OT - The Ashes

[canarydan23 4,136]

Seemed to abandon Bazball when it mattered, field should have been crowding Cummins from the first ball but we let him get in.

Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory there.

Still, a lot to be optimistic about, that was a massively fortunate win for the Aussies. Crawley's wicket, Aus getting to bowl for the only period when it favoured the bowling side, Bairstow's muckups and Broad's no-ball wicket.

Truth is the Aussies can't beat us unless we beat ourselves. Cut out silly errors, trust luck will even itself out and the Ashes are ours.

[canarydan23 4,136]

2 minutes ago, ricardo said:

The ist innings declaration looms large now.

Not really, we don't play for draws now, we play to win. Couldn't have won without the declaration. I suspect it'll be his field placements in those last 20 overs that keeps him up tonight, not the declaration. 

[Branston Pickle 3,742]

I’m afraid we got what we deserved - it’s all well and good being positive at the right time, the declaration was stupid (though of course we could have been all out two balls later), our batting yesterday too gung-ho. Root is far better than that.  It is a five day game, you have to respect the opposition and the history of the game at least to some degree.

[king canary 7,705]

Just now, canarydan23 said:

Not really, we don't play for draws now, we play to win. Couldn't have won without the declaration. I suspect it'll be his field placements in those last 20 overs that keeps him up tonight, not the declaration. 

It still looms though. If we'd have added 30 more it could have been very different. Staying in a bit longer wouldn't have been playing for the draw.

It was a gamble and it didn't pay off. Happens.

[Branston Pickle 3,742]

1 minute ago, canarydan23 said:

Not really, we don't play for draws now, we play to win. Couldn't have won without the declaration. I suspect it'll be his field placements in those last 20 overs that keeps him up tonight, not the declaration. 

Sorry, you can have that opinion of course, but to me it’s rubbish.  With less than 1/5th of the game gone, you cannot even vaguely say ‘it is our only chance of winning’.  Even now it is demonstrably untrue - 20 more runs might have seen us home.

[king canary 7,705]

Two selection questions loom for the next test.

1-Mooen. Can we afford him if he's going to be that expensive? When he's good he's good but when he's bad he's dreadful. Bowled some absolute pies today. Obviously injury a factor but this has always been an issue. 

2- Bairstow. His wicket keeping cost us badly this test. Do we drop Brooks to keep Bairstow as a batter and bring Foakes in? Do we risk the potential keeper errors for the added batting depth? I just don't know.

[mrdi 382]

Too many dropped catches and no balls really. And that slightly disastrous batting stint between the rain breaks really cost us. Shame. Still, a proper test match that, fair play to Cummins & Lyon for seeing that out. 
 

Also, I predicted a 3-1 series win for England, so that’s on…

Edited June 20, 2023 by mrdi

[Capt. Pants 4,329]

Fine margins. I think we really needed to make a statement and win from the position we got ourselves into.

A thrilling dramatic game but unfortunately a crushing defeat in the circumstances.

[Branston Pickle 3,742]

3 minutes ago, king canary said:

Two selection questions loom for the next test.

1-Mooen. Can we afford him if he's going to be that expensive? When he's good he's good but when he's bad he's dreadful. Bowled some absolute pies today. Obviously injury a factor but this has always been an issue. 

2- Bairstow. His wicket keeping cost us badly this test. Do we drop Brooks to keep Bairstow as a batter and bring Foakes in? Do we risk the potential keeper errors for the added batting depth? I just don't know.

I don’t think these will be for the next test - we’ll stick with what we have unless there’s an injury, but:
1. Spinner is our big problem and was always going to be this series, even with Leac.  It is poor if we don’t think we have a better option than playing a guy who retired last year. Will Jacks must be fuming.
2.  Much as I hate to say it, being a Kent fan, but if we want to be Bazball about it I think you could easily bring Foakes in and open with Bairstow at Zak’s expense - if you want to play him.

[How I Wrote Elastic Man 1,199]

5 minutes ago, king canary said:

Two selection questions loom for the next test.

1-Mooen. Can we afford him if he's going to be that expensive? When he's good he's good but when he's bad he's dreadful. Bowled some absolute pies today. Obviously injury a factor but this has always been an issue. 

2- Bairstow. His wicket keeping cost us badly this test. Do we drop Brooks to keep Bairstow as a batter and bring Foakes in? Do we risk the potential keeper errors for the added batting depth? I just don't know.

2 - drop Crawley and use someone else in the team to open. Moeen or Stokes. Pick both Bairstow and Foakes. Not ideal but we need to get Foakes in the team. 

It would be harsh on Crawley, but it won't happen anyway 

Good game, roll on the next test 

 

[Barham Blitz 666]

Bowling attack was a bit samey for me without a fully fit Stokes and Ali struggling. Needed someone with a bit more pace and bounce.

Great game.  I don't blame Stokes for the declaration - it took some dropped catches and an exceptional innings from Cummins to snatch it.  9 times out of 10 we win that.

 

[king canary 7,705]

5 minutes ago, Barham Blitz said:

Bowling attack was a bit samey for me without a fully fit Stokes and Ali struggling. Needed someone with a bit more pace and bounce.

Great game.  I don't blame Stokes for the declaration - it took some dropped catches and an exceptional innings from Cummins to snatch it.  9 times out of 10 we win that.

 

Wonder if Wood is back in for Robinson next game?

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

Gutted! Once Carey went I thought it was in the bag. The kind of game where no one really deserved to lose, should’ve stayed 4-4 without the 90+4 winner for Aus.

[overthebordercanary 143]

15 minutes ago, king canary said:

Wonder if Wood is back in for Robinson next game?

Anderson at 40 can't play every game.

[Midlands Yellow 4,118]

No regrets from Stokes post match. He plays to win and entertain and it’s not going to change. 

[Captain Holt 522]

I am heartbroken. Just like when NCFC get beat in the last minute. 

[Pyro Pete 1,941]

I've gone from believing cricket is the best thing ever, to realising there's no point to life, and all existence is futile.

[SwearyCanary 1,179]

We were beaten by a rubbish wicket prepared poorly on home soil for our game. The fact it was entertaining is credit to both sides snd a dose of inclement weather. On to the next one, fair play Australia this time 

[Ken Hairy 3,806]

1 hour ago, canarydan23 said:

Not really, we don't play for draws now, we play to win. Couldn't have won without the declaration. I suspect it'll be his field placements in those last 20 overs that keeps him up tonight, not the declaration. 

This, we don't play for draws anymore.  Some days that'll work for, sometimes it won't and I'm good with that. 

[Branston Pickle 3,742]

2 minutes ago, Ken Hairy said:

This, we don't play for draws anymore.  Some days that'll work for, sometimes it won't and I'm good with that. 

This ‘losing is better than drawing’ attitude is just a little strange for me.  Happy to take measured risk, and I’m definitely not complaining about playing positively, but there should be boundaries (pun intended!).

[ricardo 7,445]

18 minutes ago, Pyro Pete said:

I've gone from believing cricket is the best thing ever, to realising there's no point to life, and all existence is futile.

Just another one of life's lessons.

Nothing worthwhile is easy.

[Dame to Blame 102]

The two biggest cockups was leaving Foakes out ,he is by far a better keeper than Bairstow in fact he is probably in the top 3 in the world, and he is also a very good lower order batsman who had some good knocks in Pakistan and new Zealand getting us out of several holes on those tours.

And not picking Wood in place of Anderson for a bit of variation especially on a last day wicket his pace would have been huge, Anderson was getting over an injury and you could tell he was no where near his best , no rhythm and just looked well off. And a massive blow was losing Leach had  he been playing i think we would have won this game with his control and wicket taken ability .

[canarydan23 4,136]

2 hours ago, Hank shoots Skyler said:

Gutted! Once Carey went I thought it was in the bag. The kind of game where no one really deserved to lose, should’ve stayed 4-4 without the 90+4 winner for Aus.

No. The Aussies definitely deserved to lose. They struck lucky.

[Pyro Pete 1,941]

1 hour ago, ricardo said:

Just another one of life's lessons.

Nothing worthwhile is easy.

 

[AJ 1,235]

What a great advert for cricket even if it didn't go our way in the end. Was firmly in the balance for the entire match. Some questionable fielding decision towards the end when Root and Stokes weren't giving up too many runs but fitness for Ben and Moeen forced the hand I think. England do always seem to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory far too often in these situations, but 4 games to go and still all very much to play for. 

Edited June 20, 2023 by AJ

[Keyneton Canary 10]

I still reckon Australia have more chance of getting a **** off the Pope than winning the series.

This Test was what Test Cricket is all about. 5 days of good, hard cricket. With any result possible till the very end.

The curator and groundspeople did an excellent job to make the field / pitch playable with the weather that was hanging around.

Bring on Lords.

[horsefly 4,325]

17 hours ago, king canary said:

Two selection questions loom for the next test.

1-Mooen. Can we afford him if he's going to be that expensive? When he's good he's good but when he's bad he's dreadful. Bowled some absolute pies today. Obviously injury a factor but this has always been an issue. 

2- Bairstow. His wicket keeping cost us badly this test. Do we drop Brooks to keep Bairstow as a batter and bring Foakes in? Do we risk the potential keeper errors for the added batting depth? I just don't know.

If Lords is not going to be a spinners wicket I would drop Moeen given his finger injury, and bring back Foakes, leaving the very capable Root to provide spin when needed. Bairstow would then be free to bat without the burden of keeping, and Foakes would add to a long talented batting line up as well as being a first-class keeper. Bring in Wood for a not quite match-ready Anderson and I think they could trounce the Aussies.

[Fuzzar 1,705]

Great toss to win, Australia to bat. 

[king canary 7,705]

Better pitch this time?

[The Raptor 1,260]

That's today? For some reason I thought it was tomorrow. What a fool. Day off today, I think I'll find a pub and watch a bit later!