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***Official*** 1st Test at Brisbane

burr

State Vice-Captain
Smith is going to make a fortune post-cricket talking about his mental fortitude. It's truly astounding.
 

Cow

Banned
He looks like one of those man-shaped inflatables outside car salesrooms when he bats. Flailing arms all over the place.

However, his record in the last 3 years is so good. As boycott mentioned earlier, England had to get him out 10 times and they are already failing at that task.
 

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
Each to their own, can't stand it myself. Maybe as he scores the runs against my lot though that I dislike it.
Haha, yeah......no doubt if he was English I'd love him and all his quirkiness. As it is though there isn't another batsmen in the world that I'd rather watch less............which is really unfortunate, because I see way too much of the ****.
 

flibbertyjibber

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After a traumatic day yesterday (let dog go as it was cruel to let him carry on) I got rather drunk last night and missed most of the nights play so what would be a defendable total for England bowling last depending on Anderson's fitness?
 

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
After a traumatic day yesterday (let dog go as it was cruel to let him carry on) I got rather drunk last night and missed most of the nights play so what would be a defendable total for England bowling last depending on Anderson's fitness?
Sorry to hear FJ.......hope you enjoyed your last night of cricket with your mate curled up with you.

I reckon this wicket will play almost as good as 500/1 on the last day..........there certainly aint gonna be any demons in it. We need to bat well and long this innings and remember that we'd all have bitten our arms off for a draw at the start of this test.
 
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Top_Cat

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tbh, all the quirkiness in Smith's batting comes after the ball has left the bat and sometimes his dismissals just look super ugly. To the point of contact, his play is really sweet. Just has more time than others.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
people who live in inner city Melbourne(and inner-city Sydney, where I live) are some of the most sheltered, pretentious people masquerading as the most ' woke'

definitely not the best Australia has to offer
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Was a good day at The Gabba today. Going to watch the cricket live can have its drawbacks - you know you'll get beer spilled on your back at some stage as one of the numpties sitting behind you tries to negotiate their way back to their seating with 4 beers in a egg carton-style holder, never seeming to realise they could pass it to the first mate they get to and have them pass it along the row so they don't spill it on everyone; you have to tolerate grown men turn the Alpha up to 150, which means there are quite a few blokes carrying on like pork chops; and it's actually easier to follow what's going on on TV. But the atmosphere was really good, I caught up with some mates (one of whom I hadn't seen for about 20 years), and we had an in-depth discussion on the merits or otherwise of bread made with ******l yeast and Danish beer made from stale piss. So all in all, the pluses outweighed the minuses.

It was interesting to watch certain players at work:

- Smith and Cummins batted really well.

- Cook is a shadow of his former self. If our bowlers can maintain a top of off-stump line fairly regularly I'd be surprised if he makes an impact. But then, that's always been the spot to bowl to Cook. Today's dismissal was a mirror image of the Johnson/Harris combination in 2013/14 - the top-edged hook.

- It appears Ball's warm-up delivery is one that pitches about 2 feet in front of him and sails over the batsman's head.

- the field England has set to Smith when they were attempting Bodyline 2017 reminded me of something I would have set on the tabletop Test Match game when I was 13.

- and what stuck out most was that Root seems incredibly reactive with his field settings as a captain. On a number of occasions today his field placings seemed to follow where the ball had just gone. Marsh cuts for 4 - he puts a man at deep point. Smith attempts to bump one over the slips - next ball there's a man down at third man. Cummins pumps Ali for 6 - next ball mid on is pushed back to long on. There were another 5 or 6 occasions, at least, where he reacted to what had just happened by placing someone where the ball had just gone. It seemed to only take one bad delivery, which the bowler isn't trying to bowl, for him to change tack. I would've thought he would have been wanting Smith to try to go over slips during the bumper barrage, and that he wouldn't have minded Cummins having a go over mid on as it increased the chances of making an error and getting out.
 
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Second Spitter

State Vice-Captain
- the field England has set to Smith when they were attempting Bodyline 2017 reminded me of something I would have set on the tabletop Test Match game when I was 13.
Yes! I had precisely the same thought today.....especially the rate at which Root was changing his field settings. "Put a fielder where the last ball went" sorta thing,

tbh, all the quirkiness in Smith's batting comes after the ball has left the bat and sometimes his dismissals just look super ugly. To the point of contact, his play is really sweet. Just has more time than others.
Lets put it this way: I wouldn't dare bat like that if I didn't have an average circa 60.
 
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Gob

International Coach
Yeah this.

Was curious about his record in England, can see he definitely struggles more on those wicked Birmingham flyers. An average of low 40's is still reasonable but 3 tons in 12 Tests is a rate roughly on par with any visiting bat not named Bradman. That said, they've come on the more Aussie-style grounds but if he finds a way through to score elsewhere, bloke'll turn a series.
There's no doubt that he struggled on the seaming places when he last played in England but he is a better batsman now than he was then. I thought he over did the shuffle but worked out since and judging by the way he batted in Hobart last year suggests that he'll go alright now on a seaming/swinging wicket as well.
 

TNT

Banned
i don't mean everyone, i just mean on average. i'm sure good people exist everywhere. but that comment made earlier was just laughable to me i had to comment
I live in the outback and pretentious people die off very quickly here but due to fast food outlets they can survive in inner city living conditions.
 

Debris

International 12th Man
Yes! I had precisely the same thought today.....especially the rate at which Root was changing his field settings. "Put a fielder where the last ball went" sorta thing
It was weird hearing the commentators praising Root for that. That is usually the one thing they are consistently savagely critical about. Time for me to go put my conspiracy hat on.
 

TNT

Banned
It was weird hearing the commentators praising Root for that. That is usually the one thing they are consistently savagely critical about. Time for me to go put my conspiracy hat on.
Judging a captains ability has and always will be dependant on how much you like the player.
 

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