The England Cricket Thread

A lovely 3-0 lead in the ODI series. We're 18 months away from a home World Cup, but this side is finally is an exceptional one in terms of talent.
 
Going to be an interesting finish here.

Really surprised by how low scoring a couple of these games have been in this series and yet stayed competitive.
 
Guess who's in Auckland right now? Lovely weather today and a solid day of play until that Root wicket. Will be a huge ask for one of them to step up like Prior did there in 2013

As for the Aussie's it's incredible, don't see anyway out of it for Smith, Warner, Bancroft and probably Lehmann. Aussie culture is so focused on winning at all costs, and here they've paid for it.
 
What the Australian team has done is so unbelievably stupid, I'm struggling to get my head around it.

We've won every Test series in South Africa since the Boers applied for readmission to the human race, so it's really no big deal if they win this one. And yes, by day 3 it really did look like they were going to win it, so why not just focus on giving our best and learn from whatever went wrong?

But no, Smith and the leadership decided it would be better to cheat, and they did it so badly it was obvious. So now we have epic fallout, they've brought the game into disrepute, they've brought themselves and their team into disrepute, they've brought Australia into disrepute, they've basically admitted that they believed could not win without cheating (which is ironic, because it sure as hell looks like they're not going to win anyway) and they've completely destroyed the team morale, which means they're pretty much guaranteed to lose the next game, and probably the one after that as well.

Honestly, I am just thunderstruck by the number of bad decisions that had to be made before this even became a reality. They did it in the hope of winning one lousy Test, and instead they've gained nothing, and lost everything. You have got to ask yourself if the entire leadership has lost their minds completely.

I am just beyond furious. Heads must roll, and Smith's has to be the first. There should be no suggestion of him returning as captain at any stage in the rest of his career.

:mad:
 
Utterly stupid what they've done and the inevitable question will be just how long has it been happening.

That said they've retained a shred of integrity by not scapegoating and all admitting it.
 
And dismissed from IPL... 4 million in earnings lost and that's before sponsors cut them loose.... And then everything that Evangelion said weighing down on their shoulders!
 
Smith and Bancroft banned from captaining Australia for two years, however it sounds like in the next two years which is amusing considering their year and 9 months ban respectively. Why ban them from captaining Australia for the next two years if they will miss almost half of that period anyway.

Warner banned from leadership roles with Australia for the forseeable future which implies it was him that was responsible, not Smith and not the leadership group. I think the full story hasn't come out yet.
 
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