3rd Test at Melbourne - December 26 - 30

[honestbharani]

Dont rule out the dead test bounce, @Red_Ink_Squid

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Dont rule out the dead test bounce, @Red_Ink_Squid

I don't think even that will be enough. We knew going in that England weren't gonna be competitive but turns out we're actually worse than uncompetitive.

 

[Anil]

England get quick wickets tomorrow in the first session and lose the Ashes in 3 days.

another option...

 

[andruid]

Highest England averages for the last 5 years (minimum 200 runs)

Root 48, Cook 38, Stokes 38, Buttler 33, Foakes 32, Burns 31, Vince 31, Malan 30, Pope 30, Denly 30, Sibley 29, Crawley 28, Stoneman 28, Bairstow 28, Lawrence 27

Then the rest are allrounders and bowlers (plus Keaton Jennings)

The selectors have tried different options

What did you people do to Stoneman?

 

[andruid]

Boland is a good fc performer & I wish him well

However, I have no idea why he’s suddenly leapfrogged Dermo or Steketee who have both been around the Australian squad more recently and are having good seasons

Not as if he’s one for the future

Just feels like a pretty pointless selection

Opportunity for some easy political point scoring?

 

[Shri]

 

[Isura]

Highest England averages for the last 5 years (minimum 200 runs)

Root 48, Cook 38, Stokes 38, Buttler 33, Foakes 32, Burns 31, Vince 31, Malan 30, Pope 30, Denly 30, Sibley 29, Crawley 28, Stoneman 28, Bairstow 28, Lawrence 27

Then the rest are allrounders and bowlers (plus Keaton Jennings)

The selectors have tried different options

Looks very West Indian

 

[Croadymeister]

Hard to have any optimism when the ECB are too cowardly to appoint the right people and not bloody yes men

 

[Calm_profit]

ECB should arrange Afghani players to play at Sydney.

 

[Burgey]

They were euro runners up and 3rd place at the last World Cup under Sir Gareth Southgate. Easily qualified for Qatar while our Socceroo boys are struggling !!!!

besides aren’t you and mrs burgey of English descent ?

“Runners up,” “3rd place.” “Qualified.”

Whoop de doo.

These are only acceptable metrics if you’re a second rate outfit happy with failure. And look how they performed in the one final they made. Like a pack of cards in a gale under pressure. A whole other generation scarred by it.

magnificent

 

[Hurricane2]

Its the mistake England and I guess even the Windies make. Due to the Dukes ball, I suppose the guys who can get 30s and 40s often are very valuable in those conditions. But they end up producing batsmen who cant really go for much beyond that even in decent to good batting conditions. The reason I said they have to go with Crawley, Lawrence and Bairstow over Hameed, Pope and Buttler is the same thing. These batsmen can make big scores if they get in, their issue is with movement which is far lesser in Australia than in England or Windies (with the Dukes) and perhaps NZ. Burns would enjoy batting with Crawley too as he wont be in the spotlight too much and score would be ticking over without him doing much. Same for Lawrence and Bairstow at 6 and 7. May finally free up Stokes to bat like a #6 than a #5 that he is attempting to be now, for some reason.

I would like to see stokes bat at 6 rather than 5. However I havnt run stats guru to see what he averages in the two comparative positions.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Stokes at 5
26 matches, 1530 runs @ 41.35 (4 100s)

Stokes at 6
47 matches, 2730 runs @ 36.89 (6 100s)

 

[Gob]

I get a feeling England will fight hard tomorrow and reduce Aust 90 for 5 or something like that. Will be in control at stumps

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

How much of this bullshit is due - at least in part - to England's focus on the Ashes to the detriment of other Test cricket these days. Every series seems to be with this idea that it's a warm-up to play against Australia and it makes for several negative elements (i) Funky/bizarre selections for non-Ashes series 'oh, we're only playing Sri Lanka/Bangladesh/New Zealand, we should take the opportunity to experiment and rest our star players' - if you want your best players to succeed in Test cricket, you need to give them the opportunity to participate and get the mental side of their game right. (ii) The psychological focus on Australia puts much more burden of mental expectation on them, furthermore, the focus on the Ashes possibly leads to hubristic tendencies against 'lesser' teams, meaning the players are never in the ideal mental zone to take on any team. (iii) The World Test Championship is a thing, and the intense focus on one series to the detriment of all others is going to really hasten England's race to the moribund in the WTC.

This wasn't always thus. This definitely seems to have been something that started to manifest post-2005 and then has been accentuated through England's white ball focus & success. Just compare the general reaction to losing to New Zealand at home in 2021 versus 1999.

 

[Gnske]

Oh dear now potentially COVID infested. How much more DISEASED can this side get?

 

[GIMH]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1475231379117920256

Shake on the draw and move on. Then we can draw the series 2-2 again and given the asterisk over 17-18, deep down we will all know who the true holders are

 

[Gnske]

A forfeit is the only honourable thing GIMH.

 

[social]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1475230983951564804

 

[mr_mister]

Were there quarantine bubbles put in place this tour? Or was it just a case of 'hope you don't get it'

 

[Gnske]

Clearly not at least for the Australians. If Captain Cumm and co. can go out to an Adelaide restaurant in the throes of Omicron