*Official* Fourth Test at the MCG

[Adders]

Ironic that England are getting lambasted for playing defensively after weeks of getting slammed for exctly the opposite

I'd like to think that there is some middle ground between having half your batsmen caught out on the rope and patting back full bungers to the bowler. I genuinely think our batsmans brains are so scrambled now they really can't find any sort of decent strategy or game plan.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I think the English cricket meedja is actually enjoying the chance to revert to its default masochistic mode, myself.

It's as if the last few years have been a glorious mirage and we can now get on with our real national summer sport; fretting about the state of English cricket.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Ironic that England are getting lambasted for playing defensively after weeks of getting slammed for exctly the opposite

England's series strike rates (batting) are almost all significantly lower than Australia's. The one guy who has batted defensively for Australia is Rogers and it hasn't worked out very well for him.

England's batsmen have basically let Australia's bowlers dictate terms throughout the series. I don't really mind how individuals bat as long in a general situation, as long as it is in keeping with their way of batting. There should be concerted periods where England's batsmen have it easy and should be putting the pressure on Australia. Not this 60odd runs in a second session ****e.

England have simply batted incompetently, in a muddled and stupid way.

 

[Jassy]

It is the defensive batting and grinding teams down method that brought England success and took them to the top of the test table. They have always batted like this, they cannot bat any other way. It's looking horrible now because they're up against possibly the second best bowling attack they've faced in the last 3 years or so.

 

[Scaly piscine]

It is the defensive batting and grinding teams down method that brought England success and took them to the top of the test table. They have always batted like this, they cannot bat any other way. It's looking horrible now because they're up against possibly the second best bowling attack they've faced in the last 3 years or so.

England's success over the past few years has been built more on the batting depth. The top 6 has generally just been decent to good with KP and Trott the main guys. Trott is defensive in his approach but he accumulates well, rotates the strike regularly, whilst KP was the one that took the attack to the opponents. But it was really the batting at 7-10 that would attack the opposition and make the difference.

The last Ashes in Australia was a bit of an exception in that the top 6 batting actually scored big runs and everyone scored them at a strike rate of 50 or more.

 

[Spark]

Well, there's an important caveat that most of those hundreds came after the series was gone...

 

[GuyFromLancs]

The Root at 3 experiment has failed. He looks like a strokeless wonder. I went to bed soon as he came in last night. Good decision too.

If Bell can't bat at 3 at aged 31, then what is he for?

 

[mullarkey]

Root (and coaching staff) need to do a lot of work he is indeed a strokeless wonder. Bell should have moved up to 3 at least (he should be an opener IMO). I was planning to stay up until tea but decided going to bed was more interesting sometime before that. And 1966 was a great year for English football-Eric was born!

 

[ajdude]

The Root at 3 experiment has failed.

i tend to bring out the best in myself at nighttime so i'm not surprised.

 

[91Jmay]

Strauss read out our run rates on air and its only been the last 18 months that they have been below 3 (or even around 3 most up at 3.5+ since 2005). Bit of a myth that this has been a team England thing for a long time.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Ironic that England are getting lambasted for playing defensively after weeks of getting slammed for exctly the opposite

I don't think it's a problem with defensive as such.

Just a nasty combo of negative and reckless

 

[Spark]

Strauss read out our run rates on air and its only been the last 18 months that they have been below 3 (or even around 3 most up at 3.5+ since 2005). Bit of a myth that this has been a team England thing for a long time.

Yep. Cook in 2010-11 regularly had strike rates in the 55-60 range, as did Trott. The reason they were boring was a question of aesthetics, not speed. And as someone said the middle and lower order had a lot of attacking firepower and they could pile on runs in an almighty hurry once the platform was set.

 

[Jono]

Was at today's play. Great atmosphere, but fmd England what the hell?

When they were plodding along I knew that they could easily lose wickets late in the day and a decent score could turn quite poor very quickly.

Oh and Bairstow's dismissal was wooooooooeful.

Highlight of the day no doubt Coulter-Nile's reaction when he realised he throw the ball in the crowd

 

[Furball]

Dear god, we've actually dropped Prior?!

 

[Crazy Sam]

The reaction of the crowd behind him was even better, first cheering that he caught it then mouth open in disbelief as they watched it sail into the crowd 10 rows behind them from his throw.

 

[Hooksey]

91,092

Biggest single day crowd in the history of Test cricket.

 

[Top_Cat]

Fairly simple reason for why run-rates in the English camp have gone; pressure. You can see it; for the Aussies, every wicket and boundary is a celebration and an affirmation whereas for England it's the cause of more misery. Instead of being pleased with the result, they're worried about how the other ****s are going to respond ("Oh ****, now he's just going to fire up....").

 

[GIMH]

Fairly simple reason for why run-rates in the English camp have gone; pressure. You can see it; for the Aussies, every wicket and boundary is a celebration and an affirmation whereas for England it's the cause of more misery. Instead of being pleased with the result, they're worried about how the other ****s are going to respond ("Oh ****, now he's just going to fire up....").

This is true for these 9 Tests against you lot but the truth is it's been a problem since this time last year

 

[Jassy]

I doubt Cook ever consistently struck at 55-60, his career strike rate is 46. Anyway, look even if we accept that England were a tad faster in terms of scoring rate when they were number 1, I am pretty sure the difference isn't that much. 3 r.p.o is an acceptable run rate in test cricket even in this day and age. In the Ashes in England there were a fair few completed innings where England scored at less than 3 r.p.o...

The thing is there was only ever one bloke who could consistently smash it in test cricket for England consistently against attacks of this quality and that bloke is struggling for form. The only other bloke in the line-up capable of quick scoring has been dropped. Expecting the others to do the same is a folly, it isn't really their game. Cook isn't the kind of guy who'll go and score a hundred in a session, that is not his game! I think the point re. strike not being turned over enough is valid though. Australia have managed to bowl lots of consecutive balls at the same bloke far too many times in this series and it has given them the chance to set the batsman up. Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have spoken about the importance of being able to do that to get batsmen out,

 

[Hooksey]

Fairly simple reason for why run-rates in the English camp have gone; pressure. You can see it; for the Aussies, every wicket and boundary is a celebration and an affirmation whereas for England it's the cause of more misery. Instead of being pleased with the result, they're worried about how the other ****s are going to respond ("Oh ****, now he's just going to fire up....").

In an interview, Watson said Boof Lehmann told them: "I want to make this the time of your lives."

...and the Australian team are playing as if its the time of their lives. It shows through even when they are performing the one percenters like Rogers diving to stop Warner's throw at the stumps yesterday.

Are Australia enjoying their cricket so much because they are winning? Or are they winning because they are enjoying their cricket so much?

England by contracts aren't enjoying their cricket or winning.