General Cricket Thread (It's Come Home)

Honestly Starc wasn't the only loose one in my opinion, it felt like after the Root drop early on Australia went off the boil in a big way.  There just seemed to lack any real sense of focus or direction with the attack.  Not to say performances from Root and co weren't impressive, they were, but I feel Australia really gifted them opportunities to score, which England took.  

As it stands I'm honestly fairly unimpressed with the bowling attack.  I expect better from them, not an assumption that after three easy wickets the rest are just going to fall in to their lap if they take their foot off the pedal and play loosely.  There's proactive bowling, and then there's loose and unfocussed bowling, and a lot of what I saw after the Root drop was the latter.  That score line could easily be forty runs less and maybe even another wicket or two higher if they hadn't been stupid during the lunch-to-tea stunts. Needs less flowery ineffective stuff and more consistency like what they did last summer and in the world cup.

Still it's the first day of the first test so maybe I'm being a bit harsh on them.

Ooh, I hope Australia go on to lose by less than 134 runs.  I don't normally have anything personal against cricketers, not even Starc and his sending-off of Stokes (I'll always find sendings-off of Stokes funnier than I will for most other players); but Haddin comes across as thoroughly unpleasant in general, not just on the pitch.

Speaking of which, funny pitch, innit?  At first glance, flat as a pancake, but yet it seems to have more than its fair share of demons.  Variable bounce, bit of swing, might spin later on (here's hoping)...

I'd have taken 343-7 first thing in the morning, but I would have preferred Jos still in to Moe.  Moe always seems one flowery shot too many away from holing out.  Still, if nothing else, Johnson to Broad should be funny tomorrow.


PS: So far, your mate has been dead wrong. The only thing Mitch has destroyed is England's fear of him.

It's still early days yet and I wouldn't say it at all wise to count yesterdays performance as how the series will go.  Can't really judge things until both teams have batted anyway, although yesterday was a particularly weak spell and unusual for the side.  

As for Johnson, he hasn't played at the same level as he did during the last Ashes since Hughes death so I'm not surprised.  He may get a lot of hype but I would highly recommend ignoring any and all hype regarding him.  All players have those times in their careers where they play above and beyond their game, Smith and Root are doing that right now, Johnson did it last Ashes.  Unlike Smith and Root that has since faded, and he's now just a very good bowler rather than some sort of unstoppable titan.  

That's before I revisit the fact yesterday was particularly weak as well.  Australia can bowl much better, and I imagine they will.  Besides, 343 isn't a great score for a first innings, it's a decent average score.  Outside Root nobody really performed all that well, if Australia can get England out quickly and get in there I reckon they'll either do the usual collapse or they'll score big.

We'll definitely take that. Rather undeserved five-fer for Starc, I feel, but he did his job ripping the tail out. Good show from Moe as well - best number eight in Test cricket? Now to see if he can spin...

Oh, and minor plug: got a cricket forum. Mostly county cricket, but we're talking a lot of Ashes at the moment. http://countycricketlive.boards.net/

I'm pretty annoyed with that innings if I'm honest.  For the team with the bowling attack we have, with what we did to both England two years ago and India last summer that was a blinking joke of an innings.  I'm not so much fussed about the dropped catch though so much as Australia going to sleep for half a day, I know I've banged on about that already but what happened?  The Australia that took on India last summer kept pounding away at them for entire sessions, same with the 2013 ashes.  

I know we've lost Harris which was a big blow to the overall static consistent aiming type of bowling, but even then yesterday was still a joke in my opinion.  

I'm going to make a humble prediction and call Smith getting out before hitting the 25 run mark.  Wait, I'm betting against my side?  I'm just that unimpressed with them right now, when I'm unimpressed I guess I get a bit spiteful heh.  

Now for a fitting theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kRAMzD5bnE


Also, on the Haddin note, I haven't really kept up with what Australia does of the pitch (well, aside from Warner being a bogan before the last ashes and getting exiled, hard to miss that headline news) and I'm curious as to what he did to annoy you so much.

Lots of little obnoxious soundbites, but it was justifying an aggressive send-off to BMac, one of the most gentlemanly cricketers in the game, by saying "he's too nice, that irritates me" (or something like that) that really got under my skin.

Time for a picture?

I've been watching Wimbledon so I didn't see that, who was the unfortunate chap that clearly took a cricket ball to the trunk?  

I see about Haddin, yeah that crosses from on field banter straight in to being an ass territory.  Hearing that I can say he's lost my respect for it, I don't mind some mild sledging on the pitch but that sort of thing is just being a dick.

I feel sorry for Rogers, this is the second missed century where he's got out on 95 in recent times. Excellent bowling from Broad, softened him up last over for that perfectly.

My favourite photo. subject, of course! Love Joe Root just standing there and trying not to giggle.

Bad luck for Bucky. England need to keep pounding away - no opportunity for complacency at all. Voges is very capable indeed.

Ah I should have known who it was.  

I see Voges has wasted no time in attacking, I've heard a lot of hype about this guy, lets see what he can do.

Man the lbw calls this match have been spot on, it's a far cry from the last series with what felt like dozens of dodgy calls.



Day two closing thoughts: Well, I think it's safe to say today ended as England's day, slightly.  While the scoreboard is only five wickets pretty much all the big threats are gone now and it'll take some serious tail wagging and a solid ton from Watson to salvage this and get Australia near Englands total.  Entirely possible, the tail wagging was practically the story of last ashes, but nevertheless if you're counting on the tail to wag to get in to a good position then you're not in a good position.  

A bit disappointed in Australia so far, although they performed better with the bat than I was expecting.  On the english side of things Broad totally deserves more wickets to his name on this scoreboard for his contributions today, especially for that cracker of a spell that unsettled Rogers.  A good showing all round, just the right amount of proactive measures and conservative measures to coax the aussies out of their shells enough to take wickets.

I quite enjoyed this: a pint-sized review of the first day.  Hoping for a good second one.


Two days to England, so far, but the match not too far out of the balance.  Some very disciplined bowling on a muggy pitch.  Without Voges' mistake it would have been too close to call, but it's not fair to call it entirely stupidity: there was some seriously pressurous (that's a word now) bowling from a man (Stokes) not usually renowned for it.  

Oh, and it's great to seen Moeen in the wickets again.  Hang on, he deserves a picture:



Look at him.  That beard, that exuberance.  He's my second favourite Test cricketer after Mark Wood and his imaginary horse.


Oh, and a .gif of the great moment: http://gfycat.com/NaiveVictoriousGermanpinscher

Pretty pathetic showing if I'm honest.  You'd be forgiven for thinking Australia hadn't improved a single jot over the last few years given how much of a mirror image this match is to some of the thumpings given to the side last Ashes.  Yet again it falls to Dickin and Johnson to wag the tail to salvage a disaster.  

I'll be a little fair and admit that England's innings wasn't all that much better when you remove Root.  

Never mind, the last person who can bat for crap is gone.  BG Australia, enjoy your deserved stomping for your mediocrity this match.  

Still I'm happy to see Broad finally get a well earned reward for his efforts.

Ah the delicious sight of Broad getting Johnson out.

Now for some fitting music for Australia, I proclaim this their batting theme from here on out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At52XGlZ_3Y

H***** owed his side 134 runs. He didn't quite make them up.

I did estimate that you'd probably be heaping vitriol on the team at around this point!

Heh, what can I say, I have a low tolerance for low quality play.  Especially after they've built up an expectation to perform after the last couple of years.  It was also rather irritating seeing England give them plenty of chances to strike massive blows and take the lead, only for them to faff them all up.


Well, I was just about to say Bell's showing some nice stuff, but then Johnson gets a nice maiden and shut that down.


It's time, this right here will determine the match.  If Australia want to have even a hope of fighting back this needs to be over quickly.  Johnson needs to step up to the plate methinks and start getting these guys out.



Match over, Root and Bell have taken off and that seals the deal.  I'm off to watch Federer take on Murray in the Wimbledon semi final which should be an absolute cracker of a match, here's hoping Australia actually tries next time and Starc's seeming injuries don't keep him out too long.  Shame they can't dump Watson, he does this every single time, he looks like he finds a niche in the team then goes back to doing eff all, drop him and get Marsh in there already, Watson's wasted the slot long enough.

Also I feel I should mention, I'm not dropping the match because Australia is losing or anything, it's just unless Australia is providing stunning cricket Tennis at this level gets my preference, and there's only so much disgust I can voice before I start flaying a dead horse.

We've even got the emoticon for it!

Anyway, thanks for bowling Bell back into form gents.  Another three match-winning centuries wouldn't go amiss.  Shame about Starc: I quite like him, I think.  Has a proper fast bowlers' furious scream.

EDIT: Ha, Machokes falls over! And should have been out.

I just saw out of the corner of my eye my laptop update to show two wickets have fallen, Johnson actually got a wicket?     To be fair he has been incredibly unlucky with some edges going between fielders and so on, but still pretty surprised given his lackluster form this series.

What's more surprising though is both Bell and Root went out with the exact same statistics apparently, 60 runs off 80 balls with a strike rate of 67.42.  Just kind of caught my eye as I went over the score card like.

In more important news Federer and Murray's match is cracking stuff with the swiss master in superb form but Murray showing some of his characteristic determination.  Still on serve in the second set.


All up a great day for sport, Tennis God Federer stomps Murray and Australia gets an ego check. I'm feeling quiet annoyed with my home nation at the moment and I like this English side, so you know what? I hope this continues tomorrow.

I hate to be dismissive but I'm going to be blunt here and say Rogers getting out early is ultimately irrelevant to Australia's chances. I'm sure everyone knows that the key players capable of pulling this off, unlikely as it is, are Smith, Clarke, and perhaps Warner, coupled with some nice 30's from several other players. Rogers fired last innings, he did his work.

Still I don't think a win is happening. The fire isn't here, it hasn't been here this entire match, and Australia are as good as dead without it. Still, never say never and if any team is capable of somehow pulling a miracle win out of this it is Australia.

Bold decision by Cook to bring Moeen on early. Sadly, there's a fine line between "bold" and "stupid", and Moe's bowling made it look more like the latter, I'm sorry to say.

Get Smith out for under fifty, and I reckon it's in the bag. If not... Let's not think about that yet.

I'd be more worried about Warner right now if I were backing the English, Smith is scary because he's consistent, but Warner on the rare occassion he gets in the groove is every bit as scary if not more scary than a Smith that's firing.  When he gets in he posts a century in the time it takes to blink.  

Seems I stand corrected right now, Australia has clearly used the night break to recharge their mental stamina and come out here ready to fight England for this.  Really enjoying the show both sides are putting on right now.  

I'm not going to jynx this by saying anything else, but if I were backing England I'd be feeling just a little uncomfortable right now.  Just a little.  Course one good spell by any of the bowlers right now would change that.

And yeah it was a bold choice to use Moeen like that, safe to say it backfired.


Excellent, Moeen is brought on at a more appropriate time and bears immediate fruit. Glad to have my hopes popped before the popping would have become painful, this session has been scintillating to watch.

Well that's that then.  Not that I'm surprised, Clarke hasn't performed with the bat consistently in test cricket for what feels like eons, it says a lot that I get surprised when he reaches 30.  

I had a feeling that Root drop in the first innings would make this match.  

And now Voges has gone, not that it really matters at this point.  I'm going back to my original point of view: pathetic and terrible showing from Australia that match and far below their supposed level.  If they're going to play this badly I'm going to revise my prediction to a 4-0 in England's favour, if they continue at this level they have no right considering themselves Englands peers and they have no hope besting them at home.  

Maybe I'm being a little harsh, everyone has been going off the boil over time and Smith himself had to end at some point, but even then this performance was worse than just going off the boil in my opinion.  It was just plain bad.


Also, for crying out loud dump Watson already.  I don't care if he gets another century after being swapped positions, he fluctuates between scoring massively and scoring eff all frequently erring on the eff all side.  He's had years on the side and been a weak link in the batting order almost every match.  Get Siddle in, get Marsh in, and drop Watson.  His bowling is not worth the weakness he brings to the batting order, and it's extremely clear that he's not going to "come good" in the foreseeable future.  And no, I don't care what he does this innings, he could get a double century and I'd still be calling for his head right now, because he needed to perform last innings, that was when the side needed him.  Anything short of a miraculous 200+ not out victory and he should go.  



Well, time to embrace the sore loser within, I got me some Fire Emblem to finish and some fell dragons to slay.




Well that's over officially now.  Wish I could be more congratulatory to the English team for a consistent and quality performance, but from my perspective all I can see is a team that decided to be an irritatingly inconsistent mob that faffed around too much at critical junctures.   Dickin's dropping of Root which probably had more of an effect than just adding 130 runs to the tally, Starc's injury limiting him to 75 percent of his potential, Watson as usual being a massive let down when the team actually needs him to score runs, Haddin also being a let down with the bat on top of his dropping of Root, Smith not firing (inevitable, didn't help though), and some disgustingly shoddy bowling on day one after the initial wickets.  

If England get an "A" then I'd give that Australian performance a "B-" (and that's me being generous).  They can and should have done better, and from my perspective I just can't help but see that loss as much a result of their failings as it was Englands quality play.  


That said Englands play was very much quality, outside some very minor periods where they seemed to lose focus (the Mitchell batting stand for an obvious one) they maintained a very high level of play.  Root was a obvious standout, but the victory wasn't just brought home by his superb play but by a superb contribution from the entire team, which worked as a well oiled machine.  While watching Australia lose the way they did was frustrating seeing England play was its own form of entertainment and made sticking with the match worth it.

Well I don't want to rub it in too much.  A funny old pitch that was up and down, but there were only a handful of moments all match when England had their foot off the accelerator/Clarke's throat.  

Next match, no Starc, no H*****, possibly no Watson (although I do think Australia will miss his nagging, economical bowling).  Rogers/Warner/Smith/Clarke/Voges/M. Marsh/Nevill/Johnson (who seems to be bowling to the left and right again)/Siddle/Hazlewood/Lyon, I presume?  

Oh, and Athrun - how's your acquaintance doing?

This article here basically nails what I thought of the team.  Only I'd have given both Dickin and Watson a two rather than a three, as both of them together are, frankly, the biggest reasons we lost.  Root's drop caused irreparable damage, and Watson managed to get out to lbw's yet again while utterly failing to step up to the plate when the team needed him to.  Again.  

I don't personally think Australia will miss his bowling, he only bowled about seven overs this match, I imagine he was expected to perform with the bat instead, which, well, we know the result of that.  Marsh at this point is the superior pick, as he is clearly in form and right now we need an in form batsman capable of taking the sting out of the in-form Roots run totals in the apparent absence of being able to take his wicket.  


On some brighter news Starc's condition has greatly improved and bar any sudden decreases looks set to be fit to play the next match.

As for my acquittance, haven't talked with im since the Ashes started as he's on holiday, but I'll be sure to rub it in next I see him. I thought he was being wildly optimistic even before the series started.

Starckers playing, eh? Not sure whether to be happy or sad about that. Got a lot of wickets, but leaked runs and doesn't seem that good against lefties, of which England have several. (And not a left-handed bowler amongst them, typically.) Meanwhile Siddle is apparently down on pace, but sounded like he was playing the English conditions the best out of any of them prior to the match.

Anyway, it sounds like it might be Marsh in, Nevill out for the next Test. It sounds like the Aussie setup maintain phenomenal amounts of belief in Haddit, which is fine. I'm completely okay with him getting absolutely destroyed throughout this series, dropping catches, and leaving the country a shadow of his former self. On the other hand, it'll be interesting to see what Marsh can do.

Hope Lyth performs next Test. He's in my Ashes fantasy team.

Wait, no, looks like it's both Nevill and Marsh. I don't like Haddin, as a player or as a human being, but I hope that whatever personal matter has extracted him from the team is not too serious.

On the one hand, that's two of Australia's weakest links gone. On the other, hopefully (from an English perspective) the nerves and changing team dynamic might throw them.

Hallelujah!  Watson gone, I'm actually having a bit of a dance over that news!  Even if they have nerves I can't see Marsh playing worse than Watson, he's used to English conditions right now, is on form, and doesn't seem to be a walking lbw.

I know I'm being more than a bit harsh about Watson, but he has consistently been this disappointing for years now and I've lost my patience.  There's only so much of it I can take before I've had it with him, the team has tried everything to try and find the right spot on the team for him and outside blue moons he's consistently faffed it up with this sort of performance every time.  There comes a point when one has to face facts and accept that he simply might not have the mental stamina for batting at world class level.  

With the rest of the batting attack off the boil the team cannot afford to carry him any longer, if he isn't going to perform when the team needs a batsman to stand up and do just that then he needs to move over for someone who can.  



As for Haddin, feeling much the same as you Balla, although I suspect it probably is reasonably serious as I can't see someone like him not playing a match in his last Ashes for anything small.  Family issues are no fun, despite my grievances with him he has my well wishes.  That said my view on his spot on the team remains the same, and I'm glad to see Nevill getting a shot.

Whereas we appear to have lost Moeen Ali.  You may not be able to believe it, Athrun (after 77 (88) and some big wickets), but a lot of people want to drop him for a leg-spinner who bats called Adil Rashid.  Well, they'll finally get their wish.

And no lesser man than your own Punter is sobbing over the loss of "Hadds".  The comments don't seem to agree.


Today's prediction, then: the team that wins the toss will win the match. And here come the punters! (Not that kind.)