The Cricket Thread v. Wait for it...

[Lowdz]

Pitches aside (and I think a pitch has to be pretty awful for a captain to bowl first these days......and that advantage can be short lasting in some cases) I think this has been coming for a while in terms of Australia's batting.   There just isn't anyone to replace the retirees of recent times and in the not too distant future (Clarke, Voges,Rogers etc....)  We have good bowlers coming out of our ears with young guys like Cummins and Pattinson not getting games- even though they're not making the most of the conditions - but the batting is a huge worry.

The only difference between this collapse and others is that in this case our tail didn't fire - they usually do.  I've lost count of the number of times that Johnson, Haddin and Starc have rescued the upper order, thus masking what has been pretty obvious for a while.

To be quite honest I think both Australia and England are pretty average sides with the advantage to whoever is in their local conditions. As you say the Aussies are flat trackers and only Rogers has shown the ability to tough it out - which is no coincidence as he is the only guy who , like the legends of the past , plays county cricket instead of IPL etc........  I hope this shakes up the Aussies a bit and they start seriously planning for a rebuild in the batting order.  Hopefully there's some talent around that I'm not aware of.    Perhaps Maxwell - who , like Warner , is a freakish short form talent - can also be converted to the longer form.

I'd agree that both teams are lacking in the batting department. We rely on joe root. We are an opener short, bell is a flat track legend but relies on being dropped early in an innings to get a score. The middle order is ok.
The bowlers don't convince other than Anderson and broad. Finn is too inconsistent and injury prone, same with wood. We're short of a proper spinner too, though we should give Rashid a chance in a test.

Although the series isn't over and we could certainly blow it from this position I really didn't see us winning this series at all before it started.

[bl5150]

NP:  Burn -Pray For Rain 

[Lowdz]

That was enjoyable.
Seen the end of Michael Clarke, which is a shame. Seems like a decent bloke.
You got a decent start too but warners shot was pretty poor in the circumstances. He'd got away with a couple of similar ones so should have known better. I get the impression he's a flat track bully with no patience.

[nobloodyname]

James Anderson is out for the final test of the English summer. Shame they're not planning to give Adil Rashid a run out (no pun intended!) before heading off to conditions where he's likely to be required.

[bl5150]

0-82 at lunch is a good effort after being sent in on another "interesting" pitch.  I can't blame the English though as apparently Australia is the only country that doesn't go down the road of producing "home pitches."   Rumour has it that maybe the Poms peed on the pitch a bit early and killed off some of the grass 

Now we just wait for the mid order collapse     Too little too late but at least Warner has shown he can bat on a tough pitch if he applies his (tiny) brain .

[bl5150]

In a series dominated by bowlers it's a shame it took this long for the Aussies to recognise the value of tying down an end with some accurate bowling (Siddle) . To be fair the whole series probably would've been very different without the loss of Ryan Harris at the last minute as he is a rare dog with pace and accuracy.

Anyway...........good to see a bit of a reality check .  Both sides leave a lot to be desired. 

[RoeDent]

Finally, a cricket thread on DTF! I have to say, while England's near-inevitable loss of this match (do the rain dance, people!) is a bit of an anticlimax after the thrill of Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, the Ashes are regained so it's not as big a deal as it may have been. 3-2 is perhaps a better reflection of the series as Australia have thrashed us in the London Tests.

On another matter, it seems to be that when you make someone England captain, and they have to deal with speaking to the media and all that, it curtails their form. Making him captain has ruined Alastair Cook's form. He used to be the great endurance man of English cricket, staying out in the middle for a full day, making incredible innings such as 235 not out at the Gabba 2010 and 294 v India at Edgbaston 2011. This is why I'm concerned about Joe Root. As soon as they make him captain, his form will suffer.

[Fluffy Lothario]

My brother watches a lot of cricket, so if I’m home, I see bits and pieces.

The only cricket game I ever saw in its entirety was this one:  https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/6406279/Mason-helps-Central-Districts-to-national-title

Not exactly famous or high stakes (though it was a final), but I assume a cricket fan can read those figures and see the end of the game was pretty epic.

[Dave_Manchester]

1st day of the Ashes and we just got the everloving shit kicked out of us by Australia following a pathetic batting display and baffling selection decisions.

Honestly after 2 years of a pandemic it's nice to have some normality in the world again.

[newtree43]

im looking forward to that MCG boxing day test again

[wolfking]

RIP Shane Warne.  Holy hell.....can't believe it.  52 years young.  Absolutely changed the game.  The undisputed king of spin.  Just Wow.....

[faizoff]

I didn't think there was a cricket thread here, Shane Warne was an unbelievable bowler.

For those that are not in the know of the Cricket world (I used to follow it very closely about 15 years ago, now not so much) Shane Warne was an iconic cricketer and probably one of THE best spinners in the world. It's similar to Kobe dying I would think.

The dude was incredible in his craft and this is just one of many balls he threw that defied physics to go where it needed to go. It's like that goal Roberto Carlos scored for Brazil against France in that exhibition tournament a million years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2lu3NwmGic&ab_channel=SRB

[nobloodyname]

Was devastated and utterly shocked by the news yesterday. I have no problem as an Englishman admitting Shane Warne was the best bowler of all time. Also admired his commentary. What an enormous loss. And right after Rod Marsh, too.

Edit: knew what that clip would be before I even opened it. Remember seeing that live while watching in the living room of my first student house. And my goodness, it was the first so many similar dismissals.

[wolfking]

His commentary was outstanding.  His insight into the game was simply next level.