Where does the time go? The Ashes series was weeks away then it was tonight and now the first test is over already and rarely have I been so fucking furious! Over the two innings England batted like it was a white ball match in a dead series, it was absolutely piss poor. England’s management claimed they thought 206 was enough runs? That’s certainly not what I thought when I woke up and checked the score around 0700, I was thinking “well that’s fucked it then.” It only takes one batsman to get in and make a decent score to chase down a total like that, as Travis Head showed. Now England are hiding behind this (begrudging) great innings and using it as a reason for their defeat. Just fuck off with that. What is wrong with slowing the pace a bit, playing a proper test innings and giving the bowlers a rest?
England are a better team than Australia and if we continue
to bowl like we did in the first innings we may well end up winning the series but
why make it hard for ourselves? Since
2011 no England team has entered the first test of an away Ashes series
properly prepared. When this was pointed
out by several ex players the captain described them as “has beens…” Arrogant.
The ex players have been proven right.
What were they thinking? We all know that good practice is key, in Australia more than anywhere
else because history tells us that! But
we go with the England flow because we want to believe.
There is an opportunity for some ‘pink ball’ practice coming
up and from what I can gather England’s first XI won’t be playing? Arrogant.
I’m happy to see the under pressure Ollie Pope get some runs in this
match and genuinely hope he can be consistent enough to nail down a place in
the team, even though I might not have picked him in the first place! But Crawley whose place in the side is
immovable has an average almost 5 runs lower than Pope. In cricket, statistics are meaningful
whatever England’s arrogant management may think, especially over 109 innings
FFS! Once again they are ignoring facts
that have been proven repeatedly throughout the history of the game.
I think it is fair to say England have got themselves into a
winning position in all six of the most recent Ashes matches yet have only won
two of them and managed to lose three.
This would be easier to take if Australia had played well and wrenched
the game away but no, England handed the initiative back which allowed the opposition
to play well. Fucking bazball. Yes we get away with it against the lesser
test nations but against the top teams England look fucking stupid and we’ve
ended up drawing series we should have won.
Close games and exciting finishes are only enjoyable if your team is not
on the losing side, give me Andrew Strauss’ team of winners over Stokes’
showman any time. There I said it.
