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*Official* Third Test (Headingley, Leeds) 6–10 July

GIMH

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Pothas said:
The thing is there wasn't a way of getting Root at 4 and Brook at 5 while not giving Bairstow the gloves. Stokes opening would be the only one I could see and that takes away his superpower.

Again, not saying Bairstow playing as a keeper has been anything other than a disaster so far but do understand how they got there.
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No, it’s a fair point. With a fully fit Stokes you can probably put either Bairstow or Brooks at 5, the other at 6 and Foakes at 8 if Ali is at 3. But as things stand you can’t do that and we can’t have Ali at 3 and a non bowling Stokes at 7. But Jonny with the gloves is not a good idea. I’d have swapped exactly no batsmen for him this time last year. I’d go as far as to trade him for Steve Smith right now; that’s how bad he’s been.
 
GIMH

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Pothas said:
Not sure what they do with him now. Probably won't be dropped but he looked shot in this game.
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The only option is win the toss, bat first, watch him score a run a ball double ton and declare before he comes out to bat second time round
 
P

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
GIMH said:
The only option is win the toss, bat first, watch him score a run a ball double ton and declare before he comes out to bat second time round
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Nah.

Australia will win the toss and put England in because they are scared of England chasing.
 
NZTailender

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Interesting scorecard to wake up to - and then to read through this thread to see how it played out.

Been some relatively close games - reckon the 4th game will by an innings victory situation, mostly down to one side scoring sfa as opposed to the other racking up 400+.
 
S

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Uppercut said:
Brook playing the match winning innings at 5 shows the benefit of putting your best players at their best place in the order and filling in the scrubs around them. Cricket consensus seems to be that the best players should move around to accommodate the scrubs.
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Agreed with the main premise, Brook was never a 3 which nullified his abilities. England are selling it as a bold move to let Ali at it early, which is insanity because the guy isn't good enough at 8 let alone 3. I know they'd never say so but deep down I bet Baz and Stokes were happy to sacrifice Ali for FA to get Brook down, rather than any expectation that Moeen would score runs
 
S

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
NZTailender said:
Interesting scorecard to wake up to - and then to read through this thread to see how it played out.

Been some relatively close games - reckon the 4th game will by an innings victory situation, mostly down to one side scoring sfa as opposed to the other racking up 400+.
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I dunno, this series had 300 and 300 plays 300 and 290 written all over it. A lot of talented batsmen who aren't in great form

I think England have an advantage in being able to pick their most effective side now, although Broads ability to back up must be a consideration. I'd have a four pronged seam attack of Wood Broad Tongue and Woakes, drop Ali, play Root as the spinner and play whoever is best suited to bat at 3. Unless they bat Bairstow at 3 and bring in Foakes, or Lawrence (wouldn't be doing the latter).

The advantage Australia has is surely there's more runs to come from Smith in particular, and Khawaja,Head etc are in some nick. Will be interesting as to whether they look to stick with Marsh, too.
 
Spark

Spark

Global Moderator
Nintendo said:
Smith's form in the WTC/India series/Ashes so far has been a bit concerning, honestly. Not done terribly, and has made two match winning hundreds, but he had a torrid time in india and is averaging 31 this ashes so far. Deserves just as much criticism for recent form as marnus does.
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???

How does the bloke who has made two hundreds in his last four games deserve as much criticism as a guy who looks extremely fortunate to be making 25 man.
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
SteveNZ said:
Agreed with the main premise, Brook was never a 3 which nullified his abilities. England are selling it as a bold move to let Ali at it early, which is insanity because the guy isn't good enough at 8 let alone 3. I know they'd never say so but deep down I bet Baz and Stokes were happy to sacrifice Ali for FA to get Brook down, rather than any expectation that Moeen would score runs
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Haha yeah absolutely. Moeen was unlikely to score many runs anywhere, he was a sacrificial lamb to let everyone bat in their normal positions. Even though he failed it kinda worked to some extent with Brook playing a crucial knock.

I probably would have just moved Root to 3, Brook to 4 etc - everyone up one from the last test - but to be fair I wouldn't have picked Moeen in the first place so I was nowhere near their thought process.

A real wildcard, but not really that wilder than Moeen doing it, would have been Woakes at 3. He has a good technique against the moving ball. Realistically out of the question one Test after the shortest bowling on record though given he's so bad against that, not to mention fatigue concerns with him also playing as an opening bowler.
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
SteveNZ said:
What do the Australians see as the best XI for the 4th Test?
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Neser in for Boland. Hopefully Cummins is right to go for all five, but if not then Haze will have to come in for him for a Test. Would rather him miss this one than the fifth Test if he doesn't think he can go the full set.

Hard to say what to do about the top six. Green in for Warner is obviously tempting but no idea who to make open in that situation. They might ask Head to do it but it'd be a brave, brave call.
 
Shady Slim

Shady Slim

International Coach
congrats ingerlund!! as with how the aussies got over the line in the first two, the poms were able to not blow as many key moments as we did: someone else already did say that but it bears repeating - this series hasn't been a sermon in clutch but the winners of each have clutched enough
 
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