4th Ashes Test England v Australia July 19-23 1930hrs @ Old Trafford

[Peter Bixley]

I will be. Perfect reminder that the reason they lost a shot at the urn is because they live a pissant miserable sod of country.

After a decade here I am done with this place. Can't wait to get back to a decent beach next year.

It's raining now

 

[Purple Suit]

What were the alternatives?

• Khawaja - not long term
• Warner - nope
• Marnus - reviews burned within two overs
• Smith - cards marked by CA
• Head - long term, not yet
• Green - too young
• Carey - if Rod Marsh never made it, no WK will

I’ve heard Bisons are natural Captains

 

[Peter Bixley]

Only chance we have of an unlikely victory is if England do something completely stupid like declare straight away today.

We have virtually no chance of victory, whatever happens.

 

[Peter Bixley]

It's raining now

Amendment: it's raining heavily now.

 

[Purple Suit]

We have virtually no chance of victory, whatever happens.

10% chance atm. The great thing about Test matches is you can win from the most unlikely scenario as conditions change and everyone has 2 chances to make a score or implode.

Think the VVS Laxman innings or when England put on 600 in their first innings in Adelaide.

 

[One Dimensional]

Amendment: it's raining heavily now.

Save some of it for 2 and half hours please.

 

[Peter Bixley]

10% chance atm. The great thing about Test matches is you can win from the most unlikely scenario as conditions change and everyone has 2 chances to make a score or implode.

Think the VVS Laxman innings or when England put on 600 in their first innings in Adelaide.

True, but I think 10% is generous. I reckon it's no more than 1%. We'd have to knock off the 67, then build a lead, then get them out. There is so much rain about that this is about as likely David Warner hitting a second innings ton.

 

[Santana]

Far better than losing the Ashes, which will be very likely if we lose in Manchester.

No it will be far better if we lost the series, for the good of the game or something.


Still way too early for all this talk of retaining the Ashes because of rain. Just wait and see how today goes.

 

[The Passenger]

Amendment: it's raining heavily now.

Reckon the Poms a big chance to declare and try take advantage of any humidity around.

 

[Plugger35]

Only chance we have of an unlikely victory is if England do something completely stupid like declare straight away today.

I doubt Englqnd will declare before lunch if they aren't bowled out, they should have close to a 200 run lead by lunch which might be a big enough lead.

With so much rain forecast for the weekend they will want to give themselves plenty of time today to make inroads into the Australia batting line up.

 

[aabp1978]

The score doesn't actually factor at the moment. Yeah the Poms are 60 in front but there's 26 wickets remaining and no clarity on how much time is left in the game. As much as I'm sure they'd love to they cant bat us into the ground, due to the position of the series they will have to roll the dice and then anything can happen.

If they declare could, in theory, only be 10

 

[aabp1978]

Amendment: it's raining heavily now.

Any idea if it is likely to hang around? Seems like a lot of mixed reports out there

 

[RookiePick]

I doubt Englqnd will declare before lunch if they aren't bowled out, they should have close to a 200 run lead by lunch which might be a big enough lead.

With so much rain forecast for the weekend they will want to give themselves plenty of time today to make inroads into the Australia batting line up.

If the overhead conditions are favourable I'm thinking we are all out in under 50 overs. About 2 sessions seems right.

 

[Santana]

What were the alternatives?

• Khawaja - not long term
• Warner - nope
• Marnus - reviews burned within two overs
• Smith - cards marked by CA
• Head - long term, not yet
• Green - too young
• Carey - if Rod Marsh never made it, no WK will

Head's almost 30. It'll have to be sooner rather than later if it's going to be him

 

[greyhound punter]

The runs aren't an issue now. England will probably want 100 more....the question is: how long can australia bat for and how much rain is about.

 

[Peter Bixley]

Reckon the Poms a big chance to declare and try take advantage of any humidity around.

It's actually stopped now, but it's a very different day to yesterday. The Met Office seem to think we might get an hour in and then we're done until probably 3pm. After mop up, we won't be out there until 4pm. Nobody really knows for sure about today.

 

[JackOutback]

Pretty pathetic that people want it to rain
So Australia retain the ashes , England deserve
A crack at levelling the series ,

Oooh, we're doing haikus again.

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day,
Sunday for the lols

 

[Peter Bixley]

Any idea if it is likely to hang around? Seems like a lot of mixed reports out there

I don't think it will hang around today, but there could be a fair few disruptions.

The draw is now the favourite, something I've never seen before after only two days of a match.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

It's raining now

 

[Peter Bixley]

Head's almost 30. It'll have to be sooner rather than later if it's going to be him

It has to be Head.

If Cummins said to the board "look, I've had two years at the job and done my best. It's time to hand it on so I can solely focus on my bowling", would any of us hold it against him?

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Still remember these pricks chanting "off, off, off" in 2005 at the oval - to ensure england had the ashes

hopefully there are enough aussies over there to repay the favour for the next 3 days.

 

[Peter Bixley]

Still remember these pricks chanting "off, off, off" in 2005 at the oval - to ensure england had the ashes

hopefully there are enough aussies over there to repay the favour for the next 3 days.

Yes, never forget that bad light f**ked us over 18 years ago and rain did the same at Cardiff in 2009. It even denied us a 5-0 whitewash in 2022.

It's actually stopped raining now, but we're still two hours from the scheduled start.

 

[The Passenger]

It has to be Head.

If Cummins said to the board "look, I've had two years at the job and done my best. It's time to hand it on so I can solely focus on my bowling", would any of us hold it against him?

Head will be the next captain and it does make sense now he has established himself. He's done well with SA.

At the time he was a 50/50 selection so couldn't really be have the captaincy thrust upon him.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Be interesting tactics from the poms here - they'd ideally only like to have to bat once - but equally - if there is bowling friendly conditions - they'll want us batting so they can get into our batters.

They'll probably back themselves to get 200 in 30 overs on day 5 if it gets to it. .

 

[Freofalcon]

I hope it rains and rains hard.



Secure the urn, win the last one and go home 3-1.