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

[Shri]

Good man, appreciate your support! I stand by most of my ratings at the time (well, at least of the Test/Associate/top FC players).

if you are oli norwell, i am the guy who lost the activation key an DM'd you on twitter, then got impatient and bought the game again before you replied the next day

 

[Burgey]

Smith is a great player, other than him I definitely don't see Australia doing well on slow seaming decks (remember 8-15?).
England batters should be better prepared theoretically due to more familiarity with conditions.

I remember - it was eight years and no subsequent England Ashes series wins ago.

England's players should be more familiar with those conditions but their games are manifestly unsuited to them. The players they've selected pick the line and hit through it like a poor man's Matthew Hayden. That's why they want flat decks. Can you see Duckett, Crawley, Pope and Brook knuckling down to grind out a tough session with the ball decking everywhere? Of course not, because they simply aren't up to it technically or temperamentally.

 

[Kirkut]

It has nothing to do with tradition. This simply happened because they correctly judged that they were a significantly better Test side in those conditions, than Pakistan.

Now, on the trot they've incorrectly estimated that they are significantly better sides than both New Zealand and Australia, and it's bit them in the ass. That is more of less on of both arrogance, and comeuppance.

I disagree with that, before bazball they lost the Ashes comprehensively and were troubled by prime Bumrah/Siraj at home.

It's definitely not arrogance, more like a strategic move to leverage their power hitting ability from limited overs cricket into tests. But there are certain conditions to be met for this strategy to be a success always.

 

[Anthony Clayden]

Not sure if the game has settled which team is better. England probably should've won as 280 is a hard get. So Australia's effort is even more impressive. England could reflect they took runs back into the shed on the 1st innings declaration but Australia won the game without significant contributions from Marnus and Smith. England can probably pick a better balanced attack as well which all means neither team should feel too disheartened or optimistic over their chances for the rest of the series.

That first innings declaration ... hmmm. I guess it can be justified as part of the bazball package which has been so successful. It gives Eng two shots at the openers and if they got Usman early they win the test. Maybe I'm struggling to find justifications for it. Really it is a component of bazball that can be junked without affecting the overall tactic. With Root still in the likelihood of further runs would have insured against all the mistakes England made in the field. Probably England's biggest tactical mistake in the game.

England had the advantage of being at home, had the best weather conditions to bowl, are missing critical players and don't have great replacements. If Ali can't play, who is the next spinner? If Stokes can't bowl more than part time an without a decent spinner, the 3 other pace bowlers will get worn down by Australia. Our slow batting means that bowlers get a better break, batting fast maybe attractive but it is not attritional and attrition matters in 5 test series.

 

[Spark]

Smith is a great player, other than him I definitely don't see Australia doing well on slow seaming decks (remember 8-15?).
England batters should be better prepared theoretically due to more familiarity with conditions.

That was a completely different side with completely different players. Warner and Smith are literally the only two batsmen left from that team.

 

[the big bambino]

England had the advantage of being at home, had the best weather conditions to bowl, are missing critical players and don't have great replacements. If Ali can't play, who is the next spinner? If Stokes can't bowl more than part time an without a decent spinner, the 3 other pace bowlers will get worn down by Australia. Our slow batting means that bowlers get a better break, batting fast maybe attractive but it is not attritional and attrition matters in 5 test series.

I think Eng can better balance their attack by including Wood. They'll have to stick with Moeen who hasn't played tests for a while and could improve after this less than impressive performance. His track record v Aus is ordinary though. He Stokes and Root will have to bowl around 30 overs you'd think. They could bring back Foakes too.

Agree about the relevance of SR in tests. I think there's a point where there is no more advantage to scoring quicker. I think Steve Waugh aimed at about 3.5 to 4 an over and that gives your bowlers enough time to take wickets. Scoring faster increases risks against your own side without delivering any additional benefit to your bowlers.

However Bazball has been successful and perhaps some of the reason is that its shocked oppositions who panic at the rate of scoring, lose their own bowling plans and are somehow pressured into scoring just as quickly without being mentally prepared for it. Maybe Bazball is just a scam and oppositions should just hang up on it and keep playing their strengths.

 

[Spark]

However Bazball has been successful and perhaps some of the reason is that its shocked oppositions who panic at the rate of scoring, lose their own bowling plans and are somehow pressured into scoring just as quickly without being mentally prepared for it. Maybe Bazball is just a scam and oppositions should just hang up on it and keep playing their strengths.

I don't know about scam but this is ultimately why I think that Cummins employing defensive tactics as a default is fine at least in theory. I don't agree with the specifics of how he went about it in this game, but the idea that England are so hyperfocussed on aggression that simply sitting in, restricting boundaries and waiting for inevitable errors isn't a terrible one. I just wish they would at least try to restrict scoring to one side of the wicket.

 

[the big bambino]

Completely agree. Bazball can reward a risk averse response from the opposition which kind of indicates its reached a point where the returns aren't justified.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

“It‘s something we spoke about as a group,” Robinson said. ”We said once we get past Cummins, we feel like they’ve got three No. 11s. It’s something that we can target through the series and try and wrap up their innings quite quick and try and give us that momentum into our batting innings.”

The difference:

England feels confident targeting the bottom 3 while Australia feels confident targeting the top 3.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

The most important stat to come out during the first test

Australia > Kiwis > soap dodgers

Please. Daniel Vettori's tactical mastery won that test for Australia. Whatever happens in this series is due to Kiwis.

 

[MW1304]

People are unsurprisingly loving the Bazball comeuppance.

Still think we're competing far better than we would be with anyone else as captain.

I think England supporters more than anyone know we'll have to take the rough with the smooth. Stokes is clearly a ****ing mahoosive gambler and it's not going to stop the higher the stakes get.

Strap in, I guess.

 

[Son Of Coco]

England batters should be better prepared theoretically due to more familiarity with conditions.

Yeah exactly. This is the 'home ground advantage' some people mix up with preparing decks specifically to suit your team.

 

[Nintendo]

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.

They do bazball while bowling. It's why you see an u15 umbrella field vs green and khawaja, and why stokes put three fielders on the bat at rawlupindi and bounced babar with the new rock.

 

[Spark]

Honestly the one time they probably didn't do "Bazball" in the field was right at the end, there were a lot of easy singles on offer for the two of them there.

 

[Shri]

Can you see Duckett, Crawley, Pope and Brook knuckling down to grind out a tough session with the ball decking everywhere?

brook is a silly **** who averages 40 in fc cricket. needs to be cut down to size

 

[Nintendo]

Smith is a great player, other than him I definitely don't see Australia doing well on slow seaming decks (remember 8-15?).
England batters should be better prepared theoretically due to more familiarity with conditions.

Head smashed a 100 vs this Eng attack on a Hobart green top, made a run a ball 90 vs a gun SA attack on the seam equivalent of a first day square turner, and made 160 vs India in the WTC final on a difficult deck last week in England. Marnus averaged 50+ last time we toured England on the exact type of pitch you described. There's plenty of guys in this lineup who can play on those decks.

 

[Burgey]

Honestly the one time they probably didn't do "Bazball" in the field was right at the end, there were a lot of easy singles on offer for the two of them there.

They were behind in the game and they blinked.

 

[Daemon]

Yeah, killing the joke in less than an hour, surely a new record

It’s a terrible joke and far inferior to the Late 130s one that is somehow not catching on

 

[Anthony Clayden]

Is England going to produce batting friendly wickets for the whole series? Are the groundsman that responsive to the team management?
England team management asked for flat, but there bowlers are going to be ground into breaking down by Australia.

 

[Daemon]

It also renders the best bowler in the world in these conditions kinda useless. Pretty dumb if you ask me.