The Cricket Thread

Out of 6 openers this series, Burns is the only one to look half decent. Been shocking really.

 

Three for Curran, and it would have been four had Root not dropped Smith.

I don't want to say I told you so, to Root and Bayliss...

 

Just ridiculous how Curran hasn't played in this series before this match. England shooting themselves in the foot again.

 

Cook, Stokes, Anderson, Root, Broad. All world class players, and they all played in that India series last year. Against Kohli, Bumrah, Ashwin et al. None of them got player of series. Sam Curran did.

Bayliss and Root have messed it up so badly this summer. (Can't blame the selectors, they kept on providing the captain and coach with Curran in the squad.)

But with Woakes getting Smith there (I think that's the third or fourth time he's got Smith this series now), our chances of coming away with a 2-2 draw are very much on.

 

SMITH IS OUT FOR LESS THAN 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

All out. Great stuff from the two young bowlers.

 

Yep, shocking. As someone said earlier, if we’re going to play Roy, we may as well just let him off the leash & play 50ovs batting. Problem is, in test cricket & even standard red ball, without the fielding restrictions & the ability of the bowlers to bowl leg side “wides” & multiple bouncers, it’s unlikely he’ll have a much better impact. Denly, Burns? ..... I’m very unsure. They’re not much better or as bad as the Aussies openers but unless we’ve got a “Smith” or a bowler who can conjure up a Broad / Warner scenario (for Smith), we’re a long way off beating them over a series. Unfortunately, white ball & our loss of red ball focus has stuffed us. Australia have maintained focus on both. What were they in WC? SFinalists(?) & Ashes winners. We are WC winners & a very poor 2nd in Ashes. Close call, I suppose? Or maybe not! Here’s to a 2-2 & saving this series but losing out on regaining the Ashes.

 

How the hell is Anderson going to get back into the current England bowling attack? Archer is a potential match winner, Broad has had a reasonable series, Woakes has made a significant contribution, a side always needs a spinner and I hope Leach proves to be as good for England as Lyon is for Australia, and now Curran is back, and part of the future set-up. Plus of course the eventual contribution of the sixth bowler, Stokes.

If England go back to having four bowlers and Stokes as the 5th, who is the bowler to drop out from the side for this 5th test? England are fortunate to have an all-rounder such as Stokes, and to a certain extent Curran.

 

It will be interesting to see how he performs on the Winter tours to NZ and South Africa. I´d love to know your touring side Tom. Current test side plus Sibley, Stone, Browne (Essex), Bess, Pope, Overton, Moeen??

 

Bess and Moeen have done nothing to suggest they should be included. Plus you don't need many spinners in NZ and South Africa. I would include Sibley and Northeast - they've been the two outstanding English batsmen in CC this season. Bowling wise, both Overton's could be included.

 

Woakes would drop out. He's not had a good series.

 

Or we look to the almost immediate future. But yes, of the current crop it’s Woakes. Though it’s not bowling that’s our problem...

 

I haven’t watched much of the series, and know very little about Curran, but one comment I heard from David Gower, yesterday, suggests that he thinks that Curran should only be picked if you know the ball will swing.
His comments were something like “Bowling at around 80mph, he is cannon fodder, but when the ball swings he is a different proposition”.
On a side point, it was good to see the Aussies waste another review, trying to get the LBW overturned. From what I remember, Curran had run the entire length of the wicket, in celebration, before the umpire even signalled out, so confident was he that it was plumb.

 

A stat I read this morning is that England have only bowled 157 balls, at Smith, that would have gone on to hit the wickets, had he not played the ball.
Only twice has he not done so, leading to a clean bowled and an LBW.
Given the way he shuffles across his stumps, I would have thought that LBW would be the best option to get him out, especially with yorkers of various pace, aimed at his toes.

 

I know I was just staggered by just how extreme those numbers were

Didn’t do so bad considering ... and actually managed to go in with both openers still there

 

In overseas conditions, I would generally have serious reservations about selecting Curran. As Gower rightly says, Curran isn't the quickest and you do generally need pace abroad. (Although as it happens, the one place I would be fine with still selecting Curran is in NZ, which is where we go next.)

We should be looking more towards Wood (if fit) to supplement Archer away, than Curran or Woakes.

But in English conditions, Curran would have been one of my first picks this summer. Surrey are doing their best too, by now selecting him in their top six or seven in red ball cricket and top four or five in white ball cricket. Give him real exposure to life as an all-rounder, rather than a lower order slogger. I doubt his batting will ever reach Stokes' level, but all-rounders come in different shapes and sizes, and Curran is already a better bowler than Stokes.

 

And still ..... hope I haven’t screwed it now? Fingers x’d they’ll be able to do a 50?

 

53-0

First opening partnership of 50+ by England in this Ashes.

 

#slapsownface

Burns caught behind, had no business playing that.

 

How long before the Aussies persuade the umpires to change the ball for one that is more to their liking?
They may have made some dreadful review calls, but they seem to have got it right when getting the ball changed.