The Ashes 2017 & NZ 2018

[Exile]

I'd like to thank the MCG curator who followed orders and served up that total pos drop-in wicket to ensure the Aussies, 3-0 up, wouldn't lose. Utterly shite wicket.

[shrewsbury saddler]

How predictable was that? Good day ruined by two wickets to the new ball at the end.

[boringteacher]

Two wickets that will probably see us rolled over for 300ish given our tail. 4-0 comes closer :(

[Exile]

Two wickets that will probably see us rolled over for 300ish given our tail. 4-0 comes closer :(

Different tail, wagged this morning. 346. About 50 short of where it should be.

Horrible watching Aussie bowlers drop it in short to all the tailenders...

[shrewsbury saddler]

There's been a grim inevitability to this last test. No sense railing too much I suppose, the damage was done a long time ago. But one frustration is the same way as in India that they've allowed decidedly mediocre batters to score big runs on the back of their star players. OK you expect Pujara, Kohli, Smith, Warner to be getting runs at home but then to add insult to injury, average players end up looking better than they are. Last time it was the likes of Yadav and Jadeja, this time serial-failure Shaun Marsh.

[Exile]

Test cricket is getting more 'home and away' as teams doctor their pitches to suit their strengths. Can't complain as England do it too, but Aus do the concrete fast track and rely on home games to maintain apparent dominance. They suffer overseas same as everyone else, but it's getting obvious now that tracks favour locals.

Don't know what the answer is, but it's clear England need straight line fast bowlers for the team. Not sure the current system is producing them. NZ have just introduced a 150+km/h bowler who looked raw at first glance but is improving game-by-game. Small talent pool, but the game is better structured here, I think, with the local game supporting the national team.

[shrewsbury saddler]

Neutral groundskeepers? The logistics would be more difficult than neutral umpires, but maybe someone could be appointed to oversee the test grounds for a series a couple of months before. Or perhaps a permanent neutral overseer for each country with the power to remove tests from grounds. The ICC won't like spending money on it rather than themselves, but they have the money, if not the will.But I emphasise England appear to be the worst travellers. Only India come close and they might be a different proposition this summer.

It also will be interesting to see how Australia do in SA in a couple of months. Conditions are not too dissimilar.I don't think they'll strut their way through that like England have let them .

[Exile]

4-0. Thank fudge that's over. I see they poisoned Root to guarantee the win. :mrgreen:

[PT]

Test cricket is getting more 'home and away' as teams doctor their pitches to suit their strengths. Can't complain as England do it too, but Aus do the concrete fast track and rely on home games to maintain apparent dominance. They suffer overseas same as everyone else, but it's getting obvious now that tracks favour locals.

Don't know what the answer is, but it's clear England need straight line fast bowlers for the team. Not sure the current system is producing them. NZ have just introduced a 150+km/h bowler who looked raw at first glance but is improving game-by-game. Small talent pool, but the game is better structured here, I think, with the local game supporting the national team.

I think you are right about the pitches but there is a bit more to the home dominance that has emerged in the last decade or so.

There isn't really a "tour" in the same sense as there used to be. Touring teams used to get into the host country a couple of months before the first test and play against senior teams for whom beating the tourists really meant something. So a chance for tourists to acclimatise to local conditions and play themselves in in very competitive environments. Now you land, you play one or two games that are barely more competitive than glorified nets and then you are straight into back to back tests. Acclimatisation happens during the test match series rather than before it. Squeezing in elongated one day and T20 series is financially more lucrative than a truly competitive test series so the money talks unfortunately.

The homer strips then compound home advantage as you say.

[SaigonSaddler]

So ... did we win?

[saddla]

So ... did we win?

Don't take the piss. It's not nice. :mrgreen:

[El_Nombre]

One suggestion I have seen regarding the home/away gulf is to do away with the toss and offer the away captain the choice. That way the home team produces the conditions but the away team SHOULD be able to take advantage if them if they make the right decisions?

[shrewsbury saddler]

One suggestion I have seen regarding the home/away gulf is to do away with the toss and offer the away captain the choice. That way the home team produces the conditions but the away team SHOULD be able to take advantage if them if they make the right decisions?

They're trialling something similar in the County Championship, partially to help develop spin bowling.

If you've forgotten what a proper contest looks like, try and see SA v India. India are about to start their 2nd innings needing 208. It's see-sawed since the first over.

[SaigonSaddler]

So ... did we win?

Don't take the piss. It's not nice. :mrgreen:

:lol: :D

[philthesaddler]

Well that series went well.

Few thoughts:

- Our senior players didn't turn up. Cook, Root, Broad, Moeen all failed massively considering their talent. Cook and Broad especially, turning up in the 4th and 5th tests is a bit late when you're 3-0 down lads.

- Simply didn't score enough runs when the opportunity to do so was there - a couple of times we had the chance to bat the aussies out of the game, or put them under significant pressure, and we didn't take those opportunities

- Our tail didn't wag once - 6 down was as good as all out, give or take 50 runs. Previous tours have seen to tail wag far more.

- No leg spin until the last test, seems stupid. With Moeen getting no turn, might aswell have beefed up the batting line up with someone guaranteed to get quick runs like Jos Buttler and bringing in a leggy.

- Ben Stokes - a problem of our own making. The lad hasn't been found guilty of anything, yet completely left out of all test matches.

Positives:

- Mark Stoneman, Dawid Malan

[Kevlar]

One suggestion I have seen regarding the home/away gulf is to do away with the toss and offer the away captain the choice. That way the home team produces the conditions but the away team SHOULD be able to take advantage if them if they make the right decisions?

Sounds a good idea ......................but I think we won the toss four times and lost 'em all.

[Guest]

Not too bad in the ODIs.

[shrewsbury saddler]

Not too bad in the ODIs.

First time they've beaten them in a bilateral ODI series there. Well done.But it's as with the Test team . It counts for nothing if this promising team don't win something worthwhile ie a proper Trophy. Otherwise it's the same as rolling everyone over at home but getting beaten 4-0 in India and Australia.

[Kevlar]

Bary army mode .


Five - four..................

...........we're going to win five four.

[Kevlar]

We am batting first, and am 8 for 5.



I don't think it's gonna to be enough.

[chunkster]

We am batting first, and am 8 for 5.



I don't think it's gonna to be enough.

didnt we go on to score 200 in the end?

[Exile]

England now playing in the tri series T20. Live against NZ if anyone has the time. They won the toss and have backed thenselves to chase down a total...

[shrewsbury saddler]

Thank god it's back on Sky. It means I can dump the execrable TMS, which was putting the radio in danger of going through the window. It's really gone downhill this winter. 196 will take some getting, but Hales looking good.

[Exile]

Not watching live because I won't fund Murdoch, but this is even - NZ with a slight edge, methinks...

[Exile]

All about a win and the run rate next game...

[shrewsbury saddler]

Difficult to assess when so many regulars are missing-Stokes, Ali, Woakes, Morgan, Root-and it's the middle of a very long winter, but three losses out of three is never good. One plus factor is Jordan now seems to be clocking some real pace. I wonder if he can do it in longer forms.

[Exile]

Well, the first ODI went to the wire. Sadly it was England who got garrotted.

[Exile]

Not sure the second is faring any better at the moment...two down in ten overs. On top of run rate though.

[shrewsbury saddler]

Looks pretty comfortable now. Some amazing fielding in the NZ innings apparently-haven't seen it yet.Why do they have to play these bloody matches in the middle of the night?

[Exile]

Easy win in the end.