2019 4th Ashes Test 2019 Old Trafford

[Neese]

This is going to be a painful work shift. I can only hope for not too many squealing babies.
No regrets though, absolutely none.

 

[Neese]

I start work at 3:30am tomorrow, so the alarm will be going off at 2:20, please knock these cheating campaigners over by lunch......

Thankfully I have Monday off, my body clock is so ****ed. Getting too old for all nighters. Still not one regret though. This test has been thoroughly entertaining.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Thankfully I have Monday off, my body clock is so f’ed. Getting too old for all nighters. Still not one regret though. This test has been thoroughly entertaining.

I just can't not watch, last night was watching another incredible Smith innings and tonight will be retaining the Ashes.
I just hope we get a typical day 5 collapse and we burn through them quickly, I can't stand back to back to back sub 4 hour sleeps. Not at my age.

 

[DAlembert]

WE will win this one. Davie Warner 3 quacks on the trot. Quack Quack Quack. Has to be "rested" for the fifth test. Go back and make some runs in the Sheffield Shield before being recalled. Langer and his left handed policy a complete failure in this series. Lyon gee hasn't he lost confidence quickly. Someone mentioned the arm ball, does not seem to have one would be useful when ball spinning so much. Does not seem to be getting the ball "above" the eye level as often as when taking wickets. Anyway he gets another chance tomorrow needs a 3 or 4 fer to get back some confidence. I did mention I would have been happy to see him not play in this game. Siddle would have done the job here. Happy that Wade got a useful 34 and Archer got a 3 fa.

 

[DAlembert]

Root:
"So, the ball's drifting in slowly and I play the line, but then ... ohhhh ...
Hmmm, what would Smith have done ..?"

That was a peach of a delivery....Smith would have played it through square leg for a couple.

 

[Park cricketer]

 

[CrowBloke]

The strain is clearly showing on Smith - only 82 this time .

Yeah, and that on a wearing, dusty wicket @ a SR of 90 (!!).
Compare:
--- Burns' 81 @ 43.8 and Root's 71 @ 42.2 (OK, they did have to face the Aussie bowlers and Smith was chasing quick runs)

 

[Neese]

Trust our bowlers to get it done but I will be nervous

 

[CrowBloke]

You cant say the English bowlers have worked a way to get him out.

It's even worse than that. After he got to 30-odd, they stopped trying to get Smith out.
Again.
Except last time, he was 130-odd.

 

[philreich]

Trust our bowlers to get it done but I will be nervous

Especially if we're forced to take 12 wickets instead of 8, due to the fact that the LBW law doesn't apply when we're bowling!!!

 

[Richard Pryor]

Joe Root has suddenly stopped looking like an 8 year old boy and starting to look like an 80 year old man overnight.

 

[CrowBloke]

Cummins says we need to try to hit the stumps tomorrow. About 6 hours late.

It's not that simple. Plus, we're in a strong position.
Sometimes, a bowler's rhythm is off, or they're trying too hard, or for some inexplicable reason what they're trying to do just doesn't come out of the hand right. No bowler intends to bowl poorly, just like a fieldsman never tries to drop a catch.
Having said that, the Aussie quicks either sprayed the ball (Starc horribly, with the first new ball) or bowled too short (Cummins and even Hazlewood).
I'm happy to read what Cummins said. It means they're aware and determined to fix it.

 

[Neese]

It's even worse than that. After he got to 30-odd, they stopped trying to get Smith out.
Again.
Except last time, he was 130-odd.

The no ball dismissal would be on their minds too. Suckers

 

[philreich]

It's not that simple. Plus, we're in a strong position.
Sometimes, a bowler's rhythm is off, or they're trying too hard, or for some inexplicable reason what they're trying to do just doesn't come out of the hand right. No bowler intends to bowl poorly, just like a fieldsman never tries to drop a catch.
Having said that, the Aussie quicks either sprayed the ball (Starc horribly, with the first new ball) or bowled too short (Cummins and even Hazlewood).
I'm happy to read what Cummins said. It means they're aware and determined to fix it.

We need 8 good balls out of 588. Obviously Stokes is the key - get him cheaply, and the rest could follow quickly.

 

[DirtySandman]

In my living memory, it seems like our batting line up consists of both, the best in form batsman I’ve seen, and then the worst ‘others’ we have had.

 

[Woody15]

New ringtone:

 

[Jack Lord]

It’s a pretty decent compliment when you score 82 and it’s not up to your usual standard.

 

[Taylor]

It sounds like a walrus making a smaller walrus

 

[Leeda]

If Leach bats for 6 balls he will wear his glasses out , the lenses won’t be able to cop with all the cleaning and wiping

and we never like blatant advertising... but eyes can never be taken for granted...

 

[FredLeDeux]

It sounds like a walrus making a smaller walrus

I'll bow to your clearly superior intellect experience.

 

[CrowBloke]

Burns was an underrated wicket to get , could have made a frustrating 4-5 hour innings .
Roy and Denly just look like they can get out at anytime . Bar Stokes I can’t see any of there batsman hanging around for a few hours.

Yes, Burns has been lucky, but can hang around.
Roy and Bairstow can hit quick runs, but the 5th day wicket should stymie that.
Stokes is in the form of his life, real competitor, but still 318 runs behind Smith with 2 more Innings.

No doubt there will be even more twists and turns in this enthralling Test, but I predict one of Smith, Labuschagne or Head will take a crucial wicket, unexpectedly.
2/0 off 4 balls would have been crushing to their confidence (except Stokes).
I reckon we'll retain the Ashes in the second session tonight.

 

[Taylor]

I'll bow to your clearly superior intellect experience.

My imagination takes me strange places

 

[FredLeDeux]

My imagination takes me strange places

Yes, I have noticed this in your politics posting.

 

[SherbertLemon]

So in the highlights I saw a missed LBW (shock horror)

What did Paine waste the reviews on?

 

[omarlittle1]

The fact that we "should" win from here has me very nervous. Fool me once....