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

[Socerer 01]

Are others not droning on re the declaration as if that was the only thing that happened ?

the game was test match cricket at its best. Slavering in about a declaration is pointless after all the things that happened after it

there you go. thats fair and easy

because the declaration is something that has never happened before and in the end an extra 50 runs could have put scoreboard pressure on Australia? didn’t someone already make that post here few pages back that the rest of what happened always happens in a test and this was the one unique thing? to say it didn’t have any impact at all is disingenuous

 

[CartyDurham]

For decades England have been hammered by teams all over the world. We are now attempting to go full throttle to win and if we lose so be it

that’s all what this is about

should we go back all defensive, bat for three days, no declaration, play for draws and hope for a game might turn out as a win ?

that’s the way Stokes and the England squad are choosing to play. As it stands they have a win plus in the column

it’s not arrogance or anything like that, they are trying to win

what the hell about that is not easy to understand ?

 

[Socerer 01]

I dont know why you would want to make things complicated. This England team is competitive enough to play simple conventional cricket and win or draw against Australia. You cant possibly bazball while bowling, so its only the batting and declaration thing. I dont believe England can’t play normally and rack up those good scores needed. Depending on situation and within gameplay you can always gear up a notch higher if required. At the moment if your intention is to just go out there and bazball no matter what then its a ****ed up strategy which needs serious reviewing. Whoever is saying England came closer to win this test just because of bazballing is not right because of many factors. One of them is that had England played normally and stacked up 500+ which was doable in this pitch, there would have been scorecard pressure on Australia. If you say its a trade then again I would say to review the pros and cons of this strategy. And on top of all, its not something sustainable for long period. Its a gamble.

its fine if they bat aggressively and score at rates above par on flat pitches, its what they did so successfully in odis and it worked well enough for them there. the dubious decisions are silly agreed

 

[CartyDurham]

because the declaration is something that has never happened before and in the end an extra 50 runs could have put scoreboard pressure on Australia? didn’t someone already make that post here few pages back that the rest of what happened always happens in a test and this was the one unique thing? to say it didn’t have any impact at all is disingenuous

See my last post. Just because it doesn’t happen before there’s no reason for it not to happen

stokes and his team think this is how they can win

it failed so what we move on

 

[CartyDurham]

For decades England have been hammered by teams all over the world. We are now attempting to go full throttle to win and if we lose so be it

that’s all what this is about

should we go back all defensive, bat for three days, no declaration, play for draws and hope for a game might turn out as a win ?

that’s the way Stokes and the England squad are choosing to play. As it stands they have a win plus in the column

it’s not arrogance or anything like that, they are trying to win

what the hell about that is not easy to understand ?

 

[Socerer 01]

For decades England have been hammered by teams all over the world. We are now attempting to go full throttle to win and if we lose so be it

that’s all what this is about

should we go back all defensive, bat for three days, no declaration, play for draws and hope for a game might turn out as a win ?

that’s the way Stokes and the England squad are choosing to play. As it stands they have a win plus in the column

it’s not arrogance or anything like that, they are trying to win

what the hell about that is not easy to understand ?

ffs you guys won the last away Ashes series and were the number one test side just more than a decade ago, you guys aren’t Bangladesh or Zimbabwe

 

[Pothas]

That was both amazing and absolutely horrendous.

 

[Kirkut]

I dont know why you would want to make things complicated. This England team is competitive enough to play simple conventional cricket and win or draw against Australia. You cant possibly bazball while bowling, so its only the batting and declaration thing. I dont believe England can’t play normally and rack up those good scores needed. Depending on situation and within gameplay you can always gear up a notch higher if required. At the moment if your intention is to just go out there and bazball no matter what then its a ****ed up strategy which needs serious reviewing. Whoever is saying England came closer to win this test just because of bazballing is not right because of many factors. One of them is that had England played normally and stacked up 500+ which was doable in this pitch, there would have been scorecard pressure on Australia. If you say its a trade then again I would say to review the pros and cons of this strategy. And on top of all, its not something sustainable for long period. Its a gamble.

The same gamble won them 3-0 in Pakistan, had they approached it the traditional way, the series would have ended in a draw.

England should stick to it's strengths and prepare greentops instead. Sure, Australia have a great bowling attack but English batters are comfortably better against the moving ball than Aussies.

 

[CartyDurham]

ffs you guys won the last away Ashes series and were the number one test side just more than a decade ago, you guys aren’t Bangladesh or Zimbabwe

We won in Australia in 2010/2011. It’s ancient history

ive posted above of why and I’m still not being acknowledged at all

 

[loterry1994]

Early declaration or not still don’t know how England didn’t win it after 8 wickets down. They wanted to do the short ball tactic then stokes should have bowled a few overs of it at one end. I still would have taken the new ball earlier and have Anderson and broad pitching up with the field in. Spreading the field just gave the aus tail more confidence. Australia got lucky to escape with this victory

 

[Pothas]

Don't know how anyone could defend the declaration but it is done now I guess. Not sure how I feel about the series after this, England made heaps of mistakes and still almost won it but Australia can play a lot better as well.

 

[CartyDurham]

.

don’t get hung up on the term bazball. That has nothing to do with the team as it’s a complete media thing

they want to win, god forbid I’ve watched England teams terrified to come on the field so this is a revelation under Stokes

if they want to declare they declare and going on and on about it is a waste of time

 

[Son Of Coco]

Holy ****! I can't believe we won. It seems we had an epic 9th wicket partnership.

 

[CartyDurham]

Don't know how anyone could defend the declaration but it is done now I guess. Not sure how I feel about the series after this, England made heaps of mistakes and still almost won it but Australia can play a lot better as well.

Very easily as this is how the team thought they could win and bar two wickets they nearly did

so what they lost, there’s another 4 games to come

 

[chunksafc]

The same gamble won them 3-0 in Pakistan, had they approached it the traditional way, the series would have ended in a draw.

England should stick to it's strengths and prepare greentops instead. Sure, Australia have a great bowling attack but English batters are comfortably better against the moving ball than Aussies.

I can think of 1 English batsman that will **** his pants if we prepare a wicket like that.

If the next wicket is a green top we might as well start with the first wicket already down

 

[CartyDurham]

Holy ****! I can't believe we won. It seems we had an epic 9th wicket partnership.

Only reason Australia won was the declaration. Nothing else happened

 

[Pothas]

Don't think I have ever felt a game change as much as it did in that last Root over.

 

[CartyDurham]

.

I should have just give this up early

 

[Pothas]

Very easily as this is how the team thought they could win and bar two wickets they nearly did

so what they lost, there’s another 4 games to come

It was dumb and nothing that happened after changes that.

 

[CartyDurham]

Don't think I have ever felt a game change as much as it did in that last Root over.

That’s a key thing as well. One over to many