The Ashes thread.

[9goals2hattricks3pen]

To add to the above. Who is to say more cautious batting would have guaranteed more runs? It was in reaction to BazBall the Aussies set the field back. Less catchers and loads of singles. Bairstow 1st up smacked it about 78 from 78. 2nd inngs more circumspect he scored 20 runs.

[9goals2hattricks3pen]

Win or lose I'm loving it!

[Bombers right foot]

At the end of the day playing proper cricket will win the majority of the time, the sheer arrogance and stupidity at times of England have cost them dear.
1 Playing a retired spinner who was smashed to all parts in the last Ashes series and this
2 Leaving out Ben Foakes
3 Declaring the first innings
4 Batting as though it was a 20/20 match, nothing wrong in being positive, but being reckless gets you nowhere
5 Leaving out Mark Wood,
Anderson, show pony Broad and Robinson all similar pace
6 Not bowling Anderson at the end, the guys got 686 test wickets ffs
Got what we deserved, f/ all

[mickd1961]

At the end of the day playing proper cricket will win the majority of the time, the sheer arrogance and stupidity at times of England have cost them dear.
1 Playing a retired spinner who was smashed to all parts in the last Ashes series and this
2 Leaving out Ben Foakes
3 Declaring the first innings
4 Batting as though it was a 20/20 match, nothing wrong in being positive, but being reckless gets you nowhere
5 Leaving out Mark Wood,
Anderson, show pony Broad and Robinson all similar pace
6 Not bowling Anderson at the end, the guys got 686 test wickets ffs
Got what we deserved, f/ all

The first innings declaration was the single biggest mistake in my opinion.

Even an extra 20 runs and then 4 overs taken away from the Aussies would’ve likely seen us draw at least.

This is now two matches out of the past three that we’ve lost because we struggle to bowl our tail enders.

We lacked the pace of Wood or similar and our spinners are pants, I don’t rate Leach either.

I’d rather risk a youngster like Rehman and build for the future, Moeen can’t play again.

The problem with all of the above is Stokes though, he is unremittingly arrogant, he’s likely to just say “ f u c k you “ and go with the same side again.

I’m both depressed and angry at todays result, I probably need to do what I’ve done with football and pull back from letting my head get so involved in it.

Caring about sport has a bad effect on me these days, I’m gonna try not to give a ****.

[saltnshake]

In any sport you can't afford to pick 4 players that aren't fit enough to do their jobs, Bairstow's poor keeping was a big factor in the loss, Moeen will take a lot of stick but was he supposed to say no when they asked him to come out of retirement? Stokes being unable to bowl more than a few overs is also a real problem, add the fact that Anderson hasn't played for 6 weeks and struggled for any rhythm, either Wood or Potts need to be used as the 3rd bowler, we missed a real opportunity to win this test, their middle order batting will only get stronger as the series continues.

[mickd1961]

In any sport you can't afford to pick 4 players that aren't fit enough to do their jobs, Bairstow's poor keeping was a big factor in the loss, Moeen will take a lot of stick but was he supposed to say no when they asked him to come out of retirement? Stokes being unable to bowl more than a few overs is also a real problem, add the fact that Anderson hasn't played for 6 weeks and struggled for any rhythm, either Wood or Potts need to be used as the 3rd bowler, we missed a real opportunity to win this test, their middle order batting will only get stronger as the series continues.

Bairstow is very like Stokes in the arrogance department Salt, taking the gloves off him is likely to bring out the bottom lip but it needs to be done.

I’d rather play Wood or another young, fast bowler than play Moeen or another average spinner.

Unless your spinner is quality you’re basically playing him just because the stats say that you should.

Potts or Tongue if not Wood and if a spinner has to be played then go for you Rehman who is also a very promising batsman.

[Barrera]

I couldn’t believe how defensive we were when Lyon came in to bat. Five fielders on the boundary for a ‘compulsive hooker” … Lyon is a No.10 for c****’s sake not Viv Richards. With 58 runs still needed we should have closed that out with only two wickets needed. Stokes kept Root on for one over too long - you could see after the drinks break Cummins and Lyon were going to go for it.

As for changes for Lord’s I would bring in Rehan Ahmed … young and inexperienced …. But gives the ball a rip and can bat too. Also Wood for Anderson or Robinson .. probably the former. Would give Bairstow one more chance as keeper … but you can’t have a keeper dropping those catches and missing stumping. Also Foakes is not a bad batsman.

[Leicesterbaggie]

Why are they calling Women’s England v. Australia cricket the ‘Ashes’? It’s not, it’s just England v. Australia. The ‘Ashes’ is peculiar to the men’s game when we first lost to the Aussies and burnt the bails. I’m not against women’s cricket but let’s not transfer everything historical in the game to the women’s game. Tin hat at the ready!

[phild]

Tin hat not required LB you make perfect sense womens cricket is rather sh1te anyway and most are oversized

[phild]

I feel fairly confident That England are not going to outperform OZ in this second test with lavatorychain or whatever his name is, smacking it about. Therefore I wont be getting overly stressed by this game and at the mo, i feel rather relaxed about it, unlike the first test