It's highly unlikely but the thing with being skittled out so quick and 'only' being 100 down is that there is a whole load of time and overs in the game... 'IF' England can get them for 150-ish, and have us chase 250-ish with 2 days to go, surely we can approach the challenge with a bit more thought and consideration...?!? #nevergiveup #fightfortheashes #clutchingatstraws
Yeah and change some rules between innings. Aussie bowlers have to bowl with their other hand, only 1 stump to aim at and no slips allowed
How many have got out trying to hit a ball that wasn't going to hit the stumps? If this Paine fellow had any corinthian spirit in him he'd declare now and watch us struggle to get half way to the 200 we'd need. Smith apart the Aussie batters are not much better, just marginally less ****e than we are.
I don't think the pitches for this Ashes series have been up to scratch to be truthful Oddy. I know that curators are supposed to make pitches fair for both sides, but the truth is that all countries like the home team to have an edge. In this case I think the strips have been a bit too juicy which has given Australia an advantage as we have more depth when it comes to bowling. And we have Steve Smith.
A long day 3 awaits for England with the Aussie number 8 showing he is far more aware of where his off stump is than the entire England team . Then Broad get's Labuschagne to nick it and Bairstow drops it. Not straightforward but one that a top class wicketkeeper would expect to take. But Bairstow isn't a top class wicketkeeper, nor is Buttler. Ben Foakes is but we continue this nonsense of picking average wicketkeepers to bolster our batting. The selectors are ****wits.
Chan, since Gilcrest came onto the scene with his gung ho batting, and Dhoni to some state, we've been looking at the 'duel skilled' player... What our selectors dont seem to realise is that Gilcrest was a top keeper first and foremost who could handle a bat yet we seem to be looking the other way first... Thing is, Butler and Bairstow both get in as we have no better quality batters out there, hence them both being in. Im with you though, nowt wrong with Foakes, should be in for me as well...
If Buttler or Bairstow are good enough to be picked solely as batters then fair enough. But Foakes is the best wicketkeeper we have by a mile so he gets the gloves for me. Bairstow dropped Labuschagne twice in the 2nd innings, once yesterday (tough chance) and then this morning (routine for a top international keeper). We also got away with it with Buttler in the CWC. He made some fairly basic errors (catches and stumping) but we still crawled over the line, just. I don't care how many runs they get if they can't take the chances behind the stumps when they come along they're no good at Intenational level. Of course the other problem is that the Counties are barely playing any red ball cricket through this Ashes series so it's almost impossible for someone out of the team to put their hat in the ring for selection. Consequently all the talk is of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Now 8/13 favs. It would knock 1981 out of the park imo. I’d still be backing the Aussies @13/10 but I’m am a world ranked pessimist.