**Official** Ireland in England 2019

[vcs]

I hope Curran makes lots of troll runs against the Aussies too. The waaah will be a sight to savour.

 

[Arachnodouche]

I hope Curran makes lots of troll runs against the Aussies too. The waaah will be a sight to savour.

He doesn't really make troll runs though, does he? Not watching this, but he was genuinely impetuous last summer against us.

 

[Heboric]

I think this is to much for Ireland territory now. Although Stuart Broad is scoring runs so maybe the pitch is super flat.

 

[Niall]

bowlers shouldn't be allowed to bat IMO. Pick your 7 batsmen and stick with them.

And what Stuart Binny do?

 

[wpdavid]

I hope Curran makes lots of troll runs against the Aussies too. The waaah will be a sight to savour.

He's a remarkable young cricketer. I had a look at his track record with a view to posting a pithy summary of how often he's bailed us out after the top order had failed. To varying degrees, you're looking at both innings at Edgbaston and both innings at Southampton last summer, and the first innings in the first two tests in SL over the winter. All of which we won.

 

[cnerd123]

Broad has learnt how to bat again zzzz

 

[cnerd123]

And what Stuart Binny do?

carry the drinks

 

[wpdavid]

Thunder storm in SW London. They may not be out there for much longer.

 

[cnerd123]

yea that's my cue to go to bed

hope we get a whole day's play in tomorrow.

 

[vcs]

He doesn't really make troll runs though, does he? Not watching this, but he was genuinely impetuous last summer against us.

Yeah he's quality. It's just that he always makes them in the most crucial situations just when the opposition thinks they're on top and have got a chance of wrapping things up quickly.

 

[Daemon]

How lucky have England been with the weather

Ireland sweat it out in 38 deg heat all day and then it rains just when the pitch has been baking nicely for Ireland to chase the total down. Tomorrow it'll be cooler for the English quicks and the moisture might make it do a bit as well.

 

[Spintolose]

Great! Thunder just in time for the Lightning.

Switch over to Headingley for the big one!!

 

[Daemon]

This is ****ing crushing btw. I've never watched an international match live. I'm in London for work and was going to head down on Saturday. Hopefully the whole of tomorrow is just washed out or something.

 

[theegyptian]

Not sure I completely buy the root as captain for all his failings with the bat. Although there's no way of really knowing.

Other factors possibly-

*A reversion to the mean? One of the stat cricket companies had his expected average about 4 or 5 runs less than what his actual average. This was a couple of years ago. Maybe not getting the luck he had in the first part of his career.
*The positive attacking mantra that Root and Bayliss have instilled in their players. I think it's just too easy for some of them to play a loose positive shot and just shrug their shoulders and say that's the way we play. It's a cop out and really Root has shown he can do better. There never seems to be any sense of longevity when Root (or any of the other batsman) are batting these days.
*Conditions have been very tough in England these past two or three years. Been quite tough away from home too.
*Weak top order has offered him no protection. Easier to score runs when others are too.

 

[Uppercut]

Maybe there isn’t really any reason. Always tempting to grope around for an explanation, but most batsmen that reach peaks like Root’s can’t stay that good for their whole career. It’s just what happens.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I hope we lose.

 

[vcs]

When he was in peak form between 2015-2017, Root should have been cashing in with regular big hundreds, averaging 70. He did score quite a few big hundreds, but also failed to convert a lot of 50s.

 

[trundler]

You can't really slag your team's test batting if they're dominating ODIs for the same reasons they're sucking at tests. It's the same personnel and the divergence between what makes a good one day batsman and a good test batsman is greater than ever. It's just about priorities and you could argue it has paid off. Every time Bairstow goes out to bat he can't switch modes on his muscle memory and temperament depending on format. Even Root's glorious ton in SL last year was a rapid fire knock. One day mode is going to get them 300 regardless of the format usually, with the odd 85 all out every now and then. I was really hoping for Burns to do well. Hope he comes good soon.

 

[Shri]

HOW DID WE LOSE TO THESE ****S?z

 

[Arachnodouche]

You can't really slag your team's test batting if they're dominating ODIs for the same reasons they're sucking at tests. It's the same personnel and the divergence between what makes a good one day batsman and a good test batsman is greater than ever. It's just about priorities and you could argue it has paid off. Every time Bairstow goes out to bat he can't switch modes on his muscle memory and temperament depending on format. Even Root's glorious ton in SL last year was a rapid fire knock. One day mode is going to get them 300 regardless of the format usually, with the odd 85 all out every now and then. I was really hoping for Burns to do well. Hope he comes good soon.

So basically only the golden era Aussies ever have well and truly mastered the modern game across formats (not counting T20s because those came to prominence after the gang disbanded).

That's a good point though. England finally have the WC. Fans ought to go a little easy on their Test failures in the immediate future.