In other news, Connor McGregor is a turd Technically not new information, but an update to existing knowledge
Day 3 should bring the first real signs of how well Stoke's England are doing. Will they regret the 3 missed chances yesterday? Probably, but not since Brian Close have England had such an aggressive captain and maybe not since Mike Brearley such a lateral thinking captain. Exciting times for Test Cricket. Stokes is a Spurs fan and in that tradition puts the performance at the top of his thinking.
Last 4 wickets for 14 runs swings the game England’s way quite a bit. Great captaincy by Stokes Now for the fun, England batting. 300-5 by the close?
Weather could play a part - off fir rain as I speak and possible thunderstorms to come Also Moeen Ali may have a hand injury which could prevent (or significantly hinder) him bowling
Great entertainment but England did throw a few wickets away. Needed Root to add another 50 or so. 331 to win would have been a tough challenge, but 281 l look very gettable even with 3 down. Australia 60/40 chance
In the end I feel that England needed a properly quick bowler at the end, Wood must play in the next test as must a fit spinner.
So many bad moments from England that handed Australia the game, first of all too many reckless shots which gave their wickets away, running down the pitch and being stumped, wild hacks across the line, missing reverse sweeps and falling LBW, then a surprising declaration leaving some extra runs out on the field. In the field, there was a missed stumping, dropped catches, a wicket taken off a no-ball and too many bad balls bowled. Stokes was half fit to bowl, Moeen Ali rusty and injured and Anderson out of sorts. Only Broad and Robinson did themselves justice with the ball. Warner, Smith & Labuschagne made a combined total of 80 runs in the match and yet the Aussies still ground out a win. It was a dead pitch and England should have had at least a draw in such placid conditions, I am all for entertaining cricket but the Ashes are on the line here, I`m not sure playing with this much bravado against the world test champions is going to regain the urn, the Aussies just played sensibly and wanted it more.
I think you are right in some ways, but without England’s impetus this game would have petered out as a draw today. England would now be better off by that, but they wouldn’t have had the chance to win. They created an opportunity to win when Carey was out, They were strong favourites then. But it was the efforts of Cummins which swung the game in the end. Defeat was not down to the style of play, but to the bowlers being unable to seize the chance. Anderson wasn’t even given the chance to bowl the Aussies out with the new ball. But ultimately, it was because they were lacking. Not enough pace to worry the lower order batsmen, unable to get any movement from the ball and an injured spinner unable to take advantage of a dry 5th day pitch.
I just made the mistake of reading some of the comments on the BBC pages after the game, then I read similar on here. The American ethos of winning is the thing has truly taken over. I read it on here all the time (Spurs haven't won a trophy) and after an amazing test match full of interest and excitement all people are concerned with is not winning. On such a pitch as this game was played it could have easily been a dull boring game of attrition. You would have perhaps preferred Geoff Boycott staying in all day and maybe scoring a run an over. Stokes is restoring cricket IMO all the win at any cost guys have the white ball games where you can indulge your fantasies about being a winner. England lost this game but I still had a smile on my face because the game was worth watching. It was competitive and in my book being competitive is far more important than just winning. We have just spent a whole season, or maybe 3 seasons watching boring lifeless football from Spurs. For me even if we had won something it would not have removed the hours of boring football. Test cricket is often accused of being boring by those who don't get it. The success of the limited over games is because it appeals to the win brigade who just don't understand what test cricket is really about. Now these people want the same ethos in Test cricket. Well we have had that for some 40 years and all that's happened is that test cricket has declined in popularity. In India and Pakistan the grounds are empty they are only really interested in the baseball version of cricket. OK fair enough it's essentially a different game and great fun but don't try to reduce test cricket to the same level. I applaud Stokes for what he is doing and look forward to four more Tests that I expect to be competitive whatever the result. If Australia are the best test side in the world (and they usually are) then competing as England did in this game should be recognised for the achievement it is. You are either a Murdoch man (winning is all) or a Mandela man who lost a whole section of his life through principle but ended victorious. I know which I prefer.
And yet you have not mentioned the one that counted : the weather. Rain was forecast over the duration of the game, therefore overs would be lost. With the scorecard as it was on day 1, better to have pushed the score as best you can.. You never want the opponent to have for their 2nd innings, a combination of a reasonable target to chase + ample time to achieve it.
