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Cricket: Industrial Action Edition


ljkeane

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A slow session for England but they will take the loss of just one wicket. The pitch will likely quicken up a bit as the match goes on, but man did it look slow this morning. Not what Starc and co were hoping for.

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Stoneman dismissed just before tea, but England have not had a bad day up until this point. The problem is that if they lose a couple more in the final session, they will probably have less runs on the board than they would like. 

ETA: As I mentioned before, I’m surprised Stoneman didn’t get an earlier look-in ahead of Jennings. He looks a good, solid player. 

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Well this wasn't what I was expecting to wake up to. A century partnership from Stoneman and Vince is definitely a bit of a bonus. 

Strange to hear they've got a slow pitch at the Gabba too.

ETA: Well shit.

ETA2: There might not be too much in it for the seamers but there's certainly something for Lyon.

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Yeah this was always the problem with the slow run rate for England. With Root dismissed this is Australia’s day.

ETA: Hmm Malan and Ali did well at the end...maybe I was harsh there! Keeping this attack down to three wickets (plus a run out) is a decent effort.

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You might say Australia slightly edged it in terms of the match situation with taking Root's wicket at the end of the day but in terms of the series I think that was a pretty encouraging start.

I was fairly worried England's batting was going to collapse in a heap so getting decent contributions from Stoneman and Vince is a real boost. If England have 4 test quality batsmen in their top four all of a sudden they look a lot more solid. As an added bonus they've made Cummins bowl for two days in a row so he's almost guaranteed to tear his hamstring getting out of bed on Saturday.

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I think I'd probably say honours more or less even at the end of the first day. The four wickets might push it slightly towards Australia, particularly with England's best batsman being dismissed, but there's always something good about having some runs on the board. I agree it's an encouraging start to the series for England, particularly with their three inexperienced batmsen all having some good time in the middle - Vince in particularly looked far better than he has before for England.

It was an interesting stat that Vince and Stoneman's partnership was bigger than anything England managed on the last Ashes tour, which shows how hapless they were last time.

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Lyon seems to be pick of the bowlers, given that the pitch seems better suited to spin than seam maybe England would have been better off picking Crane as a second spinner rather than four seamers. I can understand why they didn't contemplate doing that at the Gabba, but in retrospect it might have been a good idea.

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And Australia hit back again with two quick wickets. I’ll be interested to see how Bairstow goes in this innings and the tour more generally. 

ETA: No runs for Bairstow today. England will probably settle for 300 given that Root, Cook and Bairstow all failed. 

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What did people think of Ali in this innings? 38 from 102 seems very out of character. I’m not sure whether the promotion to number 6 was the main factor or just the slow nature of the pitch plus England’s overall strategy of wearing down the Aussie quicks. Perhaps all of the above.

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Yeah Maxwell made runs but Marsh did a good job to settle the ship, so the selectors will feel vindicated.

Overall I agree that the match is evenly poised. England have had a couple of opportunities to take the game away from Australia but each time the hosts have fought back. Good Ashes cricket.

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Still don't want Maxwell anywhere near the test side. He always plays that one good game followed by lots of rubbish games. How quickly people forget! We don't need that shit in this current team. Australia needs stability and Maxwell does not provide that. He'd need to play well over a longer period if he wants to be taken seriously. He'd be worth a gamble if Australia actually had a reliable batting lineup, which they don't. Other than Warner and Smith, no one in that team inspires confidence.

So far Marsh looks good, but we'll see. He looked good before and then fucked it up (or got injured!)

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5 hours ago, lmanion said:

Test still looking evenly poised depending on what marsh and smith can do in the morning.

I think if Australia want a significant first-innings lead they'll need at least one of them to go on to a big century. If England can get them cheaply they have a real opportunity.

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Evenly poised now after two days. England only a couple of wickets away from breaking it open, Australia one or two big partnerships away from building a first innings lead. At this point I'd say England slightly ahead given the runs are on the board, but a lot will depend on Smith/Marsh and whether Paine + lower order can squeeze out some runs.

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Pretty funny that Jake Doran made runs for Tasmania yesterday. It’s possible that Matthew Wade will lose his Shield spot! 

(For those not plugged in to the Shield season, this would lead to the weird scenario where both the current and previous Australian wicketkeepers can’t force their way into the State side).

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