I can see them overcorrecting the roads dished up with a green seamer at lords…then look on as Bumrah steamrolls them
Stokes and McCallum will never be a sustainably successful combination unless they can recognise that sometimes you just can’t win and that a draw is a better outcome than a loss. Batting 80 overs at most to save a game on day 5 needs to be within the capability of any decent test team.
The other concern I would have as a Pommy cricket fan is that there is no accountability given if they lose while having a crack it’s all ok. I would be infuriated by that attitude. Losing this test when India rested Bumrah is a horrible outcome. England needed to be heading to Lords leading the series but now it’s all square.
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Hard luck mate. Would never have thought india could take 20 wickets without Bumrah. India’s top order have batted sensationally in both matches, lead by Gills superheroics.
I feel it’s going to be a tight arm westle from here on.
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Akashdeep bowled really well in Aus without much luck. It was a huge gamble to go into a must win game without your strike bowler, but the dividends it’s paid is unmeasurable.
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Pfft, you’re totally ignoring scoring a moral victory.
Everyone knows that’s what really counts.
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Archer? Is he really going to last a full test? He’s also lost a bit of pace
They can’t play Wood and Archer concurrently. It has to be one or the other. Treat them as one player. One of them plays the 1st/3rd/5th Tests, the other plays the 2nd and the 4th.
I was going to say exactly this. I was impressed by him down here last summer. I don’t think anyone expected a 10 wicket haul, but I’m not surprised he was among the wickets in this match. Looks like an ideal replacement for Shami to me.
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So with the series won, I doubt they change anything at the top of the batting order for the final test.
But neither opener should be locked in for the Ashes, for differing reasons. Go and get Shield runs and force your selection.
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Yep, and it’s an even bigger concern being that their next challenge is an away Ashes series. They won’t beat Australia on talent, to be any chance they need to come down here with a really good plan, an ability to hold their catches and a huge willingness to fight hard.
I’ve seen some folks on here suggest England will win the Ashes, and as someone who isn’t parochial about cricket, I find this kinda laughable. They haven’t won a Test match in Australia in 15 years, their best batter (and I rate Root very highly) has a modest record here and Duckett, Brook and Smith have never played Tests in Australia. They’ve done the right thing by looking at bowlers with more speed and bounce (Tongue, Hull, Carse, Jamie Overton), but all of those guys bowl far too many poor deliveries. Woakes (who is a good cricketer) is highly unlikely to have much impact down here and I’d say the same for Atkinson, whose numbers look great but hasn’t impressed me at all as a bowler. They’ll be desperate to get Wood up and running, and after so long Archer now is an unknown quantity. It would be some kind of miracle if he got back to anything even close to what he delivered in the 2019 Ashes.
But perhaps the biggest issue for England is the decline of Stokes. He’s been a bona fide talisman over the years, but his batting returns have diminished big time, he’s injury-prone and some of his on-field decision-making in recent times has raised a few eyebrows (ie. the decision to bowl first in Birmingham). Write him off at your peril, but he’s banged up, out of form, and has had miserable experiences here in the past.
I’d love to see a ripping contest in the Ashes, but I suspect the only way England can even be competitive is if Australia’s bowling unit is hit by injury or a dramatic downturn in form.
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Poms were absolutely smoked in that match, despite a 300+ run partnership in the first innings. They conceded 1000 runs, twice lost 5/80, and had 7 ducks across the test match.
They were abhorrent, right from the coin toss.
Ain’t it ■■■■■■■ spectacular!
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You’d be rolling out decks that will start to break up on day 4 too since you know the Poms will rarely opt to bat first, and Oz will nearly always bat first on winning the toss.
You guys just lost a final to the one team that NEVER wins a final
Now THAT was spectacular
Meanwhile in Bulawayo…
A South African B team makes almost 500 on the first day against the Zimbos. And this morning, stand-in Saffer captain Wiaan Mulder, averaging 22 with the bat before this series, brings up his triple century, off 297 balls, with 38 4s and three 6s. Yes, you read it right, TRIPLE CENTURY.
Some of the matches passing as Tests these days are a bit…questionable.
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At least they make them
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Spot on @saladin - however we both know Ronny has already told Uzi and SK they’re playing the first ashes test. Shield form will mean nothing. Uzi has already informed the selectors that HE is playing all 5 ashes tests then HE will tell the selectors and Ronny when HE will decide to retire.
There will be so much egg on your face if any of that doesn’t happen. I suspect the decision will be taken out of Usman’s hands if anyone puts their hand up at shield level before the first test.
You realise I was being sarcastic (that’s why I said HE) - but based on the past on how they handled Warner and Lab it’s probably true.
Lara’s 400 under threat by Mulder who is 325 atm
Whilst you may have been sarcastic it’s the regularity of your complaints about McDonald which wear thin. He is coaching a team that holds every test trophy bar 1.
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