Cricket 44: Abrar-Cadabra

[Jeor]

3 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

So Marsh dropped on 12 and Head on 9 both pretty easy chances. That’s 136 bonus runs and counting they’ve handed Australia so far. Bah.

Yes if they got both of them, the score would've been around 6/100 and Australia would have been looking at a 150 score. Regardless how the rest of this innings goes, shows it was a good call by Stokes to bowl first, the execution just didn't come off right.

I wonder how serious Robinson's situation is. Stokes might still not have to bowl as they'll have three seamers and a spinner, and Australia are scoring so quickly this innings probably won't last more than the day's play.

He's clearly trying to manage Wood's workload though to keep him fresh, so if Robinson is out then Stokes may well have to bowl. I forget the rules when you're off the field and how long you have to wait before you can bowl again.

[ljkeane]

And another drop. To be fair Root’s generally a good slips fielder so not really a lot England could have done differently there. Just catch the ball.

On Anderson I think he’ll be fuming that he’s played the first two tests and missed this one but the extra few mph Woakes has these days does seem useful. 

[Paxter]

Urgh such a shame Root can’t bat at 3. Sacrificing Brook at the top of the order is a complete waste.

Turning into an OK day for Australia in the end.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Paxter

[Jeor]

Game is in the balance, although maybe England are slightly ahead if you consider the three wickets to have fallen are the "cheaper" ones of Crawley, Duckett and Brooks. The Big Three (Root, Bairstow, Stokes) are all still in play and England will fancy their chances of getting a first innings lead with them and a strengthened tail of Ali and Woakes.

My predictions of Wood cleaning up the tail handily were true. England will be happy with that result of bowling Australia out for 260 odd, although to be fair without the Marsh and Head dropped catches it would have been more like 120! Australia will need to have a plan for how to deal with Mark Wood. Their top order batsmen have to blunt him and wear him out more, although Stokes managed his workload well with short, sharp spells and not overusing him.

[Paxter]

Imagine if Wood and Archer had played these first three tests.

[Jeor]

Yes. What's happened with Archer - is he completely all washed up now?

The Australians have always been susceptible to top-line pace. Yesterday's play (second session aside) it felt very much like the last 20 years in England, with a wicket coming every ball. It wasn't just Wood either; the fact that he has the batsmen jumping at one end seems to invigorate the other bowlers too. Woakes is also a touch faster than Anderson which must help a bit, too.

Woakes has bowled reasonably well but if they had batting depth to swap Tongue in, it would have been very interesting to see Tongue and Wood both running in. 

In that sense you could say the Aussies made hay while the sun shined by winning those first two Tests with Wood out. Then again you could also say the same for England with Lyon out for the last three.

Second day at Headingley and the forecast and conditions are supposed to be the best for batting. With a fast outfield, the Aussies will want to snaffle at least a couple of quick wickets to get into Moeen and the tail, otherwise Root/Bairstow/Stokes are more than capable of doing a Mitch Marsh-type number on them and erasing two thirds of that 200-run deficit by lunch and then launching an attack for building a healthy first innings lead by tea.

[The Winged Shadow]

Was fielding always this bad? or feels worse because its Ashes?

Also, I thought Archer was injured or something?

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by The Winged Shadow

[Jeor]

The two drops off Murphy's bowling were tough chances I think. Generally the Aussies have pulled off better catches than the English.

England wasted a big opportunity today, but they're still not out of it with the first innings likely to come close to parity. If Wood bowls as well as he did before, they'd fancy a chase.

[Jeor]

And that's the innings wrapped up, what a topsy turvy match this has been. The momentum has changed at least four times I reckon - England on top with Australia 4/85 at lunch, Australia on top with Mitch Marsh's century, England on top cleaning up the tail and bundling Australia out for 263, Australia on top having England 8/167, then England dragging it back with Stokes helping the last 2 wickets to stretch 70 runs.

Now it's pretty much dead even and a lot will depend on the Aussie top order being able to set a platform and whether England can repeat their excellent first innings bowling performance.

It does seem now that the balance of the English side was done to accommodate Stokes not bowling - he looked in a lot of trouble while batting. The bonus being that now they're covered for Robinson's likely not bowling as well now. They better hope Wood or Moeen's recent injuries don't flare up again.

[Raja]

Someone get Kumar & Ponting in the same commentary booth

[Jeor]

Just when you think Australia are getting back on top, Labuschagne and Smith throw their wickets away with two incredibly casual shots. The lead isn't yet 100 and 7 wickets in hand, on a pitch where runs can come quickly. I think a target of 300 might be even odds, Australia will want 350 or more.

[williamjm]

I think when it comes to batting Marsh and Stokes seem to be playing in a different match to everyone else, none of the other batsmen have really looked like sticking around for too long.

Looking at tomorrow's forecast there could be some rain interruptions, hopefully not too much.

[Jeor]

The rain interruptions will be good for England, who needed to rest their bowlers and give time for their walking wounded to recover rather than being out on the field.

Unless 2 or more whole days get rained out from the remaining 3 days, I don't see it affecting whether we get a result. Both first innings were very quick - Australia in two and a half sessions and England in two.

[ljkeane]

I think Australia will back themselves to defend a lead of 250. Only the Australian first innings has gone past that in the match and that was on that back of a 100 from Marsh which feels really removed from everything else we’ve seen.

Edited July 8, 2023 by ljkeane

[williamjm]

1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

I think Australia will back themselves to defend a lead of 250.

And England will back themselves to chase down 250. We shall see which team's confidence is justified.

One thing's for sure, Australia won't relax until they've seen the back of Ben Stokes.

[ljkeane]

6 minutes ago, williamjm said:

And England will back themselves to chase down 250. We shall see which team's confidence is justified.

Well England’s whole thing under Stokes and McCullum is backing themselves. Still, if there’s much in it for the bowlers I can’t say I’m particularly confident when the most solid looking batsman in our top three is Crawley. 

It might come down to overhead conditions given Headingley’s track record for being so much more difficult to bat at when it’s overcast.

[Paxter]

Yeah I think it’s pretty even or maybe advantage Australia.

I’m pleased for Woakes - Australia has definitely been his bogey side so it’s good to see him show his class in this match.

If England do go 3-0 down, I think it would be safe to say that the margin flatters Aus. Though they’ve won a lot of the “big moments” they haven’t been dominant by any stretch of the imagination.

[Raja]

Hmm. Not sure I see it as advantage australia but we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Working all day so I'll miss it

[williamjm]

1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

It might come down to overhead conditions given Headingley’s track record for being so much more difficult to bat at when it’s overcast.

The forecast for tomorrow seems better than today but still some clouds around so likely still something there for the bowlers but not to quite the same extent.

[The Winged Shadow]

I think England can chase this down. Only one of them need to pop and this team definitely has a couple of big hitters. 300+ would've felt a little safer, but 224 seems well within reach. I'd say advantage England mainly because of Bazball tactics (despite all its criticism lately). I'd given pretty low chance to old England.