2015 Ashes

[The Bedge]

Result: 3-0 Australia
Wickets: Broad
Runs: Smith
Spud it up: Warner

Rogers has a good record v England in England as well

My boy Rogers getting the job done again, and Warner continues to spud it up

[shoe boy]

Clarke won toss and bats

Great toss to win .
Thought is the toss in cricket the only sport that this is a game changer?

Would it be better if the first test who wins the toss can elect to bat or bowl and the next test no toss required the other side elects and so on?

[Dogwatcher]

If all pitches and weather conditions were the same, that would be okay.

[RustyCage]

If you're the home team looking for a draw in the last test to win the series, and you know you're batting first, you can guess what type of pitch it will be!

[bennymacca]

Clarke won toss and bats

Great toss to win .
Thought is the toss in cricket the only sport that this is a game changer?

Would it be better if the first test who wins the toss can elect to bat or bowl and the next test no toss required the other side elects and so on?

I don't think you can do that for the reasons others have mentioned, but you are right, there wouldn't be too many other sports where the toss matters so much. Even in a game of afl with a huge breeze it won't give you that much of an advantage. In tennis they frequently elect to receive first just because you can get into the game for cheap and if doesn't really matter if you lose the first game because you are Weill on serve.

[Q.]

Bucky! Top innings, hopefully he can go real big tonight.

[Keefy]

Steve Smith's record in 1st innings in his last 8 tests:

162*
133
192
117
25
199
33
129*

[bennymacca]

Steve Smith's record in 1st innings in his last 8 tests:

162*
133
192
117
25
199
33
129*

fairly handy

[Rik E Boy]

Fascinating stuff to watch last night. This series is really just a series of coin tosses or so it appears. It is going to take some bloody good cricket for any team that loses the toss to win the test with the worst of the conditions.

So what happened last night? ENGLAND WENT DEFENSIVE! In the first test they played attacking Cricket but once things turned pear shaped for them they revealed their true colours. Cook was talking up more aggressive Cricket but bowling wide of off stump to Steve Smith with four in front of the bat with only two slips is all about reducing his scoring rather than getting him out. If you are going to bowl that line you have to risk the odd boundary and put at least three slips in. One catchable ball flew through third slip area just before Bell grassed Smith's edge to second.

Another sign of a defensive mindset (which might not have anything to do with the team) is the wickets that are being served up. By all accounts the Lords strip for the Kiwi test had a lot of pace. This one was as dead as a Dodo. Yeah the groundsman reckons he got robbed by rain of preparation time but if you dry that one out you could fertilise the outfield. With Harris out and some very green backup bowlers in the squad the Poms don't dare risk another Mitchell Johnson assault even though two of their top five leading test wicket takers are in this lineup. Deep down this mob still don't believe in themselves.

England's 'wrong un' so far this series has been to bring on Ali to buy a wicket. It has worked a treat so far in the series but this tactic passed it's use by date once Davey Warner gave himself an uppercut for throwing his wicket away. Rogers and Smith proved you can sit on him all day and score four runs an over. Hopefully the lesson wasn't lost on those wearing the baggy green because it was bloody obvious to the fans and even the Pommy commentators who don't rate Ali as anything more than a part time bowler.

Hopefully we will score another two hundred tonight and nip one or two out in the last hour. With Lyth and Balance in the top three they are ripe for the picking with the wicket expected to pick up pace over the next couple of days.

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Question - Why is Anderson allowed to run in the protected area? How about a warning Umpires?

regards,

REB

[heater31]

Ali is a better bat than bowler, he bats 3 for Worcestershire FFS! Bring back Kerrigan or Borthwick.....

[Footy Smart]

Question - Why is Anderson allowed to run in the protected area? How about a warning Umpires?

regards,

REB

Id say on review from day 1, the umpires will be instructed to watch from ball one tonight. Not that it makes his constant cheating yesterday acceptable

[Keefy]

Question - Why is Anderson allowed to run in the protected area? How about a warning Umpires?

regards,

REB

Id say on review from day 1, the umpires will be instructed to watch from ball one tonight. Not that it makes his constant cheating yesterday acceptable

I think he was spoken to at one stage to say he was close to if not running in the protected area.

He was officially warned in Cardiff

[hawks21]

Ali is a better bat than bowler, he bats 3 for Worcestershire FFS! Bring back Kerrigan or Borthwick.....

Ali is no more than a part timer. All his wickets have resulted from terrible shots.

[tigerpie]

Fascinating stuff to watch last night. This series is really just a series of coin tosses or so it appears. It is going to take some bloody good cricket for any team that loses the toss to win the test with the worst of the conditions.

So what happened last night? ENGLAND WENT DEFENSIVE! In the first test they played attacking Cricket but once things turned pear shaped for them they revealed their true colours. Cook was talking up more aggressive Cricket but bowling wide of off stump to Steve Smith with four in front of the bat with only two slips is all about reducing his scoring rather than getting him out. If you are going to bowl that line you have to risk the odd boundary and put at least three slips in. One catchable ball flew through third slip area just before Bell grassed Smith's edge to second.

Another sign of a defensive mindset (which might not have anything to do with the team) is the wickets that are being served up. By all accounts the Lords strip for the Kiwi test had a lot of pace. This one was as dead as a Dodo. Yeah the groundsman reckons he got robbed by rain of preparation time but if you dry that one out you could fertilise the outfield. With Harris out and some very green backup bowlers in the squad the Poms don't dare risk another Mitchell Johnson assault even though two of their top five leading test wicket takers are in this lineup. Deep down this mob still don't believe in themselves.

England's 'wrong un' so far this series has been to bring on Ali to buy a wicket. It has worked a treat so far in the series but this tactic passed it's use by date once Davey Warner gave himself an uppercut for throwing his wicket away. Rogers and Smith proved you can sit on him all day and score four runs an over. Hopefully the lesson wasn't lost on those wearing the baggy green because it was bloody obvious to the fans and even the Pommy commentators who don't rate Ali as anything more than a part time bowler.

Hopefully we will score another two hundred tonight and nip one or two out in the last hour. With Lyth and Balance in the top three they are ripe for the picking with the wicket expected to pick up pace over the next couple of days.

regards,

REB

Yeah the groundsman reckons he got robbed by rain of preparation time but if you dry that one out you could fertilise the outfield.
Not sure what you meant by this?
Its pretty hard to dry a wicket when its under covers for an extended period of time.
The first test wicket just wasn't flat, hence variable bounce, which was pretty ordinary.

[bennymacca]

Yeah would have thought a covered pitch would have made it greener not drier.

They are legitimately scared of Johnson. Why else would you prepare flat pitches when you have two of the top 5 ranked quicks in the world and an average at best spinner?

It made sense at least when they had a world class spinner in Swann but not now.

[bennymacca]

Add to that some potentially suspect Australian batting techniques. Would have thought preparing decks that Anderson could wreak havoc on would have been the way to go.

Having said all that they did win convincingly in Cardiff and we are now talking like they are silly after a single day of bad cricket from them

[valleys07]

Question - Why is Anderson allowed to run in the protected area? How about a warning Umpires?

regards,

REB

It was ridiculous! He encroached something like 6 times in his first 2 overs. Some of them weren't minor encroachments either, they were right in the middle!

It didn't seem to phase Rogers and Smith too much!

[FlyingHigh]

Clarke won toss and bats

Great toss to win .
Thought is the toss in cricket the only sport that this is a game changer?

Would it be better if the first test who wins the toss can elect to bat or bowl and the next test no toss required the other side elects and so on?

I don't think you can do that for the reasons others have mentioned, but you are right, there wouldn't be too many other sports where the toss matters so much. Even in a game of afl with a huge breeze it won't give you that much of an advantage. In tennis they frequently elect to receive first just because you can get into the game for cheap and if doesn't really matter if you lose the first game because you are Weill on serve.

That's why it's test cricket and teams have to be proficient in all aspects and cover as many circumstances as possible, except if you were the '80's West Indies.
Another option may be to allow each team to make one change to the selected sides after the toss?

[FlyingHigh]

Fascinating stuff to watch last night. This series is really just a series of coin tosses or so it appears. It is going to take some bloody good cricket for any team that loses the toss to win the test with the worst of the conditions.

So what happened last night? ENGLAND WENT DEFENSIVE! In the first test they played attacking Cricket but once things turned pear shaped for them they revealed their true colours. Cook was talking up more aggressive Cricket but bowling wide of off stump to Steve Smith with four in front of the bat with only two slips is all about reducing his scoring rather than getting him out. If you are going to bowl that line you have to risk the odd boundary and put at least three slips in. One catchable ball flew through third slip area just before Bell grassed Smith's edge to second.

Another sign of a defensive mindset (which might not have anything to do with the team) is the wickets that are being served up. By all accounts the Lords strip for the Kiwi test had a lot of pace. This one was as dead as a Dodo. Yeah the groundsman reckons he got robbed by rain of preparation time but if you dry that one out you could fertilise the outfield. With Harris out and some very green backup bowlers in the squad the Poms don't dare risk another Mitchell Johnson assault even though two of their top five leading test wicket takers are in this lineup. Deep down this mob still don't believe in themselves.

England's 'wrong un' so far this series has been to bring on Ali to buy a wicket. It has worked a treat so far in the series but this tactic passed it's use by date once Davey Warner gave himself an uppercut for throwing his wicket away. Rogers and Smith proved you can sit on him all day and score four runs an over. Hopefully the lesson wasn't lost on those wearing the baggy green because it was bloody obvious to the fans and even the Pommy commentators who don't rate Ali as anything more than a part time bowler.

Hopefully we will score another two hundred tonight and nip one or two out in the last hour. With Lyth and Balance in the top three they are ripe for the picking with the wicket expected to pick up pace over the next couple of days.

regards,

REB

Yeah the groundsman reckons he got robbed by rain of preparation time but if you dry that one out you could fertilise the outfield.
Not sure what you meant by this?
Its pretty hard to dry a wicket when its under covers for an extended period of time.
The first test wicket just wasn't flat, hence variable bounce, which was pretty ordinary.

Don't understand why they didn't leave a little more grass on it to help the bowlers rather than a hard batsmen's pitch that it may have been or the dull one this seems to be?