Off Topic The Ashes

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Warm Pouch said:
Looking bad for England if they lose early wickets. Rain may spoil it for everyone.

A lot is going to depend who wins the toss throughout this series again. Which is a shame because this is the one time I think England had the opportunity to win despite the toss going against them. Their selection of an unfit Anderson has really bitten them on the arse. The lack of options when trying to finish the aussie first innings was obvious, and also them not extending their first innings lead didn't help.

Rashid being unfit is a blow because Mo is not up to it at present. Some of the bowling yesterday was shocking from him including two moon balls. Leach has to come in. I defended Ali pre series because of how he goes in England but he needs a prolonged spell back in county cricket learning to enjoy it again.

No excuses for England they've been outplayed by Smith. And yes I mean Smith not Australia. Yes they lost the toss but this game was there to be won if good enough, so lets not hope for rain or blame the toss, we've been well below par. The concern for England is our much vaunted bowling attack, which is impressive, is creaking under the weight of the world cup and age. Anderson is not good and given he declared himself fit, has to be a concern heading forward. Archer's side strain is causing him issues, and they really need his pace to unsettle Smith. Rashid looks set to miss the whole summer with his shoulder issue now worse than ever. Woods has already had an op and is defo out. Olly Stone and Jack Leach may be getting the call. Nothing wrong with them, but they are getting thrown into the lions den with Ashes cricket.

This Aussie team is not one of the better ones. Smith is obviously an all time great already, but aside from him the team is fairly average. If we lost a home series to this rabble I'd struggle to make many excuses for England.
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Dont blame arms or rain please ...
 
Warm Pouch said:
No excuses Smith has outplayed them on his own. England can't say they were unlucky with Anderson either. We picked an unfit player and had the chance to test him out against Ireland. So him breaking down is tough luck. You have to respect Smith the way he has taken full advantage.
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Good man .. draw still best bet imo
 
Mickdundee said:
Good man .. draw still best bet imo
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It is but I've seen this England side before find demons in a pitch that don't exist. This is the day to test out the ticker of these England batsmen. Who is gonna have the balls to stand up like Smith did and bat long. Joe Root is long overdue such a knock.
 
Warm Pouch said:
It is but I've seen this England side before find demons in a pitch that don't exist. This is the day to test out the ticker of these England batsmen. Who is gonna have the balls to stand up like Smith did and bat long. Joe Root is long overdue such a knock.
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Batting wasnt really an issue i expect the draw ... im usually accurate .. i dont let my heart overide my brain when assesing sporting contest.
 
Mickdundee said:
Batting wasnt really an issue i expect the draw ... im usually accurate .. i dont let my heart overide my brain when assesing sporting contest.
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There is nothing wrong at all with that pitch if you apply yourself. However I can see a panic ensuing if the rain stays away and us being all out for 120. Any England fan knows we are capable of that.
 
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Warm Pouch said:
There is nothing wrong at all with that pitch if you apply yourself. However I can see a panic ensuing if the rain stays away and us being all out for 120. Any England fan knows we are capable of that.
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As does every Australian
 
Warm Pouch said:
There is nothing wrong at all with that pitch if you apply yourself. However I can see a panic ensuing if the rain stays away and us being all out for 120. Any England fan knows we are capable of that.
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Nah Ali will put in a valiant 70 ensuring we last till after tea before losing by 150. The upshot being Australia win AND Ali keeps his place...


In all honesty this pitch had nothing for the seamers so as long as we apply ourselves we've only got ourselves to blame if we lose. There's enough in that batting line up to put in a days batting in these conditions. That I don't expect us to survive speaks volumes.
 
haslam said:
Nah Ali will put in a valiant 70 ensuring we last till after tea before losing by 150. The upshot being Australia win AND Ali keeps his place...


In all honesty this pitch had nothing for the seamers so as long as we apply ourselves we've only got ourselves to blame if we lose. There's enough in that batting line up to put in a days batting in these conditions. That I don't expect us to survive speaks volumes.
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Thats a good sign that england will bat all day
 
The only fly in the ointment is batting is notoriously difficult if the rain is just intermittent in England. Tends to juice up the pitch and ensure prodigious swing. Hard to get started and get rhythm. So those wishing for rain should be careful what they wish for when playing in England.
 
Warm Pouch said:
The only fly in the ointment is batting is notoriously difficult if the rain is just intermittent in England. Tends to juice up the pitch and ensure prodigious swing. Hard to get started and get rhythm. So those wishing for rain should be careful what they wish for when playing in England.
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Another excuse pending if two drops of rain come down on the wicket.
 
Mickdundee said:
Another excuse pending if two drops of rain come down on the wicket.
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You're trying too hard mate. Pretty much everyone has said that Smith has fought hard to make Australia the only team who can now win this and the only person on the thread who wanted rain was... you.

Dust yourself down and come up with some better wumming for the next match.
 
haslam said:
You're trying too hard mate. Pretty much everyone has said that Smith has fought hard to make Australia the only team who can now win this and the only person on the thread who wanted rain was... you.

Dust yourself down and come up with some better wumming for the next match.
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I love it when people confuse the words i wont agree to winding up. All you guys have done is moan about englands bowling... australia had a mountain to climb from day 1 and theyve done very very well. If it was the other way around youd be up joe roots ringhole rather than focus on australias bowling.. petty
 
Mickdundee said:
I love it when people confuse the words i wont agree to winding up. All you guys have done is moan about englands bowling... australia had a mountain to climb from day 1 and theyve done very very well. If it was the other way around youd be up joe roots ringhole rather than focus on australias bowling.. petty
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Nothing confusing here mate, you're the only person I've seen calling for rain - don't try and put words in other peoples mouths.

There's been many positive things said about Smith, if you don't see it then so be it.

Root is a walking wicket today, he's looked skittish and uncomfortable. Just had a decision overturned but I would be amazed if he's still batting in an hour. When your "best player" and captain is sending out that body language I don't hold out much hope for the team.
 
haslam said:
Nothing confusing here mate, you're the only person I've seen calling for rain - don't try and put words in other peoples mouths.

There's been many positive things said about Smith, if you don't see it then so be it.

Root is a walking wicket today, he's looked skittish and uncomfortable. Just had a decision overturned but I would be amazed if he's still batting in an hour. When your "best player" and captain is sending out that body language I don't hold out much hope for the team.
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Calling for rain is very different to using rain as an excuse.
 
It's just about the correct mentality. The batsmen need to focussing on a century of deliveries faced. If the top 6 all faced 97 deliveries then that would be a draw in the bag. Obviously some will do worse than that so others need to do better but overall the target is 582 balls to get through, so far we've had 91. Ignore the runs entirely, they are pretty much irrelevant.
 
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