by bigfluffylemon » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:32 am
Quiet thread for an England-Australia game. Well done AC for keeping the chat going. Why so quiet? Lack of interest with the urn gone, end of a long summer (according to the BBC test cricket has never been played this late in the year in England), something else?
Hats off to England for their best all-round performance of the series. They capitalised on Australia being off-colour, no doubt - even at the time I was surprised at the decision to bowl first, not a common one at the Oval, and they put down a heck of a lot of chances. But England did manage to take advantage of it and bat time in a way they haven't in the rest of the series. Australian hangover from retaining the urn? Maybe.
There's not a huge amount between these sides, Smith apart. At least in English conditions. 2-2 seems a reasonable result, although it could easily have been 4-1 Australia or 4-1 England had the cards fallen just a little differently.
I can't see England winning in Australia. Still, 2 and a half years is a long time - if they focus on that now, they stand a chance. Might need some short term pain as they blood some new talent in the near term and play home summers with less-than-helpful pitches or maybe even (gasp) try the Kookaburra ball.
A trip to South Africa is a good place to start. South African conditions are probably the closest you can get to Australia, and funnily enough it's been England's best touring destination of the last 15 years. South Africa currently look a bit on the weak side, especially with the bat, following the departure of de Villiers, Amla and Steyn. That said, a side featuring Rabada, Philander and Ngidi as the pace attack demands respect.