*Official* Second Test (Lord's, London) 28 June–2 July

[Son Of Coco]

Time for a break

continue playing with yourselves over smith scoring a slow hundred

Don't go yet. Broad still has a chance to get a hundred this innings. Off a lot less overs than Smith too.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Tendulkar. After his 31st ton he got Mervyn Dillon'd

Cheers.

 

[RightArmMystery]

When Smith's batting like this and seeing it this well I just don't understand how you get him out. You're just hoping he nicks one eventually but feels increasingly unlikely, and there's no chance he's missing a straight one. He's so ****ing good.

 

[TimAngas]

Smith definitely coming forward in his trigger motion as soon as Robinson gets on.

 

[Shady Slim]

getting picked as a "joker"

you know the craziest thing about society is that we live in one tbh

 

[Spark]

It's actually a pretty great origin story, getting picked as a "joker" for the Boxing Day test and immediately nicking out to Anderson on that first day.

Nah he was picked for the Perth Test

And promptly nicked out to Tremlett instead. In an even greater irony his terminal weakness was seen as fishing too much outside off stump.

 

[Socerer 01]

@Prince EWS - good news. 'Stats' is no longer a synonym for 'career Test average' it's now means 'career aggregate'. Progress!

Indian fans rejoice as they can finally claim Tendulkar is better than Bradman after this decision

 

[NZTailender]

Bro we get it, he has more wickets

Means **** all in terms of quality in these comparisons

It's ok, you've got to let the English have some stat in the game they invented to make them feel good about themselves. It's why 5% of all UKs GDP is sunk into advanced cryotherapy treatment for Anderson and why the ECB schedule 50 tests a year - if you field one player in enough tests they're bound to scrape their way into the record books on sheer time alone. Their new motto will be "why do in 80 tests what you can do in 230"

 

[Spark]

Some excellent commentary from Nasser re. Smith's retirement speculation

"What else is he going to do??"

I've been saying the same myself for years. Going to sound harsh but I imagine Steve Smith would be as close to a useless human as you can get if not for playing cricket

I could see him retiring from non-franchise white ball after this year. Surely he'll play Tests for ages though, he's still clearly got the hunger

 

[TheJediBrah]

Indian fans rejoice as they can finally claim Tendulkar is better than Bradman after this decision

I'm sure many of them have been doing that anyway

 

[Burgey]

Some excellent commentary from Nasser re. Smith's retirement speculation

"What else is he going to do??"

I've been saying the same myself for years. Going to sound harsh but I imagine Steve Smith would be as close to a useless human as you can get if not for playing cricket

probably have a coffee up at Bertoni’s on Darling Street

 

[ashley bach]

Why are stats allowed for everyone bar Anderson

the numbers don’t lie

sorry but that’s just true

How about average per wicket taken?
Or general quality of bowler may also be a better guide.

 

[Spark]

Indian fans rejoice as they can finally claim Tendulkar is better than Bradman after this decision

Someone wasn't reading ICF circa 2012 or so

 

[Coronis]

Wrong

Averaged 70 in 5 different countries away and 44 in the other one. But yeah I get your point.

 

[trundler]

It's ok, you've got to let the English have some stat in the game they invented to make them feel good about themselves. It's why 5% of all UKs GDP is sunk into advanced cryotherapy treatment for Anderson and why the ECB schedule 50 tests a year - if you field one player in enough tests they're bound to scrape their way into the record books on sheer time alone. Their new motto will be "why do in 80 tests what you can do in 230"

Seriously how the **** does Bell have 22 tons

 

[Socerer 01]

I'm sure many of them have been doing that anyway

its a far more reasonable take than claiming Anderson is better than Danny Morrison

 

[Uppercut]

Nah he was picked for the Perth Test

And promptly nicked out to Tremlett instead. In an even greater irony his terminal weakness was seen as fishing too much outside off stump.

Also pretty funny that future nerds will argue that his average should be adjusted upwards to account for the games against Pakistan where he was picked as a leg-spinner.

 

[Burgey]

Don't go yet. Broad still has a chance to get a hundred this innings. Off a lot less overs than Smith too.

Don’t encourage him to stay ffs

 

[Preed]

Stokes captaincy shown up again no third man for Cummins and he has already got4 boundaries in this area.How many 4 balls have we gi ven away this morning.We need a bowler of real pace and one who bowls maidens.This test is fast becoming one of saving but we will still go hung ho and say it’s entertaining and lose heavily.Then the powers that be won’t be so happy.Yes it’s good to watch but the public want the ashes even if they bore the pants offf in victory

 

[Spark]

Also pretty funny that future nerds will argue that his average should be adjusted upwards to account for the games against Pakistan where he was picked as a leg-spinner.

Even then he looked much better with the bat! Hit a counterattacking 80-odd from nowhere IIRC that almost dragged Aus back into a dead lost game (still lost, but it was much closer than it looked before his innings)

IIRC the CW consensus at the time was that he should have been picked at #6.