Cricket - The Ashes

[cheshirevaliant]

I think Australia will win tonight.

[TylerB]

England needs to put on at least a hundred runs for at max 1 more wicket this evening to really have a chance of winning the game. The first session this evening will make or break us.

[The Kalamazoo Kid]

We really need Root to dig in and produce a significant innings, as his opposite number did for them.

 

If he goes early then I think cheshirevaliant (above) will be right and the Aussies will wrap it up with a day to spare.

[CambridgeDon]

Yes, we need Root to dig in but what on earth has happened to Cook? I thought that after he relinquished the captaincy he would be back to his fluent best but they've done him twice in the first test. We need to bat for the whole of the next three sessions to have any chance of winning at the Gabba.

[Paul6754]

Freakin' typical, there's always one Aussie we can't get rid of.

 

Torrid time for the England top order at the end of Saturday, Test Match cricket at its best. Need Root or one of the England batsmen to play a big innings.

 

Overall and man for man their bowlers are more venomous than ours so to my eyes Australia are favorites for the series.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

I think Australia will win tonight.

 

Thanks! 🙄

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

Yes, we need Root to dig in but what on earth has happened to Cook? I thought that after he relinquished the captaincy he would be back to his fluent best but they've done him twice in the first test. We need to bat for the whole of the next three sessions to have any chance of winning at the Gabba.

 

Don’t really see how we can win now even if we do bat all day today as we are scoring as slowly as them, draw would be great I feel.

[The_godfather]

Don’t really see how we can win now even if we do bat all day today as we are scoring as slowly as them' date=' draw would be great I feel.[/quote']

 

Agreed. I think a draw would be good too; take the initial sting out of the Aussies expected win. I think the low scoring rate in the final session was mainly due to the loss of 2 early wickets. Ali & Bairstow tend to score faster, so if we can create a platform for them to attack later in the day, there is a chance. I'm not hopeful, but that is what they should look to do!

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

Well what an embarrassing day that was. There is one huge difference between the sides, mental toughness, they have it in bucket loads and we have none. They might have well have joined the tourists on southbank beach!

 

 

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[For Us All]

Same old.

Might as well give the urn to whoever is playing at home?

[cheshirevaliant]

Thanks! 🙄

 

There are worse places to spend a Monday, REP.

 

Key differences between the sides is knowledge of home conditions, hence why there has only been 1 away victory in Ashes cricket since 2001. I do not see that changing any time soon, unless the powers that be get together and stop the farcical "warm up games" that both boards subject the opposition to.

 

It is vaguely ridiculous to suggest that the likes of Cook, Anderson, Broad, Root, even Bairstow with all he has come through in life lack mental toughness.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

There are worse places to spend a Monday, REP.

 

Key differences between the sides is knowledge of home conditions, hence why there has only been 1 away victory in Ashes cricket since 2001. I do not see that changing any time soon, unless the powers that be get together and stop the farcical "warm up games" that both boards subject the opposition to.

 

It is vaguely ridiculous to suggest that the likes of Cook, Anderson, Broad, Root, even Bairstow with all he has come through in life lack mental toughness.

 

Not if you’d watched today’s shambles and paid thousands to do so, look at how scared Broad and Ball were when batting against an old ball and an out of form Starc, look at the ridiculous way Bairstow threw his wicket away in both innings (I’m talking about mental toughness in sport not through personal tragedy which many of us have suffered). Root’s stats prove he struggles to convert from nice 50’s to big hundreds, comparing him to Smith highlights his huge flaw in this area and they are 1 and 2 in the world. Cook struggled badly also. Anderson I will give you but he needs to get his hands on Woakes and Ball who is in all honesty completely out of his depth.

 

If we lose in Adelaide which is our biggest hope I can see us crumbling again and losing 5-0, the difference is that wouldn’t happen to the Aussies in England as they have too much inner strength and we don’t have the killer instinct needed at the top level of elite sport to crush opponents when they are down, look at the last home Ashes.

 

I do agree with regards to warm up matches though, easy enough to get a couple of county or shield sides over to the other country or indeed your own B team (Lions in our case) to at least offer a little more planning and competition.

 

 

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[cheshirevaliant]

Not if you’d watched today’s shambles and paid thousands to do so, look at how scared Broad and Ball were when batting against an old ball and an out of form Starc, look at the ridiculous way Bairstow threw his wicket away in both innings (I’m talking about mental toughness in sport not through personal tragedy which many of us have suffered). Root’s stats prove he struggles to convert from nice 50’s to big hundreds, comparing him to Smith highlights his huge flaw in this area and they are 1 and 2 in the world. Cook struggled badly also. Anderson I will give you but he needs to get his hands on Woakes and Ball who is in all honesty completely out of his depth.

 

If we lose in Adelaide I can see us crumbling again and losing 5-0, the difference is that wouldn’t happen to the Aussies in England as they have too much inner strength and we don’t have the killer instinct needed at the top level of elite sport to crush opponents when they are down, look at the last home Ashes.

 

 

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Been there, done that paying £1000s to watch England away in the cricket on many occasions all round the world REP. I feel your frustration. Ball is out of his depth in all probability, although I'm not sure who is likely to come in to replace him at this stage.

Cook may have struggled badly in this Test but still has well over 11000 Test runs, made all around the world. He clearly doesn't lack mental toughness.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

Been there, done that paying £1000s to watch England away in the cricket on many occasions all round the world REP. I feel your frustration. Ball is out of his depth in all probability, although I'm not sure who is likely to come in to replace him at this stage.

Cook may have struggled badly in this Test but still has well over 11000 Test runs, made all around the world. He clearly doesn't lack mental toughness.

 

I see your point regarding Cook but then how do we reason his second innings dismissal?

 

 

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[For Us All]

Not if you’d watched today’s shambles and paid thousands to do so, look at how scared Broad and Ball were when batting against an old ball and an out of form Starc, look at the ridiculous way Bairstow threw his wicket away in both innings (I’m talking about mental toughness in sport not through personal tragedy which many of us have suffered). Root’s stats prove he struggles to convert from nice 50’s to big hundreds, comparing him to Smith highlights his huge flaw in this area and they are 1 and 2 in the world. Cook struggled badly also. Anderson I will give you but he needs to get his hands on Woakes and Ball who is in all honesty completely out of his depth.

 

If we lose in Adelaide I can see us crumbling again and losing 5-0, the difference is that wouldn’t happen to the Aussies in England as they have too much inner strength and we don’t have the killer instinct needed at the top level of elite sport to crush opponents when they are down, look at the last home Ashes.

 

 

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I think it's a bit simpler than that REP,we can't cope with fast aggressive bowling when we go down under and the Aussies have the same problem with swing bowling over here.

It's fast becoming all too predictable.