England v Australia - THE ASHES

[Jamo Martinez]

England have been boss, yes the Aussies may have played a few rash shots and obviously Haddin dropped Root but all in all England bowled brilliantly and cook used some inventive fields to force the game

You frequently get that kind of opportunity in a match. The really good players go on to punish them. As Root did.

 

[Frank Gallagher]

Happy as punch here...

Well in England

 

[deipnosophist]

The matches against NZ well prepared England for the Aussies. And I am glad you won. Any team that has Brad Haddin included in it, is a team I want to see lose.

 

[toffeejack]

Great performance that. I thought that the new found positive attitude helped and instead of batting our way to a declaration like we have to horrible effect previously, we knew that we'd bowl them out and win the game so played more freely. Still think it'll be a struggle once their top order get used to the pitches but great start and what a second test it should be at Lords.

I'm a traditionalist, lords should be the first test every single series no excuse.

 

[Elong]

End of the road I feel for Watson, very likely Mitch Marsh will come into the team for Lords.

I hope not though, he's a very good cricketer and will cause England a few issues, I like him.

 

[Donald Twain]

Test match cricket is very strange these days. Teams tend to give up if the job looks too much or history is against any kind of target. The amount of 2nd innings collapses seems ridiculous to me .The modern cricketer's mentality is some what different now.

 

[Elong]

Test match cricket is very strange these days. Teams tend to give up if the job looks too much or history is against any kind of target. The amount of 2nd innings collapses seems ridiculous to me .The modern cricketer's mentality is some what different now.

It's always been so mate: wearing pitches, mental pressure, team on the back foot and bowlers sniffing blood, the 4th innings is always the toughest.

 

[rascal]

Test match cricket is very strange these days. Teams tend to give up if the job looks too much or history is against any kind of target. The amount of 2nd innings collapses seems ridiculous to me .The modern cricketer's mentality is some what different now.

Think this is true. Not enough players seem to be diggin in these days

 

[Frank Gallagher]

Think this is true. Not enough players seem to be diggin in these days

i think its down to the improving standard thats being set.

bowlers watch clips of batters weak spots etc etc and can now target you individually making it that ever bit harder.. clever stuff from the bowlers and field set to be fair.. and also the captain for picking the right bowler for the job and for knowing weakness's in the oppo

 

[Donald Twain]

It's always been so mate: wearing pitches, mental pressure, team on the back foot and bowlers sniffing blood, the 4th innings is always the toughest.

All this is true but there really does seem to be a lack of test cricket mentality in the players these days ( old fart alert) 7 wickets on day one and seemingly nearly every test over with at least a day to spare if uninterrupted. Maybe it's just me but that test still looked winnable for the Aussies or least make a stand of it so you can carry over the fight till the next.

 

[Frank Gallagher]

All this is true but there really does seem to be a lack of test cricket mentality in the players these days ( old fart alert) 7 wickets on day one and seemingly nearly every test over with at least a day to spare if uninterrupted. Maybe it's just me but that test still looked winnable for the Aussies or least make a stand of it so you can carry over the fight till the next.

mitchell johnson 'dug in' didnt he! 70 odd at number 8 ...

 

[Elong]

All this is true but there really does seem to be a lack of test cricket mentality in the players these days ( old fart alert) 7 wickets on day one and seemingly nearly every test over with at least a day to spare if uninterrupted. Maybe it's just me but that test still looked winnable for the Aussies or least make a stand of it so you can carry over the fight till the next.

I see where you're coming from, 400 over two days seems easier on paper than in the mind though, massive hurdles along the way and as soon as one ball bounces differently on the pitch then the entire mindset of the batsman changes.

Some of them may believe they can chase it down by being aggressive thanks to the explosive nature of one day cricket now, but there's so much different about test cricket that I believe it will be a while before some of the old records are broken.

 

[Elong]

mitchell johnson 'dug in' didnt he! 70 odd at number 8 ...

Haha Johnson, couldn't replicate his hundred in the first innings though lol

He bowls to the left, he bowls to the riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....

 

[roydo]

All this is true but there really does seem to be a lack of test cricket mentality in the players these days ( old fart alert) 7 wickets on day one and seemingly nearly every test over with at least a day to spare if uninterrupted. Maybe it's just me but that test still looked winnable for the Aussies or least make a stand of it so you can carry over the fight till the next.

I get where you are coming from, but, for example, if ODI or 20/20 was played on a five, (or four!) day old wicket, would the scoring be the same as it currently is?

I am not a huge fan of either btw, but they have made Test cricket far better, as a spectacle, by and large.

 

[The Equaliser]

All this is true but there really does seem to be a lack of test cricket mentality in the players these days ( old fart alert) 7 wickets on day one and seemingly nearly every test over with at least a day to spare if uninterrupted. Maybe it's just me but that test still looked winnable for the Aussies or least make a stand of it so you can carry over the fight till the next.

They were making a good fist of it until they lost Warner, Smith and Clarke for very little which blew the heart out of their middle order and was more down to some excellent England bowling for me than them not having the mentality. There wasn't much they could do after that and scoring 400 in the 4th innings is almost as rare as a Tony Hibbert 30 yard screamer hitting the back of the net. Almost. I'd expect them to bounce back with a bang at Lords where they usually do well.