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

[CartyDurham]

Just want to share here as there are clearly a few Aussies around

two of my kids and their children are based in Australia. Gold Coast and Adelaide

so I have no hatred towards Australia and if they win, as an England fan it hurts but it’s only sport at the end of the day

I just like watching exciting and even series of cricket , where conditions are not so in favour of the home team, it’s a waste of time

and with that, it’s time for me to go to bed

hope to read you all tomorrow

 

[Starfighter]

There's a 15 min highlights up on the ECB and Wales youtube channel now that you can watch in AUS. Don't know if it's gonna get every key moment but it should be a fairly comprehensive showing of the days play.

They're very good at not showing missed chances, especially if it's England fielding.

 

[TheJediBrah]

That’s fair comment but when you look it was about two feet in front of first slip at absolute full stretch

nothing regulation about a keeper taking one in front of first slip off a pace bowler and a big outside edge first ball by one of the best players in the world

It’s only opinion of course , I thought it was brilliant. Others don’t but it doesn’t matter. Its just the fun of watching cricket for me

As I said at the time it was a great catch, but at the same time a really good keeper would have been moving toward first slip as soon as the ball left the bowlers hand and had a much easier time following the edge, and taken it without much fuss. It would have been a very bad miss

 

[Shady Slim]

I think most people did. His string of away performances in the last 18 months really feels like it's come from nowhere, the way he batted in India in particular was incredibly impressive given he was considered a walking wicket against spin ten years ago.

let us also not forget as an opener only now he's got 22 matches 1993 runs at 68.72 - and if you further break that down by country (samplesizelol and all that) his lowest is sl where as an opener he is still averaging 45.66

 

[Shady Slim]

As I said at the time it was a great catch, but at the same time a really good keeper would have been moving toward first slip as soon as the ball left the bowlers hand and had a much easier time following the edge, and taken it without much fuss. It would have been a very bad miss

i remember a comment from washington capitals goaltender braden holtby who once said he hated when he made a highlight reel save and got a big heap of praise for it from the media, because the only reason you have to make a big lunge is because you're out of position to begin with.

obviously it's a bit different in ice hockey vs cricket because in ice hockey you're protecting the goal whereas to take a catch you've got to go to where ever the ball is, but i often think about that when i see a highlight reel catch behind the stumps or from the cordon

 

[Son Of Coco]

Sorry but no. Most keepers would have anticipated and moved a lot better than he did and wouldn't have needed a big one-handed dive. It was a regulation keepers catch that he made look a lot harder than it was

Yeah, you'd be disappointed if a keeper didn't take it.

 

[Burgey]

Just want to share here as there are clearly a few Aussies around

two of my kids and their children are based in Australia. Gold Coast and Adelaide

so I have no hatred towards Australia and if they win, as an England fan it hurts but it’s only sport at the end of the day

I just like watching exciting and even series of cricket , where conditions are not so in favour of the home team, it’s a waste of time

and with that, it’s time for me to go to bed

hope to read you all tomorrow

Nice sentiments. For my part, my father is/ was English and I ****ing despise them. You’re a better man than me.

 

[GIMH]

Nice sentiments. For my part, my father is/ was English and I ****ing despise them. You’re a better man than me.

prick

 

[Burgey]

So if you’re pulling hip height balls off quicks you’re in very very good form. Also, Carey’s on drive off Broad with the second new ball was as good a cricket shot as you’ll see.

Looks like there’s some decent turn already too. Green sucked in with a really good piece of bowling.

Lastly, Travis Head. From 8(24) to 50(63)….

 

[Gob]

Think England are still ahead at this point. This deck should break up over the next few days and the Overhead conditions should give the seamer something to work with even if it's flat. Ide say a 50 run lead is roughly par and anything over 100 lead is advantage AUS.

Really need Carey and khawaja to bat through for atleast another 100 runs. Where fielding a tail of a bad #9, a #10 and 2 #11's. We'll be lucky to get 40 runs from the 8-11 combined.

England's catching really let them down today. If they take even one of the 4 chances today there looking at a 100 run lead and a chance to bat under sunny skies tomorrow morning.

Nah anything par and its on like ****. If Moeen Alley gets that much turn, Lyon could really have a day out on this next time he bowls

 

[Nintendo]

Nah anything par and its on like ****. If Moeen Alley gets that much turn, Lyon could really have a day out on this next time he bowls

You reckon? Moeen has always had the ability to rip the odd one, most balls werent turning nearly as much as the one that got green.

 

[Gob]

You reckon? Moeen has always had the ability to rip the odd one, most balls werent turning nearly as much as the one that got green.

Was turning quite a few towards the end though it could be down to harder new ball

 

[Gob]

You get even and get a couple early and its cat amongst the pigeon time

But of course they can fold for 330 given that tail

 

[Nintendo]

Just watched the Smith dismissal, missed it earlier in the day. You can tell he's declined a bit with that dismissal and a few of his dismissals in the last India tour. I said this 6 months ago, but peak Smith wouldn't have missed a straight one like that or gotten beaten on the inside edge by the straight ball as often as he did in India.

The fact he's still managed to average ~50 since the 2019 Ashes despite being past his absolute best is mighty impressive.

 

[GotSpin]

Carey feels like a massive improvement on paine as a player but their batting averages are fairly similiar and I don't think carey is a better keeper. Don't know where i'm getting that feeling from, but it's nice to see carey do well after that horror india series.

Carey is a much better keeper than Paine

 

[Son Of Coco]

If SOC says something an Englishman has done is decent, it means it’s other worldly brilliant

I've always said Jimmy Anderson is an ok bowler.

 

[Nintendo]

For the England fans that have seen Pope take the gloves, how good a keeper is he? I know he took the gloves in PAK when foakes was out and I don't think he made any massive errors but I can't remember it to well either. Would he be a better option than bairstow with the gloves?

In the past I've said drop Crawley for foakes, but Crawley actually had a solid start to the season in county this year and has made runs/been NO in all 3 digs this summer, even if he's been shaky at points. Seems unfair to drop him now after England backed him for so long.

 

[Prince EWS]

For the England fans that have seen Pope take the gloves, how good a keeper is he? I know he took the gloves in PAK when foakes was out and I don't think he made any massive errors but I can't remember it to well either. Would he be a better option than bairstow with the gloves?

In the past I've said drop Crawley for foakes, but Crawley actually had a solid start to the season in county this year and has made runs/been NO in all 3 digs this summer, even if he's been shaky at points. Seems unfair to drop him now after England backed him for so long.

Nah Pope is definitely worse than Bairstow.

Even if he wasn't I'm not sure batting three and keeping is sustainable long term.

 

[Nintendo]

Nah Pope is definitely worse than Bairstow.

Even if he wasn't I'm not sure batting three and keeping is sustainable long term.

Not thinking of it as a long term solution, more just a few tests this summer to see if Crawley continues making runs up the order or if you can bin him for foakes.

The fact that in 18 months England's issue has gone from "How do we get one test standard top 3 bat" to "how do we fit all our test standard bats and keeper bat + one nepotism/make a wish passion project kid in the team" is a major achievement in itself.

 

[Bahnz]

Yikes, Bairstow. I have some sympathy for the missed stumping even if it was one that should’ve been taken, but that missed catch was as regulation as they come standing up.