1st Test, Edgbaston, Birmingham

[Burgey]

If Curran plays he's in for a batsman and then you get some of the funky batting orders some posters have suggested. Because even if he plays Archer is a certainty imo. Australia have the break on England but Archer is the X factor player in this series. He's been impressive every time I've seen him and is the English player I fear the most.

While ever England’s X factor player(s) this series is/are bowlers, they aren’t winning the series.

 

[PikeyB]

If you play Archer , I think you can bring in Sam Curran .Without a genuine quick , I think he could be exposed by Australia .

Not that we saw that many overs from these balls where Sam Curran would have been at his most deadly. He may not even be in the frame for Lords .

The way I see it , if you drop Roy down the order you may as well just leave him on the bench . He's there for the tough job 1-3 , not for his explosive batting .

Moeen Ali needs a rest ...or better yet some cricket away from the Ashes .

 

[Gob]

You can't drop Moeen Alley.

 

[Son Of Coco]

What's so dire about it? Seriously I don't get it.

Adders gets upset any time someone is spot on about England's past transgressions.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Talking about his enjoyment from Eng injuries and then the next breath fair play over the Lord's wicket? **** right off........shocking poster, makes you look like Benaud mate.

Awww, but the Barmy Army are hilarious right. You're the stereotypical Pom mate. Everything is funny when it's dribbling out of the arse of your intolerable supporters, but you're horribly offended when anyone takes a shot at you.

 

[quincywagstaff]

The biggest concern for England was their final day batting imo.

Some will point to letting Oz off the hook with the bat in the 1st innings and scoring big in the 2nd but they were a bowler down against one of the ATG bats with some handy talent around him so that can happen.

But that last day batting effort just suggested a side that didn't have the will and skill to tough it out. Sure, it wasn't easy but it's not supposed to be on 5th day pitches against good bowling attacks and despite having some luck go away, it never seemed to matter as they seemed to have thrown in the towel.

 

[wpdavid]

Maybe, it's tough. Curran as part of 5 quicks he'd be fine I think. Wouldn't necessarily need to take plenty of poles, but could act as a partnership breaker

He'd also provide some variety. Whereas this test saw Broad, Stokes and Woakes providing different versions of the same thing. Obviously I' not saying that Smith can't play LFM bowling or genuinely quick bowling in the case of Archer, a bit more variety wouldn't go amiss. Agreed that Curran would have to be one of five quicks rather than one of four, so we only play one WK batsman rather than two.

 

[stephen]

The biggest concern for England was their final day batting imo.

Some will point to letting Oz off the hook with the bat in the 1st innings and scoring big in the 2nd but they were a bowler down against one of the ATG bats with some handy talent around him so that can happen.

But that last day batting effort just suggested a side that didn't have the will and skill to tough it out. Sure, it wasn't easy but it's not supposed to be on 5th day pitches against good bowling attacks and despite having some luck go away, it never seemed to matter as they seemed to have thrown in the towel.

Very few sides in history would have batted out the day against that attack. Lyon was bowling hand grenades, Cummins was looking very sharp and extracting crazy bounce. Pattinson was unlucky (again) and Siddle was bowling with a lot of control. On a pitch wearing as badly as that salvaging a draw was always going to be tough.

 

[Bennyfishel]

I watched the test match on TV and was amazed at the look on ALL the English players faces,they looked scared to death,especially the captain who looked absolutely mortified

 

[Bennyfishel]

Really????

 

[Burgey]

Really

 

[Gob]

Really????

 

[Daemon]

What a poster. He was 90 years old according to this post.

You have obviously got to defend Engineer being an Indian,but I have never seen a worse keeper in Sheffield shield cricket (Australian domestic cricket ) in my 86 year life.TOTAL GARBAGE..........I would say he was about as good a wicketkeeper as Tufnell was a fielder. or am I insulting Tufnell ????

Also came up with this gem aimed at sledger

Have you nothing better to do with your time than waste other peoples time just stirring the excreta?? come up with something sensible if that is at all possible.i for one is getting sick of reading your crap and I'm sure there will be hundreds if not thousands who feel the same as i do.BELT UP YOU ARE ONLY MAKING YOURSELF SOUND LIKE A UNEDUCATED MORON.
I wonder if you are aware that you have been on this forum for over 11 years, sent in over 35000 posts in 4015 days ....THAT IS AVERAGING 9 POSTS PER DAY. you belong in a home .

 

[TheJediBrah]

why do the good ones always get banned

 

[trundler]

Because you have questionable tastes.

 

[Gob]

why do the good ones always get banned

I'm still here man