Cricket

Fair enough. I only follow the Ashes, a proper cricket glory hunter, me.

In Roots defence he has good judgement when making appeals.

 

Aussies 40/2

Sadly in a match where they only need 125+ to be more than confident of victory.

Neither batting side covering themselves in glory really. One just being marginally worse than the other.

 

Morgan is another of the One day specialists. Not a test player
He has also played one game of red ball cricket in four years and is 33 years old. At that age I don't think he would be able to do all forms of cricket anyway

 

40/2 for looks mahusive vs our total. We have already lost this I'm afraid. Lost interest now. The most important skill of a sports fan. Enjoy every last second of successes. Forget/ignore the bad times are even happening.

 

We don't have any test standard batsmen though ? The equivalent to bringing back Brearley in '81.

 

But he is also 33 years old. He is not the answer

 

Talk of him quitting the ODI scene.

Plus I’m not pontificating about him being a captain that regularly hits big scores. I think it off Root gives the lineup the boost in runs. Morgan provides good field leadership and I would assume better captaincy off the pitch too. He comes across as a leader, Root doesn’t and is too close to the team. Too friendly with certain players etc.

 

Not that old as a batsman and I'd prefer someone with a bit of experience as captain. Not good enough, no, but none of them are. I really don't know what the answer is for batting line up and captain. I just know that currently neither are right. Ps no idea what the score is now and don't care. The same approach as when we (WFC) go 2 down on saturday !

Perhaps we should just play 11 bowlers ? They will score as many runs and give us an excellent wide choice of bowling to suit the wicket ?

 

45 run defeat was the result of our first test in 187something.

 

The new captain's form often either rockets up or down.

Gooch excelled as did Cook for the first couple of years.

Grinds you down after that.

 

My word!

My youngsters at the camp lasted longer in the heat than our entire team!

What a shambles.

 

If you’re hoping for some 25 - 30 mercurial captain to suddenly appear, you’re in for a long wait. They are trying that with Root and it’s not working.

 

We are not going to pick a 33 year old player that has played one game of red ball cricket in four years. Root is not the answer but Morgan certainly isn’t.

 

I thought England were good at cricket. 67 all out is not very good is it?

 

I’m not talking about what they WILL do. We all know what they will do is very little. Root will 100% remain captain.

I’m saying what I would do. Age would be relevant if there weren’t many players who are 33 or older playing test cricket. But there’s plenty so I’d be comfortable with his age.

 

So the answer is .....?
RD/Keighley- is there a good inspirational English county captain who can bat a little ?

 

Not many 33 year olds come back to test cricket having not played for years and he is not good enough to play test cricket

 

Sounds like a good solid opening pair.

 

Burns.

Has led Surrey to the Championship & won his place the hard way. Toughest character among the batsmen.

 

I agree although running more than one might be a challenge.

Get them in boundaries.

 

Sounds an increasingly appropriate choice.

 

We need a Dermot Reeve.

 

Feel shell shocked after yesterday. Genuinely believed that we were on top after day 1 despite the expensive period after lunch.

Don't want to overreact because if we bowl them out quickly this morning you never know however unlikely. However the reality appears to be we lost this test despite their top batsman being out injured, having perfect conditions to bowl and then perfect conditions to bat.

 

I suspect they already have 100 more than they will need.

 

Yes, of course, good option.

 

Does this match signal the point at which we accept that test cricket is all but dead? If England and, arguably, Australia of all countries can’t produce batting line-ups with the patience and application required for the purest form of the game, what’s the point in continuing with it?

 

You’ll never win if you’re weak minded.

 

A fair question.

Maybe just tweak the format for the modern age.

50 balls each with a Taylor Swift concert in the middle.

 

Yes, Burns is probably the best bet.

Have a feeling Tom Banton at Somerset could be both an England batsman and potential captain but that’s a long way off - he’s only regularly broken into the county side this summer.

 

359 to win the match and extend the Ashes.

Its a long shot, almost impossible given the match so far...
But my friend has just text me a good point. Australia won the toss and batted first - today is only the start of Day 3...had they scored 358 in their first innings and we had only just got them all out, we wouldn't really be panicking about chasing 359 with 10 wickets in hand and 2 days to score the runs...even more so in conditions ripe for batting.

We won't do it. But it shouldn't be as much of a lost cause as it seems.

 

Leach was disappointing this game. Just one wicket and over 4 an over.
Maybe drop him for Anderson next game and just use Root/Denly if we need a little spin. However with the ashes gone is there much point in playing 37? year old Anderson in both games ?
So we just need the 359. Too close to call ? I can barely watch. 20 mins to lunch so 70-0 at lunch, Roy 56 no, should set us up nicely.

 

Can we get to double figures by lunch? Burns' finger already mashed by the second ball of the innings.

 

Nice bit of time-wasting going on by England.

Need to be reminded to score some runs thought!