India tour of Eng, June 20 - Aug 4

[alfie]

As an England fan , gutted to lose like that. But from the point of view of cricket as a whole , have to take my hat off to Siraj in particular for never giving up and eventually taking his side to the series equalling result they probably deserved.

Could lambast several England players for silly mistakes : Bethell first freezing and then totally losing his head and his wicket with a shot that would shame a pub team ; Smith just freezing (where has his form gone so suddenly ? Too tired from all that diving about as WK ?) ... or even Brook for going for one more big shot that was no longer needed at that point. But in truth the main reasons they lost this one were (the controllable) mess they made of catching ; and the just unlucky : losing Woakes so playing ten against eleven. Forget the bowling , two armed Woakes surely adds at least 8 runs over two innings...

As I said , 2-2 seems fair. England disappointed not to win after seeming set to wrap it up a week or so ago in Manchester but have to credit India : they came back from the brink and look to have arrested the slide they seemed to be on with that bizarre home disaster against NZ.

A few things for England to ponder ahead of The Ashes. Unfortunate that some "project" players haven't really measured up and no more real scope to trial alternatives. Will be a bit of "hope" surrounding some selections , I fear. For now my main hope is that the bowlers don't all get injured before November...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Presume they'll take the usual top six, plus Bethell. Bashir and Dawson, Smith and Cox, Atkinson, Wood, Archer, Carse and Tongue.

Stone- if fit- and Potts on standby.

[Durhamfootman]

I'll say it again (in case I've said it before). Even thought it sounds heretical, I really want England to lose the ashes this winter and preferably comfortably lose it

If England were to win or even just lose in a tight series, Key would be all over the media telling them that this was exactly what he hoped for when he began his kookaburra experiment (even though most England players won't have played with it) in county cricket and then propose doing more of it in future years. An experiment that reduces a third of the county championship season to a farce, where the smarter counties bring in kookaburra specialists from overseas for that part of the season, where desperate counties (including my own in the last match) prepare green tops or dust bowls to try and take the kookaburra out of the equation by turning the game into a lottery and where the counties that do neither subject their supporters to 600 plays 650 2 innings draws. Some counties even appear to rest their best bowlers, so that they don't get injured or shagged out bowling forever under the blazing sun.

It might be difficult for him to justify all that if England still get a thumping down under

[Arthur Crabtree]

Absolutely rubbish captaincy, how can you give him the single with mid on back..... you need one ball at woakes, cut his single off and get him on strike

Is there a possibility India gave England a single so Woakes would not have to face? If so, a candidate for the most sporting gesture in history!

[Arthur Crabtree]

BBC commentators pick their XI for Perth. Mostly identical, but with a fragile attack and no spinner.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/art ... vlz82vy4zo

[alfie]

BBC commentators pick their XI for Perth. Mostly identical, but with a fragile attack and no spinner.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/art ... vlz82vy4zo

If the best spin options are Bashir and Dawson it probably makes good sense to not bother with one. Let Root fill in a few overs and don't worry about the inevitable slow over rate points deduction.

All predictions meaningless because there is a lot of white ball nonsense coming up which is almost sure to sideline a bowler or two with injuries...

[alfie]

England are not where they need to be for the Ashes. If they can keep everyone fit you feel as though they can probably Bazball their way to at least one test win in Australia, especially given Australia's current fallibility with the bat. But they have next to no chance of winning a five match series away against Australia's bowling.

You can already sense that the Australian media are cranking up the narratives into overdrive, seemingly taken aback at some of England's perceived arrogance, and still smarting over the Bairstow Lord's fallout. Australia is a tough challenge even when the media are relatively quiet, but I get the sense England are walking into a bear pit this time out. The players have to be prepared for the media and crowds to throw everything at them (and probably even literally), its going to be a really tough series, and from the moment they land everything and everyone will be out to get them.

England have to silence the crowd early, including the warm up game at Lilac Hill. If they start badly, they are going to be brutalised in the press out there.

Handling the hostile media is a big part of the battle in Australia. Have to have characters strong enough to shrug it all off and get on with the job. One reason why the 2010/11 (and much earlier , 1970/71) sides did so well : some big (and maybe less than loveable ?) personalities in the squads - but they were not about to be bullied by anyone.

Whether this lot is up to that I am unsure. This last Test concerned me a little as one or two of the likely lads seemed to react poorly to both the match situation and the previous verbals. But we will see in time.

[sussexpob]

Handling the hostile media is a big part of the battle in Australia. Have to have characters strong enough to shrug it all off and get on with the job. One reason why the 2010/11 (and much earlier , 1970/71) sides did so well : some big (and maybe less than loveable ?) personalities in the squads - but they were not about to be bullied by anyone. Whether this lot is up to that I am unsure. This last Test concerned me a little as one or two of the likely lads seemed to react poorly to both the match situation and the previous verbals. But we will see in time.

You will know better than me, but I get the sense that Australia know when their team isn't relatively strong, and they really crank it up in the media to be all out hostile when they feel threatened. So many teams fail that test, and understandably so because its a tough environment to play in with every thing you do overblown to a level of unprecedented scrutiny - and the country coming together to add to that hostility. Phil Tufnell was talking about it the other day, and how even staff in hotels or bars will get at you every day of the tour. Quite literally everyone from every level making you feel uncomfortable from arrival to departure.

Having said that, I think the answer has always been that good player wins respect. In 2010/11, that inevitable 200 odd run lead at the Gabbatoir felt like history repeating. And then Cook and Strauss, the two players the Aussies really targeted in their pre-series vitriol, went out second dig and played a blinder. I got the sense at the time that the press backed off them after the first test, a tilt at the hat at how they played.

Its why I say you need to compete early. Need to win the respect of the public and get the mutual cricket appreciation to come out. The worst they can do is treat the warm up game like a hit around and do badly, it press will explode at that point.

[Durhamfootman]

won't it just rain for the whole of the warm up game? It usually seems to when England go on tour anywhere

[Arthur Crabtree]

BBC has posted an article on Glen McGrath's Ashes prediction. Which really indicates how little cricket news there is. Even though the middle of August.

[Durhamfootman]

When I saw the prediction I assumed that 5-0 was for the new Glen with a gun and loads of back up -v- lions with none of those things competition

The bloke is a tw@t and a knob and ought be given no airspace whatsoever

[Arthur Crabtree]

Who do you admire more, Glenn or Wee Davie?

[sussexpob]

Its become a tongue in cheek tradition. He isn't being serious.

[Durhamfootman]

Who do you admire more, Glenn or Wee Davie?

I'd quite happily hear from neither of them ever again

[Durhamfootman]

Its become a tongue in cheek tradition. He isn't being serious.

what, shooting lions?

I've often wondered whether it made him feel so good that he had a little wank afterwards