Off Topic Cricket!!!!

England facing Ireland...

Bowled out for 85 after an awful batting collapse

Well behind after the first innings

Bat OK second but another collapse and a tail end nightwatchman top scores and looks the most accomplished batsman...

England will win the test comfortably as Ireland are currently 156 behind and 6 down!!!

I love cricket me!!

 

And they are now 36-9

Absolutely ridiculous.

 

38 all out! 6 for Woakes but Sir Alastair says he wouldn't play him in the ashes

 

The wicket must have been horrific, I assume the ICC will be investigating the state of the wicket...they do this in county games when so many wickets fall in a short space.

 

Was more the overhead - ball was bouncing true but swinging like a rusty gate and every delivery on the money too

 

That's the Lords slope for you then.
When the conditions are bob on batting is an extreme sport.
Well done England.

 

Depends on the pitch and depends whether Archer is fit.

Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes as backup is a bit 'samey'.

Archer provides a bit of X-factor with that extra pace

 

As does Wood in fairness. Since he came back with his shortened run up and extra pace he's been exceptional. I like the fact it's all been over-shadowed by Archer in the public eye but there's no way he's not getting some games in key Ashes tests. At a guess you'd rotate Archer and Wood in back to back tests to keep them fresh.

 

He was tremendous in the WC and I can personally vouch for Wood's pace I faced him in local cricket a few years back just before he made his debut for England!!

Problem is I believe Wood's side strain is much worse than Archer's injury so he might be struggling for the first three tests.

The bowling unit is very strong, it's the batting which worries the **** out of me.

 

Looking forward to the Ashes.

 

Me too. Might need a sticky thread for it! Love my cricket. The tweeting Aussies were full of it after the 85 all out but turns out a 50% Aussie team were getting similar treatment at the same time

 

England awful in first innings but Ireland were immense.
Ireland mediocre second innings. England bowled okay.
England saved by a nightwatch man 3rd innings will a little input from Roy
Ireland dismal with the bat 4th innings but outstanding bowling from England.

Can't believe anyone who says test cricket is ****

If we are to win the Ashes we need to sort out top order out as we have riches in the bowling dept.

 

It's Lords of course they won't investigate it - had it been Chester Le Street or Cardiff they would have declared it a disgrace and it would be missing from the calendar for the next five years!!
We could do with Lords being dropped for the Ashes as the Aussies always win there!!!

 

Seem bowling-wise we are as strong as we've ever been and more variety than people accept.
Anderson, Woakes, Broad, Stokes, S Curran, Wood, Archer will be the 7 that take up the spots but ould just as easily have in Roland-Jones (who was great for England prior to his injury), T Curran, Stone and even J Overton or C Overton. 12 viable options.

Spin bowlers are good but not great. Ali and Denly are not really test level but can do a job. Rashid flatters to deceive in the longer format and doesn't have the control to hold up an end. Leach is better (ignoring his batting entirely) but I'd be tempted to pick one of the young ones (after the Ashes) and stick with them long term - my pick would be Bess.

Our batting is a shambles and has been for a few years. Openers just aren't test level at all. Jason Roy deserves a run and would be fine alongside a slow accumulator but Burns is the latest in a string of people failing to perform. Robson, Lyth, Stoneman, Jennings, Hameed, etc just couldn't cut it. Stoneman probably looked best out of that lot. Number 3 is just as bad - I can see us taking some odd decisions in personnel there as Denly is going to be found out - reckon Pope will be chucked in or they'll try different middle-order players in turn.

I can't see us averaging above 250 for the series so our bowling is going to have to be good.

 

Leach’s Dad didn’t even see him score the 92 as he decided not to go on the second day!! Tells you everything about his batting. He’d scored 10 in ten innings prior to that.

Agree totally that it’s going to be about the bowling. Joe Root is a great batsman struggling fir form in the test format but that’s also down to the openers in front of him. Cook retired and we haven’t had decent opening batsmen (at either end) ever since. Puts pressure on the number 3/4

 

Dont forget cook was very poor for 2/3 years before he retired.

 

Poor by his standards, still better than any of the others in the same time.

The one I feel sorry for was Compton. He averaged a decent amount and looked technically sound but simply scored too slowly. Alongside Cook and Trott we couldnt afford his slow pace. A player like that averaging 40 would add double that to each of our innings now.

 

Reckon Root will look the player he is in the ashes and people will stop giving him grief. He says himself he's knackered. I think his desire and skill will overcome the fatigue and we'll all be purring about him in a month or two. Hope so anyway! Funny enough Stokes looks the most solid at the moment to me, which is a bit of a turnaround from a year or two back! Great talent but looks a test batsmen now too

 

Anyone see the first Ashes Test?

 

Terrible performance but fair play (that makes a change for them) to the Aussies, We have more to come, I still fancy we will win the Ashes.