The Crisp Crack Of Leather On Willow

[bluejam 680]

31 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

I grew up watching Ray Illingworth...a cricketing icon.

RIP

Absolute cricketing icon indeed Steve whether he was liked or not. 

[orion 7,024]

A bit of a marmite type of person but  his record as a captain was  unreal   loved his saying about  tail enders as 9 ,10 Jack . that always stuck with me 

[DSC67 1,307]

Another shocking display from England with the bat 

[Bagpuss 8,180]

Are we surprised though? 

[heathen52 210]

They may as well create more ashes by burning the Stumps sad to say this england Team do not have the mental toughness to build big innings, to much limited overs Cricket has taken away the need to bat for 5/6/7 hours at a time, Having said that limited overs Cricket is what spectators want to watch nowadays. Test match cricket has a limited life span left which is why i opened by saying burn the Stumps again to signify the ending of Test match cricket in its long format.

[CrystalCastles 229]

4 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

Are we surprised though? 

Not really, even after an honest conversation and changes a number of players all do the same thing.

It's been a consistent problem and they are in complete denial.

Australia will make a big score and the game will be over.

ECB need to make massive changes, to players & coaching staff and reset again.

[Humphrey Appleby 11,300]

22 hours ago, CrystalCastles said:

Australia will make a big score and the game will be over.

They won't get the opportunity to. Jimmy must wonder why he bothers... 

[CrystalCastles 229]

34 minutes ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

They won't get the opportunity to. Jimmy must wonder why he bothers... 

True, bowled alright. Think 300 looked a good score, but Australia fell short of that total 

But another dismal effort with the bat.

 

 

 

[The Cheese 1,656]

Crawley is now averaging 10.81 in 16 innings this year!

Burns isn't great but he is the best opener available and his record is okay. Complete madness to think Crawley is a better option. 

[wealdstone 3,076]

The current team in Australia are an embarrassment, 

[heathen52 210]

Where do England go from here, we have had lows over the years but this Team Joe and Jimmy apart even Stokes only shows occasionally nowadays, may as well pick a Team of all rounders at least Jimmy would get a rest now and then, joking aside we simply are not good enough and need to get back to basics or forget about the long form of the game, changing the Coach (Silverwood) wont help a lot because whoever comes in still has the same players with the flaws that they all have. I would start by playing the best wicketkeeper that we have in Ben Foakes the playing of Buttler and Bairstow is just to cover the weaknesses we have in the batting line up, 68 all out is a total embarrasment, this series will be a 5-0 whitewash and I cant see any game going into a 5th day.

[Bagpuss 8,180]

Agree with Harmison et al, a reset is required. Little will change until the county system is sorted out, in the meantime I'd clear them all out apart from Root and pick a squad of the best young red ball cricketers we have and work with them for the foreseeable future to see how good they can be, they can do no worse.

[MumsieCulpepper 359]

England's third highest run scorer in 2021 is Extras, it's time they got moved up the batting order.

[falcace 1,770]

Biased Englishmen I may be, but this series is bad news for Test Cricket all round. A 5-0 result is inevitable and England just haven't been at the races. Ashes Tests are the supposed to be the pinnacle of the game, but it has been no competitive spectacle at all. It's becoming a trend too. England typically get hammered in Australia, but win at home. It's difficult to defend accusations that Test Cricket is boring when it becomes so predictable.

[Bagpuss 8,180]

2 hours ago, falcace said:

Biased Englishmen I may be, but this series is bad news for Test Cricket all round. A 5-0 result is inevitable and England just haven't been at the races. Ashes Tests are the supposed to be the pinnacle of the game, but it has been no competitive spectacle at all. It's becoming a trend too. England typically get hammered in Australia, but win at home. It's difficult to defend accusations that Test Cricket is boring when it becomes so predictable.

Part of the problem is the lack of prep touring teams get which has been made worse by covid. The calendar is so busy that there isn't time for enough tour matches for the tourists to acclimatise properly and get their eye in. I expect we would still have been well beaten but as has been said it's not even competitive and that's no good for anyone really.