Cricket Thread

[dadnlad]

I think England are in a great position considering where they were last night. Plenty to play for. I think Stokes and Brook can take the game to Australia tomorrow.

they'll get the ball changed straight away

 

[Gabriel]

Pleased to hear that from Duckett. This England team have made Test cricket unmissable, with games shifting by the minute. At least they're giving themselves a chance to win every test; 18 months ago they were being hammered.

Good points. The only problem might be if they play this way and still lose this Ashes series; will England supporters still be happy if the loss is heavy, say 3-0? I’m not so sure. For me, they need to show greater flexibility and recognise that not all fires need to be fought with fire.

The Australians will cheekily counter that they are playing the type of cricket that is in their DNA, not a philosophy named after a New Zealander, so I think it would also be prudent for the English commentators to stop mentioning ‘Bazball’ and ‘new brand’ and just start calling it ‘English cricket’.

You’re right about the shifting, though. Seven nights out of a possible twenty-five, and only on one so far did any of us know who was in the box seat. Long may that continue.

 

[waspish]

Get to lunch 1/2 down 50 behind tomorrow be ok!

 

[Ajm1985]

 

[Gabriel]

Get to lunch 1/2 down 50 behind tomorrow be ok!

426 for 8, a lead of ten, and declare before Tea. Faint heart never won fair lady…

 

[waspish]

426 for 8, a lead of ten, and declare before Tea. Faint heart never won fair lady…

If we declare after half hour play tomorrow that will confuse the Aussies

 

[SWP's back]

We need all out for under 400 we bat and only 2 for 160 at close of play!

It be more like Aussies will have a 500+ lead we bat at 5:15 and by the close we are 3/45

You got the lottery numbers as well?

So I can avoid them.

 

[cleavers]

The weather tomorrow doesn't look conducive to easy batting.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Three wickets thrown. Not clever batting at all.

 

[M18CTID]

There’s nothing actually positive about trying to slog pull/hook a load of short balls when Australia have set up to catch you off the pull/hook.

They played really positively before Lyon went off, when they were scoring 5 an over just building their innings.

The more I hear England players talk about Bazball the less I believe in it.

It was supposed to be modern players playing their natural, T20 influenced games without feeling bullied into playing old fashioned test cricket.

But we seem to have ended up with players thinking that taking stupid shots on at every possible moment is positive, or premeditating reverse sweeps for shock value or declaring early just because it’s traditionally the wrong thing to do.

It’s the definition of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

I wouldn't read too much into Duckett's comments. I think deep down that he, Pope, and Root will be a tad disappointed at how they got out but as Duckett said, that's a shot that has brought him a lot of runs in the past. On another day it goes for 6. I'm not denying that that spell made for frustrating watching yesterday as I think all those players are actually capable of putting a lot of those short balls away a lot better, and as such there's an argument that the players got out to what were as much miscues as brain dead shot selections. These little spells are part of the ebb and flow of test match cricket. Sure, it could've gone proper pear-shaped and 222-4 could've ended up 260-8 at stumps but they steadied the ship and there's perhaps too much talk of losing 3 wickets for 34 runs compared to losing just 1 for 244 either side of that.