No excuses Smith has outplayed them on his own. England can't say they were unlucky with Anderson either. We picked an unfit player and had the chance to test him out against Ireland. So him breaking down is tough luck. You have to respect Smith the way he has taken full advantage.
It is but I've seen this England side before find demons in a pitch that don't exist. This is the day to test out the ticker of these England batsmen. Who is gonna have the balls to stand up like Smith did and bat long. Joe Root is long overdue such a knock.
Batting wasnt really an issue i expect the draw ... im usually accurate .. i dont let my heart overide my brain when assesing sporting contest.
There is nothing wrong at all with that pitch if you apply yourself. However I can see a panic ensuing if the rain stays away and us being all out for 120. Any England fan knows we are capable of that.
Nah Ali will put in a valiant 70 ensuring we last till after tea before losing by 150. The upshot being Australia win AND Ali keeps his place... In all honesty this pitch had nothing for the seamers so as long as we apply ourselves we've only got ourselves to blame if we lose. There's enough in that batting line up to put in a days batting in these conditions. That I don't expect us to survive speaks volumes.
The only fly in the ointment is batting is notoriously difficult if the rain is just intermittent in England. Tends to juice up the pitch and ensure prodigious swing. Hard to get started and get rhythm. So those wishing for rain should be careful what they wish for when playing in England.
You're trying too hard mate. Pretty much everyone has said that Smith has fought hard to make Australia the only team who can now win this and the only person on the thread who wanted rain was... you. Dust yourself down and come up with some better wumming for the next match.
I love it when people confuse the words i wont agree to winding up. All you guys have done is moan about englands bowling... australia had a mountain to climb from day 1 and theyve done very very well. If it was the other way around youd be up joe roots ringhole rather than focus on australias bowling.. petty
Nothing confusing here mate, you're the only person I've seen calling for rain - don't try and put words in other peoples mouths. There's been many positive things said about Smith, if you don't see it then so be it. Root is a walking wicket today, he's looked skittish and uncomfortable. Just had a decision overturned but I would be amazed if he's still batting in an hour. When your "best player" and captain is sending out that body language I don't hold out much hope for the team.
It's just about the correct mentality. The batsmen need to focussing on a century of deliveries faced. If the top 6 all faced 97 deliveries then that would be a draw in the bag. Obviously some will do worse than that so others need to do better but overall the target is 582 balls to get through, so far we've had 91. Ignore the runs entirely, they are pretty much irrelevant.
