Off Topic Ashes Squad

They've got Adil Rashid in the squad, which is good news. However if he's a muslim and doing Ramadan would he be fit for a first Ashes test?

 

Not good news for Yorkshire ccc, good job we have some good youngsters coming through.Todays thrashing of Durham shows just how good this team is even without the international players.

 

Rashid won't play next week.

 

Notwithstanding any other issue it should depend on the state of the pitch and if we want to play 2 spinners.

 

True, but on such a small ground they won't take that gamble in the first Test.

 

Attended the game at Durham CCC and we were very good, bordering on bloody excellent. The strength of our all inclusive team is brilliant and the fact that a county's best players can be bled away for national duty with hardly a murmur, if not abject pride, is wonderful. Scuttling Durham before the Donner und Blitzen was superb, it was a great spectacle from the bar! I'd be surprised if Rashid featured, but if he does he will be a problem for them.

 

England win the toss and will bat. Team as expected.

Sadly, I look at that Aussie team and see runs, runs and more runs. We'll need big first-innings totals, which will probably have to come from Cook and Root (with Buttler and Stokes occasionally boosting the lower middle order). But surely Starc and Johnson won't allow it?

I hope I'm wrong, but I predict a 4-0 series win for the Aussies.

 

Lets hope Joe can get us out of a hole, seems to have started well matching Balances score already

 

England are so reliant on Root at the moment, think Bell could (should) be batting for his place in the second innings

 

I have some questions.

How many games of cricket do we play against Austrailia until we beat them? How many times do we have to win to win? How come we had to play New Zealand for 3 months over and over again? Is there any point where there's some action? Why do both teams wear White? Why do the games take all day? Why do some games take 2 and a bit days?

Will some country ever win the cricket?

 

Root and Ballance put on 153 for the 4th wicket. Root still going strong on 117.

Meanwhile the replacement cricketers of Yorkshire have beaten Warkwickshire by 175 runs. Yorkshire 24 points clear at the top and with a game in hand. Only 3 defeats in 3 and half seasons since Gillespie became coach.

 

Weldone Root & Ballance with the bat. Bit lucky at times, but all sides need that. There was a lot of skill involved in bring some respectability to that awful start.

England just need to bat out today and accumulate the runs.

Also, weldone Yorkshire.

 

Good day all round for Yorkshire, Root and Balance did England proud, and Yorkshires win over Warwickshire was excellent.

 

Another great Yorkshire win against Warwickshire and the elements.

Always funny when folk make daft comments on things they know nowt about. Ho-****ing-ho.

 

Missed the last session because of a power cut but from what I saw England seemed to be batting a bit more confidently but, worryingly, Aus looked a bit under par. They can get better, not sure we can. Looking forward to seeing what our bowlers can do on what looks to be a flat pitch.

 

It seems like a nightmare pitch for the quicks. We need a fair few more runs and a couple of early wickets, because once they settle in and the ball loses its early spring it will be a real toil for Anderson, Broad, Wood and Stokes.

Let's hope Moeen can trouble them instead.

 

Could do with Moheen getting a good few runs this morning and Broad can stay with him as long as possible, then get a good few wickets.

 

If we skittle them for under 400 I'll be very surprised. I think they'll pass 500. But again, I hope I'm wrong.