2nd Test at Adelaide - 16 to 20 Dec

[trundler]

He may be a strong #8 but he's definitely not a #7 anywhere that isn't Lord's

 

[Anil]

reading tea leaves is not an exact science

View attachment 30136

Didn’t you say this about Harris though?

 

[Pup Clarke]

That's fair tbh. I don't think he's a particularly great bat and certainly not a long-term 6, but he does have the ability to dig in and bat time. Could be a guy just to hold up an end without worrying about going too hard with only the tail remaining

 

[Arachnodouche]

Commiserations to English fans. Looks like the hapless 90s are back again. There seems to have to been a significant downswing in team confidence and morale since after the first Test win in India.

 

[Gob]

Do you guys think England's resurgence in white ball cricket has any correlation to their demise in test cricket?

 

[trundler]

Does a bear **** in the woods

 

[SteveNZ]

Do you guys think England's resurgence in white ball cricket has any correlation to their demise in test cricket?

To me, that's a cop out. We made the finals of all three formats in a row carrying a core of players across all three formats. Australia never had a problem carrying the world's best tag across formats in the 2000s.

I don't claim to know anything about the ECB and the way it conducts itself, so someone else is going to have to answer that. But their best batsman is able to perform in ODIs and Tests. I'd suggest it has a lot to do with technique - because guys like Burns, the guys on the fringe like Lawrence, Crawley, Sibley, Pope to spin etc, these guys have utterly junk techniques - especially outside off stump They obviously score county runs then can't survive a decent spell of Test cricket. They don't leave well. It's hard to watch

 

[trundler]

Root going ton-less for ages almost perfectly coincided with increased ODI world cup in the lead up to the WC IIRC. Even when he did score a ton around that time frame, it was a rapid fire knock. He just lost the ability to bat time and kept falling over to the off side.

 

[theegyptian]

Do you guys think England's resurgence in white ball cricket has any correlation to their demise in test cricket?

Partially. They've certainly focused a lot more on white ball cricket since 2015. Lions pivoted to more 1 day stuff, guys allowed to play t20 leagues across the world instead of fc cricket.

Most countries seem to have fared better from the creeping influence of IPL and T20 cricket though. Standards have probably fallen across the board in test cricket due to the increased focus on t20 cricket in all countries and the impact that has on the schedule of the best players in the world, but for whatever reason England seem to have fared worse than most countries in this respect.

However even when England primarily focused on test cricket they were rubbish for long periods of time. For that reason it seems likely that it also has something to do with coaching in the country and the county structure/conditions too.

(and maybe the talent pool- I watched parts of the recent england u19 series and it was a pretty unathletic and unskilled bunch - is the country too fat and unathletic as a whole? Are we getting enough of the talented ones into cricket, rather than football and other sports?)

 

[silentstriker]

Look, we’d all rather watch a couple of offies with the physique of a 58 year old chartered accountant open the bowling with the nearest blade of grass a couple of hundred miles away, but we have to make do with what we have.

Might have had more bite prior to the last two Indian test tours to Australia.

I know you lot can’t win anymore, even at home, so I understand. Look i went through the 90s. I know what it’s like to be inferior in every aspect of the game.

It’s all right. Let it out. I sympathize.

 

[GotSpin]

Not enough Indian cricket references in the last couple pages

 

[Flem274*]

Imagine having Jasprit Bumrah and still loving spin and Ashwin.

At least Jadeja is likeable and a real bits and pieces to world class story.

 

[silentstriker]

Imagine having Jasprit Bumrah and still loving spin and Ashwin.

Old habits die hard.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Well, that was a pretty fun day all in all. Couple of breifly concerning passages of play but thankfully Australia was able to counter before too long. Must say I was especially impressed with how Green bowled, live at the ground he looked damn quick and was getting a few to really rise, from being worried he would never look the same bowler again as was during last year, it is excellent to see this level of performance

Must say when I saw Australia was going to bat my entire thoughts were "oh ****, here we go again", but in the end it worked out better than I ever could have expected. Still would have gone the other way myself, but Warner and almost surprisingly even Harris applied themselves well, and England once again did their typical thing of bowling half a yard too short with the new ball


Back to the 2017 game, admittedly the overrated geriatric being the one to benefit didn't help, but I would have been staunchly opppsed to batting again regardless of who the opposition was. To bat again under lights is to risk getting rolled cheaply and letting the other team back into the game. Still believe England could have chased that 4th innings target, wouldn't have been easy but was very possible. It is absolutely 100% a hill I would die on, foot on the throat, don't give the opposition a opening

 

[Gob]

Starc

"It was just fortunate we were sitting outside," Starc said. "It was almost a bit of a piss take because Pat didn't reply to my message so thought we'd sit away from him and sit outside so it's been a lucky one."

Haha left on seen

Wonder what would have happened if they had to replace the whole attack in the morning since I'm sure the replacements weren't there. Probably Warne and McGrath

 

[GotSpin]

Well, that was a pretty fun day all in all. Couple of breifly concerning passages of play but thankfully Australia was able to counter before too long. Must say I was especially impressed with how Green bowled, live at the ground he looked damn quick and was getting a few to really rise, from being worried he would never look the same bowler again as was during last year, it is excellent to see this level of performance

Must say when I saw Australia was going to bat my entire thoughts were "oh ****, here we go again", but in the end it worked out better than I ever could have expected. Still would have gone the other way myself, but Warner and almost surprisingly even Harris applied themselves well, and England once again did their typical thing of bowling half a yard too short with the new ball


Back to the 2017 game, admittedly the overrated geriatric being the one to benefit didn't help, but I would have been staunchly opppsed to batting again regardless of who the opposition was. To bat again under lights is to risk getting rolled cheaply and letting the other team back into the game. Still believe England could have chased that 4th innings target, wouldn't have been easy but was very possible. It is absolutely 100% a hill I would die on, foot on the throat, don't give the opposition a opening

Soeaking of which, I don’t mind this new Warner. Really seems to be applying himself rather than popping up a catch from a short arm full shot. Obviously riding his luck a touch but has been putting the effort in

 

[Prince EWS]

Well, that was a pretty fun day all in all. Couple of breifly concerning passages of play but thankfully Australia was able to counter before too long. Must say I was especially impressed with how Green bowled, live at the ground he looked damn quick and was getting a few to really rise, from being worried he would never look the same bowler again as was during last year, it is excellent to see this level of performance

Must say when I saw Australia was going to bat my entire thoughts were "oh ****, here we go again", but in the end it worked out better than I ever could have expected. Still would have gone the other way myself, but Warner and almost surprisingly even Harris applied themselves well, and England once again did their typical thing of bowling half a yard too short with the new ball


Back to the 2017 game, admittedly the overrated geriatric being the one to benefit didn't help, but I would have been staunchly opppsed to batting again regardless of who the opposition was. To bat again under lights is to risk getting rolled cheaply and letting the other team back into the game. Still believe England could have chased that 4th innings target, wouldn't have been easy but was very possible. It is absolutely 100% a hill I would die on, foot on the throat, don't give the opposition a opening

Glad you had a good time.

What did the bloke two rows in front of you think of his greeting from Avi?

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Soeaking of which, I don’t mind this new Warner. Really seems to be applying himself rather than popping up a catch from a short arm full shot. Obviously riding his luck a touch but has been putting the effort in

Completely agree, I certainly couldn't see the Warner of a few years back showing this sort of defensive application

Glad you had a good time.

What did the bloke two rows in front of you think of his greeting from Avi?

Ironically because I was sitting in the second row for large swathes of the day it would have been the security guy I would have been saying that to

 

[Prince EWS]

Ironically because I was sitting in the second row for large swathes of the day it would have been the security guy I would have been saying that to

So what did he say?

 

[Anil]

Imagine having Jasprit Bumrah and still loving spin and Ashwin.

At least Jadeja is likeable and a real bits and pieces to world class story.

why does it have to be an either-or especially when both have been spectacular and have won matches for us?