O/T:- The Ashes 2023

Very fine lines/margins in sport and hindsight is wonderful and if Notts hadn't have gone up if would have been because Slocombe this Scott missed a penalty,Rodrigues missed a penalty, Bostock missed a penalty etc etc.
If Stokes hadn't declared and we had batted for another 2 hours it would most likely have been a draw because we would have run out of time.
Yes we did make mistakes but like I said above it happens and decisions are made live.
Bazball isn't about boring draws and with the ability in the squad we will win more than we lose, they will be exciting tests that will be played in front of capacity crowds and get people interested in cricket - far better than Geoffrey Boycott batting for 9 hours over a tonne

Personally I am just happy to be watching competitive Ashes cricket again. And that is all!

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Originally Posted by Proactive not Reactive

Very fine lines/margins in sport and hindsight is wonderful and if Notts hadn't have gone up if would have been because Slocombe this Scott missed a penalty,Rodrigues missed a penalty, Bostock missed a penalty etc etc.
If Stokes hadn't declared and we had batted for another 2 hours it would most likely have been a draw because we would have run out of time.
Yes we did make mistakes but like I said above it happens and decisions are made live.
Bazball isn't about boring draws and with the ability in the squad we will win more than we lose, they will be exciting tests that will be played in front of capacity crowds and get people interested in cricket - far better than Geoffrey Boycott batting for 9 hours over a tonne

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There are errors and stupidity.

We are Bazzball when it suits.

Picking Moeen Ali was not Bazzball. He averages over 50 a wicket against Australia, it was cronyism.

Bazzball didn’t lose us this game. Picking a spinner who hasn’t played a game of red ball cricket (so isn’t used to bowling more than 10 overs) in over 2 years was utterly idiotic.

Whilst the choice is limited. Surely either of the two spinners who played backup to Leach in Pakistan were the obvious choices?

That is where the game was lost, before a ball was bowled Bazz or otherwise.

That is tosh Don O'. The game was full of fine lines, and to say the game was lost because we played Moeen is laughable.
Catches win matches, (and stumpings), that in my eyes was where the game was lost.

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Originally Posted by Magpies1959

That is tosh Don O'. The game was full of fine lines, and to say the game was lost because we played Moeen is laughable.
Catches win matches, (and stumpings), that in my eyes was where the game was lost.

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It was ultimately won on discipline. Which is how most test matches are won. For all England's bravado Australia won - on discipline.

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Originally Posted by queenslandpie

It was ultimately won on discipline. Which is how most test matches are won. For all England's bravado Australia won - on discipline.

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Absolutely. When Bazball clicks it's fantastic to watch. When it doesn't it looks more like an innings from a Nag's Head 11. We need to pick our moments for Bazball and the moments we need to exercise some discipline. That's where the match was lost. 1st inns declaration was a joke as was Eng's 2nd innings batting and some of the selection decisions were diabolical.

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Originally Posted by countygump

Absolutely. When Bazball clicks it's fantastic to watch. When it doesn't it looks more like an innings from a Nag's Head 11. We need to pick our moments for Bazball and the moments we need to exercise some discipline. That's where the match was lost. 1st inns declaration was a joke as was Eng's 2nd innings batting and some of the selection decisions were diabolical.

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Pub cricket, a joke declaration, and diabolical team selection, and we still only lost by the finest of margins (2 wickets) after almost the full 5 days. Boy we must have a very talented team, and all of the above provided fantastic entertainment on each day.

Catches win matches.

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Originally Posted by queenslandpie

It was ultimately won on discipline. Which is how most test matches are won. For all England's bravado Australia won - on discipline.

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That's backed up by 'Extras'.

If you take out leg byes which are largely unavoidable, Australia added just 4 free runs to our totals. We added 28 to theirs.

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Originally Posted by Elite_Pie

That's backed up by 'Extras'.

If you take out leg byes which are largely unavoidable, Australia added just 4 free runs to our totals. We added 28 to theirs.

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Agree - sort of. I did see you post it somewhere else as well on here or to that effect. It's a bit like crtiticising Notts' defensive mistakes though when we have 70% possession. Not a situation where one can win. We move on to number 2.

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Originally Posted by Magpies1959

That is tosh Don O'. The game was full of fine lines, and to say the game was lost because we played Moeen is laughable.
Catches win matches, (and stumpings), that in my eyes was where the game was lost.

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So with old ball, on day 5 who was our most dangerous slow bowler?

I’ll make it easy, was it a part time spinner, or our frontline spinner?

Who should it have been?

How many more chances would have been created with someone who could land more balls in the rough more often?

Yes we missed catches and stumpings, mistakes in game happen with pressure, fatigue etc.

Mistakes in the cold light of day with time to decide are less forgivable.

It was the number one error England made.

Will they drop baistow, stokes or Ali for the next test?

Which was the biggest error?

It was a great game of cricket fought hard by both sides. Like 2005 I was there. I can’t fault the errors in the game. Australia also made some, they happen.

If Lyon was injured. Would Australia have brought a player out of 2 years retirement to replace him?