The Cricket Thread

The collapse is on!!

Just FFS.

Superb bowling though.

Only just finished work and checked. Was fully expecting us to be still batting at least. Woakes went with the second ball of the day? And then Root about 10 deliveries later? Talk about putting ridiculous amounts of pressure on yourself. Haven't seen the wickets though so it might be a case of fantastic bowling.

And 2-2 would suit me fine. Can afford to draw one and keep the Ashes.

Woakes, Root and Overton got very good deliveries. Woakes's dismissal was a bit iffy, given out caught behind which he reviewed. Nothing on hotspot but a spike on snicko, so decision was upheld. Root got one that kept low and just nicked the bottom edge of the bat on the way through to the keeper. Overton was out from the first delivery off the new ball, vicious inswinger from Starc onto the pads.

As frustrating as it was, only Moeen really gave his wicket away.

Textbook England.

Not too up to speed (

) on who are our other bowling options apart form those who are generally selected. But who is England's fastest bowler? Either in the squad or not.

BTB wrote:Textbook England.

Not too up to speed ( ) on who are our other bowling options apart form those who are generally selected. But who is England's fastest bowler? Either in the squad or not.

Wood or Plunkett. Wood is injury prone and Plunkett was repeatedly snubbed even with the numerous injuries the bowling department sustained. Even now there is talk of rushing Wood, a player that has a history of sustaining long-term injuries that require substantial recovery time through a Lions match and straight back into the test team. That's the ECB for you.

George Garton of Sussex has had some time with the Lions XI and is said to possess considerable pace but he is more inexperienced than Mason Crane.

Romping along at 5 an over for the first five ov.... oh ffs sake. I'm working 6-6 today so the 02:15 alarm is definitely a good life decision.

This isn't comfortable viewing :dread:

you feel like Stoneman/Malan are going to either get absolutely pinned (again) or out to every delivery :dread:

Cooks done isn't he

Sub 200 coming up here. :dread:

myrrh heat than light wrote:Sub 200 coming up here.

Nahhhhh.

Mini E wrote:
myrrh heat than light wrote:Sub 200 coming up here.

Nahhhhh.

Malan!

I've liked Malan at 5 as he's gritty, prepared to dig in and doesn't often give his wicket away. The type of player our team needs. Great century.

I also like Stoneman opening so as far as I'm concerned we just need to find a reliable number 3. Ideally, you want someone like Malan who digs in and doesn't look to play risky flashy shots (so kind of the anti-Vince).

Still going to need to sort out the bowling line up and spinning options mind.

Harry Ellis wrote:Malan!

I've liked Malan at 5 as he's gritty, prepared to dig in and doesn't often give his wicket away. The type of player our team needs. Great century.

I also like Stoneman opening so as far as I'm concerned we just need to find a reliable number 3. Ideally, you want someone like Malan who digs in and doesn't look to play risky flashy shots (so kind of the anti-Vince).

But we had this a while ago trying to find Cook's partner. And again when we had Cook, Jennings and Hameed as top three. Then we crawled along at under 2 an over and everyone said we needed a strokemaker at 3. Whatever style the selectors pick at 3, when it goes wrong, people will claim the opposite.

Rex Kramer wrote:Cooks done isn't he

Good! 69 runs from five innings is woeful for an opener.

Stoneman seems to work for his runs so I think we need a stroke player to partner him with a grafter at 3. I think Cook will call it a day at the end of this series, his dismissal today was dreadful. Cook at his pomp would never had got trapped by that.

Hats off to Malan and Bairstow, they both played fantastically.

I don't care what other people say. I would be absolutely fine with a Cook, Stoneman, Hameed top 3 in any order you like. Especially down under. With Root at 4, Stokes at 6, JB at 7, Mo at 8 and to a lesser extent Woakes at 9, there is no shortage of firepower and stroke players. You want to people that dig in to see off the new ball, take the shine off it so that the middle order can stroll to the crease and score at a SR of 60-70. And those that do the digging in are capable of playing shots too and upping the SR once the ball is 25-30 overs old but they need to be at the crease to do that.

Scores 240-odd 2 months ago, now done.

Cook is just in a bad trott.

Harry Ellis wrote:Scores 240-odd 2 months ago, now done.

Cook is just in a bad trott.

Simon Hughes' comments in the break on TMS suggest otherwise. He was suggesting that the dropped catches in the summer combined with the sorts of dismissals he's getting in this tour (late to the ball for the lbw, late to the hook shot) is an indication that his reactions are on the wane.

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