Ashes-2023 England VS Australia 16 June-31 July

[Pinch hitter]

Thanks to Bazball, Australia got enough time to win the game...

 

[Croadyman]

I think other factors played a bigger part in that defeat.

Great test match though. Not sure if I can take another four of these.

Yeah mainly Bairstow missed stumping and dropped catches,Broad no ball and perhaps not taking new ball earlier today

 

[Croadyman]

Woody on that yorker Ollie tried would have sent the stumps flying.

Why don't you think he was considered for selection when the pitch was so flat

 

[asprin]

Notwithstanding the criticism around the declaration, I don't think Stokes will back out of doing it again should the occasion arise. To be honest, you would not have blamed England if they thought the game was done when Khawaja got out. It was one of those brilliant innings and the super support from the other end that gave Australia the win.

Not taking anything away from Khawaja's performance in both innings, my pick for MoM would have been Cummins. I also don't get the negative talk around Khawaja's slow batting in the 2nd Innings. He was the one holding down the fort so it was kind of needed.

For England, it's likely now that Mo Ali will make way for Wood. For Australia, I would like to see Starc come back into the squad. He has that X-factor that would have come handy on this pitch. Not to forget, he can whack a few while batting too.

Terrific start to the Ashes. Like @Bevab said, it would be really interesting to see if England will continue the Bazzball if they end up with 0-2 scoreline after the 2nd Test. But given the history, I think they will.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Just on the declaration. I thought, during the second innings, England would have been looking for 300 lead (285 minimum). They ended up with 281. As there were only a few overs left in the match, had they batted much longer we might not have had that finish. Lots of if and buts, but I think England would have been fairly happy with where the game was positioned going into the fourth innings.

The chase was also the second highest at Edgbaston (the Root/Bairstow show last year being the highest). So, credit where it's due Cummins and Lyon, they did a great job to see them home.

Anyway, on to Trent Bridge where, judging by the warm ups, we might see a similar clash of styles in the women's test.

 

[Fenil]

Declaration aside, I thought it Bairstow's underpar performance as a keeper and few noballs that costed the game for England. Cummins was absolutely brilliant yesterday and played like a champion. Boland adding crucial runs in the fourth innings as a night watchman helped too.

I wouldn't say its Bazball to blame. The batsmen did a fair job but England definitely needs to find a way to accommodate Foakes in the side. Wood and a proper spinner would have made a world of good. Moeen bowled far too many drag downs in the match. It would be a shame if they axe him mid-series or after the series given that he came out of retirement due to the importance of this series.

The management needs to keep the ego (for playing a spin bowling allrounder in a bid to score more runs) aside and draft in a proper spinner who can be potent enough to pose at least some threat. Moeen is clearly not the Test quality spinner.

 

[CartyDurham]

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.

Excellent post. I think the declaration point is covering up for some horrendous wicket keeping , other fielding and broad taking Khawaja with a no ball

even though it’s been said that most thought the declaration was wrong, it did all come down to a miracle 9th wicket partnership to get Australia over the line

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Here you go @CerealKiller ICC putting some respect on Babar's name

 

[Fenil]

Both teams have received sanctions following the poor over rates.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/35...Ltgt0iYeA-lNGGUaBT0AzEyx101VcFF-32NjJah7M5N8s

 

[Croadyman]

Declaration aside, I thought it Bairstow's underpar performance as a keeper and few noballs that costed the game for England. Cummins was absolutely brilliant yesterday and played like a champion. Boland adding crucial runs in the fourth innings as a night watchman helped too.

I wouldn't say its Bazball to blame. The batsmen did a fair job but England definitely needs to find a way to accommodate Foakes in the side. Wood and a proper spinner would have made a world of good. Moeen bowled far too many drag downs in the match. It would be a shame if they axe him mid-series or after the series given that he came out of retirement due to the importance of this series.

The management needs to keep the ego (for playing a spin bowling allrounder in a bid to score more runs) aside and draft in a proper spinner who can be potent enough to pose at least some threat. Moeen is clearly not the Test quality spinner.

Totally agree that we need to find a way to get Foakes into this side,in regards to the spinner dilemma who can we turn to that poses any kind of threat. Woody should also have played a part but probably didn’t as Starc was left out for Aussies too. However they have a quicker bowler in Cummins so we shouldn't have done that.

 

[CartyDurham]

One thing I know for certain. The term Bazball is completely in the heads of a lot of non England fans

It’s a media generated term which McCullum hates

 

[pillowprocter]

One thing I know for certain. The term Bazball is completely in the heads of a lot of non England fans

It’s a media generated term which McCullum hates

It's just a conveniently simple way of referring to England's style, what's the alternate term?

 

[Bevab]

It's just a conveniently simple way of referring to England's style, what's the alternate term?

Baz is well known for making himself appear larger than life with his plans and grand ideas (especially behind the scenes) and acting the humble persona in front of the wider media/cricketing circle. I wouldn't be surprised if he paid a tenner to the bloke who first came up with the term.

 

[CartyDurham]

It's just a conveniently simple way of referring to England's style, what's the alternate term?

England



It’s just trying to play as if it’s an odi or t20 in a five day format

Of course Bazball sounds sexy and I get it but I’m an old bloke and like mccullum I don’t like it

 

[CartyDurham]

Looking back over the years, you have imranball for the 92 World Cup tigers

Lloydball for the West Indies era

Waughball for the Aussies

Tenball for sachins era

It’s just the media trying to be cool and hip