their way to a crushing victory.

Gillespy

Day/night gives England a better chance if they luck into doing a lot of bowling with a fresh ball under lights and bat in the sunshine. Or it might work the other way and instead of losing in four days, two and a half will be all that's needed.

Tail will be very long if Woakes isn't picked. Bowled fine at the Gabba and pink ball under lights he could be lethal. It's an impossible situation with Leach. They need to show faith and back him as well as play him to help with their over rate. Unless there's a lot of help for him it's hard see the Australian playing him any differently.

VillaMad

Big news ahead of the game, Pat Cummins is ruled out after being deemed a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case.

Michael Neser will get his debut at the age of 31 and Steve Smith will return to being captain again.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118329147#Comment_118329147

England will be licking their lips at that news..

might put a spring in their step... Neser hasn’t played test cricket before and hasn’t represented Australia in limited overs cricket since 2018... he didn’t impress... strange choice considering his age 31..

scored 8 runs in two odi’s... in one took 0 wickets in the other 2 ...but expensive... bit of a gamble the stats suggest...

would have thought James Pattinson would have been a better choice....same age but...21 tests and 81 wickets. Then again he retired prior to the Ashes I’m reading so scrap that. ,!

Strumms

Here’s a bit of information that is interesting...

Australia, have played eight day-night Tests and won 100% of them.

England have played four, won one...that was against an under par West Indies...

weird record because the pink ball should suit English style bowling... it aids swing bowling according to research..that’s the only reason I can imagine the English agreed to the day / night..as it’s not going to suit anybody back home as 4am is a poxy time...

fûck this day night test craic, we could be enjoying it now...

Fattybojangles

Australia cruising along now at 144-1 Warner and Labuschange looking very well set with Warner in particular playing an uncharacteristically patient innings.

Strumms

The run rate might be seriously slow at just 2.8 but 198/2 is cruising,,,Root having no short leg or silly mid on for his own bowling yet two slips to his own bowling shows a delirious lack of thinking and understanding ... as I began typing a thick edge flys to short leg or where they would have been...two slips though, worrying..

Strumms

Butler drops an absolute dolly off Anderson, looks like he wants the pitch to swallow him up... the more you look at it the worse it looks jesus....that’s a couple in this innings after the world class and downright improbable and impressive take at the start of the day... two shelled including that sitter..

Gillespy

Like usual, England bowlers can be proud of their day's work. Lots of heart and little luck. If they batted and fielding like that they'd be a decent team.

Australia in a great position after surviving the new ball under lights. Runs will flow a lot easier tomorrow as England tire.

Strumms

The likelihood of Australia posting 400+ from here in is high… their aim will be to bat well into the afternoon, till around tea or half an hour before… scoring has been slow I’m just wondering with wickets in hand and only two down will they attempt to put the foot on the gas after lunch? I’d guess yes….

England need a miracle if they are to win / save this test… first session tomorrow is crucial… need about 4 wickets before lunch to stay above water… big ask.

Gillespy

Ball is still new, it's expected to be near 40 degrees so can imagine carnage late on if wickets aren't taken regularly. Plan A for Australia was win the toss and bat five sessions and bowl at them under lights. Then it will all eyes on the new bowlers, are they as good as they're said to be.

Gillespy

Strumms

Shane Warne confirmed there that 7 chances were actually dropped yesterday by England in the field… jeez

bowlers just not being backed up…

Anderson and Broad have been accurate this morning, testing out the technical aspects of the Australian openers but neither having any success as yet…they don’t look threatening… two ageing pros and their average speed is around the 82 mph mark….

robinson replaces Anderson and takes a wicket first ball ! Or so he thought, no ball… !! all going wrong for the English.. over by a centimetre, if that.. great delivery though.

MFPM

Labuschagne gets his well deserved century...Robinson gets him 1st ball of his spell and it's a no ball!!

MFPM

Redemption for Robinson!

MFPM

England haven't been able to capitalise on those three wickets. Unless something changes soon they're looking down the barrel of 450+, unless Australia declare to put England in tonight.

Strange test so far, neither team showing real intent, ambling along a bit. Not a great advert for day/night test.

Fattybojangles

Auatralia declare 473-9 walking wicket Burns gone already with England currently 12-1.

Richard Hillman

Burns not taking the first ball is openly saying to of all people The Australian Cricket Team, that he was scarred by Mitchell Starc getting him first ball. Now Starc has got him again. The chat on the pitch must be brutal. He will be getting absolute abuse out there

Did Burns and Root believe that the Australian Cricket Team would take it easy on him? 😂

MFPM

England really struggling here...

Strumms

473/9d vs 17/2

two complete giveaway wickets at the end of the days play. What in particular was Hameed doing ? He looks certainly like a guy who got just four fifty’s in thirteen innings…. Not good enough, not only not getting runs but the manner he gets himself out time after time….Burns won’t be happy with his dismissal either, careless… continuously providing evidence that he is fûcking nowhere good enough at this level…

Rory Burns :

Matches - 30

Runs - 1725

Average - 31.36

100’s / 50’s - 3/11

Haseeb Hameed

Matches - 7

Runs - 411

Average - 34.25

100’s/50’s - 0/4

not the sort of stats that will have opposition bowlers quaking in the boots, a ‘soft’ top….

VillaMad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118336797#Comment_118336797

The bigger problem is that there is no real solution. Zak Crawley is the back-up opener I guess, but he has been terrible this year in test cricket and also hasn't had a knock since September. The wider issue outside the Ashes is that they don't really have anyone beating down the door to make into their test team. Their options are so poor. It wouldn't really matter who is bowling to them at the moment.

For this match itself, it's Australia once again firmly in control. England somehow just need to bat all day and just put some sort of pressure back on Australia, but a few wickets in the morning and this test and the Ashes is just about done already, especially with Lyon being key in the fourth innings.

Strumms

100% with all that… the first session is going to tell a lot.

England would have been hoping the forecast might have done them a favour but aside from a shower or two tomorrow and some strong winds there is no forecast that’s going to save England, they gots to do it all themselves… will they ? You’d have to say unlikely… the forecast is for clear skies all day today…Aussies got too many runs and England lost wickets too cheaply too early and too quickly…. Dawid Malan will no doubt as usual be walking back to the pavilion in the first hour, Root will back himself but probably be limited in his scoring unless he has a partner for a couple of hours to support him….

Dawid Malan… 18 tests averaging 29.6…. How is he in the team ? Was a time you’d have to average 40 to get into that England team as a specialist batsman but not even 30 ?

county averages mean SFA unless you can translate that comfortably and regularly into your international performances…his Middlesex record is decent without setting the world on fire but he’s not stepping it up.

MFPM

Butter gone now, he's in a bit of a trough, hasn't replicated his white ball form at all. Similar pattern to Brisbane, Openers out cheaply, Root and Malan steady the ship put some pressure back on Australia and then get themselves out...Pope has talent but he gets himself out to easy too often. England staring defeat in the face...

Tom Mann Centuria

I don't think day five tickets in this series will be very good value for money. Or day four come to that.

Royale with Cheese

The only thing that could possibly stop 5-0 here is the weather.

Tom Mann Centuria

I'm sure BT sport are delighted they secured the rights. Huge waste of money, and the ECB will be in a worse bargaining position next time negotiations come around if they continue to neglect everything but the shortest forms of the game.

MFPM

Pretty awful batting by England today...They simply don't have enough batters in form to take on Australia...that said Wood's absence is a mess of their own making. Why not play him here try get back into the series and then rest him..

Gillespy

Look at how resilient the Indians were last year, all the injuries they had, the way they came back after the 36 game. England have the opposite mentality.

Strumms

2-0 written all over it..

you cannot just score 236 runs in your first innings of an Ashes test, especially when it’s in reply to 473/9…

what’s the obsession in the media, England fans and England camp with Ollie Pope ? the guy is selected as a specialist batsman or as a number 6 which traditionally is a specialist batting position at worst he needs to be a very solid batting all rounder

Matches : 21

Batting Average : 31.37

50’s / 100’s : 6/1

youth on his side certainly but he is an experienced cricketer… who by and large isn’t delivering… not taking wickets, not making big scores…or even respectable contributions.

should get picked because you can and are delivering now, not for what you might do in x years time…. He’s not and hasn’t delivered.

Gillespy

Pope has an unbelievable first class record. He's picked on merit in so far as that. Looks completely out of form though, worse than that you could say he has the yips. Those are not innings or dismissals of a player of his talent. Living off his Port Elizabeth hundred if picked again.

Strumms

‘selected’ for international caps on merit… definitely, certainly it’s not merit that keeps him in that team though….

Batting at 6, runs are expected… it’s a batting position, , if he was coming in at 8 he’d still be under pressure such is his abject failure repeatedly to perform….got to bring in Bairstow for him… experience, averages just under 35 vs 31 for Pope… an experienced big game player who has shown he’s capable of getting big scores… Pope has had a chance but failed to deliver…

they have 5 front line bowlers in the side plus Root to turn his arm over….a misfiring or not firing Pope isn’t a luxury they can afford…no runs, no wickets, pointless persisting…

of the 17 overs in the current innings, Pope is yet to bowl, even Root has bowled.

Inquitus

Ashes are over :( No contest, hard to see England even winning a dead rubber!

Gillespy

It would be a massive shock if it's not another whitewash. Shuffling the team by bringing in Crawley, Lawrence, Vince or Bairstow isn't going to dramatically change anything.

I read somewhere the England odi team went two years, over 11,000 deliveries without bowling a no ball. Yet here they have no such discipline. Same with their over rate. According to George Dobell, who is out there, their morning catching practice is a shambles, drop after dropped catch. Reflects very poorly on Root and Silverwood stuff like that. It has nothing to do with lack of talented players.

Strumms

I’d back the whitewash too, England don’t look like they have a clue from the teams they pick to their performances on the field, their leadership is clueless and doesn’t learn from its mistakes…

Trampas

Saw this on Twitter

Joe Root 's entry points in last 26 test innings :- 

17/2

73/2

18/2

56/2

15/2

10/2

27/2

0/2

16/2

49/2

63/2

32/2

5/2

60/2

17/2

12/2

42/2

46/2

23/2

1/2

159/2

6/2

120/2

11/2

61/2

12/2

Average score at Root 's entry : 36/2

Amazing they just change bowlers but less so the batters. Unless they play some county cricket in summer months it’s hard for other players to look like they’re good enough as playing on green swinging wickets in spring and end of summer/autumn

Strumms

My guess is Australia will look for a lead of 430/440… which they should attain about 90 minutes after lunch giving themselves a day and a half to bowl the English out…… no real way 2-0 is avoidable…

Strumms

Should have been a run out first ball if Hameed had thrown to the bowlers end and had hit or Broad was backing up… Broad bowling 81/82 mph… not gonna put too much fear into the opposition..

blistering start by England, great bowling as in world class deliveries from Broad and Anderson and an absolutely amazing catch by Buttler…wow he’d hardly a right to get a glove on that let alone hang onto it.

As I type then Jos drops a sitter.. seriously wtf 😳

then Steve Smith saved by umpires call on DRS, by about an inch… All happening fućk.

MFPM

England are bowling really well this morning, Australia are all over the place, no one looks comfortable, loads of chances and very few runs. A draw is still likely the best England can hope for but Australia really just need one or two decent partnerships to get them up towards 400 lead.

Strumms

Anderson has bowled 8 overs, 6 maidens, conceded 3 runs, 1 wicket.

MFPM

Australia eventually started to counterattack, Head has played very well, Stokes is all over the place.

MFPM

England's chance of winning is long gone, hard to understand why Australia are batting on - they need time now not runs.