Cricket: Industrial Action Edition

[lmanion]

Well done Cook good to see him back in the runs even though it means england are going well. Really showing a touch of class today even though Smith has let him off twice.

As for the pitches thats what happens when pretty well all of the test grounds have drop in pitches in Australia because of the AFL. Some years they come up flat and fast but mostly they are just dull and featureless. It used to be the Gabba would be seaming around and good bounce, Adelaide was a road after the first day and then day 4 into 5 would start to spin and variable bounce, Waca was fast and bouncy and even Warne was dropped there in favour of another fast bowler a few times, MCG was a seamer and would get lower as the test went on and the SCG was a spinners pitch. Now they are all just dull, except the Waca was almost back to what you would expect this year.

[The Winged Shadow]

Ouch, Broad got robbed there. There was too much doubt, should've been a not out soft call....

[williamjm]

16 hours ago, The Winged Shadow said:

Ouch, Broad got robbed there. There was too much doubt, should've been a not out soft call....

England had some bad luck with decisions, although Cook meant that it didn't really matter too much. Of course, a lot of the blame for the bad decisions was on England batsmen not reviewing when they should have. I think maybe they needed a refresher course on some of the rules of the game, such as not being out lbw if the ball hits the bat first.

There's a big challenge today for England, they are in a dominant position in the match but still need to bowl Australia out again and it may not be easy on that pitch.

[Philokles]

At least nobody can complain about England players not walking if they evidently do not even know when they've hit it.

[Jeor]

One day to go. England in a position of strength - the only possible results are a draw or England victory. They don't have to worry about losing the game, so they can go all out for a win. With Australia still behind by 65, and an extended day's play, if they skittle Australia for another 150-200 runs (remember Australian collapse from first innings) they could really win it.

However, to do this they need to get both Smith and Warner out in the first session. Big if.

[Paxter]

Another century coming up for Smith. He’s at the top of his game right now.

But overall: boring pitch - boring cricket.

[Ski the Swift]

20 hours ago, Paxter said:

Another century coming up for Smith. He’s at the top of his game right now.

But overall: boring pitch - boring cricket.

-shuffles nonchalantly back to the forum-

Erm.... -cough-

Went to day three and dear god the Australian bowling attack was fucking horrendous. Not a single full ball was bowled by the quicks. How did they think that was going to go?

To top it off my friend got tickets to the normal area, when I could have got tickets for members. Which means I had to drink god awful mid-strength beers all day. 

The humanity!

[Jeor]

The pitch coming under lots of (deserved) criticism. It probably didn't help that it followed on from Perth which was one of the faster wickets we'd had there in a while.

If I were a partisan SCG groundsman it would be hard to figure out what would be best. The traditional raging turner would be good (as England don't have a proper spinner and we do) but it would probably blunt the pace attack too much. Still, if Starc is back fit, and a dustbowl helps reverse swing, then that could be a lethal concoction.

[Ski the Swift]

1 hour ago, Jeor said:

The pitch coming under lots of (deserved) criticism. 

I don't think it's deserved at all, it just starts to show possibly how poor some of the bowlers are these days. Showing how hard captains and their bowlers are willing to work at a decent strategy instead of instant wickets (which has been infected into Test from T20).

[Jeor]

36 minutes ago, Ski the Swift said:

I don't think it's deserved at all, it just starts to show possibly how poor some of the bowlers are these days. Showing how hard captains and their bowlers are willing to work at a decent strategy instead of instant wickets (which has been infected into Test from T20).

There was some poor bowling, sure. But to have only two wickets fall on the whole of Day Five of a Test match, one of those wickets being from a very poor slog by Warner, you have to wonder if the pitch ought to bear some of that blame. There were virtually no cracks and no turn on the last day of a Test which is a bit unusual.

[Ski the Swift]

5 minutes ago, Jeor said:

There was some poor bowling, sure. But to have only two wickets fall on the whole of Day Five of a Test match, one of those wickets being from a very poor slog by Warner, you have to wonder if the pitch ought to bear some of that blame. There were virtually no cracks and no turn on the last day of a Test which is a bit unusual.

Just not sure I can agree with you. I place a lot of blame at both captains feet. Not a whole lot of attacking. I mean when Root scalped Warner he had an aggressive field and actually bowled to one of the rough patches in the pitch. 

England could have afforded to be more adventurous, what did they have to lose? If they put a closer fielding presence on the Australians, play some decent spin and get smacked for a few how does it matter? They only had that choice really, or stay the one they did and draw the match anyway. It's not like Australia we're going to go for the win by that point.

The game was definitely England's for the taking but poor captaincy and bowling was to blame for the draw, not the wicket.  It's just easy for them to place blame there, bloody whinging Poms.

[Hereward]

The only people I've heard whinging about the pitch have been Australians. Steve Smith for example.

[Ski the Swift]

37 minutes ago, Hereward said:

The only people I've heard whinging about the pitch have been Australians. Steve Smith for example.

I was at the ground and I heard the Barmy Army. And I also heard every Pom commentator on channel 9 coverage banging on about it. I was a little embarrassed for channel 9.

[lmanion]

Yeah it was widespread and from both sides of the fence that the pitch wasnt right. I do agree somewhat that there could have been more done by both sides especially england on the last day. The Aussies werent particularly good for most of the match especially the big 1st innings collapse but they bowled quite poorly really and if Smith catches Cook instead of dropping him the game would have looked a lot different.

I think if Australia were in Englands position on day 5 they would have been a lot more attacking in the field and gone for the win. It seemed England were just happy to not lose so they would avoid a whitewash.

[Jeor]

Looking ahead to Sydney it'll be interesting to see if England persist with Ali. You should always play a spinner at the SCG so it'd have to be Ali or Mason. Now Mason's a 20 year-old with a first-class bowling average in the 40s, but in a dead rubber you never know...it might be worth giving him a shot, it's conceivable they picked him in the touring party purely for this Test.

That being said they have good part-time options in Malan and Root already so they might feel they can give Ali one more chance.

[Paxter]

I’d persist with Ali, but would’ve preferred to see someone like Rashid included in place of Curran. I’m not convinced that Mason is ready for test cricket based on his tour performances so far. I’d probably go for Leach in Rashid’s absence.

As an aside, I’m struggling to recall the last time the SCG test actually meant anything. 2010-11 Ashes?

[williamjm]

2 hours ago, Jeor said:

Looking ahead to Sydney it'll be interesting to see if England persist with Ali. You should always play a spinner at the SCG so it'd have to be Ali or Mason. Now Mason's a 20 year-old with a first-class bowling average in the 40s, but in a dead rubber you never know...it might be worth giving him a shot, it's conceivable they picked him in the touring party purely for this Test.

That being said they have good part-time options in Malan and Root already so they might feel they can give Ali one more chance.

I doubt the plan was originally that Crane would play as a sole spinner, although Ali's form is so poor that it's questionable whether he should be counted as a specialist spinner at the moment.

I am also wondering who will be the spinners for the New Zealand tour.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Speaking of complaints about the last Test -- some Aussie commentator gushed about Warner's consistently "patient" batting.  (and no, they were not taking the piss.)

[Ski the Swift]

6 hours ago, williamjm said:

Ialthough Ali's form is so poor that it's questionable whether he should be counted as a specialist spinner at the moment.

Hard for him to be a specialist spinner when your captain doesn't support you or give you field placings to support some aggressive bowling. Just my two cents.

Just wondering how the two sides are shaping up for the ODI series? I've been out of the loop and am finding myself attending the MCG match on the 14th. 

[williamjm]

26 minutes ago, Ski the Swift said:

Hard for him to be a specialist spinner when your captain doesn't support you or give you field placings to support some aggressive bowling. Just my two cents.

It has been a common issue with England captains that they seem nervous about aggressive spin bowling. I don't think it explains Moeen's poor form on its own because he had a successful English summer under the same captaincy.

Just wondering how the two sides are shaping up for the ODI series? I've been out of the loop and am finding myself attending the MCG match on the 14th.

England have been on a good run of form in limited overs cricket, particularly with the bat. Even with Ben Stokes still MIA, they've got plenty of players with good ODI records coming into the team in the form of Buttler, Hales, Roy, Morgan, Rashid and Wood. I don't know what the Australian limited overs form is like, but I suspect it might be a closer contest than the Test series.