Cricket Part II

Malan got dropped after poor form with the bat in NZ from memory

Vince looks good in parts but then would always get caught behind going for drives

Broad was dropped to make way for another spinner

Malan had a very poor English summer. I don’t think much of Jennings but he is a good player of spin so his selection sort of makes sense. Ali at 3 does not. The guy is not good enough to bat in the top 6 in a Test side, so putting him at first drop is ridiculous whilst Root refuses to step up and take responsibility.

Just counted, exactly 7 changes to the team that played the 5th ashes test

Outs: cook, stoneman, vince, malan, bairstow, broad, crane

You don’t get consistency with that many changes

I hope that there’s a call of “that’s all, Foakes” when Foakes gets out.

Without Rex’s “yibbida, yibbida”

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Root’s inability to turn starts into big scores is beyond frustrating. Reckon he’s gone nearly 50 innings without a ton.

Zimbabwe win their first test match in 5 years

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I wonder what style that will be brought up by the opposition on field during the ashes. If at all.

To be fair, he did make one in his last test match.

58%20PM

And a total of four in his last fifty innings.

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Which -as a lover of the game - is everything that is wrong about modern cricket.

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TWO days after Australia capitulated with the bat in Perth, teenagers Jason Sangha and Jack Edwards stood up for NSW with Sheffield Shield centuries at the SCG.

NSW reached 6-386 at lunch on day two of their clash with Tasmania, thanks largely to Sangha’s unbeaten 106 and Edwards’ 101.

Sangha and Edwards, who captained and opened respectively for Australia in this year’s under-19 World Cup final, shared a game-changing stand of 180 runs in their first outing for NSW at the iconic venue. It’s the third-highest partnership by two teenagers in Shield history.

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We need these kids to keep playing shield and to prove it wasn’t a one off. The media will be calling for them to come into the test team now, but what they need is to score lots more and consistently.

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He seems to be able to make 50s consistently, just his conversion rate to ton up isn’t very good at all. If he can start to convert those more and more he could be the best batsmen in the game

Our lower order once again has gotten us out of trouble. Enthralling days cricket though

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I missed that century against Sri Lanka - I can’t remember a series where Root has been out of form, so he’s definitely not getting full value for his efforts - Anyway it’s better to consistently score 40,50,60 runs,rather than getting too many single figure scores.

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the indian capt from the u/19 already is playing tests and scoring lots of runs. he looks and bats with a lot of class but i just hope our 2 get to hone their craft in the shield before being rushed into the test side and if they fail ripped to shreds by media and fans alike

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Holy loly.

Sangha is far more impressive than Edwards IMO. Edwards has a lot of the slogger about him. Both need time though, very green. Sangha made a pair in his 1st shield match this season.

Kerry O’Keefe last night on The Back Page said that Sangha is the most technically gifted batsman we’ve produced since Ricky Ponting. Whether that’s just blatant NSW bias or actual fact I wouldn’t know. Haven’t seen him bat…

He does look good, very good in fact. But we’ve also had some technically shocking batsmen make a ■■■■ tonne of runs since Ponting. His ton against the Poms in the tour match in Townsville last year was very good, albeit excellent batting conditions.

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Kerry is a very good judge normally.

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Our best batsmen since Ponting have been Clarke, Smith and Warner. None of them have classifcally great techniques even though they have specific strengths.

So it’s not a huge statement really.

I agree with IT that O’Keefe is normally a good judge