Mitch Marsh hammering more nails into the coffin of Shane Watsons test career. Lyth surely is gone for Edgebaston alright Geoffrey.
I see the name Kevin Pietersen is raising it’s ugly head in the twitter sphere.
I think they’ll give Lyth one more Test.
No, there has to be radical surgery at the top of the order. I posted up on Friday, the tale of misery from 8 of their last 9 innings. Make that 9 out of 10 now. You just can’t be 3-4 wickets down all the time after 15 -20 overs. Lyth and Ballance are not up to it and it looks like time has caught up on Ian Bell after his great career.
They’re too passive at the top of the order. Hales would be a good foil for Cook. Root has to move up to 3.
64/5
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They were saying on TMS over tea that only Zimbabwe have a worst record for first three wickets down in test cricket over last two years. West Indies and Bangladesh are ahead of England in that department.
64/7 now. Buttler and Moeen Ali both depart in the first over after tea.
87/7. An impressive 8th wicket stand of 23, the highest of the innings. Broad now top scorer on 15.
There goes Root. Two further quick wickets. 101-9.
One chink of light for England, as they moved to 101 the lead was cut to 408. Their previous heaviest Ashes defeat at Lord’s was by 409 runs to Bradman’s Invincible’s in 1948.
They could at least have avoided humiliation today. This will damage them. They definitely have to change something in the top four. Regardless of anything else, Root has to go to three immediately.
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HHHHHAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZZLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOODDDDDddddddddd
Red rover
Good of them to finish it off at half time in the football.
Since the Ashes became competitive again in 2005 after Australia’s near two decades of dominance, there has been two noticeable inter-linked trends in the 17 tests played in England - some wild fluctuations from test to test and the importance of winning the toss. In the 17 tests in England in that period, there have been 11 results with the side batting first winning 10 (the only exception been Headingley 2009 when England were all out for 102 first innings on a flat docile pitch with a batting performance every bit as inept as this).
In 2005, England lost the first test at Lord’s by 239 runs, then won the second test at Edgbaston and went on to win the series.
In 2009, England got of jail in the first test at Cardiff to sneak a draw, narrowly avoiding an innings defeat with the 9th wicket down. Second test England won at Lord’s by 115 runs. After a rain blighted third test, Australia won the fourth at Headingley by an innings 30 runs before England roared back in the decider at the Oval to win by 197 runs to clinch the series.
In 2013, after England won at Lord’s by 347 runs, Australia came out next test at Old Trafford, won the toss posted 527/7 dec in a rain interrupted drawn test.
Now in 2015, a 169 run England win at Cardiff has been followed up by a 405 run Australia win at Lord’s.
Winning the toss and batting first at Edgbaston will be critical for both sides.
the nigels will lose because they are shit mate not due to who wins the toss
Yes, Australia made the two most critical changes after they were hammered in Cardiff, Haddin’s would appear to have been enforced and Watson was dropped. England need similar surgery now. No doubt there’ll be a clamour for Pietersen’s recall. I can’t recall, but was there any updated comment on the Pietersen situation when Bayliss took over?
The disappointing thing from an England perspective is they exerted zero pressure in this test from the start. Just like Haddin’s dropped catch of Root in Cardiff, Root dropping Rogers on Thursday morning when Rogers was still on 0 set the tone. There’s still pressure points in that Australia team particularly in the batting order - Clarke’s powers having waned so dramatically from injury, inexperienced test newcomers in Voges and Nevill and possibly (regrettably) Rogers concussion problems re-emerging. If you just don’t turn up like England failed to do in this test, those pressure points don’t get tested though.
Yeah your best player has to be three.
England started believing the hype after the first test. They never turned up here.
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An element of that, but England’s long standing problems finding an opener for Cook, a number 3 and a spinner didn’t go away even after winning in Cardiff. They’d have been foolish to believe any hype because they only thing that’s been consistent about England these last 18 months is their capacity to follow up an excellent performance with a miserable one like this.
Who is the next opener? Compton, carberry, Robson all discarded. Trott gone, Lyth under pressure already, not giving him a few games in the West Indies was a big mistake.