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Cricket 37: Boycott's Grandma Probably Should Bat


Jeor

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Selectors backed themselves into a corner with Harris selection as it would be pretty harsh to drop him after one match. If it was still Bancroft, you could drop him, let Khawaja open, Smith comes in. It could've worked out quite well. I still think Harris or Wade is in the firing line. But Wade has a 100....so that in itself would be harsh. Drop Harris, move Khawaja up to open would be my move.

*tinfoilhat* Paine is playing shit this series to allow the smooth transition of captaincy back to Smith */tinfoilhat*

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Yes, if the selectors are more concerned with getting things right (rather than looking silly), they should correct the mistake of Harris' initial selection by dropping him and moving Khawaja up. The question then begins of who would bat at 3 - one of Labuschagne or Smith. But even if Khawaja isn't in good nick, a top four of Warner, Khawaja, Labuschagne and Smith looks much more solid.

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I watched the highlights of England’s performance with the bat and it was disgracefully bad really. Ok, Australia bowled well but they pretty much just did what you’d expect a test attack to do, only Root got a delivery he couldn’t do anything about. Conditions are about as benign as they’re going to get for batting at Headingley, the Ashes are on the line and England get bundled out for 67. If they’d even put in a regulation shit performance and got to about 150 odd they be in with a bit of chance.

The ECB have ruined the test team.

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Positive for England is that there is a ton of time to chase this down. They need to tire out the Aussie bowlers and not lose wickets. They can capitalize later today or early tomorrow if they can see off the new ball.

However I don't have a lot of faith that the England batters won't chase those wide deliveries and get out.

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I think England's batsmen need to forget about the specific target and just concentrate on building a solid Test innings. If they do, good things will come. There's plenty of time and batting conditions are good, and it's a chance for someone to at least make a decent score (if not a century) and restore some morale to the batting lineup.

A lot of them are playing for their places so you'd think they have at least some motivation. Roy, for instance, needs to show people he can play a Test innings. Root wouldn't mind getting some of the pressure off his batting performances. So on.

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15 minutes ago, The Winged Shadow said:

Positive for England is that there is a ton of time to chase this down. 

Lol. Talk about accentuating the positive!

Even though I’m sick to my very core that Australia are on the verge of winning in England for the first time since 2001...I can’t help but feel this is the the wake-up call English cricket needs. Virat’s men should have beaten England last season and even Pakistan and Ireland could have gotten more from their recent, brief tours. Plus of course that ominous loss to the West Indies that should have led to a more substantial rethink.

Maybe the obsession with white ball cricket will diminish and balance will return to The Force?

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18 minutes ago, Paxter said:

Maybe the obsession with white ball cricket will diminish and balance will return to The Force?

The solution will take a long time, though, which is a bit of a problem. There just aren't the right players to be able to build a Test team so they're going to have to raise them up from the first-class game, and that's going to take at least 2-3 years. There aren't English players like Labuschagne playing in county cricket right now that could be plucked out and inserted into the team.

I mean, you could give people like Sibley (who by all accounts is a bit more of an old-school opener, I've never seen him play though) an extended run in the team and show that you are prioritising those skills rather than the biffers of the one day game. But it's probably not going to result in lasting success for a few years.

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48 minutes ago, Jeor said:

The solution will take a long time, though, which is a bit of a problem. There just aren't the right players to be able to build a Test team so they're going to have to raise them up from the first-class game, and that's going to take at least 2-3 years. There aren't English players like Labuschagne playing in county cricket right now that could be plucked out and inserted into the team.

I mean, you could give people like Sibley (who by all accounts is a bit more of an old-school opener, I've never seen him play though) an extended run in the team and show that you are prioritising those skills rather than the biffers of the one day game. But it's probably not going to result in lasting success for a few years.

*shrugs*

I think they have to be prepared to do that if they want to win the Ashes back. But who knows, maybe they are quite happy winning the World Cup and declining in tests? 

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Ok, this is just getting cruel now.

Roy out clean bowled. He's a complete joke as a Test player.

Burns out caught at first slip too - Australia seem to have cottoned onto him not being comfortable against the short stuff now.

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1 hour ago, Paxter said:

*shrugs*

I think they have to be prepared to do that if they want to win the Ashes back. But who knows, maybe they are quite happy winning the World Cup and declining in tests? 

This seems to be the case from what I'm seeing. 

 

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This has been a decent partnership here. Root and Denly have soaked up 20+ overs together and toughed it out. It wasn't going to be as easy as the first innings so Australia are going to have to work a bit harder to get the remaining 8 wickets. It would be a bit like Root to get a century against the odds here, just when everyone is dumping on him.

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If Denly repeats Mark Butcher’s 2001 heroics I will fly to Leeds in the winter and do a nudie run around Headingley.

Had England shown this application with the bat yesterday we would have had a great test match on our hands!

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We still might, you know. They need another 269 runs and it's only a third day pitch, so conditions are still reasonably fine for batting. If they can get 100+ runs in the extended final session for the loss of only one or two more wickets, that will leave around 150+ to get, which is do-able with this England tail. There's still Stokes, Buttler, Bairstow and Woakes to come, and Broad/Archer/Leach have all had moments where they can handle the bat.

It might turn into a close match yet...

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