Cricket 44: Abrar-Cadabra

[Jeor]

2 minutes ago, Raja said:

Nice to see Murphy get a couple of wickets.

Seeing wood bat is a lot of fun

Also, australia's catching was....something

5 dropped catches is pretty bad. They probably could have bowled England out for sub-200 if they held their chances (the Brook drop alone cost about 80 runs).

A lot will depend on the Australian batting first innings. If they can show some solidity then that will go a long way to securing the series win (since they can go at their own pace and don't mind a draw).  Australia's route to a win is probably the same as England's last Test - get a big first innings lead and hope to not have to chase (the last day of this test looks like there's a bit of rain, but I doubt it will get to that at the rate England bat!). Losing Moeen's bowling might be a bit of a blow for England at least from a workload perspective.

[Jeor]

Australia going full Chris Tavare here.

I guess with Moeen and Stokes not bowling, it leaves the overs to be bowled by the aged legs of Broad and Anderson, the short-spells-only Wood and then Woakes. So in theory they're trying to tire out the attack. But they have to cash in sometime. It's a high risk strategy, if they lose a few wickets to good balls then the score hasn't really crept up at all and they could still concede a chunky first innings lead.

[ljkeane]

Looking like it’s going to be a one innings shootout. You’d generally think that’s advantage England with Australia batting last but it doesn’t look like Ali’s going to be able to bowl and will probably be of limited use with the bat so that balances it out I’d say.

[Raja]

My boy Todd hit Wood out of the attack?

I need to watch this

[Paxter]

5 hours ago, Raja said:

My boy Todd hit Wood out of the attack?

I need to watch this

Fun fact - Murphy was primarily a batter as a youth cricketer and a handy medium-pacer. He hasn't been bowling spin for very long!

[Raja]

9 hours ago, Paxter said:

Fun fact - Murphy was primarily a batter as a youth cricketer and a handy medium-pacer. He hasn't been bowling spin for very long!

I think there's real talent there if Australia use him well over the next 10 years. He's only 22.

[Jeor]

This first session has decisively handed England the advantage. 130+ runs for only 1 wicket is just about as perfect a morning as you can have.

Australia once again started very sloppily. Lots of bad balls, boundaries aplenty, defensive field settings that didn't cut off the boundaries but also gave easy singles. For such an important session they really should have been much tighter, though credit to England for taking full advantage.

This match looks like it will be the reverse of the Second Test. A team loses their spinner early in the match, but still manage to set a big target and win. Only this time I can't see Australia having anyone who is playing at a Stokes-like level to make it close!

[Raja]

Yeah, England can easily put this game beyond australia very quickly here

[BigFatCoward]

Is this going to end up the most lopsided draw ever? 

Edited July 29, 2023 by BigFatCoward

[IheartIheartTesla]

On the contrary, I think this match has the potential to end within 4 days. The Australian batters just havent caught fire. Apart from Khawaja in the top order, none of the others have been consistently good. Still, maybe the 4th innings of the last Test would be a good time for them to make big daddy hundreds.

[Jeor]

10 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Is this going to end up the most lopsided draw ever? 

If it ends 2-2 with England essentially thrashing Australia in this win (which looks increasingly likely) and having a rained out draw that they would have thrashed Australia in, then yes I can see how it would be a lopsided draw. But I wouldn't say most lopsided ever. Their other win was a close one (Headingley) and Stokes aside, in Lords they were well behind and only came close right at the end.

I can understand England feeling aggrieved with what feels like two emphatic wins (if you count Old Trafford draw), one narrow win, and the two Australian wins being narrow and in the distant past. But I'm sure there have been worse Test series draws going around.

[Jeor]

And just reflecting - as much as Bazball and England's batting have really claimed the ascendancy in these last couple of games, and Australia ruing the loss of Nathan Lyon who would have been a key weapon against that, I think the thing that's flown under the radar is that the Australian batting lineup has really struggled (which means England have also bowled well).

You look at the top runscorers in the series and Khawaja is the only Australian near the top of the list. Warner has been anonymous. Smith and Labuschagne apart from their one century each haven't really made much of an impact. Carey and Green haven't scored and Travis Head has looked dangerous at times but not really threatened to make it count. Khawaja and Mitch Marsh are really the only two batsmen who have looked comfortable throughout the series.

[ljkeane]

13 minutes ago, Jeor said:

 I think the thing that's flown under the radar is that the Australian batting lineup has really struggled (which means England have also bowled well).

I actually think that’s more down to Australia not batting particularly well. England have got a good bowling lineup for English conditions and Stokes is a good captain but when you look at it conditions haven’t really been very helpful by English standards. On top of that England haven’t really had a frontline spinner and Stokes hasn’t been fit. You would’ve been expecting Anderson to be the decisive factor in at least one test coming into the series and that hasn’t happened.

Given all that you’d think it’s playing into the hands of the Australian batsmen but it’s really on Khawaja and latterly Marsh who’ve taken advantage. But to be fair they’ve both done significantly better than expected I’d say.

[Jeor]

Khawaja has actually been going very well these past two years, but due to his batting style he generally doesn't get the attention. Cricinfo tells me he's actually averaged 60.14 since the start of 2022, which has included 22 Tests and 7 centuries, by which he's actually been Australia's best performing batsman for a while as Smith and Labuschagne have waned.

Marsh on the other hand is a complete surprise, yes...

[ljkeane]

7 minutes ago, Jeor said:

Khawaja has actually been going very well these past two years, but due to his batting style he generally doesn't get the attention. Cricinfo tells me he's actually averaged 60.14 since the start of 2022, which has included 22 Tests and 7 centuries, by which he's actually been Australia's best performing batsman for a while as Smith and Labuschagne have waned.

Yeah, sure, but he’s generally really struggled in English conditions even when he’s otherwise been playing well. So I wasn’t particularly expecting him to do well, especially opening. 

ETA: Bah.

Edited July 29, 2023 by ljkeane

[Jeor]

3 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Yeah, sure, but he’s generally really struggled in English conditions even when he’s otherwise been playing well. So I wasn’t particularly expecting him to do well, especially opening. 

Well, at least one Australian opener has performed exactly as expected...

EDIT: And it's been a big liability to carry him these last couple of Tests especially. Not that Australia have a high-performing replacement to insert, but they couldn't have been any worse.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Jeor

[ljkeane]

Ffs, don’t fuck this up England.

7 minutes ago, Jeor said:

Well, at least one Australian opener has performed exactly as expected...

EDIT: And it's been a big liability to carry him these last couple of Tests especially. Not that Australia have a high-performing replacement to insert, but they couldn't have been any worse.

Test openers aren’t easy to come by these days, as England have shown, but you’d think Australia probably should have had a plan B in place. It’s not like it’s a massive shock Warner has struggled.

[Jeor]

3 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Ffs, don’t fuck this up England.

Test openers aren’t easy to come by these days, as England have shown, but you’d think Australia probably should have had a plan B in place. It’s not like it’s a massive shock Warner has struggled.

The lead's 214, I think with the remaining 6 wickets there's plenty of margin of safety. Anything above 300 will be out of Australia's reach. They only managed close to 300 with a wagging tail in the first innings.

Yes, there should have been a clear plan what to do if Warner failed. In fact the reserve batsman in the touring party is a specialist opener (Marcus Harris) though he has an awful record in England with an average of 9.66 in 6 innings and he had a terrible time of it last tour. So not exactly a great backup plan...

[ljkeane]

Huh, Broad’s going to retire after this test and Anderson’s said he’s definitely not going to retire. That’s definitely not the way round I thought it was going to go based on how this series has gone.

[Jeor]

A wonderful career for Broad. His combination of unusual durability and constant competitive fire is basically unheard of for a pace bowler, unless you of course include Anderson in the mix as well. Pacemen are not meant to last this long in their career and stay as effective as Broad has.

It's fitting he gets to go out this way - partnered with Anderson to come out to bat at the top of the day (hitting a six no less), and looking like bowling England to a Test victory in a series-saving Ashes decider. With no Test cricket for 6 months (and the next one being a tour to the subcontinent), it's the perfect time and he'll join a long list of legends to bow out at the Oval at the end of a Test summer.