The cricket thread

scrumhalf · July 2015

Far better at 6.45pm than at about midday.

Shame we lost that last wicket, we would have been in a much stronger position at the close.

I really enjoy watching Joe Root bat, I only hope his back trouble is short-term.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

At some point he is going to need to rest that back properly. There's only so long you can keep chucking pills down your neck to numb the pain, as Atherton can vouch. But when?

http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/england/future-england-tours-and-tourists-to-england

You don't want Root ending up with the sort of trouble Michael Clarke has had.

crunchman · July 2015

Clarke didn't look all that mobile yesterday in the 10 minutes I saw. I think he may be becoming a bit of a weak link for the Aussies.

I didn't even get to see the highlights as I was playing bass for a production at my daughter's school. Did England play well, or the Aussies not well, or a bit of both?

jpttaylor · July 2015

crunchman said:

Clarke didn't look all that mobile yesterday in the 10 minutes I saw. I think he may be becoming a bit of a weak link for the Aussies.

I didn't even get to see the highlights as I was playing bass for a production at my daughter's school. Did England play well, or the Aussies not well, or a bit of both?

Little bit of luck with a couple of the wickets yesterday, but mostly England played really well. The variation between the bowlers has worked really well, even on a dead pitch like this (especially pleased for Mark Wood).

Today they've been superb - it's so good to see them wipe up the tail end. They've struggled in the past few tests but I imagine Bayliss will have worked on their strategy and it's paid big dividends so far. Even Cook's setting of the field has been improved I think.

Next couple of hours are crucial though. If Australia can get a couple of wickets, they'll smell blood and have a good chance of getting back in the game. If Cook and Lyth can stay at the crease for a while, it'll be a cracking (if unlikely) win.

joneve · July 2015

Fucking Cook. What a wanker.

scrumhalf · July 2015

Good first session today, would have been excellent had Cook not got himself out.

Mind you, if you were offered 143 ahead with 9 second innings wickets in hand and one Aussie bowler possibly crocked you'd have taken it, wouldn't you?

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

joneve said:

Fucking Cook. What a wanker.

Yes, what was he thinking, scoring centuries in recent games and captaining quite well? He must be sat there now, looking at a 400+ lead and time to bowl the Aussies out and hating himself.

All those folk on Twitter who said it was a poor wicket: fuck off. We've seen swing, seam, Mitchell Starc bowling some absolute jaffas, the spinners getting wickets, runs out there if you play well, and some good close fielding. Today has been a superb day's cricket.

Man of the Day: Mitchell Starc. Put in a serious session today. Nathan Lyon showed why nobody should mock him. He's not fashionable, he's not got tons of variations, but he's got a good cricketing brain.

Tomorrow will be a cracker.

jpttaylor · July 2015

Heartfeltdawn said:

joneve said:

Fucking Cook. What a wanker.

Yes, what was he thinking, scoring centuries in recent games and captaining quite well? He must be sat there now, looking at a 400+ lead and time to bowl the Aussies out and hating himself.

All those folk on Twitter who said it was a poor wicket: fuck off. We've seen swing, seam, Mitchell Starc bowling some absolute jaffas, the spinners getting wickets, runs out there if you play well, and some good close fielding. Today has been a superb day's cricket.

Man of the Day: Mitchell Starc. Put in a serious session today. Nathan Lyon showed why nobody should mock him. He's not fashionable, he's not got tons of variations, but he's got a good cricketing brain.

Tomorrow will be a cracker.

Poor wicket? Give over. Simon Hughes had a couple of minutes on the 5 highlights showing just how much the ball was slowing down when pitched into certain areas - a good 4-10mph at times. That speed difference is enough for the ball to move onto different parts of the bat, which totally screws with some of the cuts and drives that they were trying to play.

Starc's put in a couple of great performances in this test and he's still only 25. Give it a couple of years, and he'll be a fantastic bowler.

400 is a good lead and puts them under pressure. A few cracks starting to appear will give the bowlers (Anderson especially) a bit of hope. Key wickets will be Warner and Haddin I think - if they can peg them back, it'll be England's win.

iseverynamegone · July 2015

how dare Cook get out trying to be aggressive etc etc..... He actually captained well , certainly outdid pup.

Fantastic day's play , I'd rather have 450 but fair play to the Aussies if they make 400 to win. I'd say 95% 1-0 to Yorkshire....

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

@jpttaylor Even people as knowledgeable as Mike Haysman (Aussie commentator and ex first class cricketer) was talking about Cardiff as if it was a major surprise that it wasn't fast and bouncy. Compared to 2009, this pitch is a livewire. Cardiff is not a bouncy wicket of lovely pace. You think the Aussies would have turned to Michael Hogan and asked him about it.

The ball slowing made it interesting because the balance between bat and ball was there. With modern bats on true pitches, all you've got to do is swing through the line. The weight placement of the body is not as important as it once was. On a pitch like this though you need to have that weight transfer going properly. It's no coincidence at all that the two players who have shown that best, Rogers and Root, have hit the highest scores of each side.

Starc today was sensational. As much swing as Trent Boult earlier in the year and some serious pace. As he as he was now, when he's got five years of international experience under his belt, might have lost 5mph, but has greater command of line, length, and swing, he could well be rivalling Wasim Akram for the title of greatest left arm seamer to have played the game. Can't praise him highly enough for what he did today.

I said earlier how Australia lost in 2009 by not having enough bowling firepower and should have gone with five bowlers. I haven't changed my mind here. A fifth bowler would have given Clarke a more useful tool on that wicket than picking a crap all-rounder at 6.

iseverynamegone · July 2015

Ian bell was most pleasing thing for me today. 22-2 and he comes in and quickly cover drives the shit outta them.

scrumhalf · July 2015

Another cracking day's cricket (ending with Kent's T20 stuffing of Somerset).

The discipline of England's bowlers as been great. Stuart Broad may still think that everything he bowls that connects with the batsman's pads is LBW, but give him his due, he's not tried to bounce them out.

Nice to see a game where good bowlers get rewarded.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

@scrumhalf They used the short ball well against Rogers. Wood and Broad bowled very nicely in tandem yesterday. The whole bowling performance was one where they adapted rather than the 'bowl to a set formula' as we saw in previous years.

For all the talk of the might of the Australian pace stocks, they're now in a spot of bother. Starc may well miss out at Lords with his ankle. MJ still doesn't look right with his run up to me. Hazlewood has bowled admirably considering this pitch really isn't his thing. Behind them, there's Siddle whom most people consider to be past his best, Pat Cummins who hasn't played a first class game for two years, and James Pattinson is coming back from injury. With plenty of Aussie seamers in the county scene this season, it wouldn't be a surprise if one was called up. Magoffin would be my choice.

iseverynamegone · July 2015

Early days , could do with another before lunch to settle Me down

scrumhalf · July 2015

iseverynamegone said:

Early days , could do with another before lunch to settle Me down

Delivered!

iseverynamegone · July 2015

Yea I wish I could wis myself.....

iseverynamegone · July 2015

Let's hope this is one of those broad five for 30 spells he comes up with every now and then

scrumhalf · July 2015

Cracking session, better than I could have hoped for.

Come on England!!!!

scrumhalf · July 2015

Yesss!!!!!

Great stuff from the bowlers.

1-0up, but then they were 1-0 up in 97 and that ended up badly. I don't think the same will happen again, but never underestimate an Australian team.

mudslide73 · July 2015

Who saw that coming? Outplayed in every department in every session.

Sarge · July 2015

Hats off to the boys, outclassed a fairly decent Aus team in every department.
Great test to start a probably close run series, superb bowling by both sides, good batsmen reading the ball well, good catching, especially cook.
Anderson with the new ball was far too good for them, broad and wood were exceptional and a good cameo with bat and ball from ali. Magnificent cricket!

iseverynamegone · July 2015

Root and Ballance won the game On the first day Or you could say Haddin dropped it. Clearly lots of other pivotal moments but for me without that partnership game would Likely have been very different .

menamestom · July 2015

All the Aussies predicting a whitewash, I assumed they meant for Australia, maybe they meant England!
Great result. Positive cricket brings results.

Gassage · July 2015

Gassage · July 2015

Not that I wish to disenfranchise myself from our Antipodean cousins, but I have to point out that there is no finer sound in world sport than the resounding splatt of the Australian cricket team falling off their self-appointed perch of arrogance and superiority.

scrumhalf · July 2015

Gassage said:

Not that I wish to disenfranchise myself from our Antipodean cousins, but I have to point out that there is no finer sound in world sport than the resounding splatt of the Australian cricket team falling off their self-appointed perch of arrogance and superiority.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think the Aussies came into this game seriously undercooked (ironic, since they were overCooked in the game itself) and I'd rather hold judgment until such time as I've seen our boys bat against Johnson et al on a surface that is less quickie-unfriendly.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

Gassage said:

Not that I wish to disenfranchise myself from our Antipodean cousins, but I have to point out that there is no finer sound in world sport than the resounding splatt of the Australian cricket team falling off their self-appointed perch of arrogance and superiority.

Oh yes there is. English journalists backtracking is better. Any number of journalists have been saying Broad was finished when it was quite obvious to anyone who understands bowling that Broad came back too early from the World Cup and was looking better and better with each match played in terms of rhythm and effectiveness. I like George Dobell's output normally but he's come out with a tremendous amount of shit about Broad in the last few months.

crunchman · July 2015

scrumhalf said:

Gassage said:

Not that I wish to disenfranchise myself from our Antipodean cousins, but I have to point out that there is no finer sound in world sport than the resounding splatt of the Australian cricket team falling off their self-appointed perch of arrogance and superiority.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think the Aussies came into this game seriously undercooked (ironic, since they were overCooked in the game itself) and I'd rather hold judgment until such time as I've seen our boys bat against Johnson et al on a surface that is less quickie-unfriendly.

Australia do have genuine issues.

Haddin is probably the biggest issue. He's only averaging 15 since the last Ashes and his keeping isn't looking great either - not just the drop of Root, but also he gave away quite a lot byes.

Without Harris their bowling isn't as good as last time. Johnson seems to have dropped 2 or 3 mph as well.

The other issue is their fielding. The do have several relatively old players and people like Rogers are not mobile. When you add the fact that Anderson and Wood are not your typical lumbering fast bowlers in the field, England definitely have the better fielding side. Fielding is often overlooked but it is important.

Gassage · July 2015

@heartfeltdawn

Very very few cricket writers, save for those who play the game, have anything close to a clue about the sport.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

scrumhalf said:
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think the Aussies came into this game seriously undercooked (ironic, since they were overCooked in the game itself) and I'd rather hold judgment until such time as I've seen our boys bat against Johnson et al on a surface that is less quickie-unfriendly.

I don't think they were undercooked. Playing on slow wickets should not have been a problem given that most of the side played in the two-match series in the West Indies prior to this on wickets that were more docile.

They simply didn't bowl or bat in the right way for this pitch and the selections were wrong. Before the Test, I said that MJ was not firing right and that he wouldn't be part of my three man pace attack. Had Harris been fit, it would have been a Harris-Hazlewood-Starc combination. Harris retiring threw everything up in the air. With him going and MJ nowhere near full bowling effectiveness, then they should have gone with the extra bowler to make up for a lack of Harris a a lack of form for MJ. Instead they went with Watson who doesn't get into the side through either discipline. They could have picked Mitchell Marsh who frankly wouldn't have offered anything more. His bowler has never been up to Watson at its best nor has his batting. Australia essentially went in there with 10 men and it showed when they were bowling.

Another query: Why did Steve Smith not bowl? Yes, his overall career record is rubbish. Ignore that. In England he averages 26, 11 wickets, strike rate of 53. Leg spin scares English bowlers (even Bryce McGain scared county batsmen). Throwing a blonde Aussie tweaker on for a few overs at the start of an Ashes series? Totally worth it when Root and Stokes were getting started. Mystified as to why Clarke didn't give him a go.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

The cricket thread

Comments