CRICKET WTC and Ashes Tour of England

[Broncapz]

Warner being a total passenger.

 

[mitch222]

Warner being a total passenger.

Like he has been for pretty much 2 years now. Team still wins the spite him

 

[mrslong]

Warner being a total passenger.

And marnus will be dropped before him

 

[Bull Shark]

Wow, where do you even begin with this ?! From an Australian point of view, so good to come out on the right end of one of these close finishes.. One up as opposed to one down in this series feels enormous too.

I woke up and checked the score on my phone when we were 7-210.. put it down and willed myself to go back to sleep.. realised that was futile after about 15 minutes so checked the score again and we were 8-230.. then saw Cummins plonk 14 off Joe Root and decided to keep watching..

Unfortunately, in the spirit of extreme cricket superstition that meant holding the same uncomfortable position propped on an elbow for the next hour or so, checking the live score, checking the twitter feed at the end of each over, until the very end!

One thing that really stuck with me from the Ashes twitter feed was the gushing plaudits for Test cricket.. Australians, Poms, neutrals, everyone was so into that contest and talking up how its the sort of thing only this form of cricket can deliver. Viva la red ball cricket !!

 

[Sproj]

In many ways, it felt bigger than any one game. It felt like a battle between old and new, sequel trilogy v prequel trilogy but actually good.

There were so many key moments, so many contributors and three greats not really contributing much in Smith, Anderson and Labs. That was arguably England’s best chance with both Aussie gun bats not contributing much but this is clearly a team with resolve.

England were for the most part also great and their new style is fun to watch. We also have a new punchable villain in Robinson and for the winning runs to come off him seemed like poetic justice. Khawaja will be extremely satisfied with that outcome, he was immense.

Warner is an ongoing issue but who do you replace him with? Harris somehow looked even worse 4 years ago and doesn’t have the runs on the board Warner does.

But back to that final session, Cummind and Lyon take a bow and then another one and several more. That was absolute top shelf cricket. England bowled amazingly well and Cummins and Lyon earned every single run they got, they were made to win it.

How do you get yourself up for the next test after that? And one final word because he wouldn’t let any others in, Peterson is an awful commentator. Everything was spelled out and repeated over and over and over again. He’s on par with Mat Thompson in the muteable stakes.

 

[Sproj]

In fact, let me do a mock up Peterson style commentary while you are watching what is happening yourself:

He’s eating a biscuit. An Anzac biscuit. An Anzac biscuit from a tin. An Anzac biscuit from a blue tin, a dented blue tin. And he’s eating the Anzac biscuit one bite at a time from that blue tin, the Anzac biscuit from the blue dented tin. And now he’s got a part bitten Anzac biscuit from the blue tin, the blue dented tin and he’s chewing it, he’s chewing that mouthful of biscuit from the partly bitten biscuit from the blue tin, the blue Anzac dented blue tin.

 

[BroncosFever]

KP was going on about Australia struggling with Root.. it was all good, he was making a lot of sense, the problem is though that the bloke he was saying it to is a no nonsense/matter of fact kind of guy.

 

[Allo]

I know I’m that guy on here but seeing as it might spark a bit more discussion and interest being in this thread rather than its own, I’ll cover the Women’s Ashes that has started tonight.

Still playing the mixed format series, but the Test is up first. Australia are batting first and are currently 6/249

A rain delay upset our rhythm as we lost 4 wickets for only 36 runs, including an awful duck to Healy and the latest was Perry out for 99.

 

[Fozz]

Man, that sucks for Perry. I watched a bit before going to bed and thought she looked good. Test cricket is a rarity for the women so it will hurt more.

 

[Allo]

Annabel Sutherland had blasted 137* (178) batting at 8

Aus all out for 473

England are 1-63, Sutherland getting Lamb out on the last ball of her first over

 

[Fozz]

Beaumont with a century for the Poms

England 2/218 at the end of day 2.

 

[Allo]

A few crucial missed chances for Australia throughout the day, most going down or passing through gaps, in the slips.

Sciver-Brunt and Beaumont could put up a massive total if they bat long enough on Day 3

 

[Allo]

Beaumont gets a double ton, S-B gets 78 and Danni Wyatt hits a quick 44 to leave the Poms only 10 runs behind.

Tahlia McGrath gets 3 wickets and Gardner eventually bowling Beaumont to end the innings

Game is drawing some parallels to the men’s.

Australia are going to have to bat quickly and bowl a lot better if they’re to get a positive result

Stumps edit: 0-82. If we can put about 300 together by tea it’ll give us a fair chance at getting a result on Day 5

 

[Allo]

Girls have fallen in a heap to be 7/198

I feel we'll be the Men's England team from the first game - slender lead from the first innings and get bowled out cheaply in the second innings to be undone by a lower partnership on the last day with a few overs left

 

[Allo]

Good recovery from Healy, however falls to a rank full-toss and caught at mid-wicket for 50

Australia all out for 257, a lead of 267

England wouldn't be able to bowl anyone out without Ecclestone, who has a really annoying on-field personality

We need to bowl out of our skin to win this, because if Knight, Beamount, Sciver-Brunt or Wyatt stay around we'll lose and lose easily

 

[Allo]

And first ball goes for 4 byes past Healy down the leg side ....

 

[Waynesaurus]

Aussie bowling has been awful so far with not many runs to play with.

 

[Allo]

Bowlers are posing no threat and the openers are set now

Only 213 runs remaining. England just have to take their runs when on offer