Cricket

[ToffeeTim]

During the Ashes, for England to be competitive quite a few things need to happen.

Stokes is no 1. He obviously needs to stay fit and be able to bowl.

They need to find a way to keep Archer and Wood fit so that there is always one of them playing. Even if it means Archer plays 3 and Wood plays 2 or something like that.

Smith and the tail need to be able to score some runs because lower order runs have been the difference in recent Ashes series. Cummins Starc etc will make some scores.

England need to bat long enough to give the bowlers rest in the hot conditions.

They need to be very clear in their selections. If there is no spinner capable of taking wickets on Australian wickets, then don't pick one.

The batting I have a bit of confidence in, but Root needs to continue to be excellent - and I think he will.

 

[Rita_Poon]

During the Ashes, for England to be competitive quite a few things need to happen.

Stokes is no 1. He obviously needs to stay fit and be able to bowl.

They need to find a way to keep Archer and Wood fit so that there is always one of them playing. Even if it means Archer plays 3 and Wood plays 2 or something like that.

Smith and the tail need to be able to score some runs because lower order runs have been the difference in recent Ashes series. Cummins Starc etc will make some scores.

England need to bat long enough to give the bowlers rest in the hot conditions.

They need to be very clear in their selections. If there is no spinner capable of taking wickets on Australian wickets, then don't pick one.

The batting I have a bit of confidence in, but Root needs to continue to be excellent - and I think he will.

Over the past 3 days on TMS they have talked up playing 5 seamers, of which Stokes is one. If some spin is required, rely on Root. They know what the Aus pitches are like, Warne isn't playing anymore (bless him). Got to pick and play to the strengths we have.
Bethell, Smith, Overton. 14 runs total first innings. 16 total runs second innings. woeful, awful, pathetic.

Can't carry dead weight, can't drop so many catches, can't give away so many free runs (extras), can't jeopardise a bowlers playing for the sake of a bleeding boundary four.

Let India off the hook there.

 

[ToffeeTim]

Over the past 3 days on TMS they have talked up playing 5 seamers, of which Stokes is one. If some spin is required, rely on Root. They know what the Aus pitches are like, Warne isn't playing anymore (bless him). Got to pick and play to the strengths we have.
Bethell, Smith, Overton. 14 runs total first innings. 16 total runs second innings. woeful, awful, pathetic.

Can't carry dead weight, can't drop so many catches, can't give away so many free runs (extras), can't jeopardise a bowlers playing for the sake of a bleeding boundary four.

Let India off the hook there.

Duckett
Crawley
Pope
Root
Brook
Stokes
Smith
Carse
Atkinson
Wood
Archer

That is the strongest team England can out out in my opinion.

Take Rehan Ahmed as a spin all rounder option and play him where necessary. Maybe Adelaide and Sydney will spin.

 

[Walken]

Infuriating

 

[wandyr79]

Drawn series is the right result.

I have not been that interested in cricket for the past couple of years, but really glad I went back in on this series.

Things to note. Shubman Gill and Akash Deep have very punchable faces.

Other than that I agree on what most has been said about the England team and the Ashes chances.

Oh, and is it me or does Stuart Broad talk too much? I know there is a lot of waffle from all commentators, in between balls/overs, etc. but Broad just seemed to not stop talking.

 

[Walken]

The one shame of a fantastic series is the ECB squeezing the schedule to priortise that awful hundred nonsense. A bit more time in-between tests and you probably see even better cricket

 

[Jamo Martinez]

Wonderful bowler but I notice that India won the 2 tests that Bumrah didn't play. Funny old game.

 

[summerisle]

Just Chilton and Gidney to bugger off now.

'Under his stewardship, Lancashire Cricket has made significant strides'

 

[jazzy]

Duckett
Crawley
Pope
Root
Brook
Stokes
Smith
Carse
Atkinson
Wood
Archer

That is the strongest team England can out out in my opinion.

Take Rehan Ahmed as a spin all rounder option and play him where necessary. Maybe Adelaide and Sydney will spin.

Problem is either Wood or Archer need to play in every test match and almost certainly need to play together in at least 2 of them to have any chance.

Our bowling options are so thin and they are so injury prone

 

[jazzy]

Test match was brilliant yesterday and 2-2was a fitting and fair outcome

However we threw that game away

Brook both won it and lost it. His shot to get out after hitting 2 consecutive 4s was absurd but that's the way he plays I suppose.

More worrying for me was how nervous and paralysed Bethel and Smith were. They were like rabbits in the headlights and couldn't deal with the pressure. Very worrying for the Ashes.

 

[Walken]

Aussie pundits seem convinced ypu need more than a part time spinner out there. I like Bashir more than most on here, but i also liked the look of Ahmed especially in Pakistan the first time.

 

[Rita_Poon]

The hundred is on bbc2 shortly. london spirit vs oval invincibles. 2:30pm-6pm. First match is the ladies. Mens same fixture 6pm-9:30pm.

 

[msb]

The hundred is on bbc2 shortly. london spirit vs oval invincibles. 2:30pm-6pm. First match is the ladies. Mens same fixture 6pm-9:30pm.

A series to be buried forever. Not proper cricket and not preparing players for proper cricket.

Once the franchises are finally sold, this will be T20 - even that is crap cricket.

All this nonsense is ruining proper cricket forever.

 

[Rita_Poon]

A series to be buried forever. Not proper cricket and not preparing players for proper cricket.

Once the franchises are finally sold, this will be T20 - even that is crap cricket.

All this nonsense is ruining proper cricket forever.

I can understand why it was dreamed up, can fill a day with 4 sets of 100 deliveries, and wrap it up. It means being able to plot around the weather and deliver some sort of spectacle. Change of sides HT show, bit of tv, lots of branding, shorten the boundary, kids in for pennies, drum up interest. It is a distant relative to the purity of the real test game, but even that has been altered (at least recently with the baseball dynamic).

I'm just happy there's something on. It's that point of the summer where it's starting to wrap up, numerous blissful consecutive weeks of no Everton interspersed with tennis and cricket and cycling oh and the u21 euros and the ladies seniors euros. It's actually been an ok few months.

The Everton season starts in two weeks @MikeH72 so the gloom and the suffering starts over. Quidditch anyone...

 

[summerisle]