Work again but I had to be desk bound for a lot of it and arranged my schedule to suit. I wish I hadn't bothered. Burns fell early, no surprise after his first innings, he isn't a Smith after all. Roy and Root done OK for a while but the former played a shot so bad it was almost funny and then England didn't really collapse as much as crumble. Australia won by 251 runs. England stuffed, Jimmy crocked, could it be any worse? I have no emotion, did I use it all up on that white ball stuff?
Jimmy going lame was massive. We might not have won with four fit bowlers but it would have been a much closer game.
Smith played as well as any Australian batsman has ever played in an Ashes match as long I've been watching cricket. Our own star batsman had an average game.
Their spinner was excellent, our spinner was piss poor. Gotta love Mo but he's in woeful form and should be dropped but won't be.
Our much vaunted middle order did not contribute, with the exception of Stokes it was they that let Australia off the hook after our top three had done their jobs.
Can England come back? Well we did in 2005 but in reality how many of the current squad would get a place in that team? Root for Bell and Jimmy for Hoggard? For that matter only Root would have stood a chance of forcing his way into Strauss' No.1 ranked test team. The reality is our batsmen just aren't that good.
If fit Archer will walk into the team now with Broad and Woakes taking the new ball. I doubt England will make any changes but I'd definitely drop Ali. Australia will consistently take 20 wickets this summer, if we pick five fit confident bowlers I'm sure England can to.
England must get enough runs to exert pressure. Will Joe Denly get another test? He probably deserves one more but... If Buttler and Bairstow are not contributing then one of them should make way for Foakes who is by far the best keeper. Since returning to test cricket Buttler averages 37.8, in the same period Bairstow averages 22.4. Both have scored one hundred, as has Foakes who averages 41.5 from his ten test innings.
Whoever plays at Lords the middle order must do better if England have any chance of coming back in this series but we're still in it. Can we come back? Yes. Will we? Only if our batsmen improve.
The XI that won't be picked for Lords;
A. Nother, R. Burns, J. Root, J.Roy, J. Buttler, B. Stokes, B. Foakes, C. Woakes, J. Archer, S.Broad, M. Leach.
Jimmy going lame was massive. We might not have won with four fit bowlers but it would have been a much closer game.
Smith played as well as any Australian batsman has ever played in an Ashes match as long I've been watching cricket. Our own star batsman had an average game.
Their spinner was excellent, our spinner was piss poor. Gotta love Mo but he's in woeful form and should be dropped but won't be.
Our much vaunted middle order did not contribute, with the exception of Stokes it was they that let Australia off the hook after our top three had done their jobs.
Can England come back? Well we did in 2005 but in reality how many of the current squad would get a place in that team? Root for Bell and Jimmy for Hoggard? For that matter only Root would have stood a chance of forcing his way into Strauss' No.1 ranked test team. The reality is our batsmen just aren't that good.
If fit Archer will walk into the team now with Broad and Woakes taking the new ball. I doubt England will make any changes but I'd definitely drop Ali. Australia will consistently take 20 wickets this summer, if we pick five fit confident bowlers I'm sure England can to.
England must get enough runs to exert pressure. Will Joe Denly get another test? He probably deserves one more but... If Buttler and Bairstow are not contributing then one of them should make way for Foakes who is by far the best keeper. Since returning to test cricket Buttler averages 37.8, in the same period Bairstow averages 22.4. Both have scored one hundred, as has Foakes who averages 41.5 from his ten test innings.
Whoever plays at Lords the middle order must do better if England have any chance of coming back in this series but we're still in it. Can we come back? Yes. Will we? Only if our batsmen improve.
The XI that won't be picked for Lords;
A. Nother, R. Burns, J. Root, J.Roy, J. Buttler, B. Stokes, B. Foakes, C. Woakes, J. Archer, S.Broad, M. Leach.
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