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Cricket
- Thread starter mb64
- Start date
Nah this is a tough 4th innings chase.
As the odds will tell you (poms slight favs) now and at start of innings could go either way.
Selectors need to get Starc into the 11 for Boland. Who has had no impact. Match figures
26 overs 2-147 at 5.6 runs an over.
It will do a number of things:
- Stiffen our batting up from what is currently a long tail. Averages 28 in England and genuine no 8 pushing everyone else down one.
- Genuine wicket taker. Try ramping his inswinging yorkers.
- Left armer provides variety that all our right arm fast mediums don't.
- He hardly has incumbents with performances keeping him out. Boland gives you nothing that Cummins, Hazlewood and Green already do. Swap Hazlewood for Boland if you like but Hazlewood is the better bowler.
- Gives Lyon valuable foot marks to bowl into.
No brainer before this test and even more so now.
Marnus another poor shot. Wake up son!
The carry-on with the wickets, running to square leg boundary, giving send offs etc...is that all part of bazball?
The carry-on with the wickets, running to square leg boundary, giving send offs etc...is that all part of bazball?
Yeah it'll be an interesting one for sure. As close as you can be going into a 5th day I think, a genuine 50/50.
I thought Sangakkara's comments yesterday on the field setups from Cummins were spot on, he seemed to just wait until England made a mistake, very few plans other than standard fields. You won't see that on day 5 from Stokes, which is why I actually think the matchup for the aussies is Head.
Best thing for the series (to open it up) is an England win I think (not just because I'm a pom) but it will be the Aussies to become more aggressive.
I agree with you on Starc. Root showed on Day 4 what they will do to Boland, Bolands quality is in his consistency, consistent line and length, constantly probing, but Root took this as "I know where you are going to bowl so I know what to expect and can react to that". There is no surprise to Bolands bowling, which is why Root targeted him and widened the field so easily last night. It was great to watch, a batsmen forcing the fielding team to change the field and waste fielders that open other gaps and then he started driving through the gaps in the off side. We haven't seen that sort of stuff from English batsmen much over the years (unlike Australia) so its a massive change in mentality for the English.
I reckon we are in a bit of trouble. It’s such a long tail (although with Boland coming in as night watchman that helps) but nearly all of the remaining 174 runs will have to come from Ussie , Jobby, Carey and Green (and I dont think he’s gunna make many). We,ll be 4 fa early when Boland goes. Big day.
I disagree on this point with Sangakkara. You don't need funky field positions and changing the field a lot to be proactive. I feel we were too defensive with the bowling lines rather than the field placements tbh.
We won in India in 2004 by placing sweepers out from the first ball to stop the flow of boundaries, with the Indian batsmen then being like England now by liking to score in boundaries. The difference there was that the bowling was a lot more disciplined and varied. Here as you said, Boland was too predictable and should've been dragged after the first over for Hazlewood. We need to bowl more aggressively with the defensive standard field, that's where we went wrong and the criticism is valid. We can sit back in the field, but bowl more yorkers, more short balls to mix it up.
Its fun to watch England batting, but for all the talk of a flat pitch they have scored under 700runs in their 2 innings after batting 1st. If they win it will be their bowlers doing the job (and our batsmen failing to do theirs).
A little credit for Davey please , gutsy 36 in the second innings , that’s 11 runs more than his career avaerage in England ….. ol team first Davey
I think the point was that there didn't seem to be too many ideas of how they would take the wickets unless Root made a mistake or a brilliant piece of bowling, which Roots wicket was a combination of both.
Take Boland - how was Cummins expecting him to take wickets or was the plan for him to tie up an end and attack from the other? As soon as Root went the ramp they moved to a single slip, that either means a very rash shot on a pitch where the ball wasn't swinging and you take a slight edge, or more likely get a healthy edge and it flies straight through a vacant slip cordon.
Just seemed to be a lot of bowling without any plans apart from, lets hope they make a mistake.
No-one expects the fielding setups to be as aggressive as England, some of the setups have been very weird from England but have worked, those fielders operating into that sort of semi circle to Khawaja in the 1st innings that made him back away and get bowled was something we've rarely if ever seen in test cricket before, so not expecting that, but surely you expect the bowlers to have some sort of plan as to how they expect the batsmen to get out. I just don't think, go defensive and hope for a mistake is a particularly good tactic, its actually worked ok here, but Australia for many many years have been the most proactive test cricket team out there, under Cummins they just seem very reactive at the moment.
I had a feeling he’d get a 30 or 40, enough for him to keep his spot for the second test where he,ll get more moderate scores.
I think the plan is very much about restricting the boundaries, yes, tying up an end. I just don't think it was executed very well in the first hour yesterday. In the second hour, it was, and we took wickets (in particular Root and Brooks who both went after big shots that weren't there after being tied down for a couple of overs). I think the Aus plan is very much to be conservative, which is very much against the way Australia normally is as you say. Again, I go back to 2004 in India where it worked and was also a massive departure from the norm and also copped massive criticism about how conservative we were. It's very much a park your ego, we'll cop our whacks but hopefully get the result. In the end the result of the test and series will determine whether the approach is right or wrong.
I think there are definitely plans about how to get the batters out as well - we were trying to bowl much fuller and straighter to both Root and Brooks for example. I think it's simply execution that let us down.
I think you are giving England credit for doing something, regardless of the results. Khawaja made a rash shot after batting with the tail into his 3rd day at the crease. He has the highest score of the test, and is going again in the 2nd innings.
Credit to Root for his unbeaten ton in the 1st innings. He looked good in the 2nd innings too, but ultimately only made 40. Like many other English batsmen. The scorecard suggests Australia's bowling and field tactics have worked.
I think we’re in trouble too.
Amazing that Khawaja is our most reliable at the moment.
Good post Leysy but I feel you drop Boland at your peril.
Who’s to say the next pitch doesn’t offer more sideways but Starc, coming in for Boland, goes for 6+ an over.
I like the current bowling setup but would not be surprised if Scotty makes way.
If our middle order can steer us home then you’d have to say that Baz ball was correctly countered.
But you can't have it both ways. Wildride above puts a good point that the fielding setups by the aussies forced some rash shots from Root and Brook in particular, but then you don't allow the credit the other way?
Khawaja was incredibly well set in the 1st innings, looked so solid, so England went with an improvised field that would push him to look square of the wicket and then bowled round the wicket to him. He backed away to look to off drive and his stumps were sent flying. In anyone's book he was setup really well.
Root should have gone on and scored a much bigger score than he did, so should Brook. Bairstow in my mind was a bit rashing, constantly looking for the sweep and ultimately paid due to it.
Very difficult to argue with. I was in favour of going with Boland, mostly because of how much Starc drifted down leg side at the Oval. But get him in next Test for the reasons you say.
What is the pitch doing? I retired at lunch, but was still flat as a pancake until then.
Great test match, I think we are looking the better side overall in terms of the series, faster bowlers, better spinner, 2 top echelon batsmen V 1, and Boland or Starc on the bench is huge. But this test has been evened up by a bit of psyching out via BB and a flatter than flat track, and fair play to them for that. Hope we take out this test of course, but anybodies game.
Has there ever been an Ashes Test so consistently even throughout?
Maybe the brilliant field placing was about 3 days too late. Yes, they drew a rash shot, but rash shots arent uncommon after about 8 hours at the crease batting with the tail.
Putting pressure on guys who are set in their 40s and drawing rash shots is a lot harder.
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