Ashes-2023 England VS Australia 16 June-31 July

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Big Ant just announced that Cricket 2024 is officially released for English fans to overcome the losses. They will be able to compete in the most realistic 4 match Ashes series with Aussies 1-0 up.

 

[Bevab]

Big Ant just announced that Cricket 2024 is officially released for English fans to overcome the losses. They will be able to compete in the most realistic 4 match Ashes series with Aussies 1-0 up.

You would have got the actual C24 thread moving for five pages with this bait.

 

[pillowprocter]

I'm willing to stake the house on their white ball match engine still being hilariously inaccurate as usual.

I’d stake my front yard on r/cricket’s having several England fans who are criticising that too.

Gambling addiction...

 

[Bevab]

Gambling addiction...

The odds are certainly in favour of me.

 

[Dutch]

We’ve had @Aislabie be absolutely mind boggled by that declaration already and I don’t think @Dutch liked it either. I’d stake my front yard on r/cricket’s having several England fans who are criticising that too.

It’s what I said before, you’ll always have minor miracles like the tail wagging happening, you’ll never get a declaration like that ever from others. Closest I can think of was Clarke declaring when his team was still trailing and that was to save time for the second innings, this was literally on the first day.

If England are going to do this again then I don’t think the Aussies will mind. I don’t understand why it’s gone to all or none with this declaration thingy, you can have Bazball in other aspects (the unique fields, the aggressive batting, the quirky bowling rotations) without such daft declarations, they don’t really have to be a part of this overall strategy.

We are so used to sides especially English sides err on the side of caution and run out of time or whatever. England had the opportunity to pile on 50 more runs. Stokes was too Gun-ho: rain coming Tuesday so we need to get a move on. It was clear that it wasn't a pitch that you could just run through a side on and with a spin-bowler unable to bowl and nothing offering for Jimmy....just added another notch to the Aussie defense.

Have we seen Jimmy's last test match?

 

[Bevab]

We are so used to sides especially English sides err on the side of caution and run out of time or whatever. England had the opportunity to pile on 50 more runs. Stokes was too Gun-ho: rain coming Tuesday so we need to get a move on. It was clear that it wasn't a pitch that you could just run through a side on and with a spin-bowler unable to bowl and nothing offering for Jimmy....just added another notch to the Aussie defense.

Have we seen Jimmy's last test match?

Nah there’s no way he doesn’t play another test. I reckon he plays at least two and one of those is likely to be at Old Trafford.

 

[Aislabie]

We’ve had @Aislabie be absolutely mind boggled by that declaration already and I don’t think @Dutch liked it either. I’d stake my front yard on r/cricket’s having several England fans who are criticising that too.

Yeah, just based on the fundamentals of how Test cricket works it was nonsense.

Statistically, the second innings is usually highest-scoring, followed by the first, then the third, then the fourth when it is hardest to bat. That's why conventional wisdom says not to end your main batting opportunity after only 19% of the game's resources have been used.

Add to that the fact that Joe Root was in full masterclass mode in the best batting conditions they were going to get, against a bowling and fielding unit with a sweltering day's cricket in their legs and it's frankly insane.

The most frustrating bit is that if Stuart Broad had dismissed Warner in front of the baying crowd, everyone would have given the declaration a free pass as tactical genius - myself including me unless I was particularly grumpy that day.

It’s what I said before, you’ll always have minor miracles like the tail wagging happening, you’ll never get a declaration like that ever from others. Closest I can think of was Clarke declaring when his team was still trailing and that was to save time for the second innings, this was literally on the first day.

Agreed - declarations are fun, and a really valuable tool for breathe life into a dead game. But it's that whole thing of "if you approach every problem with a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail".

I think sometimes Stokes is so concerned about projecting the image of positive intent that he doesn't always recognise that the most positive option might be to keep things rolling as they are.

In that situation the most positive option was to let Joe Root bat Australia out of the game at a run a ball or more; if you run short on time, a third-innings declaration is always an option.

This is also why England are a better chasing team right now.

If England are going to do this again then I don’t think the Aussies will mind. I don’t understand why it’s gone to all or none with this declaration thingy, you can have Bazball in other aspects (the unique fields, the aggressive batting, the quirky bowling rotations) without such daft declarations, they don’t really have to be a part of this overall strategy.

Fully agreed.

 

[CerealKiller]

@Bevab was calling the Aussie tail rubbish for the whole match, reverse jinx of the century

 

[Umair7]

@Bevab was calling the Aussie tail rubbish for the whole match, reverse jinx of the century

Tbh Boland & Hazlewood aren't really good with the bat but Cummins & Garry (sometimes) aren't as bad as many pretend. Lyon thankfully stopped trying to go for a pull shot every ball & that might have worked in our favour!

 

[blockerdave]

I think the declaration was ok. There was a lot of time taken out the game, we got them 8 down and there weren’t many overs left in the game. They had a tough few overs that day 1 evening session, and I’m sure Warner would have been dreading getting out to Broad in that session: it was a reasonable if unorthodox decision.

With Mo’s finger issues, we had 3 bowlers, all similar pace and style. Stokes asked Mo to bowl through pain and wouldn’t himself - abject leadership. The selectors dodged every tough selection decision - leaving Bairstow out, or putting him in for Crawley or Pope with Foakes retained to keep would have been tough and brave decisions, dropping Foakes was a cop out. Picking only 1 of Jimmy or Broad (knowing Stokes wasn’t fit) and basically saying “Robinson is now our no 1 bowler” would have been brave - they dodged it again.

And then, giving the last 30+ runs effectively in singles, was pathetic. If Cook or Root had set those fields they’d have been crucified. It was pathetic. There’s been a lot of talk about Cummins and his boundary riders, but when shit got real it was Stokes that blinked first.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Good to see you back on here.

I believe you mean the Kiwi game where they got Wagner-ed and Southee was smashing it all over the place. They enforced the follow on then despite the pitch flattening out and I remember the Kiwi fans being amused and calling it a bad decision even then. At least then it was against a much worse side in a two test series, this was on day one of a home Ashes on a flat track. If the English side needs such weird decisions to ensure mental clarity of their plan then they need better sports psychologists in the first place.

The worst thing is that you can play Bazball perfectly fine without such decisions. I don’t mind the dances down the ground or the ramps because they have a high reward with the risk. There was absolutely none with that declaration.



The break between the second and third tests isn’t much. Realistically I expect him to play only one of the two given that scheduling. If the pitch for the next game is anything like this then Jimmy won’t be of much use there, may as well bring in Wood for that one and have Broad out for Jimmy in the third test if the former is tired.

All valid points. Really want to see some slightly more bowler friendly decks although this was a fantastic test wicket. What has me max fascinated is to see how Bazball reacts if they go down 2-0

 

[GuyIncognito]

Personally I think England's choice to have flat, dry wickets was a genius stroke. As an Aussie, I hope Lord's is as flat as a 2015 MCG pitch

 

[Umair7]

And then, giving the last 30+ runs effectively in singles, was pathetic. If Cook or Root had set those fields they’d have been crucified. It was pathetic. There’s been a lot of talk about Cummins and his boundary riders, but when shit got real it was Stokes that blinked first.

@CerealKiller - this is what I was trying to say on WhatsApp

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Gambling addiction...

Yep lost all my money.

Stupid Bazball

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Cumball ? Enough internet for today