The Ashes 25/26

[am Bays]

The Pommy version of Shaun Tait.

Ease up Turbo, Tait lacked ability not heart, he gave it everything, just couldn't control the ball with that action and the body was always going to be strained.

Yep, Tait was quick but unlucky with his body.

Also got caught up in a team transitioning from the successful era of the 90s to mid 00s

[DOC]

Think it all comes down to the chain. Carrying that must give you neck pain…

He does not wear it whilst batting interestingly.

[dedja]

The Pommy version of Shaun Tait.

Ease up Turbo, Tait lacked ability not heart, he gave it everything, just couldn't control the ball with that action and the body was always going to be strained.

Bloody quick, had great promise but broke down often and ultimately couldn’t last in the longer game.

Seems like a snap to me.

Cricket needs a fit and pumped up Archer, I wish he could maintain it, but alas.

[Jim05]

The Pommy version of Shaun Tait.

Ease up Turbo, Tait lacked ability not heart, he gave it everything, just couldn't control the ball with that action and the body was always going to be strained.

Bloody quick, had great promise but broke down often and ultimately couldn’t last in the longer game.

Seems like a snap to me.

Cricket needs a fit and pumped up Archer, I wish he could maintain it, but alas.

Tait always gave his all though.
Archer comes out and can’t be arsed so sends down balls at 130 clicks and is only interested in trying if things are on his terms.
Must think he is some sort of rapper with his hair and bling.
Would go by the stage name of Lil’ Ticker though

[The Dark Knight]

Boycott having his say :

“England are irresponsible, rubbish and too far up their backsides to care”

I hope everyone read that with a strong Yorkshire accent.

EFA

[am Bays]

Boycott having his say :

“E'land are righ' ee'sponsible, 'oobbish and t' far oop backsides t' care”

yeah, nah?

[Lightning McQueen]

What are England going to do with their side.

Neither of their spinners are any good but Jacks is 'ok' with the bat in hand. 1/34 and an economy of 2.96 probably keeps him in the side.

They haven't got many options keeping wise. Maybe at the point that they have to go with Pope and bring in another genuine bat. Bethell is probably the only option with the bat to come in, scoring runs for the Lions and averaging 38 in his first four tests with 3 x 50's.

Atkinson doesnt look like getting wickets and at 2 nil down probably have to take the punt on Wood and Archer coming alive. Maybe just maybe Smith has sparked something in Archer. Funny people had a crack at Konstas going at Bumrah last year but i would have thought Australia might wanted to have kept Archer in his shell given his about Englands only hope of bowling well and not sparked him up albeit what Smith said was right.......surprised more people haven't had a crack at Archer.

We know Archer picks and chooses when to apply effort. Could be an interesting first spell this week......albeit he probably only has one decent spell as day in him.

I'm guessing...........

Crawley
Duckett
Bethell
Root
Brook
Stokes
Pope
Jacks
Carse
Wood
Archer

The difference between Bumrah & Archer is that Jasprit has ticker...

And talent.

[am Bays]

Funny people had a crack at Konstas going at Bumrah last year but i would have thought Australia might wanted to have kept Archer in his shell given his about Englands only hope of bowling well

[Lightning McQueen]

Funny people had a crack at Konstas going at Bumrah last year but i would have thought Australia might wanted to have kept Archer in his shell given his about Englands only hope of bowling well and not sparked him up albeit what Smith said was right.

It wasn't just funny people having a crack at him.

[gadj1976]

I've been on holidays this past two weeks, so I've been able to watch the test in its "entirety".

Random observations:

Bazball seems to work when England already have the upper hand or are playing against minnows. When behind, or in trouble, playing aggressively doesn't work because it's not natural. For Australia, it is natural (aggressive nature of play) hence we can dig ourselves out of trouble.

Yesterday saw Stokes and Marks play "properly" and get them back in the game.

Carey standing up to the stumps circumvented the above to an extent. This wasn't only a brilliant tactic, but brilliantly executed. If he'd dropped 3 catches, then we'd all be venting!

Crawley, not sure he has the ability to put in a big dig. Gets starts and then gets out.

Duckett, Pope - not good enough in Australian conditions. This goes to my next point...

McCullum and Stokes have created a cult mentality. Question them and you're an imbecile or a past player/hack as they know better. The preparation for this tour has been shocking. They won't say they aren't up to the standard of Australia, but they aren't even close. With Cummins and Lyon to come in, we're only going to get stronger. For them, their B team got done by an inning! They can go to Noosa to rearrange the deckchairs but I fear its going to be rinse repeat in Adelaide.

Doggett did the team thing and bowled short. That's not his gig though! He's not quick enough for that. He needed to be able to bowl length and wasn't.

Selection was poor. I would've left either Doggett or Neser out and left Lyon in. Our attack looked a little bit 'same/same' to me.

The Poms need a rest? Gimme a break. 5.5 days cricket so far! FMD. They are in for a world of pain.

[dedja]

Some great points there.

At the end of the day, whatever the strategy or approach, results are what matters.

The coach, captain and all others responsible for the way the Poms play will be made accountable by those results. They have been given a lot of rope, and if they continue with the same results for the rest of the series, it would be inconceivable that heads won’t roll.

On the other hand, if they keep plotting the same course and start winning, they will justify their approach, and quite rightly so.

[batmanbegins]

Rough rough 2 tests with everything going wrong. Preparation was poor and just the sheer stubbornness to adapt is the most annoying thing. In both tests we have been in it or in front and then just played stupid cricket. Test cricket is hard and you have to go through the gears but we dont. Stokes and Mcollum worked to reboot the group when we were rock bottom but the lack of evolution is befuddling. Id go with the below team next test

Duckett
Crawley
Jacks
Root
Brook
Stokes
Smith (he deserves to keep going, hes been awesome till these 2 tests and he'd literally never played a pink ball game before this test)
Atkinson
Wood
Tounge
Archer

Carse bowled garbage and I think Atkinson is a better bowler, hoping his 2 wickets yesterday helps him.

[Armchair expert]

My XI for the next test

Weatherald
Hunt
McSweeney
Sangha
Head
Scott
Carey
Manenti
McAndrew
Buckingham
Doggett

Thoughts?

You’re missing one tiny thing — the actual best player on the team. But hey, who needs talent, right?

[Armchair expert]

Rough rough 2 tests with everything going wrong. Preparation was poor and just the sheer stubbornness to adapt is the most annoying thing. In both tests we have been in it or in front and then just played stupid cricket. Test cricket is hard and you have to go through the gears but we dont. Stokes and Mcollum worked to reboot the group when we were rock bottom but the lack of evolution is befuddling. Id go with the below team next test

Duckett
Crawley
Jacks
Root
Brook
Stokes
Smith (he deserves to keep going, hes been awesome till these 2 tests and he'd literally never played a pink ball game before this test)
Atkinson
Wood
Tounge
Archer

Carse bowled garbage and I think Atkinson is a better bowler, hoping his 2 wickets yesterday helps him.

Dang if only he had the opportunity a week prior....

Think your team is spot on unless Jofra needs a rest then I'm not sure what you do, can't play Carse again imo

[gadj1976]

Some great points there.

At the end of the day, whatever the strategy or approach, results are what matters.

The coach, captain and all others responsible for the way the Poms play will be made accountable by those results. They have been given a lot of rope, and if they continue with the same results for the rest of the series, it would be inconceivable that heads won’t roll.

On the other hand, if they keep plotting the same course and start winning, they will justify their approach, and quite rightly so.

Isn't this the definition of stupidity though?

If you are tracking toward a win and you keep plotting the same course and don't deviate, then you can start winning very soon, but their approach is haphazard and with little or no direction underpinning it!

If their hierarchy said 'we were outplayed, we're going to watch the entire test in the back office and pick out the key points to our players where we can directly attribute to the game swinging out of our control' and 'we're going to train for Adelaide's conditions, starting tomorrow' then I'd be thinking they can swing this around.

They've done nothing to prepare for this tour. They've done nothing to prepare for the pink ball test and nothing suggests they are heading in the right direction at all.

So no doubt knowing my luck, it will be 2-1 after Adelaide.

[whufc]

In the second innings England scored at 3.2 an over...........i'm not sure how people can say they haven't tried to adapt. That's as slow as they've gone in many years. That's almost as slow as test sides will go these days. Even taking out Stokes and Jacks partnership all the other players tempered back their natural aggression.

Yeah some players are struggling with the extra bounce and instinctively playing shots, we wouldn't play on our wickets but they're hardly the first lot of tourists to struggle with the extra bounce. Especially given first up they've been sent to Perth and Brisbane two of the bounciest wickets. But its not like their getting out charging down the wicket or trying reverse ramps.

The biggest criticism has to be on their preparation. Easy to mistake their tour as a working holiday with cricket on the side. Why some of the guys didnt play the lead up pink ball game ill never know.

[RB]

The coach deserves way more stick that the captain IMO, who has more ticker than most of the Poms.

I don't think I've ever seen a more casual looking sports coach than McCullum. I guess you don't want to go too far in the other direction à la JL but geez he gives off low energy vibes.

Has Baz in his three years in charge helped England improve one iota versus Australia or India? I can't see it.

[Lightning McQueen]

Rough rough 2 tests with everything going wrong. Preparation was poor and just the sheer stubbornness to adapt is the most annoying thing. In both tests we have been in it or in front and then just played stupid cricket. Test cricket is hard and you have to go through the gears but we dont. Stokes and Mcollum worked to reboot the group when we were rock bottom but the lack of evolution is befuddling. Id go with the below team next test

Duckett
Crawley
Jacks
Root
Brook
Stokes
Smith (he deserves to keep going, hes been awesome till these 2 tests and he'd literally never played a pink ball game before this test)
Atkinson
Wood
Tounge
Archer

Carse bowled garbage and I think Atkinson is a better bowler, hoping his 2 wickets yesterday helps him.

Tongue is good cover for Wood.

[Eagles2014]

The fact England are heavily fined and lose Test Championship points and Australia gets away scott free for slow over rates means the system is absoultely stuffed. What an absolute joke you can bowl 74 overs on Day 1 and nothing happens.

[mal]

In the second innings England scored at 3.2 an over...........i'm not sure how people can say they haven't tried to adapt. That's as slow as they've gone in many years. That's almost as slow as test sides will go these days. Even taking out Stokes and Jacks partnership all the other players tempered back their natural aggression.

Yeah some players are struggling with the extra bounce and instinctively playing shots, we wouldn't play on our wickets but they're hardly the first lot of tourists to struggle with the extra bounce. Especially given first up they've been sent to Perth and Brisbane two of the bounciest wickets. But its not like their getting out charging down the wicket or trying reverse ramps.

The biggest criticism has to be on their preparation. Easy to mistake their tour as a working holiday with cricket on the side. Why some of the guys didnt play the lead up pink ball game ill never know.

Very good post
From what ive seen the Australian batters after the 1st dig in Perth have played as many iffy shots as the Poms
The Ozzies have done it better though
Steve Smith, for example , who entertained us all, played crazy shots, the type he really does not need to play v The Joff
The Green step back to the square leg fence and bowled was a shocker

BOOKMARK
The ball swings more in EG
We might be posting about the Australian batting techniques if they fail on the next tour of England

POMS rest of this tour
Batters who should or should not BAZBALL
CRAWLEY .................DEPENDS ON STATE OF GAME
DUCKETT ..................YES
POPE ........................DEPENDS
ROOT........................ NO
BROOKS.................. ABSOLUTELY MUST
STOKES................... DEPENDS