*Official* First Test (Edgbaston, Birmingham) 16–20 June

[social]

Well that was a losing bet

Root & Robinson were in no trouble all & could easily have put on some useful runs

Instead, they’ve handed a lifeline to Australia who finished the day at least square

Given how flat the deck is, they’d have taken that all day

 

[kevinw]

Not bad
BD 595/8 declared in Nz lost test on day 5

England needed 50 with a set Root and Stokes at the crease and then let a hitherto crap Wagner get away with his medium pace bouncers.

 

[loterry1994]

Don’t get how people still say this pitch wasn’t flat and a road. Stokes before the game publicly said he wanted these type of pitches and here’s what the curator produced

 

[Burgey]

Ahh well, I guess the test match really starts tomorrow.

Usually a sign it’s been a pretty even day. And if we’re still saying it after three days it usually means it’ll be a good test match

 

[honestbharani]

Reverse is more a function of the outfield no? Cummins et al certainly are no slouches as they proved in Pakistan and they couldn't get it to go at all today.

Its also a bit about the action and stuff, I believe. I guess we will see how it goes tomorrow. Everything else being equal and pitch not changing too much, Australia should look to bat all day and be 330/4 or something like that.

 

[kevinw]

I forget now long the unbeaten run Eng had prior to the 2005 Ashes, but the only people that were surprised by the fact that we were a very good cricket side were Aussies like you that seem to forget cricket is played in other parts of the world.

KP didn't transform weak as piss England you clown.......for sure he made the side stronger and played some incredible innings for us. But you have to be bat**** crazy or a die hard IPL fan to even think that any opposition would prefer to face Joe Root over KP.....its laughable.

And KP took Thorpe's place, who was still in decent nick when he was dropped (in hindsight Bell should've been left out in 2015 as he had a real stinker).

 

[chris.hinton]

Don't mind the declaration but I feel that we should have got 450 on the board. Less then 400 with Australia's batting is not enough and with 3,4,5 the top 3 in the world it's bold. We do lack a bit of pace and i would have had Wood instead of Broad.

Tomorrow will have an outside chance of a few showers. Sunday could be spicy with rain stopping play a lot

All to play for.

 

[Goughy]

Madness

 

[Spark]

Its also a bit about the action and stuff, I believe. I guess we will see how it goes tomorrow. Everything else being equal and pitch not changing too much, Australia should look to bat all day and be 330/4 or something like that.

Yeah deterioration is the big unknown. But the risk then is that this isn't a traditional English pitch, this is a traditional Indian pitch where being short of 400 on the first innings means that you get destroyed in the 3rd innings after conceding a first innings lead and then the pitch starts playing tricks.

Having said that, the real problem isn't the declaration, because maybe Robinson and then Anderson are blasted out by the new ball in the subsequent ten minutes anyway, it's that the entire English middle order decided they were in a charitable mood, one after the other.

 

[Burgey]

Madness

Fmd! Hello Kev. Hope you’re doing well

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah deterioration is the big unknown. But the risk then is that this isn't a traditional English pitch, this is a traditional Indian pitch where being short of 400 on the first innings means that you get destroyed in the 3rd innings after conceding a first innings lead and then the pitch starts playing tricks.

Very possible. But I also think this Aussie batting line up is never far away from a lollapse, so it will be a fun day to watch tomorrow.

 

[honestbharani]

Madness

Hello.. how have you been?

 

[Spark]

In any case I think Aus should be delighted, in no small part because I only think Lyon and Hazlewood were anywhere near the usual standard today. The rest - including the fielders - were well off it. England let us off the hook massively and could easily be out of sight with a little more discipline.

 

[Adders]

In any case I think Aus should be delighted, in no small part because I only think Lyon and Hazlewood were anywhere near the usual standard today. The rest - including the fielders - were well off it. England let us off the hook massively and could easily be out of sight with a little more discipline.

Yeah agree with this. Aus were a long way from their best today and we didn't really get on top of them........we're going to have much tougher days during the series so gotta make days like today really count and drive home the initiative while we've got it.

 

[Gob]

Just bat like people have been batting for the past 140 years and do it for two days. Very simple

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Just bat like people have been batting for the past 140 years and do it for two days. Very simple

Yes. Mad declaration, we could have got 450 with Root and Robinson batting well.

 

[Goughy]

Fmd! Hello Kev. Hope you’re doing well

Hello.. how have you been?

Cheers guys. Doing alright and living in Barbados now.

I checked, not been on here in 6 years but that declaration kicked in the old "gotta post on CWeb" instincts

 

[GIMH]

Madness

Aaaah a great returns!

 

[chris.hinton]

Cheers guys. Doing alright and living in Barbados now.

I checked, not been on here in 6 years but that declaration kicked in the old "gotta post on CWeb" instincts

You lucky sod lol. But good to see you around

 

[White Ball]

There is boldness then there is plain stupid!
On a deck this flat England are below par.. it’s Day 1 and Root is still in going great guns, to then declare is basically handing the intiative on a plate to the opposition.