4th Test at Old Trafford, Manchester

[social]

Smith ex Machina isn't really fair on other teams is he? Without him other bowling attacks would be licking their chops against Australia's current batting lineup. With him they're pooping their pants.

I think from now on cricket Australia need to ban Smith every few months, with the ban being lifted just before a test series. It seems as though Smith is trying to score all the runs he missed out on over the last year at once, in a brutal, bloody assault on the English bowlers. I mean there can be no side better to exact vengeance upon for injustices carried out by Cricket Australia.

Having said that England looked mentally cooked. Absolutely nothing went their way, the captaincy was woeful and the bowling limp. Then again, it's easy to sympathise with the mental disintegration when they're not up against a normal player but the machines of Steven.

Nah

Smith or not, the English tactics have been woeful

There’s no excuse for abandoning line & length after a couple of overs and forcing guys like Overton to bang it in

Might as well order Leach to bowl seam up

 

[Lillian Thomson]

It would be quite funny if rain draws this match and England get lucky at The Oval.

 

[stephen]

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27545338/going-short-played-our-hands-steven-smith

Smith is now telling his opponents where to bowl to him so he has some challenge.

 

[Burgey]

"If you look at the best players around the world, they sum up what people are trying to do and adapt to it and are willing to change and have the confidence to change what they are doing to get the right outcome."

Bloke just doesn’t care about anything but churning out massive scores. It’s a problem solving exercise for him.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Nah

Smith or not, the English tactics have been woeful

There’s no excuse for abandoning line & length after a couple of overs and forcing guys like Overton to bang it in

Might as well order Leach to bowl seam up

It was downright moronic. Bowled a short spell of good line and length, nearly had him out 4 or 5 times, then almost immediately reverted to all the men out gifting him singles on the leg side with almost no way of getting him out. And around the wicket too so even if he does miss he won't be lbw. And they didn't even have a leg side catcher or fielder on the ring to even allow the consideration of him maybe getting out at some point.

 

[Starfighter]

It would be quite funny if rain draws this match and England get lucky at The Oval.

No. It wouldn't.

 

[morgieb]

Smith's basically a cheat code at this point. I honestly have no words to describe his series.

 

[TheJediBrah]

It would be quite funny if rain draws this match and England get lucky at The Oval.

It would be pretty typical of Aus tours of England since 2001.

2005 rain at the oval possibly cost them the Ashes (I may be remembering that wrong)
2009 were the better team but lost the crucial moments
2013 England were better but both Tests Aus were looking like winning were ruined by rain

 

[morgieb]

It would be pretty typical of Aus tours of England since 2001.

2005 rain at the oval possibly cost them the Ashes (I may be remembering that wrong)
2009 were the better team but lost the crucial moments
2013 England were better but both Tests Aus were looking like winning were ruined by rain

Nah 2005 it was the Warne drop that killed Australia. If anything rain saved them at Old Trafford (and England probably win defending 342)

2009 the better example of rain costing us, realistically - Cardiff would've been won but for rain and Edgbatson was around a 50/50.

 

[Daemon]

That innings summed up Roots captaincy for me. Just not a good leader and has decided on **** tactics to boot. You won’t look to him for answers when struggling.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Some unflattering figures for the pom bowlers. Leach probably the one that deserved better, 2/83 doesn't reflect how well he bowled.

 

[Bahnz]

Nah 2005 it was the Warne drop that killed Australia. If anything rain saved them at Old Trafford (and England probably win defending 342)

2009 the better example of rain costing us, realistically - Cardiff would've been won but for rain and Edgbatson was around a 50/50.

Rain definitely helped at the Oval though. Iirc, it gave England's bowlers a good rest after a day of toil, and meant Australia had to push to accelerate the scoring in pretty bad light which contributed to their collapse from 280ish/2 to 360 all out.

 

[TheJediBrah]

That's what my (admittedly poor) memory was telling me. Aus needed a win in the last Test and would have been in a very good position if not for the time being lost costing them, and forcing them to push harder for a result than they otherwise would have.

 

[morgieb]

Yeah I didn't fully remember the circumstances of that Oval Test, but yeah it does look like that Australia probably left runs on the board by going so hard. Dunno whether it happens (Australia batting England out of the game and winning) given that Australia's middle order was generally poor that series but you definitely would've rathered to be Australia at 1/260-odd.

 

[trundler]

That should conclusively and permanently put the laughable theory that Smith is suspect against the moving ball to rest.

3 out of 4 times he's gotten out slogging after getting the job done

I've never seen anything like this and I bet few have, ever.

 

[Spikey]

What a scorecard to wake up to. Unbelievable stuff. He's shoved it right up the critics. 2 overs, 2 maidens. The ashes are ours

 

[aussie tragic]

Smith does seem to have one weakness...he doesn't seem able to turn his high scores into massive 250+ scores

Now scored
192
199
211
215
239

 

[Son Of Coco]

Bowling a really fast yorker from time to time at his leg stump could work

I agree. Something around 130kph would probably surprise him a bit.

 

[trundler]

Imagine how much he'd average if he was selfish like Lara or Bradman and didn't slog after grinding the opposition into dust. Triples come at the expensive of a win in draws or against minnows usually. Excluding timeless tests, of course. Let's hope the WTC final is timeless and Smith bats on for 3 days.

 

[Son Of Coco]

To add to the misery, Nasser now scraping the bottom of the drivel barrel

"Maximum!"
"a big unit like Starc goes down in instalments"

When you listen to Nasser commentate when Smith's batting, you get the feeling he is just waiting to stick the boot into his technique. Any praise he offers always feels a little emotionally dishonest.