2019 4th Ashes Test 2019 Old Trafford

[Visions]

I know I know, but I’m banking on the pitch falling apart instead of flattening out this time.

Pitch did flatten out, day 2 and 3. This one is breaking at the seams. Hell, even Smith almost got caught on the crease lbw to one from Broad that almost dribbled and just caught the bottom of his bat.

We bowl at the stumps, the pitch will do the rest.

 

[CrowBloke]

See the tear well up in his eye when he heard the " rattle " ?

No, but I sure hope so. Delicious, salty tears.

 

[CrowBloke]

If smith is batting this good now when no other aussie batsman can hack the english conditions, imagine how f'ing good he's going to be back in australia this summer.

Great thought.
SCARY great.

 

[Leeda]

Ha ha the Paine Meister is reaping his rewards. everyone seems to be reporting for duty..

 

[CrowBloke]

Lyon gee hasn't he lost confidence quickly.
1) Someone mentioned the arm ball, does not seem to have one would be useful when ball spinning so much. 2) Does not seem to be getting the ball "above" the eye level as often as when taking wickets.

Imagine this, when thinking about Lyon's confidence:
The ball's coming your way, not too hard, on the bounce. Leach is a mile out of his ground. All you have to do is take it with 'soft' hands, then move forward and remove the bails, and you win the Ashes; but then you stuff it up and England stays in the series. He'll have nightmares about that all his life.
1) I asked the Forum about that. Lyon's repeated spin, spin, spin has the Poms walking across to off and turning him to leg. I don't recall him getting too many edges to lefties, and none to right-handers.
2) Trying too hard. Needs to chill, slow the ball down a little, get some height.
A straight ball for variety would be very useful, as you said.

 

[corbies]

Root can be suspended, with his form that would only punish us. But if you regularly fall behind the overrates the captain will face suspension

Captain cant be suspended for over rates anymore. Its increased fines for all the players and loss of World Championship Points.

 

[CrowBloke]

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.

Yeah, odd mix isn't it?
Just as well Labuschagne got his runs when he did, with cameos later from Paine, Starc and Wade.
I thought for great eye and clean-hitting that Sobers was the best I'd seen, with Gilly close, Viv Richards too,
Lara/Tendulkar/Kohli, Ponting and more, but Smith!
Smith makes the impossible possible.

 

[Richard Pryor]

Captain cant be suspended for over rates anymore. Its increased fines for all the players and loss of World Championship Points.

Wouldn't be surprised if the English have a whinge about it once it bites them in the arse in the Championship, like when Cook pulled the "spirit of cricket" card when an English bat got mankaded after being warned against Sri Lanka that one time.

 

[cows]

England great Steve Harmison:

‘Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat’

Steve Harmison believes Australia batsman Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat regardless of his achievements in the game. Smith was banned from international cricket for 12 months, al…

talksport.com

Hahahahahahahshahah

Delicious.

Let the tears flow Harmy, however when they dry you’ll still be able to read SPD Smith at the top of every batting list for the rest of your life ahahahahahaha

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Listening to the TMS podcast and Pattinson said his brother-in-law plays for the Bulldogs. anyone know who this is?

 

[Dogsman16]

Listening to the TMS podcast and Pattinson said his brother-in-law plays for the Bulldogs. anyone know who this is?

Tory Dickson.

 

[Richard Pryor]

England great Steve Harmison:

‘Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat’

Steve Harmison believes Australia batsman Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat regardless of his achievements in the game. Smith was banned from international cricket for 12 months, al…

talksport.com

Hahahahahahahshahah

Delicious.

Let the tears flow Harmy, however when they dry you’ll still be able to read SPD Smith at the top of every batting list for the rest of your life ahahahahahaha

Harmy will forever be remembered for bowling a wide.

Also speaking of tarnishing a sport:

Steve Harmison given 12-match ban for bust up with referee

Former Ashes hero turned non-League football manager Steve Harmison has been given a 12-match ban following a bust up with a referee.

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Crankitup]

England great Steve Harmison:

‘Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat’

Steve Harmison believes Australia batsman Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat regardless of his achievements in the game. Smith was banned from international cricket for 12 months, al…

talksport.com

Hahahahahahahshahah

Delicious.

Let the tears flow Harmy, however when they dry you’ll still be able to read SPD Smith at the top of every batting list for the rest of your life ahahahahahaha

https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?ur...ll-tampering-smith-warner-bancroft/2018-04-10
Former England captain Andrew Flintoff has warned ex-teammates to be careful in their criticism of Australia's ball tampering, conceding his team had "done a few things which aren't particularly in the rules".

https://www.cricket.com.au/news/and...ll-tampering-smith-warner-bancroft/2018-04-10

Obviously took no notice of Flintoff.

 

[Woody15]

England great Steve Harmison:

‘Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat’

Steve Harmison believes Australia batsman Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat regardless of his achievements in the game. Smith was banned from international cricket for 12 months, al…

talksport.com

Hahahahahahahshahah

Delicious.

Let the tears flow Harmy, however when they dry you’ll still be able to read SPD Smith at the top of every batting list for the rest of your life ahahahahahaha

Oh well. He'll be remembered for one of the worst deliveries in test cricket.

 

[Van_Dyke]

England great Steve Harmison:

‘Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat’

Steve Harmison believes Australia batsman Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat regardless of his achievements in the game. Smith was banned from international cricket for 12 months, al…

talksport.com

Hahahahahahahshahah

Delicious.

Let the tears flow Harmy, however when they dry you’ll still be able to read SPD Smith at the top of every batting list for the rest of your life ahahahahahaha

Meanwhile Harmison’s legacy is this

 

[Park cricketer]

Anybody thinks the format of the test championship needs a change?

I mean England and Australia have slogged over a month for 32 points while India made light work of the Windies over or 9 days and bagged the full 60 points.



The guy in the tweet suggests that a series in the WTC should have a minimum of 3 matches and for longer series like the Ashes, only the first 3 matches should count towards the WTC points table. Anybody has different suggestions?

 

[CrowBloke]

Smith: ungainly, yet weirdly amusing eg
--- an Archer bouncer made him lean so far backwards that he fell flat on his back; ungainly.
--- while on his back, he wafted his bat in the air, ghost-playing the shot he should have played*.
Grinning like a kid.
(*anyone got a gif of that, please?)

 

[Park cricketer]

Harmy will forever be remembered for bowling a wide.

Also speaking of tarnishing a sport:

Steve Harmison given 12-match ban for bust up with referee

Former Ashes hero turned non-League football manager Steve Harmison has been given a 12-match ban following a bust up with a referee.

www.telegraph.co.uk

How does a freaking cricket player become the manager of a football side..

Like what are the job qualifications, winning an Ashes?

 

[DirtySandman]

Obviously took no notice of Flintoff.

Much wiser words.

I always remember some journalist asking Flintoff, about him choosing to go on tour, while his kid was being born, his great response was something like
"If they ever ask me, where I was at the time of their birth, I will say, I was off captaining England, and I think they will be comfortable with that"

 

[Richard Pryor]

How does a freaking cricket player become the manager of a football side..

Like what are the job qualifications, winning an Ashes?

Well, it's a low level of football so the stakes aren't really that high and the club would probably like the exposure that comes with a 'celebrity' manager. The low level/stakes makes it even funnier he got into it with a referee though.

 

[Hamingja]

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

What did Paine waste the reviews on?

Lol you don't want to know.

Buttler turned side on and shouldered arms to Lyon and the ball hit Buttler in the arse and they reviewed it.

 

[RegHickeyStand]

I've said it before but Smith is clearly the greatest test batsman we've seen.
He's constantly coming in under enormous pressure, against quality bowlers with their tails up and in a hostile environment and just makes bulk runs like he's walking the dog.
He'll be disappointed only making 82, and if it was the end of day 2 and not day 4 he'd probably still be out there not out on the way to ANOTHER century.
IMO we are watching the best test series by a batsmen I've ever seen.
In the nicest way possible the bloke is an absolute freak.

Better looking batsmen there have been. But I've never seen easy runscoring against quality bowlers like this. Doug Walters, but not this regularly.

 

[Hamingja]

After the new ball it was a relatively easy pitch to survive on. Tough to score runs unless you were Steve Smith but Wade didn't have too much trouble hanging in there, it only looked like he was going to get himself out sweeping.

Really need to get Stokes to the crease while the ball is still new. He is the last Pom that can bat a lot of time.

 

[to1994]

Anybody thinks the format of the test championship needs a change?

I mean England and Australia have slogged over a month for 32 points while India made light work of the Windies over or 9 days and bagged the full 60 points.



The guy in the tweet suggests that a series in the WTC should have a minimum of 3 matches and for longer series like the Ashes, only the first 3 matches should count towards the WTC points table. Anybody has different suggestions?

I don't think it matters too much. India, England and Australia already have the rub of the green when it comes to Cricket so I really have no sympathy for them having to slog it out for a month when the likes of Bangladesh are refused tours for financial reasons.

Looking at them side by side it looks unfair but the other teams will get their chance with a short tour against a weak opponent later on.

It's not perfect by any means but if it brings some more context it's worth letting it run its course and then reassessing.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

England great Steve Harmison:

‘Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat’

Steve Harmison believes Australia batsman Steve Smith will forever be remembered as a cheat regardless of his achievements in the game. Smith was banned from international cricket for 12 months, al…

talksport.com

Hahahahahahahshahah

Delicious.

Let the tears flow Harmy, however when they dry you’ll still be able to read SPD Smith at the top of every batting list for the rest of your life ahahahahahaha

Love this, so many salty salty tears over there.