Paxter Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 40 minutes ago, Jeor said: I don't think England have too much to fear. The pitch doesn't look nearly as quick as the build-up seemed to make it out to be, and this current new ball doesn't look very threatening, so batting should still be good for England's first innings. If England bat like they did in the last innings of Headingley, with Root/Denly and others applying themselves, they should be able to keep themselves safe from a loss at least, even if it's not necessarily a great position here to win from. Denly will score a double ton and all will be well in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Archer looks like he well and truly lost his cool. Seems annoyed at everything. Not at all like his debut. Can't blame him with dropped catches and some sloppy fielding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 18 minutes ago, Paxter said: Denly will score a double ton and all will be well in the world. Yes!! @Paxter's hero will do the business for England. 1 minute ago, The Winged Shadow said: Archer looks like he well and truly lost his cool. Seems annoyed at everything. Not at all like his debut. Can't blame him with dropped catches and some sloppy fielding. Totally agree, he has looked listless and out of sorts all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Bairstow in trouble. Should just let Buttler keep. Can't afford to fuck up his hand as England will need his batting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 25 minutes ago, Paxter said: Denly will score a double ton and all will be well in the world. Denly to also rip the tail with a 5fer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Excellent session for Australia. They are well on top here. Honestly I think I have gotten to the point now where I have to acknowledge that Australia deserves to keep the Ashes. *grumble grumble grumble* ETA: Also I'm glad that the Paine haters were proven wrong today! Though he did just get out... ETA #2: I notice that Smith has just gone past Kohli in test runs scored. He's done it in 12 fewer matches than Virat, with an average around 12 runs higher. No contest really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 So here's a question...do Australia just bat through their whole innings? Or should they be thinking of a declaration later tonight? (Paine's wicket just then might make this whole essay of mine moot now) I think Langer would favour batting through even if it means going into a wet third day. There's no reason to give England use of this pitch while it's still good for batting. It will almost certainly result in a draw but it will also guarantee that Australia can't lose the match; they can play from a position of strength for the rest of the game, try for the outside chance of a follow-on, but if it's a draw, so be it. The other view would be that a win here would secure the Ashes, and they've built up a good position now it would be a shame to waste it on a draw. Try and pile on the runs on quickly tonight and then have a go at England late in the day (although bad light might affect their chances of keeping England out there). They'll probably just keep on batting as long as they can, and then if Day Three looks like getting washed out they can declare sometime during the day. Generally if there's a stop-start day it favours the bowling team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I'd just keep grinding the England bowling attack down, then try to blast through (or just gently nudge) England's brittle top order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 England have given up here - spreading the field for Smith and bowling miles outside off stump. I think it's pretty poor tactics. Cummins is no bunny with the bat at No. 8 so there's no guarantee his wicket would be particularly imminent if they bowled at him. Bring the field in for a bit and see if Smith wants to have a bit of a slog - you might get his wicket and you might get Cummins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 11 minutes ago, Jeor said: So here's a question...do Australia just bat through their whole innings? Or should they be thinking of a declaration later tonight? (Paine's wicket just then might make this whole essay of mine moot now) They should just bat as long as they can. With all the rain around their best chance of a win is to only bat once and England are pretty much guaranteed to have a horrific collapse in at least one inning. On top of that if they rack up a really big score it makes the concerns about Starc's potential for leaking a few runs pretty much irrelevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Ok, looks like I gave the kiss of death to Cummins just there. My jinxing potential is very high and I've guarded my comments so much already... 2 minutes ago, ljkeane said: They should just bat as long as they can. With all the rain around their best chance of a win is to only bat once and England are pretty much guaranteed to have a horrific collapse in at least one inning. On top of that if they rack up a really big score it makes the concerns about Starc's potential for leaking a few runs pretty much irrelevant. Makes sense. With rain I guess they must be thinking of a follow-on as one of their main routes to victory. If they can get themselves to 450+, then bowling England out for a follow-on total becomes much more of a possibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 This test would be so damn one sided without Smith. Pretty much got half the runs this innings. Crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Ffs, I changed channel and missed Smith finally getting out. This really isn’t going well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Sounds like you should've changed the channel ages ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 minute ago, The Winged Shadow said: Sounds like you should've changed the channel ages ago! I’d like to take the credit but it’s been pretty grim today, I’ve been flicking back and forth quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 England will probably escape this horror show with a draw, but if they look back on this innings they shouldn't be too disheartened. A little bit more luck and this whole Australian innings would have been more of a 250-300 score. Starting with Australia 2/20 they ran into the Labuschagne/Smith team. But either side of them in the order it's a disaster for Australia. Both openers, plus Head and Wade all go rather cheaply. This whole score is really built on only three batsmen - Labuschagne, Smith and Paine. Smith they dropped on 60 (admittedly a tough return catch on Archer) and they had him out off a no-ball when he was about 120. Cost them either 150 or 100 runs. Paine had a regulation slips catch (Roy) dropped while in single figures, and then had a miscued pull dropped by Curran in the 30s. Cost them another 50 or 30 runs. It really is a game of tiny margins. Now Starc is in and having some fun with a slog. I reckon they'll just keep going now. No point putting England in if bad light is going to take them off the field, and with the run rate so high now they might as well keep piling on runs to get near 500 and make that follow-on target 300. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 If Mitch Starc can belt 40 on this pitch then surely Denly can get this double ton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I'd declare just to deny Archer any wickets . Would hit his ego and affect his mental game lot more I reckon. If he gets a couple, he'd feel a lot better. edit: Starc hitting this cleanly should be a boost for Roy. It should play to his strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Yes, I think this is the sort of pitch and conditions that will allow players like Roy to hit their way into some form. It could turn into a bit of a run fest of a draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Well, there's the declaration. Will be interesting to see if England can make the most of this pitch. Archer goes wicketless with 0/97 off 27 overs, by far his toughest day of bowling yet. Still, it only pushes his bowling average up to 21! Which emphasises how good his start in Test cricket really was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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