Cricket: Industrial Action Edition

[ljkeane]

Soft dismissal for Jennings after being given a life earlier. I suspect that's him done in test cricket for now.

Westley had his first real failure today as well. It's not a disaster by any means but a few innings in he looks fairly legside dominant which test bowlers may start to exploit. Still, he looks a lot better than the other two likely options at three in Ballance or Jennings.

[Paxter]

A great innings from Ali was the nail in South Africa's coffin. It's a shame that this series didn't produce a truly close/memorable match, as I think it was fairly even and hard-fought across many sessions of cricket. But SA's continued failures with the bat have really cost them. I doubt they will produce anything noteworthy in the fourth innings here.

[ljkeane]

The England squad for the first test against the West Indies has been announced. The changes are Woakes back in, Stoneman for Jennings and Crane in for Dawson.

Woakes was always going to be back in as soon as he was fit and Jennings clearly had to go. The only question was whether one fifty would be enough to justify selecting Hameed but I think letting him develop a bit more is probably the right call. Dawson was a complete waste of a selection but replacing him with Crane seems to suggest Rashid's test career is over. I think with an eye to playing in Australia having a legspinner involved is a good idea but I'm not sure going with Crane ahead of Rashid is the right way to go, time will tell I suppose.

[desire]

The poms  have made a few changes should still be one sided to the poms 

[Paxter]

The idea of England (or any team!) playing a legspinner in Australia always bemuses me. The idea I suppose is that the wickets offer bounce and some pitches (SCG, Adelaide Oval) offer turn as they wear out. And, of course, England has seen the likes of Warne and MacGill spin Australia to victory many times on home soil and would love to emulate their successes. But the simple fact is, visiting legspinners (and finger spinners) have been eaten for breakfast in Australia for many, many years. Last summer, the usually excellent Yasir Shah was completely dismantled by Australia. Anil Kumble is probably the only wrist spinner I can think of who had anything like a decent record in Australia in the last 20 years .

England would be better off doing what Australia has finally done: accepting that there is no decent legspinner in the country and playing a competent finger spinner instead.

[ljkeane]

On 8/15/2017 at 2:26 AM, Paxter said:

England would be better off doing what Australia has finally done: accepting that there is no decent legspinner in the country and playing a competent finger spinner instead.

Well we'll definitely be taking a finger spinner. The question is who'll go as the second spinner, it's arguable whether they qualify as decent but Rashid and Crane are better options than Dawson.

So Stoneman didn't last too long in the latest audition for Cook's temporary partner. In fairness it was a very good delivery from Roach so I'm not sure you can read too much into it.

ETA: It's not looking great for the West Indies, the bowling isn't offering much control. The worrying thing is the bowling is the half decent part of the team.

[Paxter]

No surprises that this series has begun in a one-sided fashion, rather echoing what we saw in Sri Lanka recently. We may need to wait until the first Bangladesh v Australia test for some competitive international cricket. Although I'm not holding my breath!

@ljkeane: I assume though that you wouldn't expect the second spinner to play at all unless Ali gets injured?

ETA: Australia's Women's Ashes defence has been struck a major blow with an injury to captain and star batter Meg Lanning. Following England's recent WC win, you'd think they are well placed to regain the Ashes in Australia later this year.

[ljkeane]

8 hours ago, Paxter said:

 

@ljkeane: I assume though that you wouldn't expect the second spinner to play at all unless Ali gets injured?

It depends what they do with the balance of the side.

I don't think Malan is going to cut it at five, it could be Ballance back in to replace him or there's some talk of Hales. Alternatively I don't think there'd be any issue playing some combination of Stokes, Bairstow and Ali at 5,6 and 7 with Woakes at 8. If you do that I don't see the point of five seamers so you might as well play a second spinner. 

[williamjm]

After an embarrassingly one-sided first Test, it looks like the second might be a bit more competitive although we'll have to see if the Windies batsmen can do a bit better tomorrow than they did in the first Test. The West Indies bowling did look significantly better with both Roach and Gabriel bowling well, although some of their fielding was a bit comical, if they'd held on to their chances England wouldn't have got to 200. Probably the most frustrating thing for England is that none of their inexperienced batsmen who have question marks about their place in the team managed to make any kind of contribution, it looks like they'll be heading to Australia without knowing who half their top order should be. 

[Paxter]

Strange day of cricket really. West Indies lurched between impressive and amateur, while England were decidedly sub-par and fortunate to reach 250. I agree with BillyJ that the continued failures of possible Australian tourists like Westley, Malan and Stoneman are a major concern, even though I still expect England to canter to victory in this series.

Looking forward to the first test at Mirpur and a return to test cricket for Ashton Agar.

[ljkeane]

Conditions are probably about as good as you're going to get to bat at Headingly but it's still a great effort from Brathwaite and Hope to both get hundreds. The West Indies have edged ahead now with 7 wickets still in hand.

[Paxter]

A pretty good fightback from the Windies in this series. I wasn't too surprised to see Brathwaite go big as he has been one of their most consistent test batsmen, but the emergence of Hope was unexpected and exhilarating. England responded quite well on Day 3, with someone in the top order other than Cook (finally) going past 50. But once again it will be up to Root and the lower order to pick up the pieces and set something for the West Indies to chase. Westley looks to be the next head on the chopping block.

Speaking of picking up the pieces, it will be Steve Smith who is again tasked with saving Australia's bacon. After a decent all-round bowling performance, the Aussies conspired to lose three wickets in the last 7 or so overs of play. But for me the real story of the day was Bangladesh resurrecting their innings after Cummins' early feast. Some skeptics would have been writing them off completely after that start, but Shakib and Tamim made a brisk 150-run stand to restore pride.

[ljkeane]

13 hours ago, Paxter said:

Speaking of picking up the pieces, it will be Steve Smith who is again tasked with saving Australia's bacon. After a decent all-round bowling performance, the Aussies conspired to lose three wickets in the last 7 or so overs of play. But for me the real story of the day was Bangladesh resurrecting their innings after Cummins' early feast. Some skeptics would have been writing them off completely after that start, but Shakib and Tamim made a brisk 150-run stand to restore pride.

It's a bit more than restoring pride. Australia are in serious hole now if they don't bowl Bangladesh out pretty sharpish. Batting last with a significant deficit won't be a lot of fun in Dhaka.

Shame it's not on tv here in the UK.

It's a good test at Headingly but I think the Ali Woakes partnership has killed off the Windies chances of a win.

[williamjm]

4 hours ago, ljkeane said:

It's a good test at Headingly but I think the Ali Woakes partnership has killed off the Windies chances of a win.

I think England are now favourites for perhaps the first time in the match. With all 10 wickets in hand it's definitely possible for the Windies to either win or draw, but it's going to be tough on a fifth-day pitch that is offering some spin for Moeen as well as offering something for the seamers.

It looks like this is another occasion when England are saved by the length of their batting line-up, it must be very dispiriting for the bowling side to have a player as good as Moeen coming in playing shots all around the ground at number 8, and Woakes is also far better than a batsman coming in at number 9 has any right to be. To be fair, most of the top order did contribute this time as well, only Westley failed to do anything while Stoneman and Malan fought hard for their half centuries.

[The BlackBear]

Lot of dropped catches. I'd say we were lucky to be able to declare.

[Paxter]

Yeah Australia is (not for the first time) in big trouble on the subcontinent. You'd think that any lead of 200 or above would give Bangladesh a great chance, and even 150 could be a difficult chase batting last on this pitch. Australia will need quite a lot to go their way now - maybe another batting collapse from the hosts or some more dropped catches in the fourth innings.

[ljkeane]

Looks like I might have jumped the gun a bit with writing off the Windies chances of a win. You'd think a draw is probably still the likeliest result but it's been a great effort to put themselves in with a chance.

[shortstark]

Thanks for this Windies, long time coming.. Has taken the bitter taste of Arsenal out of my mouth.. 

[williamjm]

Great victory for the Windies there, it's pretty rare to have a successful chase of a 300+ total on a fifth day pitch. They had a bit of luck along the way due to more dropped catches (although there was also Kyle Hope's incredibly unlucky runout off a dropped catch). Moeen seemed disappointingly unthreatening for most of the day and Woakes' bowling was far below his best so a lot of the work fell to Anderson and Broad and Braithwaite and Hope dealt well with them. Blackwood also came in at just the wrong time for England, the total was already looking vulnerable even before he came out swinging.

I think England's biggest problem was the mediocre total on the first day, they were always chasing the game after that.

The next match certainly looks interesting now, it's hard to predict what might happen there.

[Paxter]

Some great test cricket on display at the moment - West Indies pulling off an unlikely victory at Headingly (breaking a 17-year drought in England) and Australia trying their best to win just their second match on the subcontinent for several years.

It's hard to know exactly how Day 4 will play out in Dhaka. Australia has the momentum with Warner batting so well, but the conditions should be very helpful for the Tigers' spin bowling.