*Official* West Indies Tour of England, JULY 9th to 25th, 2024-- 3 TEST MATCHES

[trundler]

**** spin getting wickets with half trackers is a fundamental cricket glitch. Happens all the time. Brook needs to stop being so overzealous with the scoops and ramps though. It's a valid criticism of him in all formats. England had a few catches dropped and hit some **** balls straight to the fielder. All in all, they just had an average amount of luck and scored 400 in a day. With England's style the score is going to look suboptimal every time unless they blow teams out of the water but that's obviously not going to happen often. A tail wag after a top order collapse or the tail getting out quickly after the top order get in both happen pretty often. Just a result of the score converging towards the mean as the innings progresses.

Lords last year was definitely the one time Bazball devolved to rampant doofusery though. That was bad.

 

[reyrey]

Scoring 400 plus and still finding room for criticism is a good sign of where the team is at. Reminds me of the time when England where regularly scoring 400 plus with Trott at 3 and everyone criticizing them for failing to up the tempo. That side was pretty good.

 

[Molehill]

Scoring 400 plus and still finding room for criticism is a good sign of where the team is at. Reminds me of the time when England where regularly scoring 400 plus with Trott at 3 and everyone criticizing them for failing to up the tempo. That side was pretty good.

Precisely this.

Yeah if you've got particular criticism that makes sense I'm hearing you out, and I've got absolutely no time for early declarations either.

It's the notion of 'they could have chosen to be 360-4 if they had left the long hops' that irks me.

360-4 was just an example of where they could've been if they hadn't got out to long hops. If you're happy with where we're at then fine, but I still see room for improvement, and the daft ways of getting out is undoubtedly one of them.

 

[Uppercut]

360-4 was just an example of where they could've been if they hadn't got out to long hops. If you're happy with where we're at then fine, but I still see room for improvement, and the daft ways of getting out is undoubtedly one of them.

So is your point that they shouldn't try to hit boundaries off long hops, because it's not sensible? Or is your point that hitting them in the air to fielders was a strategic error and that next time they should sensibly choose to hit them for boundaries instead?

 

[Molehill]

So is your point that they shouldn't try to hit boundaries off long hops, because it's not sensible? Or is your point that hitting them in the air to fielders was a strategic error and that next time they should sensibly choose to hit them for boundaries instead?

If you hit a long hop along the ground, are you likely to get out?

 

[trundler]

If you hit a long hop along the ground, are you likely to get out?

Rolling the wrist to keep hook shots down is the #1 cause of top edges

 

[Uppercut]

If you hit a long hop along the ground, are you likely to get out?

I don't really agree that they would score more runs if they always aimed to hit long hops into the ground rather than in the air. They'd hit fewer 4s and no 6s, and it's a more difficult technique so they might still get out just as often.

But tbf this is a coherent argument you're making now, even if it's not one I agree with.

 

[Uppercut]

I think a lot of the England camp's frustration with the media comes from this lack of specifics, because when you see McCullum talk about batting, it's all about particular shots and how and when to play them. But when pundits ask questions it's like "I see someone got out playing a vaguely unorthodox shot today, have you moved too far along the Sensible/Bazball spectrum??"

 

[Molehill]

I don't really agree that they would score more runs if they always aimed to hit long hops into the ground rather than in the air. They'd hit fewer 4s and no 6s, and it's a more difficult technique so they might still get out just as often.

But tbf this is a coherent argument you're making now, even if it's not one I agree with.

I am somewhat in agreement with you, for this is essentially what Bazball is and we've come to accept it. I just find it ****ing annoying when they get out to **** balls, because sooner or later (and it has already) it will cost you in a big game.

 

[MW1304]

Woakes on a glorious batting day like this could be asking for trouble. Real opportunity here for the Windies.

 

[grecian]

BRING BACK JIMMEH!!!!!!

inevitable

 

[BazBall21]

England's conversion rate this series so far is 1/7.

Last ashes it was 3/19!

England will probably win 6-0 this summer barring a rain intervention; but the batters need to be greedier over the 18 months after that. Big hundreds are crucial in tests.

 

[WICFan]

Cautious but better by Brathwaite and Louis so far, not getting as bogged down as the 1st test.

 

[trundler]

Woakes on a glorious batting day like this could be asking for trouble. Real opportunity here for the Windies.

He really should be targeted like England went after Holder yesterday

 

[MW1304]

Wood's turned up. Love it when he brings the heat.

 

[grecian]

Good pace from Wood, as expected, but these two will be happy not to play if not accurate.

 

[BazBall21]

97mph jeez

 

[reyrey]

Would love to see Wood hit 100mph

 

[trundler]

That's just terrible cricket. Soft, soft dismissal.

 

[Burgey]

What an awful shot