Honestly, I am struggling to recall a series with such blatantly terrible umpiring as this one. Hill, Dharmasena and Erasmus are all having absolute shockers.
Honestly, I am struggling to recall a series with such blatantly terrible umpiring as this one. Hill, Dharmasena and Erasmus are all having absolute shockers.
Anyone hoping for 5-0, I'd say today has stopped that. Australia should pile up a massive score tomorrow. Possibly 550/600 if Clarke stays in. England going to have to bat well first up or it could feasibly be 2-1.
My bet is revived for a drawn series !!
Learned comment from The Don
Suspect England are going to need it to chuck it down to save this Test. 0/1 inside 2.3 overs and perfect bowling conditions.
Praying for some rain now, unfortunately.
Nah, look at the other way. Massive chance for Root and Bairstow to show they've got it in them to be top batsmen. Also, for Bell to seriously put to bed this idea that he only gets easy runs (although he did it for me in the first two Tests).
Apparently chucking it down now. England may be saved by the rain yet.
Last edited by SS; 5th August 2013 at 13:40.
England need to sort themselves out.
We have been generally pretty average in this series so far. Old Trafford was poor, this time from the bowlers, who looked really rather benign and unable to prevent Australia scoring very quickly. Australia, particularly Siddle and Harris comprehensively out-bowled us and kept the run rate very low.
We must refocus and start stamping on their throats again because we don't want Australia getting too confident ahead of the return series.
Of concern:
Trott - Looks well out of touch
Cook - Not grinding out the runs as we know he can, looking very tentative on the front foot
Bairstow - Needs a decent score
Broad - Just doesn't look like getting a decent number of wickets, which as new ball partner is a concern.
You're right. I thought England were going through the motions at OT totally. What's interesting is that, that wicket was similar to an Australian wicket and we were outplayed. I watched the verdict last night and Cook is averaging 24, Trott 20, KP 34 and Prior 17 in the series so far. Amazing that we're somehow 2-0 up. In contrast, when England won in Australia Cook averaged 127, Trott 89, KP 60 and Prior 50. Anybody wanting to have a bet should be looking at what odds you'll get on Australia regaining them this winter. They have the bowling, just need the batsmen to score.
Re Broad. He's always been up and down. Value demonstrated by the fact he currently has our 3rd highest average with the bat in the series !
I think the form has been patchy for the last year or more.....UAE series v Pakistan...Home defeat to the Saffers where we were handed our arses by them.Did very well in India. Poor in NZ. Had to save a game against the Kiwis. Efficient against the Kiwis at home, but not brilliant.
Don't get me wrong, I am delighted to have retained the Ashes, but form has not been great. First test we sneaked it. Second test we cruised it. Third test we looked poor. We could easily be 2:1 down at the moment. Remember that the current Australian side are the worst side in a generation. Yet India aside, they ran the Saffers close at home and had won a fair few series on the bounce.
My worry with England is that everyone says we are winning without playing well, which is fine, but at some point we will come up against a side playing well and will get flogged as was the case v the Saffers.
There is something not quite right about the side at the moment and I am not sure what it it, maybe it is because there is hardly a huge amount of pressure from other players knocking in the door when there is an injury or a dip in form.
I don't have any worries really. SA are better than England and playing in the Sub Continent is incredibly hard for more temperate sides (SA for example have still never won in India). The NZ series was poor I agree.
1st Test in this series saw Australia's bowlers get more runs than their batsmen. Second Test annihilation. We all knew before this started that for Aus to have any hope, then Clarke had to score hugely. Its no shock that he did in the 3rd Test and Australia had a chance. In Harris, they have a proper bowler. However, the truth still remains IMO that if Clarke doesn't go big, England probably steam roll them.
England's 'gun' batsmen (Cook, Trott, Pietersen [to an extent] and Prior) are all either totally out of nick or somewhere in between and we are still 2-0 up. The difference is Graeme Swann. England have prepared spinning wickets for this series. Swann has 19 wickets in 3 Tests. Australia's spinners in total have 7 and that includes 4 from Steve Smith, a batsman. Their front line spinners, Lyon and Agar, have taken 3 wickets on spinning pitches. That is embarrassing.
Why I think Australia could regain the Ashes this winter is that they'll prepare wickets to nullify Swann and aid their seamers where possible. I honestly expect to see green tops. Brisbane and Perth will be a nightmare. Melbourne will be left green. Even Adelaide and Sydney, usually conducive to spin will probably be made absolute roads that do nothing. Nullify Swann and they're right in it.
Somehow our Top 5 batsmen are contriving to make the Aussie bowling attack look like world beaters
Some poor shots and negative batting today. Bairstow's innings was turgid. 4 wickets for a spinner who doesn't turn it on the first day of a test is shocking.
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Terrible Test wicket and poor batting. No side in the championship this season has posted 300 in an innings here so it was always going to be a low scorer. However, from 101/2 to 190/7 is appalling. Bairstow didn't score for 41 balls before sweeping at a ball that pitched in line. KP frenetic. Bell a disgraceful shot 4 balls after tea. Lack of intent and negativity just poor though.
I'll excuse Cook and Root as they got good balls. Trott unlucky as well. The rest - atrocious.
Having said that, 250 puts you in the game here.
Forget 250. Broad decides to smack his 12th ball high in the air. Pathetic batting.
I don't know as I haven't checked. Ward on Sky said earlier that no side had made 300 there in the Championship and I was going off that.
The wicket is dire though. I do think they're in the game at 250. As ever with Australia, they'll need Clarke to do something special.
EDIT: Just checked and you're right. However, that really is a stand alone score. The other highest I can see is 250 and most are between 120 - 220. No question that 250 puts England right in the game.
Some context having checked.
Average 1st innings Championship score at Durham this year is 202.
Average 2nd innings score is 230.
So England are very much in the game at 240.
It doesn't get any better does it. Three shocking calls this morning, two of which the DRS pulled them out of the mire and the other that may have pulled England out of the mire.
Take Ian Bell out of this series and you have to wonder whether we deserve to have retained the Ashes at all. Anything can happen in this Test now (and 5-1 on Australia at 6.15pm this afternoon was absurd) but the stark reality is that we copuld very well have been 3-1 down in the series by Tuesday night. We scraped through in the First, won easily in the Second, but would have surely lost the Third but for rain. And we've been on the backfoot throughout in the Fourth.
One thing is for sure, our top order batsmen have got to get their act together before we go Down Under or the Ashes won't be coming back with us. Cook and Trott have been pretty dire with the bat and take Joe Root's 180 out and I doubt if he's got more than 100 runs in his other seven innings put together. Ian Bell has led us on a one man crusade with his bat (with a few cameos from KP). Let's hope his legs carry him through to and beyond the summer of 2015 at least.
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And yet a lead of 250 on this pitch could be more than enough. With our wickets in hand, I would say 300 is more likely
I think you do England a disservice to an extent. England are an excellent 'team'. Many series' in the past, it was Cook and Trott carrying us, after Sri Lanka KP was our only good batsman apparently, Prior saving us in NZ, now it's Bell carrying us. Point is when someone fails, with England somebody else invariably stands up. Look at the bowling. Anderson 10 at Notts and apparently without him we'd struggle. He's took something like 5/6 in 3 Tests since whilst Broad takes a few and Swann makes hay. Good team all around and only SA better IMHO. I do think we need most of them to stand up to 'win' in Australia though due to the pitches they'll produce.
A lead of 250 on this wicket I think will be enough but I'd expect Eng to bat on and set them 300/320 and as always they'll need Clarke to get the bulk. Get Clarke early and this Test is finished and despite being average for large parts, we'll have a 3-0 lead.
Truly outstanding from Broad. Aussies choked again. As soon as the first couple went, you knew what would happen. Clarke the big scalp of course.
What a spell of bowling that was. Brilliant from Broad. Has to be said though that Australia are slowly finding the pieces of their batting top 6 puzzle. Warner played superbly and sensibly, which I wasn't sure he has in him. Warner and Rogers open, Clarke at 4, Watson at 6.
Their concerns are Kajawa at 3 and Smith. Don't seem up to it. The rest as you say are developing nicely for them
My Aussie side for the Ashes in Australia. I don't see pitches that turn square being the order of the day as I've said. Pitches largely quick and green.
Warner
Rogers
Khawaja
Clarke
Hughes
Smith
Watson
Wade
Harris
Siddle
Starc/Pattinson
That side would bat down to 11 to try and negate their batting weakness. 4 seamers and Steve Smith as my main spin option. That side would be fine for the Gabba, the WACA and the MCG. It would change for Adelaide and Sydney. Watson at 7 and given license to hit whilst Smith's technique doesn't hold up to being a number 5 bat so I've put him at 6. I've picked Wade over Haddin to keep a firm mix of left and right handed batsmen.