How many overs did they Bat, pal?
Australia mightn’t have to bat again to win this test. Joe Root obviously had no confidence in Cook yesterday morning. Poms will be playing for pride in Melbourne and Sydney which will take from normally glorious occasions
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I’m struggling myself to recall all these glorious Ashes occasions you are referring to in Melbourne and Sydney when it wasn’t just pride on the line. 1983 was the last time the destination of the Ashes was still in the balance in the 5th and final test of an Ashes series in Sydney. In those 8 Ashes series since 1982/83, it was only 1986/87 and 2010/11 when the fate of the Ashes was even still up for grabs in a 4th test at MCG. England won both of those 4th tests in 1986/87 and 2010/11 at the MCG by an innings. Both were effectively wrapped up on Boxing Day (the first day of the 4th test) when Australia were dismissed cheaply. In 1986 England won at the MCG in three days. In 2010 at stumps on Day 1, Australia had been dismissed for 98 and England were 157/0 in reply.
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Do you still stand by your prediction that England and Wales will win
I’m not rushing to any judgement on the outcome of this Adelaide test until I see how England bat on that wicket. England have only batted for 9 overs so far and there are more encouraging signs from Alastair Cook. 442 seems like a healthy enough total for Australia but plenty of larger totals than that batting first in Adelaide haven’t always secured victory. In 2006, England batted first, declared on what seemed like an unassailable 551/6d and ended up losing the test by 6 wickets. We’re only just over a third of the way through this match so far.
yes mate, better to wait until the test his half finished before you make a call
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About ten
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You’re learning fast on the art of test cricket punditry. Rule Number 1, don’t make any predictions until both sides have batted and you can ascertain properly what a good score is on the wicket.
thats a cop out not a rule
you made a prediction before the series no bother
I predicted England would win this Adelaide test. I’m not writing them off yet but in soccer terms they look about 0-2 down after half an hour.
Don’t put yourself down Geoff. Doesn’t sound like you’re struggling at all to be fair
It’s bizarre from Bayliss and the selectors not to have included one genuine quick bowler in the squad. South Africa might have been able to win a test series in Australia last year relying largely on Vernon Philander and Kyle Abbott for wickets in the absence of the pace of the injured Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel but South Africa win with regularity in Australia. England are really going to struggle to pick up 20 wickets unless they jig it around.
Are there any genuinely quick English bowlers about though?
It’s a fair point, Geoff seems to be advocating picking the ghost of Harold Larwood or something. Wood is probably the quickest and they seem to be trying to rush him back for Perth.
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Not especially but if you have four seamers, even one genuine quick would be fine. Chris Tremlett and Steve Finn in 2010/11 fulfilled that role complimenting the new ball partnership of Anderson and Broad.
Tremlett’s not especially quick, but he would bring something different in terms of a bit of bounce and I agree he should be in the squad (even with his relatively advancing years). Finn was in the squad til he got injured even though you can’t trust the fucker to bowl straight on any given day, and they’re trying to rush Wood back. I don’t think they are in any way unaware of the lack of variation in their attack.
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I think they have serious doubts over Wood’s ability to last 5 days.
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Tremlett retired two years ago. Liam Plunkett another option, but again injury issues. Bit of genuine pace is what wraps up a tail quickly. Mitchell Starc excels at it. England had Australia on 209/5 here in Adelaide and in the first test in Brisbane had 7 wickets down for just over 200 runs. What it was crying out for was a bit of pace to get rid of a pesky lower order batsman like Pat Cummins.
I was thinking of Plunkett rather than Tremlett, apologies. Bottom line as far as I see it is that it’s not really the fault of Bayliss that there is no genuine pace in the squad, it’s lack of options.
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I have serious doubts over England’s ability to last 5 days with their current line-up.
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