Off Topic Sport Other than Football - formerly the Ashes Thread

Root got whacked on the head by Starc late on but is apparently cleared to bat tomorrow.

 

Some woeful batting again.
Root 51, Bairstow 42, Moeen 40 all got starts but nobody can go on and make a big score.
Another 100-150 runs would have put pressure on the Aussies, although Jake Ball's bowling would have undone that.

 

Way too much reliance on Root to get out of trouble, Ali was a bit unlucky though. Bairstow should be put in the video room and made to watch his dismissal until he understands why its important to watch field changes!

 

So the Gabbattoir strikes again, it really is a fortress for Australia. England miss Stokes that is quite obvious, and a 90mph bowler, Ball was supposed to be that man but he has had a poor test, I think Plunkett would have offered more, he can bowl at 90mph and can get useful runs down the order.

 

209-4 doesn't seem too clever after choosing to bowl. At least the run rate was kept in check.
Need to bowl them out for under 300 to have a chance I think.

 

The bowling in both games has been too tame

 

We don't produce bowlers for overseas conditions - hard and fast or flat or turning pitches. It's too easy to turn up and bowl teams out when the ball is swinging or seaming. When the wickets are flat in England teams score 600.
When do our bowlers really trouble teams overseas?

 

Game over after day two

 

England`s bowling line up is not completely suited to Australian pitches, put them in UK conditions and they are far more likely. In Oz we need raw pace like what the Aussie`s have, but we don`t have it sadly. The batting line ups are evenly matched but the Australian bowlers will be the difference and win them the Ashes.

 

Nearly did the business there. If Smith hadn't survived that review it could have got interesting

 

50/4 interesting. England will still have too many to get even if they run through the lower order, but at least some fight is being shown.

 

I've said it before and I will say it again.
''I cannot understand why the follow-on is not enforced''

 

Yes, but too little too late.
268 behind. If they have to chase 350 it will be a great achievement, but still 100 runs too many.

 

It should have been here under lights.
The argument is often that you don't want to chasing runs to win in the 4th innings on a 5th day pitch - which sometimes is valid if the pitch is deteriorating.

 

Anderson & Woakes

England have a sniff. Root needs to get 100+

 

Personally I don't accept that argument. What would they have been chasing? Look how they chased in the first game.

 

In some parts of the world, pitches can be unplayable on the 5th day. Severe wear provides spinners (and sometimes pace bowlers) with areas to bowl into where the ball misbehaves - inconsistent bounce, turning square etc. We've seen how 150 can be hard to chase in these conditions.
In this Test, the wicket still looks OK, but England were only just over 200 behind. Why risk having to bat last and chase a tricky score? Australia have just been bowled out for 138 on days three and four!

 

My money is still on an England collapse tomorrow, probably bowled out in a session, seen it all before. Hope I am wrong.

 

In the balance for me...England are good enough to win this...need one good partnership. The morning session is critical

 

Never even made a fight of it.
All over at the start of the day.
Disappointing.