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

[S.Kennedy]

What on earth did Trott ever do? Seems an innocuous and quite decent fella.

 

[TNT]

60 being the magic number when Aussies think about collapses

Nah 5 zip is our magic number.

 

[Warnest]

Glad to see Bancroft make some runs. Augers well for the rest of the series. Renshaw has a long road ahead of him to force his way back into the side.

Cummins and Lyon were a class above in both bowling innings. Cummins had that "every ball feels like it could get a wicket" feel that you only get with ATG bowlers. His spell yesterday evening was on another level. I honestly can't believe how little his figures reflected his performance 4/108 for the match understates his impact a lot. If he bowls that well on a regular basis and he'll end up with a ton of wickets.

Anderson looked consistently the most threatening of the English bowlers IMO. He beat the bat a few times and was probably a bit unlucky not to pick up a wicket. Broad was pretty good too. The backup pacemen though were truly awful and let Warner and Bancroft set the tone of the innings. England really looked deflated after the batting performance and they shouldn't have been, since 170 is at least defendable. They could have taken a lot from this game if they had us over five wickets down when we inevitably win (barring a Broad 8/15 miracle tomorrow).

Smith is so good now, it's really hard to see where England are going to get him out. Ever. They're pretty much relying on him throwing his wicket away and Smith basically seems like he's batting for his life. I don't think I've seen a batsman more determined never to get out and just keep churning out the runs as well as Smith. He's overtaken peak Ponting in my book as the best Australian batsman in my lifetime. Certainly he's been instrumental in every single win we've had in recent times. The guy is a machine.

Yup, his figures don't do justice to how well he's bowled, far superior to Starc who was trying to emulate Mitch 2013/14 with every ball and getting lucky with the Poms still willing to throw their wickets away. Cummins is definitely the 1st pick out of our quicks, especially after the way he performed in Bangladesh.

 

[Shri]

What on earth did Trott ever do? Seems an innocuous and quite decent fella.

He grabbed 'em by the throatsy.

 

[S.Kennedy]

I was actually disappointed with Smith's captaincy here. He should have chucked the ball to Cummins first over. What was it, 14 overs old? There may have been a bit of life left in the kookaburra? In the end it didn't matter as England batted like idiots but Australia could have wrapped the thing up quicker.

 

[S.Kennedy]

England's batting was really brainless. Root, he is as talented as Smith - he has all the tools - and he came out happy hooking. It is as if he hadn't learnt any of the lessons of Smith's innings. I agree with Boycott here. All they had to do was not lose their wickets.

 

[mr_mister]

Ok, here's the deal. I hate AnderClouderson, Swann, Broad and Trott more than any other cricketers that I can sleepily think of atm. Doesn't mean that I suddenly love Australia(except Maxwell) just because I came here a few months ago. If any of those four ****s play a cricket match, I'll support the ones playing against them.

what are your reasons? i'm curious. ive only seen them(especially Broad) on the receiving end of harsh treatment from our players and fans so i have a bit of natural sympathy toward them. was there an incident in an Eng/Ind series?

 

[Gnske]

He grabbed 'em by the throatsy.

Clearly studied at the University of Simon Katich to boss that weakling Wahab about.

 

[S.Kennedy]

The cricketers I dislike immensely are Warner, Starc, Hales and Morgan which I suppose demonstrates I have no special Ashes related bias. I would struggle to support our one-day side, that is if I ever watched limited overs cricket.

 

[the big bambino]

Sad times we live in.

Pretty happy meself.

 

[JRC67]

Haha that's so weird.

Definitely out as per where the line is drawn, but yeah he has the right to feel aggrieved with whoever painted/rolled that line on.

When you look at the line it wobbles in where Ali's foot is and out again after it. It's not conclusive that some of his foot isn't behind the white, it only needs a millimetre. As it wasn't given out on field the benefit should be with the batsman. When allowing for the wobbles in the line it was shocking. Even if Ali had gone on to make a ton it wouldn't make a difference to the result but I think the third umpire should have done much better as there wasn't a time limit to make a decision and he had a lot of looks.

 

[TNT]

When you look at the line it wobbles in where Ali's foot is and out again after it. It's not conclusive that some of his foot isn't behind the white, it only needs a millimetre. As it wasn't given out on field the benefit should be with the batsman. When allowing for the wobbles in the line it was shocking. Even if Ali had gone on to make a ton it wouldn't make a difference to the result but I think the third umpire should have done much better as there wasn't a time limit to make a decision and he had a lot of looks.

Its pretty conclusive, there is no part of Ali's foot grounded behind the line, the third umpire had no option but to give it out.

 

[S.Kennedy]

I do not have too many complaints about the wonky line. The groundsman was clearly inebriated when he painted it however the line is visible and Ali should have been behind it. I am more annoyed about the way Root approached that innings. Absolute brainless.

 

[Cow]

David Warner should do the batting crease lines. He doctor prescribed ritalin would ensure he concentrated the whole time, unlike the groundsman.

 

[MW1304]

England's batting was really brainless. Root, he is as talented as Smith - he has all the tools - and he came out happy hooking. It is as if he hadn't learnt any of the lessons of Smith's innings. I agree with Boycott here. All they had to do was not lose their wickets.

Because just about every team in world cricket has fallen for the McCullum intent myth.

 

[TNT]

David Warner should do the batting crease lines. He doctor prescribed ritalin would ensure he concentrated the whole time, unlike the groundsman.

You should concentrate a bit more, his doctor.

 

[theegyptian]

England's batting was really brainless. Root, he is as talented as Smith - he has all the tools - and he came out happy hooking. It is as if he hadn't learnt any of the lessons of Smith's innings. I agree with Boycott here. All they had to do was not lose their wickets.

meh, statistically Smith is more the outlier. Currently second to Bradman in terms of average. Smith doing something remarkable as opposed to Root being bad. Unrealistic to expect Root to follow Smith. The whole Smith/Root/Kohli/Williamson comparison have always driven me crazy (even before Smith went a long way in front of the rest). Just let them be whatever they are.

England have struggled with their aggro approach for a while in building long test innings. Cook is the only guy who can really bat a long time in a way that defines a mid/high scoring game - and he's obviously struggling. The rest are more inclined to play aggresive cameos. Root played one knock (254 v Pakistan batting at 3) where he looked like he'd cracked it- after he got a load of criticism the previous test for sloppy approach. But since has gone back to batting 4 and batting in almost a carefree manner. It really hurt in India last year too. Guys like Root and Stokes and Bairstow have tried at times to play longer knocks but their body and minds have been programmed to play aggresive cameos. Root's 190 at lords against SA was indicative of his approach. Gave 3 or 4 chances and scored at 81 sr. It got a load of praise but it could so easily of been a standard Root 60.

The players couldn't bat for a day and a half to save the game against an average attack, let alone a good attack. Most of them just don't have those qualities.

It's probably just the way the game is going with more limited overs cricket being played - and of the tactics of the coaches. It's possibly the best tactic for the group of players that they have.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I do not have too many complaints about the wonky line. The groundsman was clearly inebriated when he painted it however the line is visible and Ali should have been behind it. I am more annoyed about the way Root approached that innings. Absolute brainless.

Yep, exactly.

 

[fredfertang]

Someone tell us again how Lyon's big problem is the lack of a decent arm-ball.

Just as well he does really

 

[S.Kennedy]

Oh, and do not get me started on Cook haha. When have you ever seen Cook hooking and pulling in virtually the first over? The guy seems to want to get out. Bloody awful. Cook retiring at the SCG if not earlier. Essex might get him for years which they'll like.