The Cricket Thread.

[Roger Allott]

I think this Ashes series might turn out to be a cracker - not for high quality cricket but for being surprisingly close.

Both teams have only two experienced batsmen in their top five. Warner & Smith for the Aussies and Cook & Root for England. The other six are very much rolls of the dice and absolutely anything might happen.

England though are clearly on top in the 6-8 range. Bairstow, Moeen & Woakes are a league or two better than Marsh, Paine & Lyon when it comes to batting and keeping wicket, and Lyon is only slightly better than the much improved Moeen at spin bowling.

Aussies have the edge for pace bowlers, but they're relying on only three of them (Starc, Cummins & Hazelwood) whereas England have Chris Woakes to add to the mix of Anderson, Broad & Ball. It's inevitable that Cummins will tear a hamstring or snap a ligament at some point, and that could leave his team with major problems - depending on when in a match it happens.

I reckon one test will be drawn and the teams will each win two tests, ending the series 2-2, thus keeping the urn in Blighty. Sydney in particular could be a cracker of a match for knife-edge suspense.

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[Motorboater]

I listen to sports radio station SEN1116 down here a lot. Rodney Hogg is on it a couple of times a weeks. It was funny listening to him prior to the start of the day's play. When it became known England were going to bat. He was talking about Cook and Root having to make big scores. He had absolutely no regard for the abilities of Stoneman, Vince and Malan. He really got into them. All three have ended up playing better than cook and Root combined!

They've never played in Australia before. They'll get 7 ducks between them.".

[scoundrel]

Mark Stoneman and James Vince turned up on Day One and in a serious pressure situation. Dawid Malan held his nerve in the last session in order to prevent Australia from gaining the upper hand after some very staunch England resistance. England still have Jonny Bairstow to come before the Australian bowlers reach the tail enders, and it is by no means a weak or negligable tail end. With England at 196 - 4, I would argue that Australia have shaded Day One a little bit, but not by much. They need 6 more wickets and so far the playing surface has not done anything much to help them. If they get England out for much less than 350 from here, they will have done well.

When we have seen how England bowl on this rather unexciting surface we will know more.

[Welderman]

Trust me, Chris Woakes will play out of his skin, as he has done for Warwickshire in the past..
By the time we get to Melbourne on Boxing Day, England will be 2-0 up..

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by welderman

Trust me, Chris Woakes will play out of his skin, as he has done for Warwickshire in the past..
By the time we get to Melbourne on Boxing Day, England will be 2-0 up..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=lD4sxxoJGkA

[Welderman]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=lD4sxxoJGkA

Keep the faith my friend..
You know i'm right..

[victor meldrew]

Ball and Woakes will need to improve turning the arm over skills tomorrow.

As for the batting, it no longer comes as a surprise when we fall like a deck of cards.

First session tomorrow could decide the out come of this Test match.

[Motorboater]

It's like Alastair Cook wants to be known as an idiot?

[victor meldrew]

Don't play cards with Hazlewood, way to fortunate.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by Motorboater

It's like Alastair Cook wants to be known as an idiot?

Possibly Alastair Cook has retained Andrew Hilditch as his new batting coach. That particular shot in that particular situation seems to be very good evidence of a recent full frontal lobotomy.

Joe Root has a problem now of his own making. Putting Woakes and Ball on to bowl at Smith and Cummings straight after lunch did not work and since it did not work it begs the question of why Anderson, who had only bowled 3 overs so far and taken a wicket in those 3 overs, was standing in the field. Broad was not bowled either at a time when the fatal partnership had only just started and the players were trying to get back in after the break. The official word is that Jimmy Anderson is in perfectly good condition, but if that is true (and it wouldn't be the first time the England dressing room has lied) then the tactics and bowler selection were wrong.

Hopefully the helmet did its work and the short ball which hit Joe Root on the head has done no serious physical harm. Root and Mark Stoneman have a big job to do tomorrow morning. England are effectively 7 - 2 and can easily collapse ignominiously from here; we've seen it so many times. There must not be an early and cheap dismissal: these two must hold the line until the second innings is well established. England have a big mountain to climb on Day Four.