Ashes 2021-22.

[bigfluffylemon]

New ball due soon in the morning, and one or two quick wickets will change the tenor of things very quickly.

And so it begins

It's the hope that kills England fans.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Some amateurish shots played in that session. I think all the dismissals were loose in different ways. Buttler's maybe the worse.

[Gingerfinch]

Root got a good ball and had to play it imo.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe. Looked a bit wide to me and he wasn't playing a scoring shot so there was nothing to be gained from playing. But the ball was ok, moved away a bit.

The pitch wasn't the easiest.

[Durhamfootman]

Ah

of course

obvious really

perhaps the least surprising thing of the week

[Durhamfootman]

although I hadn't realised until now that it was only just after lunch when Australia won.

that doesn't surprise me either

which I guess means that across this test, England contrived to lose 18 wickets in 3 sessions of batting

also unsurprising

[mikesiva]

Lyon.

[yuppie]

Some positives for both teams but a lot more negatives for England.

England shot themselves in the foot with their selections but i think to much is being made of their decision to bat on the first day. Englands fielding and bowling with Leach and Stokes let them down as much as their shot selection on the first day. Harsh on leach as he should not have been selected. Leaving Broad out with so many left handers in Australias team is as bigger mystery than Nasser choosing to bowl...

Malan and Root did well in the best batting conditions of the test. Confidence for both moving forward. The three quicks did a good job and deserved better than what they got. Ollie shows a future beyond Anderson and Broad. In the 2nd innings England openers did a good job of shielding Root from the new ball and they need to do that to make the most of him.

For Australia there is still questions over Starc and i can see him making way in the next test. Carey who kept well did nothing to ease the fears of his batting. Lyon showed that he still has something to offer and Head took his chance with aplomb.

Australias top order is still a major concern. Warner rode his luck and his score hides the fact that he is a long way from his best test form. Harris went fishing in both innings and if these 2 have to go out to face the pink ball in the evening session Australia will be 2 down for very little.

Green bowled well this morning but he has still to show what he can do with the bat. This test series might well be a free hit for him if Heads innings in not a one off.

For me this test was as much about Englands getting so much wrong as opposed to Australias brilliance. Englands test selection suggests a negative mind set that might well have set the standard for them in this series.

[alfie]

If Australia do have to bat again, they're unlikely to need very many. Once one of these two goes early on day 4 the rest will fold like a pack of cards

Gimmee those lottery numbers !

[alfie]

Some positives for both teams but a lot more negatives for England.

England shot themselves in the foot with their selections but i think to much is being made of their decision to bat on the first day. Englands fielding and bowling with Leach and Stokes let them down as much as their shot selection on the first day. Harsh on leach as he should not have been selected. Leaving Broad out with so many left handers in Australias team is as bigger mystery than Nasser choosing to bowl...

Malan and Root did well in the best batting conditions of the test. Confidence for both moving forward. The three quicks did a good job and deserved better than what they got. Ollie shows a future beyond Anderson and Broad. In the 2nd innings England openers did a good job of shielding Root from the new ball and they need to do that to make the most of him.

For Australia there is still questions over Starc and i can see him making way in the next test. Carey who kept well did nothing to ease the fears of his batting. Lyon showed that he still has something to offer and Head took his chance with aplomb.

Australias top order is still a major concern. Warner rode his luck and his score hides the fact that he is a long way from his best test form. Harris went fishing in both innings and if these 2 have to go out to face the pink ball in the evening session Australia will be 2 down for very little.

Green bowled well this morning but he has still to show what he can do with the bat. This test series might well be a free hit for him if Heads innings in not a one off.

For me this test was as much about Englands getting so much wrong as opposed to Australias brilliance. Englands test selection suggests a negative mind set that might well have set the standard for them in this series.

Agree with a lot of that. Basic problem for England as I see it is that apart from Root they have nobody who can be relied upon for regular scores of seriously over fifty. Makes it hard to gather winning scores !

Australia far from perfect. Head had a wonderful innings but do any of you expect him to repeat it ? Still need the Warner Smith Labuschagne bunch to lead the line. Bowling is very good (although Lyon , eventual 4 wickets notwithstanding , was not the threat of past years) And Hazlewood may struggle to back up. Good enough to win this and full credit to them but I don't think they are unbeatable. Whether England can beat them is another matter...

Adelaide and Australia won't look to change anything unless injuries force them. Hazlewood main risk. England should change the bowling drastically : Broad , Anderson must replace two seamers ; I would swap Bess in for Leach (stack of Aussie left handers). Can't do much about the batting I'm afraid : but the incumbents should be clear they need to fire or risk firing...

Likely this is going the way of the last two tours , after that start. But who knows ? If (IF ! England could come back and shock the hosts in Adelaide it would open up the contest. But I think Adelaide is the Last Chance.

[Durhamfootman]

If Australia do have to bat again, they're unlikely to need very many. Once one of these two goes early on day 4 the rest will fold like a pack of cards

Gimmee those lottery numbers !

nothing mystic meg about that prediction

In this situation, in a match played away from home, the last time England did anything different was 11 years ago almost to the day

no-one needed to be Nostradamus to see what was going to happen next. It's a sign of how England have declined as a team and a symptom of the perennial neglect from those charged with guarding and protecting the game in England

Doubtless they are already looking for a suitable golfer to review everything, before ignoring every recommendation he makes....... or maybe they aren't.... after all they've already decided that developing the Hundred is the only thing that matters

[yuppie]

Is there a reason why Matt Parkinson is not in the touring party.

[bigfluffylemon]

England shot themselves in the foot with their selections but i think to much is being made of their decision to bat on the first day. Englands fielding and bowling with Leach and Stokes let them down as much as their shot selection on the first day. Harsh on leach as he should not have been selected. Leaving Broad out with so many left handers in Australias team is as bigger mystery than Nasser choosing to bowl...

As ever, the batsmen fail miserably, and it's the bowling selections that are getting raked over. It doesn't matter how you tweak the bowling line up - if your batsmen can't even make 300, let alone 400+ regularly in Australia, it's almost impossible to win.

[alfie]

England shot themselves in the foot with their selections but i think to much is being made of their decision to bat on the first day. Englands fielding and bowling with Leach and Stokes let them down as much as their shot selection on the first day. Harsh on leach as he should not have been selected. Leaving Broad out with so many left handers in Australias team is as bigger mystery than Nasser choosing to bowl...

As ever, the batsmen fail miserably, and it's the bowling selections that are getting raked over. It doesn't matter how you tweak the bowling line up - if your batsmen can't even make 300, let alone 400+ regularly in Australia, it's almost impossible to win.

True. But the only reason the bowling selections are being debated is essentially because there are options (and with matches close together the issue of getting an advantage from rest and rotation is a factor). With the failed batting , there really doesn't look to be a lot they can do about it. I am sure we will see the batting deck shuffled as the series progresses in any case...though how much good that will do remains unclear.

[bigfluffylemon]

You're right Alfie, but I was just listening to the TMS summing up, and half the conversation was about why Broad didn't play, and whether England should have played him and bowled.

If you can't make runs, it doesn't matter. England were 230-2 and were all out for less than 300 in good batting conditions.

Sure, they let Australia get more than perhaps they should have. But I don't think you can fault the bowlers. The weather day 2 was much better than predicted, they had no scoreboard pressure to bowl at, they created tons of chances that either the fielders missed or they just failed to take a wicket (how many times did they beat Warner's bat?)

Keep bowling like that and they will bag Australia for some low scores. But keep batting like that, and they won't win anything.