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

[Kenneth Viljoen]

Total credit to England. They are ouclassed by this Aussie lineup but they will take them right to the limit to get Australia to beat them.

England played really well , arguably the better cricket but Australia had the stronger mentality to just hang in there and overcome .

 

[CartyDurham]

2 balls before the declaration root ran down the pitch and spooned one just over the fielder for two. It's just as likely england lose the next two wickets for 10-20 runs and don't get the four overs at the openers with the new rock after they've been running around all day, and another shot at them with a new rock on day 2 first thing if they don't declare. England got Aus to 20-2 and 50-3 after the declaration on a dead pitch. The issue was bairstow costing them 100+ runs in the field, not the declaration.

That’s exactly what the gamble was. He was hoping to get Warner before close

we didn’t lose because of that but it appears people think we did

 

[anderbroad]

Yeah, you probably did tbh

Yeah we did but they knew that decision when they made it. Bad weather in coming. How can we win this match. Gamble and declare to move the game on. Not sure why people cannot understand this.

England play to win. Might mean we draw less games and lose some but we are going to go for it.

 

[Cricket CoachDB]

Yeah, you probably did tbh

We'll never know for sure, but it's fair to say that it did not help.

 

[Preed]

Can’t agree more after a brilliant match that Stokes captaincy has been highly praised at times but his arrogance this time has cost us big time.Stupid declaration insistence in bringing Ali back and not taking new ball with Jimmy at the end even though he has not had a good game.Aussies said you can’t play Bazball. Against us and they were correct.We won’t get Smith and Warner and labuchange so cheaply againTime to think about winning and not playing to the press

 

[CartyDurham]

Yeah you want two blokes who aren't interested in anything but the win/loss, Anderson and Broad would be it. They would be crushed right now.

They won’t be. They are all in on this method

they were getting moved out of the squad prior to stokes becoming captain

 

[loterry1994]

Bazball worked because it set England with like a 90% chance to win at the end but the captaincy wasn’t great after Carey went down. Stokes was captaining well all test but got it wrong the last 50 runs plus good batting by aus tail

 

[Socerer 01]

That’s exactly what the gamble was. He was hoping to get Warner before close

we didn’t lose because of that but it appears people think we did

when did ****ing Warner who was Broad’s bunny last time around become a threat worth losing 50 runs for?

 

[Spark]

Yeah we did but they knew that decision when they made it. Bad weather in coming. How can we win this match. Gamble and declare to move the game on. Not sure why people cannot understand this.

England play to win. Might mean we draw less games and lose some but we are going to go for it.

I honestly think the declaration made the win significantly less likely even with the forecast. It really alleviated the scoreboard pressure Australia could be placed under in the first innings.

 

[SteveNZ]

Strange interview on sky by Stokes just there. Seemed more interested in how we played and entertained than by a loss.

Will need to watch it again as may have got the wrong end of the stick

I wonder how much of this is Brendon getting into his head. I don't reckon Baz has as much skin in the game as Stokes - he could walk away tomorrow and go lie on his bed of money back in Matamata and know he's fashioned a reputation of giving it a crack and had a whole nonsense term coined about his involvement in it. Whereas Stokes is trying to be the England skipper who wins back the Ashes...I dunno. I know Baz cares but he can't care as much as Stokes and it's quite easy for him to wax lyrical about entertaining losses. I dunno if that's something I'd like my country's Ashes skipper to say.

 

[CartyDurham]

Can’t agree more after a brilliant match that Stokes captaincy has been highly praised at times but his arrogance this time has cost us big time.Stupid declaration insistence in bringing Ali back and not taking new ball with Jimmy at the end even though he has not had a good game.Aussies said you can’t play Bazball. Against us and they were correct.We won’t get Smith and Warner and labuchange so cheaply againTime to think about winning and not playing to the press

Well we’ve got Warner for around 12 runs ave for the last 6 tests in England

as for the other two, they didn’t perform like one and two in the world so that’s to be seen

 

[chris.hinton]

View attachment 36137

still 4 more tests

 

[Shri]

this was what lyon looked like when cummins debuted for aus under ponting

 

[Kirkut]

is Root reverse ramping or playing funky shots really a bad thing? didn’t he get runs with them and force field changes?

A slightly more conservative approach in 2nd innings would have mounted the scoreboard pressure on Australia.

 

[Bahnz]

2 balls before the declaration root ran down the pitch and spooned one just over the fielder for two. It's just as likely england lose the next two wickets for 10-20 runs and don't get the four overs at the openers with the new rock after they've been running around all day, and another shot at them with a new rock on day 2 first thing if they don't declare. England got Aus to 20-2 and 50-3 after the declaration on a dead pitch. The issue was bairstow costing them 100+ runs in the field, not the declaration.

Yeah England took the 20 off the final declaration over. Quite likely they’re bowled out for less than that if they play normally.

 

[Cricket CoachDB]

are you the cricket coach dev

I researched the database for players until a few years back. Miss it!

 

[CartyDurham]

I honestly think the declaration made the win significantly less likely even with the forecast. It really alleviated the scoreboard pressure Australia could be placed under in the first innings.

That’s not how England play this era

can people not see and accept that ?

they are all in to create a last inning game, chasing and bowling

it was chances missed not another 30 mins batting that lost the game

I’m trying to make this simple but it’s pointless now

see you at lords

 

[SteveNZ]

2 balls before the declaration root ran down the pitch and spooned one just over the fielder for two. It's just as likely england lose the next two wickets for 10-20 runs and don't get the four overs at the openers with the new rock after they've been running around all day, and another shot at them with a new rock on day 2 first thing if they don't declare. England got Aus to 20-2 and 50-3 after the declaration on a dead pitch. The issue was bairstow costing them 100+ runs in the field, not the declaration.

OK, yep that's true. Bairstow's boobs for hands is no doubt the most impactful...I'm as much talking about the mentality of the declaration as the tangible result. I didn't like it at the time, I got drunk and merry over the weekend and thought I liked it, and now I'm back to thinking I don't - because I don't like that it gave away ascendancy.

 

[Spark]

Like if he declared on 450 having romped it home all day then sure, make a statement. But 380 just isn't that big a score in that pitch and it opened up a real risk that Australia could bat England out of the game, which should absolutely never happen in that scenario

 

[Shri]

are you the cricket coach dev

one of the few games that i did not pirate