Any cricket lovers on here?

bobmcstuff

shirley_basso said:

To be honest, I don't think the declaration was the wrong thing - insofar as the full amount of cricket was played in the full time available - had we been batting any longer, it's possible that we would have run out of time and played for the draw.

What seemed horrendous for me (and what I think will lose it for us) was the shoddy fielding and generally unfit bowlers, as well as gifting too many cheap wickets, particularly in the second innings, although perhaps I accept that's part of Bazball

I agree, I don't think the declaration is my biggest problem with England's performance there - I think if you told them at the start they would have Australia 8 down needing 50 more to win on day 5, they'd probably have taken that.

I think not bringing Foakes was a catastrophic mistake - Bairstow missed at least 3 absolute sitters that I saw and several other chances.

Crawley's continued presence boggles the mind. Get rid of him, make someone else bat further up the order if we really need Bairstow's batting - Bairstow also historically bats better when he's not also keeping.

Although just swapping Bairstow for Foakes I reckon would have won us the match - Foakes is no slouch with the bat (Test av 40 in England) and has had some good innings this season. Would you trade Bairstow's 78 and 20 for maybe slightly fewer runs and 3+ extra wickets? I would.

Ali, well, I don't think he did that badly all things considered. Hopefully he'll have a good callous by Lord's.

I saw the talk they'd come in under-cooked in terms of warm up, hopefully they'll be a bit better for the 2nd Test. But Australia are very, very good...

TheBigBean

Rashid should play is my view.

Wheelspinner

wallace_and_gromit said:

kingstongraham said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

Having been brought up by my Dad to believe that the only good Australian is a beaten one, I have to say I can’t join in the “great game” jollity. The purpose of this summer is to win the Ashes and we’ve made that much harder with some frankly baffling shot selection and team selections. And that’s without thinking about the declaration.

Sure, England didn't take their chances, and might or might not have won with different selections. But if you didn't enjoy that game despite the disappointment, you're missing out.

I didn’t see any of the match due to work and domestic commitments, so followed by BBC text updates (and WhatsApps from my sister!) Maybe following in this way downgrades the excitement somewhat without downgrading the sinking feeling of English wickets being lost regularly for reasons other than good bowling.

My main desire for this summer on the cricket front is for England to regain the Ashes, which is now much less likely than it was. Not helped by seemingly only having one proven test class bowler who is fit at the moment.

For me, the Ashes outcome is akin to whether the Titanic hits or misses the iceberg, with the entertainment factor being akin to the position of the deckchairs.

Blimey. This may well be the saddest post I've read on these pages.

It's a game FFS. Get a life.

wallace_and_gromit

bobmcstuff said:

But Australia are very, very good...

In a lot of social media chit chat I saw - not here particularly - there was more than a hint of some folk thinking that just because England were playing Bazball, victory was a given. This is never the case against the Aussies, who are pretty ruthless when mistakes are made.

bobmcstuff

wallace_and_gromit said:

bobmcstuff said:

But Australia are very, very good...

In a lot of social media chit chat I saw - not here particularly - there was more than a hint of some folk thinking that just because England were playing Bazball, victory was a given. This is never the case against the Aussies, who are pretty ruthless when mistakes are made.

Well exactly. The annoying thing for me was that we could and IMO should have won this test match. There will be others where it won't be as close - we can't miss these opportunities.

wallace_and_gromit

Wheelspinner said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

kingstongraham said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

Having been brought up by my Dad to believe that the only good Australian is a beaten one, I have to say I can’t join in the “great game” jollity. The purpose of this summer is to win the Ashes and we’ve made that much harder with some frankly baffling shot selection and team selections. And that’s without thinking about the declaration.

Sure, England didn't take their chances, and might or might not have won with different selections. But if you didn't enjoy that game despite the disappointment, you're missing out.

I didn’t see any of the match due to work and domestic commitments, so followed by BBC text updates (and WhatsApps from my sister!) Maybe following in this way downgrades the excitement somewhat without downgrading the sinking feeling of English wickets being lost regularly for reasons other than good bowling.

My main desire for this summer on the cricket front is for England to regain the Ashes, which is now much less likely than it was. Not helped by seemingly only having one proven test class bowler who is fit at the moment.

For me, the Ashes outcome is akin to whether the Titanic hits or misses the iceberg, with the entertainment factor being akin to the position of the deckchairs.

Blimey. This may well be the saddest post I've read on these pages.

It's a game FFS. Get a life.

I suggest you research Bill Shankley quotes!

But seriously, I have a life, which is why I am unable to watch and therefore follow the sport via the written word (bar a few video clips on the BBC website). Via this medium, entertainment is irrelevant. What counts is the result. If one has insufficient calls on your time that you can devote hours on end to watching cricket then I guess entertainment is more of a concern.

TheBigBean

Jezyboy said:

TheBigBean said:

I don't think test cricket has any problems. A ticket at Lords for the day was £160 and sold out in the ballot.

I'm not sure that says anything either positive or negative about the long term health of it, but rather that there are sufficient numbers of Southern based cricket fans with a healthy amount of disposable income during a cost of living crisis!

I think the ease with which you can get a ticket reflects interest. Before the '05 Ashes it was much easier than afterwards. 2019 was much easier as well.

bobmcstuff

TheBigBean said:

Rashid should play is my view.

I think that's reasonable. Ali is the better batter on paper though, so probably the more aggressive choice? I don't think Ali did that badly really, and his finger should be better for the next test.

TheBigBean

bobmcstuff said:

TheBigBean said:

Rashid should play is my view.

I think that's reasonable. Ali is the better batter on paper though, so probably the more aggressive choice? I don't think Ali did that badly really, and his finger should be better for the next test.

Which paper? Rashid's bowling in limited overs has been top class.

shirley_basso

wallace_and_gromit said:

Wheelspinner said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

kingstongraham said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

Having been brought up by my Dad to believe that the only good Australian is a beaten one, I have to say I can’t join in the “great game” jollity. The purpose of this summer is to win the Ashes and we’ve made that much harder with some frankly baffling shot selection and team selections. And that’s without thinking about the declaration.

Sure, England didn't take their chances, and might or might not have won with different selections. But if you didn't enjoy that game despite the disappointment, you're missing out.

I didn’t see any of the match due to work and domestic commitments, so followed by BBC text updates (and WhatsApps from my sister!) Maybe following in this way downgrades the excitement somewhat without downgrading the sinking feeling of English wickets being lost regularly for reasons other than good bowling.

My main desire for this summer on the cricket front is for England to regain the Ashes, which is now much less likely than it was. Not helped by seemingly only having one proven test class bowler who is fit at the moment.

For me, the Ashes outcome is akin to whether the Titanic hits or misses the iceberg, with the entertainment factor being akin to the position of the deckchairs.

Blimey. This may well be the saddest post I've read on these pages.

It's a game FFS. Get a life.

I suggest you research Bill Shankley quotes!

But seriously, I have a life, which is why I am unable to watch and therefore follow the sport via the written word (bar a few video clips on the BBC website). Via this medium, entertainment is irrelevant. What counts is the result. If one has insufficient calls on your time that you can devote hours on end to watching cricket then I guess entertainment is more of a concern.

Over a 5 day test there's enough time to be entertained. I didn't watch anything. I read a bit in the evenings / mornings, a bit on the BBC, bit on here, then listened to the final 1/2 hour on BBC R5 last night.

It was entertaining.

bobmcstuff

TheBigBean said:

bobmcstuff said:

TheBigBean said:

Rashid should play is my view.

I think that's reasonable. Ali is the better batter on paper though, so probably the more aggressive choice? I don't think Ali did that badly really, and his finger should be better for the next test.

Which paper? Rashid's bowling in limited overs has been top class.

Just the batting, Ali's batting figures are better.

I don't doubt Rashid's bowling figures! Although you would think that he would have the same issues as Ali changing to the red ball.

wallace_and_gromit

shirley_basso said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

Wheelspinner said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

kingstongraham said:

wallace_and_gromit said:

Having been brought up by my Dad to believe that the only good Australian is a beaten one, I have to say I can’t join in the “great game” jollity. The purpose of this summer is to win the Ashes and we’ve made that much harder with some frankly baffling shot selection and team selections. And that’s without thinking about the declaration.

Sure, England didn't take their chances, and might or might not have won with different selections. But if you didn't enjoy that game despite the disappointment, you're missing out.

I didn’t see any of the match due to work and domestic commitments, so followed by BBC text updates (and WhatsApps from my sister!) Maybe following in this way downgrades the excitement somewhat without downgrading the sinking feeling of English wickets being lost regularly for reasons other than good bowling.

My main desire for this summer on the cricket front is for England to regain the Ashes, which is now much less likely than it was. Not helped by seemingly only having one proven test class bowler who is fit at the moment.

For me, the Ashes outcome is akin to whether the Titanic hits or misses the iceberg, with the entertainment factor being akin to the position of the deckchairs.

Blimey. This may well be the saddest post I've read on these pages.

It's a game FFS. Get a life.

I suggest you research Bill Shankley quotes!

But seriously, I have a life, which is why I am unable to watch and therefore follow the sport via the written word (bar a few video clips on the BBC website). Via this medium, entertainment is irrelevant. What counts is the result. If one has insufficient calls on your time that you can devote hours on end to watching cricket then I guess entertainment is more of a concern.

Over a 5 day test there's enough time to be entertained. I didn't watch anything. I read a bit in the evenings / mornings, a bit on the BBC, bit on here, then listened to the final 1/2 hour on BBC R5 last night.

It was entertaining.

Maybe I should have said "Via this medium, entertainment is less important than the result".

There was certainly a lot of intrigue as to how things would ultimately pan out.

bobmcstuff

I think it was entertaining by text as well - it was never clear what the result would be until inside the last hour. It swung both ways throughout.

bobmcstuff

Rehan Ahmed's been called up as potential cover for Ali...

Tashman

Saw that, seems like the most Bazball selection. Also suggests that Ali is probably not looking like he'll make it. Realistically 10 days isn't enough time for that finger to harden up.

Tashman

England's women up against it on day 2 at Trent Bridge. Great control by Ecclestone to earn a 5fer and Beaumont off to a good start. let's hope they can stack on the runs also. As it stands now they're definitely going to go into that 5th day

verylonglegs

I think it was on TMS that they said usually around 40 percent of wickets in the county championship fall to spinners but this season it is at around 10 percent for some reason, so there were no obvious candidates to replace Leach.

bobmcstuff

Tashman said:

England's women up against it on day 2 at Trent Bridge. Great control by Ecclestone to earn a 5fer and Beaumont off to a good start. let's hope they can stack on the runs also. As it stands now they're definitely going to go into that 5th day

That game seems to be going toward a draw IMO

Tashman

I thought that ahead of yesterday. Definite result now with Aussie favourites. Would be great to see another tight finish.

Dorset_Boy

Easy in the end for the Aussies

Tashman

yep, seemed lie a series of missed opportunities much like the gents last week, oh and an outstanding bowling performance by Ash Gardner

bobmcstuff

England lost too many wickets last night, they had a great start and I really thought they'd do it for a bit. Then 4 quick wickets...

JimD666

Two poor sessions cost us. Day 3 and 4's final sessions. Poor bowling on day 3, then poor batting after the drink break on day 4.

Ah well. Considering I was expecting to be fighting to avoid an innings defeat before it all started, I'll take the entertainment at least

bikes_and_dogs

England batsmen played the second innings at Edgebaston like a man playing pontoon and twisting on 18 when the dealer is showing a 6.

kingstongraham

I see Bairstow has held onto something today.

Pross

kingstongraham said:

I see Bairstow has held onto something today.

The powder might make his gloves less slippery too.

JimD666

Stuck TMS on a little late just in time to hear Aggers say "The Prince Albert caught my eye".

Wait.What?!

verylonglegs

kingstongraham said:

I see Bairstow has held onto something today.

The joke on Cricinfo was Foakes would have caught them both.

JimD666

This is a rather worrying start considering we put them in.

Tashman

couple of guaranteed quick wickets up next