3rd Ashes Test England v Australia July 6-10 1930hrs @ Headingley

[Gough]

I've just bought Stork Hendry and Jack Gregory autographs for a tenner a piece which I'm rather pleased with.

 

[Sun Ra]

I've just bought Stork Hendry and Jack Gregory autographs for a tenner a piece which I'm rather pleased with.

Jack Gregory ? Wow.

 

[Gough]

Jack Gregory ? Wow.

Nice one in ink too.

 

[Plugger35]

I've just bought Stork Hendry and Jack Gregory autographs for a tenner a piece which I'm rather pleased with.

Did you get any selfies? That's all the youngsters care about these days, autographs are old hat.

 

[Sun Ra]

Did you get any selfies? That's all the youngsters care about these days, autographs are old hat.

He can get a selfie with the autograph mate.

 

[greyhound punter]

100%
We have played only ok and lead 2-1 away while holding the Ashes .

Australia are better man for man so as long as they play their game they will win 1 of the last 2 tests.

Selection seems to be overcomplecated when it doesnt need to be.

Test cricket to me will always be awesome if:

- there are at least 3 competitive ‘good’ sides. We have that at the moment. I don’t think any of Australia, England, India or probably NZ who I would say are fourth, are excellent but they’re decent.

- most teams play different styles of cricket. I love the odd series where you get a really strong pace attack against a similar attack, and batting line ups that play similarly. Some of the best series of the last 14-16 years have been the Australia-SA series where the two attacks just let loose on one another and batting line ups featuring the technicians ( Kallis), the tradies that just find a method (Graeme and Steve Smith), the artists like Khawaja and Amla, the blasters like Warner and De Kock, and the magicians like De Villiers all sort of proved a counterpoint
For all that I love a series where the two teams have different methods like what we are seeing at the moment. I like it when non Asian teams try and take on India or Sri Lanka without resorting to just copying the hosts.
I’m boxing they say that styles make fights and I feel the same about test cricket generally.

- teams show some inclination to innovate. Not be bound to always picking the same formulaic 11, be willing to experiment.

- pitches retain their home characteristics. It’s one of the best things about the game - watching a team try to adapt to opposition conditions. I would never want that to be homogenised. Unlike most people I do see a place in the game for the odd ‘road.’ We love watching batsmen challenged by spinning or seaming or up-and-down conditions. It’s because it forces batsmen to apply themselves and show real skill or tactical application to succeed. I don’t see why bowlers shouldn’t be expected to do the same. Not every game, of course, but I don’t believe a bowler should just expect to ‘do what they do’ and let the pitch take care of the rest and give them a chance. Watching bowlers like Cummins, Steyn, Stokes, McGrath in years gone by, get batsmen out through tactics, heart, speed, changes of pace, relentlessness etc - that’s a great part of the game for me.

Here we go again.

 

[Gough]

Here we go again.

You've got a thread devoted to your gambling problem mate, don't be complaining about others.

 

[Australian Randall]

If they could keep the test match batsman away from this pretend stuff I wouldn't care.

 

[Australian Randall]

It's not meant to be easy to score runs. That's the purest form of the game.

 

[PhatBoy]

Here we go again.

Don’t like, don’t read.

 

[Around the Wicket]

I have no opinion on Harris as a person, one way or another, but he's simply not up to Test standard. He got a solid run at it, he's had 14 Tests for an average of 25, Bancroft has only had 10 for a higher average (marginally) and same number of half centuries, and Renshaw the same number of Tests for a higher average and a century (and his average was brought down by being thrust into the middle order during a tough Indian tour). Harris is a very good First Class player, he's not a Test player, his weaknesses have been found out and exploited and he has been unable to overcome them.

Likely neither is Bancroft, Renshaw very well could be. Bancroft averaged 59 in the Shield last season, Renshaw 51, Harris 37. That should have been the order of preference after Warner, I genuinely have no idea why Harris was on the plan given his struggles at Test level and Shield season.

So they beat Harris 1 season out of the past six and that trumps him? Renshaw has a season where he averaged 21 and a top score of 36 lol.

 

[Around the Wicket]

If you combine there past 6 shield seasons Harris averages about 55 and Renshaw and Bancroft are in the low 30s, sustained success is what it is about not a fluke season.

 

[sherb]

I've just bought Stork Hendry and Jack Gregory autographs for a tenner a piece which I'm rather pleased with.

He of four Christian names.....

 

[Gough]

He of four Christian names.....

He's no Chaminda Vaas though.

 

[Around the Wicket]

Harris Shield Record

2018/19 - 1188 runs @ 69.88 - 3 hundreds / 6 fifties - Top Score 250*
2019/20 - 442 runs @ 49.11 - 1 hundred / 4 fifties - Top Score 116
2020/21 - 695 runs @ 63.18 - 2 hundreds / 1 fifty - Top Score 239
2021/22 - 322 runs @ 40.25 - 1 hundred / 2 fifties - Top Score 137
2022/23 - 601 runs @ 37.56 - 2 hundreds / 3 fifties

Year after year performs

Matt Renshaw

2018/19 - 394 runs @ 21.88 - 0 hundreds / 2 fifties - Top Score - 89
2019/20 - 182 runs @ 20.22 - 0 hundreds / 0 fifties - Top Score 36
2020/21 - 500 runs @ 62.50 - 2 hundreds / 0 fifties - Top Score 168*
2021/22 - 410 runs @ 29.28 - 1 hundred / 1 fifty - Top Score 120*
2022/23 - 310 runs @ 51.66 - 1 hundred / 1 fifty - Top Score 200*

Patchy as all hell and a sneaky 200* is the only reason he averaged 50 last season lol

 

[JackOutback]

If you combine there past 6 shield seasons Harris averages about 55 and Renshaw and Bancroft are in the low 30s, sustained success is what it is about not a fluke season.

Sustained success at FC level doesn't mean anything if your weaknesses make you a walking wicket at Test level and you don't show the ability to overcome them. The difference between Test and FC can be stark, the best bowlers in the world can figure you out. Neither Harris or Bancroft is likely up to it, I hope there's some openers developing able to step up. But Harris has had more chances than the others, his Shield form is diminishing, I'd be moving on. He will offer nothing more than Warner does.

Given Marnus opened for Queensland previously, that might be our best bet if Warner is getting the drop until we can get a fresh look at the openers in the Shield. Of course, I expect Warner to hold his spot and the argument to be moot.

 

[toml]

Harris Shield Record

2018/19 - 1188 runs @ 69.88 - 3 hundreds / 6 fifties - Top Score 250*
2019/20 - 442 runs @ 49.11 - 1 hundred / 4 fifties - Top Score 116
2020/21 - 695 runs @ 63.18 - 2 hundreds / 1 fifty - Top Score 239
2021/22 - 322 runs @ 40.25 - 1 hundred / 2 fifties - Top Score 137
2022/23 - 601 runs @ 37.56 - 2 hundreds / 3 fifties

Year after year performs

Matt Renshaw

2018/19 - 394 runs @ 21.88 - 0 hundreds / 2 fifties - Top Score - 89
2019/20 - 182 runs @ 20.22 - 0 hundreds / 0 fifties - Top Score 36
2020/21 - 500 runs @ 62.50 - 2 hundreds / 0 fifties - Top Score 168*
2021/22 - 410 runs @ 29.28 - 1 hundred / 1 fifty - Top Score 120*
2022/23 - 310 runs @ 51.66 - 1 hundred / 1 fifty - Top Score 200*

Patchy as all hell and a sneaky 200* is the only reason he averaged 50 last season lol

Would be nice to get to bat at Junction Oval (and the MCG decks 3 years or so ago before they sorted it out) every second match like Harris does. He doesn't average much more than 30 outside of Melbourne in the shield. Harris scores an insane amount of runs backward of point which he manages to get away with at shield level but whether it will work at test level remains to be seen, it hasn't yet. He has probably earned another go through shield and county performances but I'm far from convinced it well work out well for him.

Would rather he gets a crack now than
Warner staying though, either he does better than Warner which shouldn't be too hard if he is indeed better than he was when he was last in the side, or he performs just as poorly and we can put a line through his name and start fresh going in to the shield next season.

 

[Sun Ra]

Would be nice to get to bat at Junction Oval (and the MCG decks 3 years or so ago before they sorted it out) every second match like Harris does. He doesn't average much more than 30 outside of Melbourne in the shield. Harris scores an insane amount of runs backward of point which he manages to get away with at shield level but whether it will work at test level remains to be seen, it hasn't yet. He has probably earned another go through shield and county performances but I'm far from convinced it well work out well for him.

What's his county form like ?

 

[Around the Wicket]

What's his county form like ?

Career county average

Harris - 50

Renshaw - 44

Bancroft - 31

 

[toml]

What's his county form like ?

He's averaged around 50 for a number of seasons across div 1 and 2 now. 457 runs at 57.12 from the 9 innings he played in the lead up to the Ashes this season.

 

[Sun Ra]

He's averaged around 50 for a number of seasons across div 1 and 2 now. 457 runs at 57.12 from the 9 innings he played in the lead up to the Ashes this season.

He's in then.

 

[The Passenger]

There is only one true form of the game.

Shame we don't see it played these days even in the correct format.

I do miss timeless matches.

 

[Gough]

I do miss timeless matches.

The last man to play in the last timeless Test only died in 2014 at 103. Amazingly he still lived in Hillbrow in Jo'burg which is my dad's old hood but rough as guts these days.

 

[CrowBloke]

I've just bought Stork Hendry and Jack Gregory autographs for a tenner a piece which I'm rather pleased with.

Score!

Found this for you:

Stork Hendry: They don't sledge like that anymore — CricketMash

Stork Hendry was born on 24 May 1895

cricmash.com

 

[Santana]

I wouldn't mind if ODIs got the arse, there's a bigger difference between T20 and Tests so it's a good mix I reckon. The rise of T20 has shown how boring it can get between overs 15-40 in an ODI, effectively T20 cuts out that boring bit.

Kind of feel you can kiss goodbye introducing any new countries into Test Cricket if these two are the only formats left. The skillset between Tests and T20 is just too different, while with one dayers there's a more similar skillset for Tests.

If they only want to play ODI's during a WC year then they may as well just scrap the whole thing.