And you've hardly bowled in 6 months? I think that's also really harsh personally. He should not even be there. He decided he needed time off and had an injury so really he is in here cold against a tough side away and that's never working
All very disappointing. I went to bed when Stokes got the wicket with a no-ball. Writing on the wall time!
Australia look fine. England pissed about all year playing this rubbish about resting players. They ****ed the away tests early v india and got reamed. They got reamed at home in the summer, failed in the t20 anyway so what's the point? Now they go to australia for the ashes and **** up then selection, preparation and the toss as well as never should have gone next nor near batting first but then compound it bowling an unfit and struggling stokes and top it by slaughtering an under backed leech. Imo the buck stops at the top. The players couldnt even ****ing field and all looked shattered which says unfit and under prepared all the way. Whitewash incoming.
Haven’t most of the Aussies been playing red ball cricket domestically though? Our guys don’t play for their counties so haven’t even had 4 day cricket to get into any kind of shape. Now admittedly the domestic season finished few months back so harder to do, but why couldn’t those not involved in T20 tournament gone and played domestically in Australia or New Zealand for a bit to get their eye in. Used to always have overseas players coming to England to play domestic cricket for a few months before they toured. We never seem to do that
Interesting question or at minimum why didnt they get a 3 test warm up in against another side. Ita all bad preparation and the sackings at the top need to come hard and fast. It's just plain unprofessional.
Tufnell has done a bit of a piece on bbc showing why.england gave leech a "hospital pass" by picking him First green pitch Second hasnt played since September and got no games since debacle in india in march where half the team was rested unnecessarily Third 7 left handers in aussie team. When you look at it that way it really is being set up to fail.
We got to within 58 runs only 2 wickets down . Not saying we will win , no chance , but at least we are not rolling over …yet…
Well fair play we’ve managed to make a game of cricket out of it. Root again, when chips are down guy stands up and leads from the front with the bat. Surely will go down as one of greatest test batsman? If we can get to a lead of 200 would at least make a game of it even if it’s still not quite enough. This Australia team aren’t brilliant so chasing 200 on last days of test will see how they cope under pressure.
Watched last 5 or 6 overs. Warne made a comment about Australia's issue with old ball but not quite sure how malan was on the 80s as he played and missed several in thr short while I watched. England on -60 for 2 now. Another 250-300 needed
At least they're starting to make a fist of it. We always, and i think it's deliberate, come into tests undercooked, but this was even worse than usual. We often perform terribly in the first test of a series and this was no different. I do feel sorry for Leach, as Tuffers said he was thrown in the deep end with no preparation and on a pitch not conducive to spin.
Just feel like in that case bowl defensively. Bowl it at their pads and let them just kick it away. Stick all your field on the leg side and if they want to go aerial and risk being caught in the deep fair enough. Instead just bowled it in the slot and with no turn was easy pickings.
