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Cricket 36: Ashes to Ashes, Warner to Dust...


Jeor

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This is where Root will be second-guessing himself on the decision to bowl first. 50-2 is not a complete disaster and if they can get something decent on the board there will be huge pressure on England's brittle batting.

Archer is just being over-bowled, plain and simple.

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6 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Jesus Christ, the umpires are going off for bad light at 4 in the afternoon after all these rain delays. Sometimes cricket really doesn’t help itself.

To be fair it did look to have gotten a fair bit darker - always hard to tell on TV coverage, but you could definitely see the telltale shadows from the lights being turned on.

But yes, Australia will be gleefully milking this. If they can somehow survive to tomorrow with some specialist batsmen intact and the day good for batting, Root will be regretting that decision to bowl first.

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Woakes leaking quite a few runs here, although to be fair he's had two sets of 5 overthrows and also had those 5 wides go in between the slips. Root will be getting worried now.

EDIT: Maybe Root has been following our posts! Woakes and Stokes have badly lost control of this bowling effort with the last 10 overs going at a run a ball, but Archer and Broad haven't been brought back yet which seems strange.

Well, I guess it's that old adage of adding a couple of wickets to the scorecard and seeing how it looks. Suddenly the bowling looks super dangerous again after the Warner/Labuschagne partnership was motoring along nicely.

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Awesome stuff from Marnus. I did say he was in good form!

But a good day in the end from England after encountering some resistance from Warner. The question is...can they finally bat well enough to capitalise on this effort? 

ETA: Archer ends up with a lazy six-for. Very interested to see how England fares with the bat tomorrow. 

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Excellent from Archer. Especially given how differently he was bowling from Lords. I think he brings his speeds down to the low 80s and looks for movement quite frequently when conditions suit, do it is not a case of him being tired from the last test.

Given how well Labuschagne has batted, though a horrible way to get out today, it will be an interesting decision when Smith is back. Paine would be the obvious player to drop, with Wade keeping, if he were not captain. I didn’t realise until today how bad his first class stats are - an average of 29 and a single century at 34 years old. I can hardly believe he got back in the team to begin with.

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As I understand it, Wade is not really seen as a 'keeping option for Australia anymore. Carey will be the next cab off the rank. As for how Paine got into the team, the 'keeping cupboard was a little bare after failed experiments with Wade and Nevill, so it was more of a "last resort" decision.

I would imagine that Usman might be under pressure for Nottingham with Marnus in such good form. 

India has recovered from its early batting slump, now looking more assured with Jinks and Vihari. 

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Paine has a pretty poor average in first class cricket mainly due to the finger issues that held him back from playing a lot more cricket for Australia. He was probably the best wicketkeeper in the country before the finger injury.

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5 hours ago, Paxter said:

As I understand it, Wade is not really seen as a 'keeping option for Australia anymore.

They need to also stop seeing him as a batting option! His century probably sealed his spot for the series unfortunately.....

Head has gone downhill as well. Who is in line for middle order batting for Australia if they want to get rid of some of these deadwood?

5 hours ago, Paxter said:

I would imagine that Usman might be under pressure for Nottingham with Marnus in such good form. 

With no good opening option, they may as well move him up to open with Smith and Marnus 3/4. His average and the fact that the other openers are also shit should save him.

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Great bowling from Archer and England justify the decision from Root to bowl first. Archer especially did a good job of ripping out what could have been a resistant tail with Pattinson and Cummins at 8 and 9. England should now get to bat when conditions are much better and will be looking to amass a big lead.

I wouldn't go too harshly on Travis Head. He got a really good ball to get out for a duck and in other innings he has looked reasonably good. This is where bringing in Harris might have been a mistake. Hard to drop a player based on one Test but I agree one solution would be to move Usman to open.

I will say this through gritted teeth, but an excellent effort from Marnus. He is turning out to be a good find and I must admit, the way he has batted so far he does look like a decent frontline batsman - good defence, leaves well and has some shots. He definitely strengthens that middle order and if Smith returns soon then that will look more solid.

Maybe Khawaja slides up to open with Warner, Smith moves to 3 and Labuschagne goes to 4. But Smith likes 4....Labuschagne at 3? (cringes).  Paine also really needs to get a score. I know he's been picked mainly for being captain (and there aren't very many other options in the Australian lineup), but captaincy questions aside, you would think someone like Alex Carey would be much more productive out of that No. 7 slot and there's no doubt that Australia need every run they can get in this series.

Of course there is still one Australian innings to go so I wouldn't be making any selection decisions yet!

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To be fair to Wade he scored heavily in first class cricket and when they said yeah but you are batting at 6 he moved up the order for Tasmania and continued to score runs. So the selectors this time actually did pick someone based on first class form.

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Man, Roy really doesn't do leaves does he.

edit: Root gone as well. Good start for Aussies. But now the real battlers are coming up. Test for the Aussie bowlers now, they haven't managed to get these guys cheap in a while. (Nvm, thought it was Stokes not Denly lol)

edit: Burns is generally good at leaving so kind of surprised he tried to pull that.

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Pattinson needs to come in soon. I want to see how he does with the new ball while it's still newish.

Edit: I think Denly should move to 3 and Root to 4. Both Burns and Denly have good leaves and should be able to soak up lots of deliveries and see off the new ball.

Edit: Stokes with a gift. England desperately need a partnership.

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