[The Peoples Champion]

 Mr Mercury, on 25 November 2017 - 10:59 AM, said:

Yep, massive loss in a tight first innings, Smith was the special player that was the difference, sadly no Stokes.

Obviously Stokes a loss Mr M but a massive mistake was not picking Plunkett

Genuine Pace, suited to the hard Aussie wickets, how Jake Ball gets in ahead of Plunkett I do not know

Plunkett can bat a bit as well so will strengthen the tail

This decision costing us already and I think Anderson is injured but they are trying to keep it hush hush

[JonB]

They’ve said just now that Anderson has a bruised shoulder from being hit whilst batting and it won’t affect his bowling.

[The Peoples Champion]

 JonB, on 25 November 2017 - 10:58 PM, said:

They’ve said just now that Anderson has a bruised shoulder from being hit whilst batting and it won’t affect his bowling.

He's not fit Jon and neither is Ali

No chance of taking 10 wickets now and thats a fourth day pitch as well

[JonB]

Didn’t see us bowling so no idea. Did see the Ali stumping....not a chance they’d have given one of theirs out, very iffy decision with a very strange looking crease marking. Sparked the collapse and a key moment in the game. Tight games hinge on moments like that and we were on the wrong end of it.

[The Peoples Champion]

 JonB, on 26 November 2017 - 09:16 AM, said:

Didn’t see us bowling so no idea. Did see the Ali stumping....not a chance they’d have given one of theirs out, very iffy decision with a very strange looking crease marking. Sparked the collapse and a key moment in the game. Tight games hinge on moments like that and we were on the wrong end of it.

God I thought it was just me ! That crease line was not straight was it ?

Shocking really at this level

[azul]

 JonB, on 26 November 2017 - 09:16 AM, said:

Didn’t see us bowling so no idea. Did see the Ali stumping....not a chance they’d have given one of theirs out, very iffy decision with a very strange looking crease marking. Sparked the collapse and a key moment in the game. Tight games hinge on moments like that and we were on the wrong end of it.

So you saw one moment, bit laughable that. I can tell you, I watched a pathetic performance against a mediocre team in full HD and regretted it

[JonB]

 azul, on 26 November 2017 - 09:25 PM, said:

So you saw one moment, bit laughable that. I can tell you, I watched a pathetic performance against a mediocre team in full HD and regretted it

Well done for staying up...having an 8 week old made watching much of it and functioning the following day difficult on my part. I saw more than just one bit but that dismissal was pretty crucial and a marginal decision that went against us. Don’t think the third ump could say 100% it was out especially with the iffy crease marking. Sparked the collapse to setting a meagre chase for them. Add 50 more to the chase and the pressure is different.

[firedodger]

What’s wrong with the mind set of English players?
Poor discipline and stupid decisions are crippling us, bowlers bowled too short, batsmen play stupid shots and lack patience.
I’m not convinced Australia are as good as we are making them look.

[JonB]

They certainly arent that much better than us, just played a bit better at crucial times. We're certainly missing Stokes not just for his batting and bowling but the way the whole side is balanced around what he gives us plus the way he is on the field makes other tick. We also seem to have let them get under our skin with their antics on and off the field bothering us so we make the mistakes. We also need our big players to make an impact....Cook, Root, Ali, Bairstow with the bat came in needing to score our runs and havent as yet.

That last session today proved what can happen with this Aussie side when they are under pressure, they make mistakes and feel the pressure. An aussie side of a few years ago wouldnt have sent a night watchman in leading by 200 then time wasted to see out the day.

This post has been edited by JonB: 04 December 2017 - 02:39 PM

[Westbars Spireite]

Come on England!

[JonB]

Great day although that late wicket of Malan is going to give them a boost. Smith properly rattled making bad decisions from the no follow on yesterday to losing his reviews in the space of 3 balls. These two had batted really well to give us a glimmer.

[Benno Spire]

Would love us to win this. The Aussie press would have field day with Smiths decision not to force the follow on.
As they say though, it’s the hope that kills us!

[firedodger]

This most likely means I will be up at 3 to watch it!
Definitely a good day for England yesterday, still some poor discipline out there, why on earth was vince wafting at that ball?????
It’d be good to see Woakes survive the first hour or so in the morning, that would really wind the Aussies up, and they don’t appear to like it up ‘em!

[CFC91]

Tempted to set an alarm for this now. Watched from 6 this morning and it was gripping stuff. Would be amazed if we did it still but we've had one hell of a good go at it

[Westbars Spireite]

Nice as it is to dream I fully expect to wake up to a 75-100 run defeat.

[Cartman]

it's the hope that gets you!

poor

need a performance in Perth

[whittman]

 Cartman, on 06 December 2017 - 10:04 AM, said:

it's the hope that gets you!

poor

need a performance in Perth

Our bowlers are trying to get their batsman out bowling at 80mph

The Aussies are getting ours out when it matters bowling at 90mph

And Perth is one of the fastest wickets lol

[JonB]

That Malan wicket last night was a key moment and in the two tests so far theyve won more key moments than us. It gave them a boost after a day where we'd been all over them and they carried on from their this morning. They arent that much better than us which is the really annoying thing, just had a couple of hundreds to get runs on the board and thats made it difficult for us. You could see Smith folding under the pressure yesterday with the poor reviews etc and we've let him off the hook today.

Dont think we need to change that much ahead of Perth...just need someone to step up and get some runs. Do think someone like Wood or Plunkett should play but then OVerton has done pretty well in this game on debut. What we need is Stokes back to change the whole make up of the side again......

[SpireiteFitzy]

Skill wise they might not be much more better than us but mentally they are on a different level entirely. Root and Bairstow are the only ones in the team currently who look capable of batting a test innings as in hanging around and wearing down the bowling attack. The rest look oh so culpable of falling to needless extravagant shots or aggressive batting. Whereas the Aussie's are grinding it out and given the weakness of their batting line up are doing pretty well in that they all seem to have contributed a decent score so far.

And bowling they have 4 genuine wicket options, we are heavily relying on Anderson bowling massive spells to try and get the wickets for us.

Moeen needs dropping, he's no good when playing on pitches where he needs to work hard for wickets. Him and Lyon are one of the big differences in this series. Whereas Lyon (who ain't a great spinner) finds spin in the pitch, takes wickets, holds an end down so Smith can rotate his strike bowlers, Moeen just leeks runs and provides no threat whatsoever. Anderson and Broad are having to bowl massive spells because and end cannot be tied up by the spinner. And he's doing nothing as a batsmen.

Vince and Cook would be in dropping territory as well if we had anyone worth replacing them with.

[JonB]

Our batting is pretty inexperienced currently with Stoneman, Vince, Malan all having not played a lot of test cricket and Vince having failed once already. Wouldnt be so bad if the back up option we took wasnt Gary Ballance!! Pressure on Cook, Root, Bairstow to get runs when you throw in Stokes not being there as well. Ali has always been a batsman who bowled spin and improved a lot and there is no other real option to replace him with. Cant play Crane instead of him without blowing the whole balance of the side as we'd be short on batting. You could only play him instead of Ali if Stokes was playing. Also the fact Crane is another completely inexperienced test player who would be thrown in so you'd expect the Aussies to go after him as well.

Few of the Aussies have got scores in less pressured situations but even with a lead like that had the other day when under pressure folded like a pack of cards with no real fight back from any of them. Smith looks all at sea when its going against him in the field as well.

There isnt a massive difference between the sides currently, we've just played poorly at the wrong times to cost us the tests so far. First test we let them off the hook with the bat one evening then when batting lost a few late wickets the next evening then in this one we bowled poorly first up, even Anderson and Broad, then batted badly. To even be in with a chance showed how well they fought back and how fallible the Aussies are when up against it. We just need to get them up against it when it matters a bit more.

Think we need to play Wood or Plunkett in Perth but that could only be instead of Overton. I'm not and never been a fan of Vince and he definitely isnt a test match number 3 with the way he plays. Only thing is they would have to bat Root 3 and not sure thats the best option either.