2nd Test, Lord's, London

[Arachnodouche]

Expect Aus to **** the bed if chasing anything above 150. Archer has to be in their heads now just like Johnson was in '13. To see your best bat laid out like that must upset the most capable of batsmen. Bancroft & co. are anything but at this stage.

 

[wpdavid]

It’s pretty even no? I think I’d rather be Australia but not by much.

I think so, unless England are still batting half an hour after lunch when the game becomes very interesting. But given the state of our batting, Aus could easily be chasing well under 150.
Should be a cracking day's play, but if Aus do win then the Ashes are as good as theirs, which doesn't make for a great rest of the series.

 

[Cabinet96]

Just caught the highlights, pretty crazy and gripping day. God the Smith blow was sickening. Can't imagine how rough and scary it must have felt like for the guys who also played in the Hughes game.

How legendary was the Archer spell though. Old ball, after bowling 20+ overs in the innings already, etc. Hands down there's nothing better in the sport than a rapid bowler making things happen.

 

[Bijed]

Woud like to say how impressed I was with Leach today. I never disagreed with those saying that he'd offer more control than Moeen, but today made me appreciate the value of that more than I had previously

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Just caught the highlights, pretty crazy and gripping day. God the Smith blow was sickening. Can't imagine how rough and scary it must have felt like for the guys who also played in the Hughes game.

How legendary was the Archer spell though. Old ball, after bowling 20+ overs in the innings already, etc. Hands down there's nothing better in the sport than a rapid bowler making things happen.

It was the first time Archer, or any bowler, actually went after Smith. They spent most of the innings bowling to some plan outside the off stump. I think it rather dignifies it to call it a plan.

 

[hazsa19]

Gutted I missed most of the days play, and especially that Archer spell. One of the occasions where out would be good to watch every ball back rather than highlights.

I was able to catch much of the final session. Roy looks confused, if he's going to play and open, he just needs to play his shots. There's no point trying to play conservatively because he plain can't. I think we should persist with Denly, his dismissals are infuriating, but he looks better than anyone else we've tried in the top order.

Hope Smith is ok, looked like a horrible blow, but I'm glad we're finally making it difficult for him.

Hope our lower order can rescue us again, id take a draw. The series will be dead if Aus win, which would be a shame because we've had some thrilling cricket so far.

 

[Starfighter]

Is see poor umpiring and Paine's inability to take reviews at the right time has struck again. This is going to happen a couple of times each match isn't it?

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I wouldn’t worry too much about the umpiring. It’s a thousand times better than it used to be. In the 82/83 Ashes there were over 50 mistakes and no VAR.

 

[MW1304]

You can hardly blame the umpire for the Stokes lbw, they barely appealed for it ffs.

 

[stephen]

Wish I didn't have to sleep for the third session - it sounded like a cracker. I really hope Smith is ok for the rest of the series.

 

[Starfighter]

 

[stephen]

I was Pmsl at this graphic last night. Smith probably ruined it by getting out to Wokes the way he did.

 

[Test_Fan_Only]

Burns
Sibley
Denly
Root
Buttler
Stokes
YJB
Woakes
Archer
Broad
Leach

For the next Test for me. Root needs to go back to 4 and Denly's playing for his spot in this innings, if he fails then Northeast comes in. Not keen on making big changes at the top of the order but this lot look a ****ing shambles. Would also prefer Foakes to YJB but that's not going to happen.

You could bring all of them in and drop Roy, Denly and Buttler. Play Bairstow at 5 as a specialist batsman.
Burns
Sibley
Root
Northeast
Bairstow
Stokes
Foakes
Woakes
Archer
Broad
Leach.

Changing captain mid series is not going to happen but needs to happen at some stage as Root is a terrible batsman at the moment.

 

[Starfighter]

I was Pmsl at this graphic last night. Smith probably ruined it by getting out to Wokes the way he did.

Didn't Nasser get a tennis ball in the face in 2015? Or was that someone else?

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Aust next test

Warner
Harris
Usman
Tpc (c)
Head
Wade +
Pattinson
Cummins
Starc
Hazlewood
Lyon

Bomb the shits

Smith still can't lead.


And even if he could I wouldn't want him to do so anyway

 

[Test_Fan_Only]

Showers forecast for day 5, no chance of a result if that happens. Otherwise we might have had a cracking last day with every result possible. If we do get play then England need to make it past lunch so desperately need a partnership. Even if England leave a target that could be made Australia will be under pressure not to lose wickets otherwise England might defend a small target and win the match.

 

[Daemon]

According to CA on instagram there’s no fractured arm and he passed all concussion testing. Not sure if the latter means he had a concussion or not.

 

[91Jmay]

You could bring all of them in and drop Roy, Denly and Buttler. Play Bairstow at 5 as a specialist batsman.
Burns
Sibley
Root
Northeast
Bairstow
Stokes
Foakes
Woakes
Archer
Broad
Leach.

Changing captain mid series is not going to happen but needs to happen at some stage as Root is a terrible batsman at the moment.

Who can skipper though? Stokes being skipper would be a literaly disaster - like Flintoff or Botham on steriods as he isn't even a good enough bowler to bring himself on as much as he probably would. Buttler could easily be dropped soon. They should just pick the most handsome.

Chris Woakes (c)

 

[Starfighter]

According to CA on instagram there’s no fractured arm and he passed all concussion testing. Not sure if the latter means he had a concussion or not.

It means he doesn't have one, which means he should be right to bat.

Hope he's a little bit more discerning about staying leg side of the ball. He does it against spin, so there's no reason he can't adapt when he's facing just one particular bowler.

 

[morgieb]

Well the England innings seems interesting.

Thank god it seems like Smith is OK. I think as long as he bats Australia probably can't lose.