Ashes 2025-26.

[alfie]

I don't think it is quite fair to call Crawley's series poor ? Apart from his pair in Perth he has done reasonably well in conditions that have seen very few players on either side thrive - really only Head and Carey that have carried Australia.

If you look at his overall figures , can see why calls for his removal are pretty constant. But on the other hand : since Stokes/McCullum took over , he has played 9 Tests against Australia , home and away , and averaged 43. And 11 against India , also in both countries , averaging 36.

Oddly enough , it is a horrendous record against NZ that skews his figures downwards ! He must be allergic to kiwi fruit...

Maddeningly inconsistent. Needs to "go on" more often from bright starts...I get all that. But he can set the opposition back on their heels from the start of a match ; and I would submit that the fact he seems to save his best efforts for the strongest opponents ought to mean his place is secure for the immediate future. He is not yet 28 so would not be surprised if he were to improve that underwhelming overall average as he should be in his prime years.

Not as if anyone is knocking the door down to replace him , is it ?

[Arthur Crabtree]

I don't think it is quite fair to call Crawley's series poor ? Apart from his pair in Perth he has done reasonably well in conditions that have seen very few players on either side thrive - really only Head and Carey that have carried Australia.

That was my point. He's a corpse hidden in a cemetery.

[GarlicJam]

I make that 2-1 to australia

The 3rd test of course doesnt count due to the snicko errors all favouring australia.

That would bring it back to 2-0 to Australia, with the two palpable 3rd umpire mistakes - both of which had two very quick wickets immediately after.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Shame it's not a seven Test series.

There is actually a precedence in 1970-71. Though that included a rescheduled Test after a washout.

But a 6-1 series defeat would be unbelievably grim.

[mikesiva]

Cricket Australia must have lost quite a bit of revenue with two 2-day Test matches.

[Durhamfootman]

Duckett's innings looked horrible. Despite Starc giving him a few leg side freebies early doors he just looked frantic at the crease.

although now that I've seen the day 1 highlights, the leg side stuff from Starc was clearly a plan to get him out caught off a leading edge, which almost happened when he was on 10. He'll have to work on that, because if I've noticed I can guarantee that next summer's opponents will have done so too. Rather than wayward Starc bowling as I initially thought, most of the deliveries I saw would have probably clipped leg stump, so it isn't something that Duckett can learn to just leave alone

[GarlicJam]

the leave is one of Duckett's more poorly executed shots.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I just watched the highlights and waking up to the win meant I underestimated what a decent chase that was, and easily the highest score of a low scoring game. And Crawley and Duckett played a part, even with a lot of luck.

My view going into the series was the best they were likely to do was lose well. And that dead rubber victory fits the bill.

[alfie]

Duckett's innings looked horrible. Despite Starc giving him a few leg side freebies early doors he just looked frantic at the crease.

although now that I've seen the day 1 highlights, the leg side stuff from Starc was clearly a plan to get him out caught off a leading edge, which almost happened when he was on 10. He'll have to work on that, because if I've noticed I can guarantee that next summer's opponents will have done so too. Rather than wayward Starc bowling as I initially thought, most of the deliveries I saw would have probably clipped leg stump, so it isn't something that Duckett can learn to just leave alone

Can't agree with that theory , DFM. As Starc well knows , all he needs to do is target off stump or just outside and Duckett will give catching practice to the slips...Serving him up a string of balls on leg just let the under-fire batsman off to a fast start. Doesn't mean that tactic can never be used against him but seems an odd - and unnecessary - time to bring it out on this pitch , knowing how Ben was always going to play.

Not going to be too critical of Starc after the series he's had , but I do think the wear and tear of the previous three matches has got to him a bit. Not just in those early overs but at other times in this match , he seemed to have considerably less control than previously. Maybe we should ask Mitch whether he meant it

[Durhamfootman]

fair enough, alfie, but it was a ball fired at leg stump, which he chipped up to Neser in the ring for a regulation catch, that dismissed him in the first innings. Maybe Starc thought he'd try it again?

I guess we wait and see where Starc pitches it in Sydney

[Arthur Crabtree]

Confirmed that Acko is out the series. So all the first choice attack now injured, and there have been concerns about Stokes at times. Vibe is that Bashir won't play and Jacks will continue.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I guess we wait and see where Starc pitches it in Sydney

Maybe he could have been rotated in Melbourne? Though as the Aussies haven't had to bowl many more than 30 overs in an innings, he shouldn't be sore.

[sussexpob]

Vaughan saying Robinson should be playing! Can't remember him saying this before the series.

If he had the proffesionalism of broad and anderson hed have never got dropped

Would be a sound point if it werent for the fact England's new ball attack is composed of a player who debuted in tests immediately after serving a ban for illegally betting on games, and another who breached Covid Protocols and risked the whole of the 2021 vs Windies and multi-million pounds of revenue being cancelled after potentially exposing his team-mates and opponents to Covid in a bio-bubble. Or maybe Ollie could take the example of his main detractor Rob Key who says he isnt fit, a person who spent all his career 7 stone overweight and smoking like a chimney. Or maybe follow the example of his Captain, and go beat up someone in the street and miss the whole of an Ashes series as a result. Or maybe, like the VC, go out on the lash before the last International game pre-Ashes, along with the number 3, who also couldn't be bothered to play any CC despite having an appalling record and limited experience. Maybe he could show his professionalism by donning a fake beard and getting into scraps with opponents. Maybe he could show his dedication by trying to enter the IPL mini auction for 2026 like Smith instead of preparing for next summers tests, or take it a step further and play 1 FC in 3 years like Jamie Overton and get picked, or go play for the Mumbai Indians and not Surrey like Jacks. Or maybe he could throw a pint over a senior player and get thrown off an Ashes tour, then next time he went on the same tour get filmed in the street unable to speak and not knowing where he was. Or maybe he could show Rob Key how fit he is by getting injured for a year after every 8 overs he bowls.

If you want to fault Robinson's professionalism, then be consistent. Hardly any one in the team survives a fair comparison.

The face doesn't fit at the end of the day. When Robinson tried to run out Mitch Marsh in 2023, McCullum gave it the "against the spirit speech"... the man who notably did the same multiple times in his career. When Robinson gave chat to Aussie batters it was a mark of his poor attitude..... when Zak Crawley did it at Lords v India the press rallied round him.

[sussexpob]

At the end of the day, I don't actually care about perceived bad attitude. He has the best average in test cricket from any Englishman in 70 years of bowling.... nothing trumps pure talent. Pretty hilarious that England have created narratives not to pick a player averaging 22 in test cricket.

Of course, if Robinson was at Durham it might be different seeing as though their whole attack gets picked.... even when certain players average over 100 for the FC year and have just served a ban for betting on their games.

[Durhamfootman]

the way Durham have been shorn of every bowler they possess, with one notable exception, I'd be chuffed that his face didn't fit if I was a Sussex supporter

Otherwise you'd be told when he has to play and how many overs he can bowl on each day and in which sessions. the county has practically no control over their own bowling attack in matches..... and then to rub salt in the wound, they are obliged to come out and say how thrilled they are to have their attack picked for them and how great it is to have players with other things on their mind pushing bowlers who give it everything they have out of the team.

trust me, you're better off without all that nonsense

Archer, at least, like Wood, is a county player in name only, with no chance of him ever disrupting anything, so you can allow for that. It's the bowlers on the edges who end up screwing their county sides.