My wife is demanding I go to bed at lunch for the whole test. She's right though. I'm a mess.
Worry not, Australia have Smith. See this: Steve Smith's last 12 innings against England: 143, 141*, 40, 6, 239, 76, 102*, 83, 144, 142, 92, 107*, at an average of about 145.
That's our best chance. He has been out four times out of twelve in the 140's.
On the subject of the non-dismissal thanks to a Leach no-ball, Leach has bowled over 15,000 balls in first-class cricket, and fourteen no balls. He has a strike rate of 56. Even if batsmen always get out to his no-balls, that is a 1 in 1,000 chance but with that strike rate his effective chance of getting a batsman out to a no ball is 1 in 56,000!
That's our best chance. He has been out four times out of twelve in the 140's.
On the subject of the non-dismissal thanks to a Leach no-ball, Leach has bowled over 15,000 balls in first-class cricket, and fourteen no balls. He has a strike rate of 56. Even if batsmen always get out to his no-balls, that is a 1 in 1,000 chance but with that strike rate his effective chance of getting a batsman out to a no ball is 1 in 56,000!
And for the no-ball to be to Smith is particularly cruel.
It looks freaking cold over there. Yesterday I saw people in puffy parkas and woolen beanies. Any idea what those conditions mean for how the game goes?
And don't read that as gloating. Smitty is the difference between these two teams.
They had a good paddle for a while, but sooner or later someone was always going to lose a waterwing...
Can't argue with the final point. I spotted somewhere today that he's the top run scorer in Tests this year. He's played in three tests! If you can hear a whirring sound in Centennial Park, it's Sir Don turning in his grave at what Smith is doing. And a sizeable chunk of the cricketing world will choose to remember him for the sandpaper instead.
Well, exactly. And I guess I've over-egged the cake a bit by referring to England fans as a sizeable chunk - compared to the sub-continent we're not even a pimple. But yes, he did something stupid, but he took his punishment, did the time, is back with the law-makers assent. I suspect that the booing etc. is actually making him focus more.
BBC, BDS, etc being what there is no live tv here. Not to mention a more general lack of interest outside the Indian Jewish community, ex-Brits, Aussies, Kiwi's, South Africans and temporary workers from India and Sri Lanka
In the interests of domestic peace I followed this one quietly on The Guardian Over-By-Over. Which meant dashes to the desk-top followed by screams, crazy dancing about and punching the air every 15 minutes.
When I found online live coverage of the previous Test on a pirate Pakistani tv channel I was simply glued to it and the accompanying screams, etc every 30 seconds were A Bit Much. (There's a limit to what behaviour you can get away with even if you have Metastatic Breast Cancer!)
Australia were the better side by a distance and deserve to retain the Ashes. It's the first time they have retained or won them in England since 2001.
After the match the Aussie captain was asked what made the difference: he waffled on about teamwork, practice and planning but it was really down to Smith's batting and Australia's bowling as a whole. England's batting was only slightly better than the umpiring and Australia's, with the exception of Smith and Smith mk 2 (Labuschagne) was fallible. England didn't have the bowling to match Australia, with Anderson, Wod and Stone out injured.
I think you are right about the series. How different it might have been with Anderson fit.
Had Anderson been fit then Australia probably wouldn't have run away with the first test: they were 122-8 but Smith aided by Siddle and Lyon then added a very dispiriting 162! I think that set the tone for the series, apart from Stokes awesome innings, and no one can pull rabbits out of a hat that often.
Meanwhile, in the fifth and final test, Burns and Denly have put on 27 for the first wicket, which is England's best opening stand of the series. Apart from Denly (14) all of England's top five have made twenty and got out. That is pretty poor.
23? What the fuck even is that?
And who gets stumped in a Test match?
We're toast.
I think Australia were very generous to England throughout. Leaving Starc out, electing to bowl first and oh those reviews! Couldn’t Justin Langer send a thumbs up or down, because I would trust him over the umpires and Tim Paine, who must have taken the “most ill-advised review” mantel from Stuart Broad.
Btw, Jonny Bairstow is bowled way too often for anyone batting below #8 in Tests. Truly Driving Without Due Care and Attention.
I think it is time for Warner to go. He may as well not have played in this series, at least with the bat. I am sure he is a great locker room guy, or whatever. When he is not advocating use of sand paper.
The obsession with sandpaper is bizarre. Ball tampering is a time-honoured cheat in cricket, and Warner's sin was to forget how easy it is to get caught. He wasn't spot fixing, he wasn't giving tips to bookies he was cheating to try and get a win. He was caught and punished and has served his time. Staunch the flow from your faux bleeding heart DK.
Warner's performance was woeful this series, as was the performance of every other opener on both teams, and plenty of other batters too. Clearly this series was bowling side v bowling side. I hope the selectors continue to wait for Warner to find form. I don't believe they have much option anyway.
Congratulations to England for their two wins. I liked that new left-armer. They are always a danger. While the first win was clearly down to Stokes and Root, I reckon this one was down to persistence and a true team effort, especially in the field. I look forward to our next series. They are always pearlers.
Just for future reference, is my pugnacious jeering or DK's sycophantic sympathy more galling to you?
I would take the series as a moral victory for England given that in the one drawn game, England were the dominant side. But it was a series of the 'least worse'. If you wanted to put together a World XI I think you might only include Smith & Stokes from this series. If you took those two out of the sides, then you'd have a very mediocre Ashes.
Warner was a walking wicket and I would be surprised to see him play another test match in England again. I look forward to Archer bowling on hard Australian pitches; I would say now that he'll be our top wicket taker in the next Ashes. And when Australia next come back to England, Labuschagne will be captain. He could hardly do a worse job than Tim Paine, whose judgement was sorely lacking; a prime example of the Peter Principle.
And no, ball tampering isn't time-honoured. It is cheating, flat out, no excuses. The Spirit of the Game ought to be sacrosanct. Those who plan, advocate and carry out ball-tampering deserve every boo and jeer they get, nomatter how talented they are in other areas of the game.
I said it was a time-honored cheat. It was punished, time was served, and booing at the first appearance to show opprobrium is all that is needed. Not that I'm at all pissed off with English supporters. If the boot was on the other foot, I'd be booing a little bit maybe, or more likely chuckling at the booing of others.
It's a bit rich for an England supporter to be appealing to the Spirit of the Game. That spirit died in Adelaide in the late 1940's.
Not test cricket, but in the County Championship Hampshire beat title-chasing Somerset, or to be more accurate, ex-South Africa quick bowler Kyle Abbott beat them, taking 17-86! That is the best first-class match anaysis since Jim Laker's 19-90 in 1956 (England v Autralia at Manchester) and it is the fourth best ever in the championship.
Toad apparently is allowed to be as much of a knobhead as he wants to me down here with impunity. At least this demonstrates his true colours.
Warner should go because he can't bat anymore. When that happens to other people they get dropped. My heart isn't bleeding anywhere.
Warner should go because he can't bat anymore. When that happens to other people they get dropped. My heart isn't bleeding anywhere.
Warner has always been an attacking batsman and that is very valuable in all forms of cricket, especially Tests as it is very disconcerting for the fielding captain to look around with the score at 70-0 after twelve overs and his opening bowlers blowing and no one else fancying a bowl! But how someone can go from being a leading batsman in the World cup (highest single score, second in total of runs and sixth in the averages) to a dud in a few weeks really is a mystery. Maybe ODI teams need to keep slips in to get him out earlier?
It is not Test Cricket (so apologies for that), but the CWI Regional Super50 tournament has started. And the only reason I find that interesting at all is that the USA Cricket Team is participating (its first game is on Saturday against the "West Indies Emerging" team).
From which I conclude that, apparently, USA has a cricket team. Who knew? I only live here and it is news to me.
I have my fingers crossed: I have noticed that West Indies cricket is very good about showing matches on YouTube. I don't know if any of the Regional Super50 matches will be shown, but at the very least I expect to be able to watch highlights.
@Ex_Organist Thank you for that link! I was looking for the scorecards! It does look like the WI-USA game will be shown on YouTube (it is showing on my favorites screen with a "Schedule" option). So cool.
Of course, I know nobody on either team, but what the hell. It is actually at a convenient viewing time for me!
@Simon Toad Yes, the Regional Super50 Cup is 50-over matches. In my defense, I did apologize for mentioning it on the Test thread....
England beat New Zealand by "a distance" as they used to say in horse racing (241-3 v 165 all out). In addition to Malan (a South African) scoring 103 and Morgan (an Irishman) scoring 91 England showed to do it by scoring off all but nine balls in the last ten overs. "Keep a nought off your card" seems a useful maxim.
sorry, had to finish the last post in a rush. The above is to be sung or chanted to the Hosanna chorus from JC Superstar to celebrate the blossoming of Australia's next great batting talent and future captain, Marcus Labuschagne.
A very fair comment! England need 207 runs on the final day simply to make NZ bat again, and are three in the hutch already. Watling and Santner simply outclassed them.
One test achieved successfully in Oz vs Pakistan. It was unfortunate that Smith failed at the bat, but I guess anyone is entitled to have an off day. I wonder if he had to hang around too long to come to the crease.
Comments
Worry not, Australia have Smith. See this: Steve Smith's last 12 innings against England: 143, 141*, 40, 6, 239, 76, 102*, 83, 144, 142, 92, 107*, at an average of about 145.
That's our best chance. He has been out four times out of twelve in the 140's.
On the subject of the non-dismissal thanks to a Leach no-ball, Leach has bowled over 15,000 balls in first-class cricket, and fourteen no balls. He has a strike rate of 56. Even if batsmen always get out to his no-balls, that is a 1 in 1,000 chance but with that strike rate his effective chance of getting a batsman out to a no ball is 1 in 56,000!
And for the no-ball to be to Smith is particularly cruel.
Please. When my massage therapist handles the disc in my back, that's under pressure. England are drowning.
And don't read that as gloating. Smitty is the difference between these two teams.
They had a good paddle for a while, but sooner or later someone was always going to lose a waterwing...
Can't argue with the final point. I spotted somewhere today that he's the top run scorer in Tests this year. He's played in three tests! If you can hear a whirring sound in Centennial Park, it's Sir Don turning in his grave at what Smith is doing. And a sizeable chunk of the cricketing world will choose to remember him for the sandpaper instead.
AG
AG
BBC, BDS, etc being what there is no live tv here. Not to mention a more general lack of interest outside the Indian Jewish community, ex-Brits, Aussies, Kiwi's, South Africans and temporary workers from India and Sri Lanka
In the interests of domestic peace I followed this one quietly on The Guardian Over-By-Over. Which meant dashes to the desk-top followed by screams, crazy dancing about and punching the air every 15 minutes.
When I found online live coverage of the previous Test on a pirate Pakistani tv channel I was simply glued to it and the accompanying screams, etc every 30 seconds were A Bit Much. (There's a limit to what behaviour you can get away with even if you have Metastatic Breast Cancer!)
I was going to gloat, but it's not in me today. I shall wait for the mood to return.
After the match the Aussie captain was asked what made the difference: he waffled on about teamwork, practice and planning but it was really down to Smith's batting and Australia's bowling as a whole. England's batting was only slightly better than the umpiring and Australia's, with the exception of Smith and Smith mk 2 (Labuschagne) was fallible. England didn't have the bowling to match Australia, with Anderson, Wod and Stone out injured.
They beat Ireland in March and in their only other match lost to India by an innings,.
Had Anderson been fit then Australia probably wouldn't have run away with the first test: they were 122-8 but Smith aided by Siddle and Lyon then added a very dispiriting 162! I think that set the tone for the series, apart from Stokes awesome innings, and no one can pull rabbits out of a hat that often.
Meanwhile, in the fifth and final test, Burns and Denly have put on 27 for the first wicket, which is England's best opening stand of the series. Apart from Denly (14) all of England's top five have made twenty and got out. That is pretty poor.
I'm stuck with Guardian Over By Over commentary
And who gets stumped in a Test match?
We're toast.
I think Australia were very generous to England throughout. Leaving Starc out, electing to bowl first and oh those reviews! Couldn’t Justin Langer send a thumbs up or down, because I would trust him over the umpires and Tim Paine, who must have taken the “most ill-advised review” mantel from Stuart Broad.
Btw, Jonny Bairstow is bowled way too often for anyone batting below #8 in Tests. Truly Driving Without Due Care and Attention.
Warner's performance was woeful this series, as was the performance of every other opener on both teams, and plenty of other batters too. Clearly this series was bowling side v bowling side. I hope the selectors continue to wait for Warner to find form. I don't believe they have much option anyway.
Congratulations to England for their two wins. I liked that new left-armer. They are always a danger. While the first win was clearly down to Stokes and Root, I reckon this one was down to persistence and a true team effort, especially in the field. I look forward to our next series. They are always pearlers.
Just for future reference, is my pugnacious jeering or DK's sycophantic sympathy more galling to you?
Warner was a walking wicket and I would be surprised to see him play another test match in England again. I look forward to Archer bowling on hard Australian pitches; I would say now that he'll be our top wicket taker in the next Ashes. And when Australia next come back to England, Labuschagne will be captain. He could hardly do a worse job than Tim Paine, whose judgement was sorely lacking; a prime example of the Peter Principle.
And no, ball tampering isn't time-honoured. It is cheating, flat out, no excuses. The Spirit of the Game ought to be sacrosanct. Those who plan, advocate and carry out ball-tampering deserve every boo and jeer they get, nomatter how talented they are in other areas of the game.
It's a bit rich for an England supporter to be appealing to the Spirit of the Game. That spirit died in Adelaide in the late 1940's.
Warner should go because he can't bat anymore. When that happens to other people they get dropped. My heart isn't bleeding anywhere.
Warner has always been an attacking batsman and that is very valuable in all forms of cricket, especially Tests as it is very disconcerting for the fielding captain to look around with the score at 70-0 after twelve overs and his opening bowlers blowing and no one else fancying a bowl! But how someone can go from being a leading batsman in the World cup (highest single score, second in total of runs and sixth in the averages) to a dud in a few weeks really is a mystery. Maybe ODI teams need to keep slips in to get him out earlier?
It is not Test Cricket (so apologies for that), but the CWI Regional Super50 tournament has started. And the only reason I find that interesting at all is that the USA Cricket Team is participating (its first game is on Saturday against the "West Indies Emerging" team).
From which I conclude that, apparently, USA has a cricket team. Who knew? I only live here and it is news to me.
I have my fingers crossed: I have noticed that West Indies cricket is very good about showing matches on YouTube. I don't know if any of the Regional Super50 matches will be shown, but at the very least I expect to be able to watch highlights.
[/tangent]
There seems to be a link to live streaming on this page: https://www.windiescricket.com/series/super50-cup-2019-20-14552/
Of course, I know nobody on either team, but what the hell. It is actually at a convenient viewing time for me!
@Simon Toad Yes, the Regional Super50 Cup is 50-over matches. In my defense, I did apologize for mentioning it on the Test thread....
Marcus Labber Shane yes that's how we say his name
and he can plat the game, Labber.
NZ now on top. Can England bowl intelligently today?
A very fair comment! England need 207 runs on the final day simply to make NZ bat again, and are three in the hutch already. Watling and Santner simply outclassed them.
Report here, sobering reading in this hemisphere.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/19297/report/1187671/day/4/new-zealand-vs-england-1st-test-england-in-new-zealand-2019-20
AG
You know, I realise that now...