The England Cricket Thread

Semple · 6 Sep 2019 at 16:42

Cob said:
This is beautifully boring.

The best kind eh!

Monkeymatt · 6 Sep 2019 at 16:53

Participant said:
Cummins and Lyons waiting in the wings. Their attack is just too good for our batsmen.

There's been a lot of talk about England having too many white ball batsmen yet when you look at the bowlers economy rates, every single one of Australia's bowlers concedes less than 3 runs per over other than Starc. On the flip side Leach and Archer are the ONLY England bowlers averaging less than 3rpo.

The Australian bowlers(Other than Starc who probably shouldn't be playing) have a very clear plan of bowling in the corridor to make England work for their runs which is definitely an area that England need to learn. England seem to bowl either too wide giving easy runs, or particularly to Smith, too straight constantly chasing that "wicket ball". They need more patience. The only one I can slightly forgive for the latter is Broad, he see's that most of the other bowlers are toothless and is trying, albeit too hard, to make something happen.

rickjames · 6 Sep 2019 at 17:02

Amazing what happens when you bat sensibly

As per the first Australian innings this pitch is an absolute road with next to nothing for the bowlers. Lyon's not been threatening at all since Edgbaston bar the odd ball or two, since then they've actually played him really well.

adidan · 6 Sep 2019 at 17:34

Root, courtesy of the nightwatchman, is batting in number 4.

Doing quite well in that position eh?

Participant · 6 Sep 2019 at 17:39

Has Beefy had a minor stroke or something? On Sky he seems a little off, the way he's talking.

Cob · 6 Sep 2019 at 17:45

Participant said:
Has Beefy had a minor stroke or something? On Sky he seems a little off, the way he's talking.

Probably the liquid lunch

Participant · 6 Sep 2019 at 17:59

Oh bugger. Well played though Rory.

Get ready for the collapse now!

Cob · 6 Sep 2019 at 18:40

Back to normality

adidan · 6 Sep 2019 at 18:43

adidan said:
Root, courtesy of the nightwatchman, is batting in number 4.

Doing quite well in that position eh?

I really should stop posting.

Sorry.

Semple · 6 Sep 2019 at 18:44

Well here we go. Gotta hope stokesy can pull out another 100! England know they're not going to beat 500 so just need to hang in for a draw.

Pretty embarrassing that smiths totals can beat 5 of our best.

Is it 200 clear runs for Australia to insist on England batting first in the second innings?

Participant · 6 Sep 2019 at 18:54

Participant said:
~250 all out is my prediction .

Keep an eye on this prediction folks

CGrieves · 6 Sep 2019 at 19:03

And there we go. Stokes to save the innings again. I'm not betting he will this time though. Poor sod must be mentally exhausted.

Sankari · 6 Sep 2019 at 19:51

'It's OK, we'll just drop Roy down the batting order.'

*Roy gets out on 22*

Surely he's got to be on his last chance now?

CGrieves · 6 Sep 2019 at 22:05

They won't drop him for the last Ashes test, but we won't see him on the next series.

Personally I'd drop him and bring Woakes into the bowling lineup. Woakes is a better test batsman too.

adidan · 6 Sep 2019 at 22:17

CGrieves said:
And there we go. Stokes to save the innings again. I'm not betting he will this time though. Poor sod must be mentally exhausted.

Aye, pretty much like Aus saying "Smithy go and win it for us. Again."

Maybe we should do a 1 v 1 match...

Monkeymatt · 6 Sep 2019 at 22:21

CGrieves said:
They won't drop him for the last Ashes test, but we won't see him on the next series.

Personally I'd drop him and bring Woakes into the bowling lineup. Woakes is a better test batsman too.

When opposition teams bowl full, yes. Against short pitched bowling Woakes is even worse than Ali! I don't think England solve their problems by having yet another all-rounder. Just need to find the right batsman. I do feel that if Roy had gone straight from the World Cup into the middle order for this series he could have been very good, but instead he got exposed at the top and now his confidence is shot.

Interesting stat from this series so far: There's only two batsmen averaging between 30 & 70... Root and Burns. Apart from the 3 ridiculously in-form players, it does seem like every batsman on both sides is struggling.

cheesyboy · 6 Sep 2019 at 22:27

Monkeymatt said:
Interesting stat from this series so far: There's only two batsmen averaging between 30 & 70... Root and Burns. Apart from the 3 ridiculously in-form players, it does seem like every batsman on both sides is struggling.

Yup. And Burns is the only opener to be averaging more than 11 in the series!

Monkeymatt · 6 Sep 2019 at 22:33

adidan said:
Aye, pretty much like Aus saying "Smithy go and win it for us. Again."

Maybe we should do a 1 v 1 match...

Problem is that Smith is definitely quite high on the Autism spectrum and his biggest obsession is batting, he absolutely loves batting. Where normal players start to get tired after batting for a while, Smith gets tired of NOT batting. And that 12 month gap has made him really want to bat! Stokes just can't compete against a bloke so wired to bat forever.

Ofcourse it doesn't help that England keep falling hook, line and sinker into his trap of always looking like a prime LBW candidate. If I had a pound for every ball they bowled straight that he flicked through the leg side, I'd have a lot of money! They need to keep it outside off and make him drive.

Cob · 7 Sep 2019 at 11:49

Not much YBJ could have done about that.

CGrieves · 7 Sep 2019 at 12:07

All good points. Stokes and Smith have both been through the controversy mill. Maybe all the out of form batsmen need to cheat, or start a fight in public, have a bit of time off and come back better players