The Cricket Thread

[Mr Russell]

First off it was a great innings by Cook and hopefully he can get past 250 today and a nice cameo by Broad but lets not forget that the Aussies are missing their main strike bowler in Mitchell Starc. Its just a shame that its all too little too late, they needed to do it in the first 3 tests when the Ashes were at stake and not when they have gone and the pressure is off, the only plus for either player is that they boost their averages and gain some pride.

Looking at Cook its amazing that all his test centuries against Australia have all come in this country.

I picked 3-2 to Australia before the series started so i hope that England can back me up and win here in Melbourne and in Sydney

[johnh]

If it had been 2-2 going into the final game, England could have held their heads high with a narrow defeat, but winning the last two will just be seen as a consolation prize. The Mitchell Starc issue is irrelevant. England had Ben Stokes missing for the whole series.

[Deleted User 3289]

On a positive note, Cook and to a lesser extent Broad will now have guaranteed their Test places for the next 2 years?

[Mr Russell]

5th test was about to start but rain has delayed the toss, Mason Crane looks to be in the team for England and Mitchell Starc is back for the Aussies.

[Mr Russell]

5th test was about to start but rain has delayed the toss, Mason Crane looks to be in the team for England and Mitchell Starc is back for the Aussies.

England won the toss and once again after a bright start and players getting a start Cook, Stoneman and Vince are out, England 3-95 with Root and Malan in, i really hope Root gets a ton as he needs one.

[Mr Russell]

England going to need a miracle to save this one unless Root and Bairstow can bat all day, it will be another hammering to a poor series for the away side. if these are the best England have for their test team then they are in for a few lean years. Hopefully the one day series will be closer run affair.

[NottinghamWhite]

Hopefully the one day series will be closer run affair.

Of course it will, half the ODI side are from YCCC

[Mr Russell]

Hopefully the one day series will be closer run affair.

Of course it will, half the ODI side are from YCCC

Thank god for that!

Ashes series over with Australia cleaning up the rest of the English batsman bar Root who did come out and bat and retire ill on 58, he had dehydration and stomach cramps and had being in hospital the night before. Bairstow tried hard as did Curran but the rest fell like dominos.

[Mr Russell]

my take on the ashes series just gone -

Australia 4-0 England (1 drawn) Series 2017/18


1st test – Australia won by 10 wickets (Brisbane) AUS 328 & 0/173 ENG 302 & 195


England won the toss and batted and after losing Cook quickly Stoneman and Vince fought and had England going in the right direction but then both went and other than a Malan/Ali partnership they just reached 300, it was not enough!

Australia were struggling at 4/76 and 7/209 but both times they could not press the advantage home as first Smith and Shaun Marsh and then Smith and Cummins took the game away from England even though they only had a 28 run lead.

England’s second innings was a disaster as only Root, Ali and Bairstow scored above 40, 195 has never going to be enough to defend.

Warner and Bancroft wiped off the 173 needed as both made scored 80+ runs as England struggled to take a wicket.

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2nd test – Australia won by 120 runs (Adelaide) AUS 8/442d & 138 ENG 227 & 233


Root won the toss and sent Australia into bat, people moaned about that but if his bowlers had of backed him up it would have been an inspired decision and when they had Australia 5/209 it was looking good but sadly the bowling fell apart and Shaun Marsh made 126 whilst ably supported by Paine with a 50+ and Cummins with some lusty hitting, it took the game away from England.

England’s batting failed again with Starc and Lyon the main destroyers and if was not for a little partnership between Woakes and Overton it would have been below 200.

Finally England’s bowlers got it together (where was it in the first innings?) as they blew Australia away for 138 with Anderson 5 and Woakes 4 wickets as they had total control of the Aussie batsman as no one made over 30 runs.

Going into the last day it was even Steven as England were 4/176 with Root on 67 not out chasing 353 but that was as close as they got as within 22 overs they were bowled out for 233, Root was out for 67 and Bairstow tried hard with 36 but other than that they were blown away by Starc who claimed 5 wickets.

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3rd test – Australia won by an innings and 41 runs (Perth) AUS 9/662d ENG 403 & 218


England started this day with their best ever day of batting as they finished with 4/305 with Malan on 110 and Bairstow on 75 not outs, Stoneman had made a courageous 56 after being struck on the helmet by Hazelwood, it was there for the taking and a score of 500+ was calling. It was not to be even though Malan went onto 140 and Bairstow made a lovely 119 that was it as the rest of the card fell apart (again) with Starc getting 4 victims, it was at least 100 less than what they needed.

Australia then made 662 declared thanks to a Smith double century (239) and Mitch Marsh making a 181 as they blew the England bowlers off the park, only Anderson got some reward with 4 wickets but even he was succumbed to late hitting by Paine and Cummins (again).

England came out for the second innings (or maybe they did not) and only Vince and Malan made half centuries as this time it was Hazelwood who was the destroyer with 5 wickets and once more we crawled to just over 200. After day one it looked so good but by the end it was another humiliating loss and the Ashes were once more in Australian hands without too much fight shown by the visiting side.

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4th test – Drawn (Melbourne) AUS 327 & 4/263d ENG 491


Australia won the toss and batted and finally Warner made a century (103) supported by Smith and Shaun Marsh who both made 50+, Broad finally showed he can bowl (way too late) as he claimed 4 wickets for the innings and England would be happy to restrict them to this total.

Finally Alistair Cook made some runs as he went onto 244 not out and showed that he does know how to bat, he was supported by Root and Broad who both made 50+, Cummins was the best bowler with 4 wickets. Most England fans will be wondering where this kind of batting has been bar the first day in Perth.

Time to put some pressure on the Aussies and whilst there was some but it was not enough as Warner made for him a slow 80 odd and Smith once again got past 3 figures with 102 not out as Australia earned a hard fought draw.

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5th test – Australia won by an innings and 123 runs (Sydney) AUS 7/649d ENG 346 & 180


England won the toss and batted and once again they were at least 100 short of what they needed as only Root and Malan made over 50+ plus and if Curran and Broad had not hit lusty 30+’s then it could have been worse. Cummins was the best bowler with 4 wickets for the Aussies.

Time for Australia to bat and they batted with class and skill and blew the England bowlers back home as Khawaja made 171, Shaun Marsh 156 and his brother Mitch made 101, Smith chimed in with an 83 as the England bowlers and fielders toiled in the field, no England bowler made a mark in this slaughter.

Second innings for England and they needed someone to stand up and be counted, Root showed courage to come and bat on the last day after being in hospital the night before and he made it to 58 before illness took hold again, Bairstow fought hard for his 38 and Curran with 23 not out but other than that no other batsman deserves a mention as they all failed at their job. For Australia Cummins again claimed 4 wickets and Lyon 3.

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Summary – England had times when they had Australia on the ropes but failed virtually every time to push the pressure onto them, the difference was not really that much, say if Smith had of played for England and Lyon then it would have been much closer between the sides. Australia took every chance and made England pay each time but the lack of fight and will from some of the England players is a worry.

Some players will never play again and others will learn from this tour and be better players for it.

Next time come with some fast bowlers who can bowl fast and take the game to the hosts as this bunch on the whole were not good enough bar in small parts on that point.

Finger spinner don’t do well in Australia so make them come out and play either Sheffield Shield, Big Bash or Top Grade cricket around the country and learn how to play on Aussie pitches.

The ball (Kookaburra) learn how to use it, it is different from the Dukes that are in England and it does not reverse swing as much.

Play more games before the first test and not one or two day games, 4 day games against the states or even an Australia A side, it was done in the 2010/11 series and even way back in the 1986/87 series, you cannot go into a series without game time as we did this time around.

Luckily this time around the pitches were not as good or as fast as they used to be, in fact Perth always used to be the fastest in the country but I think Brisbane has overtaken them now, but as the pitches in England are also getting slower they need to keep some (like the Oval) that are fast and learn how to play good quality fast bowling on them as some batsmen seemed under prepared for what they were about to receive and it showed.

Stop throwing talent under the bus, even though I called for some of them to be put in poor Tom Curran and Mason Crane were thrown to the wolves, remember James Borthwick (think that’s his name) played one test in the last series and was slaughtered by the batsmen and never seen again, these 2 have talent, help them learn and coach them and they could be our future in the next Ashes tests in Australia.

Senior players need to step up – let’s admit whist the series was still alive what did the older pro’s like Cook, Broad and Anderson do, answer barring Anderson in parts they did nothing to help the team and mainly in Cook’s and Broad’s case they showed their form once the pressure was off and the series decided, not good enough!

Support your captain – Adelaide in question, Root put the Aussies in and on the second day his bowlers let him down as they do too many times in the series, the batsman weren’t too crash hot in most parts as well. At least Root will have learnt from this series and will have his team for the next one or you would hope so.

Believe you can beat Australia – let’s admit Australia are not that good and I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way either but they aren’t number one in the world like they used to be and this time was beatable, they have 4-5 world class players but the rest are just good solid test players, England went into this series like they had already lost the series and it showed.

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Alistair Cook – 4/10 (he gets 2 points for his 200+ but loses a point for it being his only decent score of the series)
Runs 376
HS 244 Not out
0 50’s
1 100’s
Average 47.00

One great innings in the 4th test which gave England a chance of winning that test but other than that he was in most people’s eyes a failure on this tour, if you take out his 244 his average for the series would be below 17 and for such an accomplished batsman that is not good enough, he will be still around when the English summer starts this year but how long will he be allowed to not score runs against teams when it matters, if he’d of get that score in the first two tests it would have mattered more but he still has the 2010/11 series to reminisce about when he was on top form.

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Mark Stoneman – 3/10
Runs 232
HS 56
2 50’s
0 100’s
Average 25.78

Plenty of courage as he was targeted by the fast bowlers and their bouncer barrage, he fought but in the end he failed to fight back as he only scored 2 fifties in the tests, can they afford to keep him? I doubt it and he will become another in the long list of Alistair Cook’s opening partners who have not been that good enough when it mattered (I see Haseeb Hameed as the one just a shame he was injured for this series). Another Michael Carberry type player.

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James Vince – 3/10
Runs 242
HS 83
2 50’s
0 100’s
Average 26.89

A classy stylish player and sometimes he looks like a right handed David Gower as he plays some beautiful strokes sadly that is where the comparison ends as he is nowhere near the class of Gower. His 83 in the first test should have been the springboard for the series but he only made one more fifty after that and that is not good enough for a test number 3, you can’t see him being kept on unless there is a real shortage of classy batsman in England right now. If he could turn those nice 20’s & 30’s into tons then we could be raving about him but he does not and did not in this series.

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Joe Root – 6.5/10 (he loses 1 point for not converting those fifties and when the series was alive)
Runs 378
5 50’s
0 100’s
Average 47.25

Wickets 2
Best 1-1
Average 39.00

Captain of the side and sometimes I felt he was let down by his bowlers especially in the Adelaide test, he made a brave decision to put Australia in but his main bowlers did not back him up and failed him and when you look at what they did in the second innings when they bowled the Aussies out for 138 makes it a case of what could have been.

He still can’t covert those fifties into hundreds and that is his biggest letdown as he had 5 fifties (one of them retired ill). He is class and this will be learning curve for him and will make him a stronger captain in the long run. Did look good at times and showed great courage in coming out to bat in the last test after being in hospital the night before, that shows what kind of player England has as captain and it should be nurtured and some of his team mates need to show that fight and spirit. He topped the averages for England and 47 is not to be sneezed at. A solid series but not an outstanding one like his fellow captain Steve Smith who stepped up when it mattered.

Like I said a learning process and if he does learn from this series then the next time he is here in Australia he will be a success. Was third in the English bowling averages.

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David Malan – 7/10
Runs 383
3 50’s
1 100’s
HS 140
Average 42.56

Wickets 0
Best 0-13
Average N/A


Ok I admit I was wrong about him mostly when I said he was not test class just before he scored a 100 in the third test in Perth and he backed it up with 3 fifties as well. Probably the most consistent of the batsman during this series when too many underperformed. A fighter and has cemented his spot for the New Zealand part of the tour but if he is the best that England have got in their middle order then England have problems in that department. One of the few successes on this tour.

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David Bairstow – 6.5/10
Runs 306
0 50’s
1 100’s
HS 119
Average 34.00
Catches 10
Stumping’s 1


Did a fine job behind the stumps as that is one area where he has improved in, in recent years. Scored a very good century at Perth in an excellent partnership with Malan and never gave up his wicket easily unlike some of his team mates. Got starts in most of his innings but other than the century he could not post another 50+ score which was his only let down on the series. Moving up batting positions during the series was a good choice.

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Moeen Ali – 1/10
Runs 179
0 50’s
0 100’s
HS 40
Average 19.88

Wickets 5
Best 2-74
Average 115.00


Oh dear a player of such skill was completely undone in this series, he scored nearly half his runs in the first test and was out to Nathan Lyon a staggering 7 times, don’t these spin bowlers know how to combat spin? His batting was pretty much awful and his bowling was even worse as he only snared 5 wickets in the whole series and was dispatched to all parts of the ground. He won’t get dropped as really he is a much better player than what has been seen in this series but whether he will ever be back in Australia will be the big question, the Aussie batsman targeted him and had his measure in every game.

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Chris Woakes – 3/10 (gained a point for his Adelaide stats)
Runs 114
0 50’s
0 100’s
HS 36
Average 16.28

Wickets 10
Best 4-36
Average 49.50


Not the Chris Woakes we were hoping for in this series as he struggled and his bowling was not up to standard bar in the second innings in the Adelaide test, earned 10 wickets but at a high cost of just under 50 each wicket. Where has his pace and fire gone? As it was not on offer in any of the four tests he did play in. Bar one innings in Adelaide his batting was below par.

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Stuart Broad – 2.5/10
Runs 136
1 50’s
0 100’s
Average 15.11

Wickets 11
Best 4-51
Average 47.73

Another one who failed and had his worst series in a long time, looked a shadow of the player who has played against Australia both at home and away. The only time he did something was in the 4th test where he made a quick fire fifty and got 5 wickets but that was all too late as the ashes were already lost. This should be his last series in Australia but he might be still around when the next one is in England, looked tired and his bowling was mostly lethargic and lacking in pace, a sad sight to be honest.

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Jake Ball – 2/10
Runs 15
0 50’s
0 100’s
HS 14
Average 7.50

Wickets 1
Best 1-77
Average 115.00

Played one test but did not do much, he had some pace and that was probably why he was picked for the first test of the series. Tried hard and one that should not be discarded altogether but will only be a bit part player for his country.

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James Anderson – 7/10
Runs 8
0 50’s
0 100’s
HS 5
Average 2.66

Wickets 17
Best 5-43
Average 27.82

Best of the England bowlers by far as he took the most wickets by an England player and was the only player to get 5 wickets in an innings. Really clicked into gear in the second innings at Adelaide in the Aussies second innings where he took those 5 scalps but it was a case of too late as he and his fellow bowlers let their captain down in the first innings. This should be his last series in Australia and it ended up being his best ever (stats wise). Ended up as captain in the last test in Sydney when Root was incapacitated will illness. He at least tried to fight fire with fire unlike the majority of his colleagues.

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Craig Overton – 6/10
Runs 62
0 50’s
0 100’s
HS 41 not out
Average 20.66

Wickets 6
Best 3-105
Average 37.66


He played only in 2 tests in the series thanks to injuries and that was a shame as he was probably the next best bowler after Anderson. Nice late hitting in the Adelaide test in his 41 not out and his bowling was of decent standard, he deserves persisting with once he returns from injury as he has shown he has some promise.

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Tom Curran – 4.5/10
Runs 66
0 50’s
0 100’s
HS 39
Average 33.00

Wickets 2
Best 1-65
Average 100


Put into the fire when picked for the fourth test but showed some very good glimpses of what he can do although he seems to be better suited to the shorter form of the game. His bowling is of medium pace which is a shame as on the Aussie pitches there was little or no movement. Batting wise he did ok with some nice strokes in the lower order. Promising without being outstanding and his first test wicket was Steve Smith which he will always remember.

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Mason Crane – 3/10
Runs 6
0 50’s
0 100’s
HS 4
Average 3.00

Wickets 1
Best 1-193
Average 193.00


Played in the last test when the Aussie racked up 700+ runs, although his figures don’t show it he did not bowl that bad and remember a certain Aussie leg spinner started his career off with 1-160+ and looked where he ended up (the best bowler in the world). He is still young and learning his craft and if coached correctly and provided the right direction he will play test cricket again and maybe sooner than later.
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Stats provided by the Crininfo site so they'd better be right!

Roll on the one day series this Sunday!

[NottinghamWhite]

What a brilliant post Mr R can't really argue with any of it