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

[DamoESP]

One for a nearly century and one for taking a catch

 

[BG32]

Ashes retained, Bairstow not making a ton

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Retain the Ashes, win the WTC.

Job done before the end of July.

 

[El Doederino]

Didn't declare at 450 or 480 because YJB getting a ton would have been 'an absolute vibe' (that's not a direct quote, I'm just assuming that's what their team talks are like) and bowled I think 11 overs in the first hour yesterday which is a fair old indicator they didn't really believe or give it a red hot crack when given the opportunity, they could have had 6 or 7 by stumps on day 3 if they wanted to.

They could have absolutely done this, they're just not as tactically shrewd or as brave as they say they are.

Seeing as anything other than a win was a loss for them, as soon as they reached our first innings total, they should have then been looking at the time they thought they could best get our wickets.

They knew the test was going to be affected by rain. They should have planned their whole game strategy around getting the win in as short a time as possible. The perfect outcome for them would have been bowling us out in the 2nd innings with a small target for them to reach in their dig.

 

[AJ_2000]

There's no obvious cricket fever when you're out and about casually in the UK. Truth be told, the majority of people don't really care about cricket.

There's probably more interesting in the Women's World Cup.

To put it in perspective the most of the English grounds over 5 days don't hold as much as the MCG on boxing day.

Cricket while winning has a bit more casual interest, but is way down the ranks compared to football, union, league.

 

[Titch3Votes0MooreAA]

England fans right now:

 

[Titch3Votes0MooreAA]

 

[A Pom]

There's probably more interesting in the Women's World Cup.

To put it in perspective the most of the English grounds over 5 days don't hold as much as the MCG on boxing day.

Cricket while winning has a bit more casual interest, but is way down the ranks compared to football, union, league.

Cricket is miles ahead of rugby league. Probably matches rugby union in terms of casual interest and surpasses it during major series/the world cup.

 

[Zach Package]

Seeing as anything other than a win was a loss for them, as soon as they reached our first innings total, they should have then been looking at the time they thought they could best get our wickets.

They knew the test was going to be affected by rain. They should have planned their whole game strategy around getting the win in as short a time as possible. The perfect outcome for them would have been bowling us out in the 2nd innings with a small target for them to reach in their dig.

Agree, if they're going to act, prepare and dress like club cricketers, treat it like a club game.

If you want a 2nd innings result in a situation where you don't have that many overs to play with you declare 1 ahead or you go absolutely hell for leather at the close of day 2 and in the first hour of day 3, get maybe 130 in front and give yourselves as many overs as possible on day 3, and then depending on conditions maybe a look at a new ball on day 4 given Australia ended up facing 70 odd overs out anyway.

Think Marnus deserves all the credit in the world because he single handedly saved our bacon but they mucked it up, and badly in my opinion.

 

[Croadymeister]

Pommie here who will not actually congratulate you but will say when it mattered you played the smarter stuff in first two tests.

I don't blame Stokes for the declaration but has to take some for bowling Root to Cummins at Edgbaston. I will not forgive Bairstow for those mistakes and Broad should know better than bowling no balls.

Words cannot describe how dumb following the short ball was at Lord's when in healthy position.

Facts are it's no good waking up in Ashes series when you are already 2-0 down and giving yourself a mountain to climb.

Anyway see you again in 2025 when you will of course beat us senseless down under again. One day we will find some quick bowlers who can stay fit in your conditions.

 

[Tiges1229]

Pretty dry from 7am onwards today

View attachment 1751937

Thwts so good

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Seeing as anything other than a win was a loss for them, as soon as they reached our first innings total, they should have then been looking at the time they thought they could best get our wickets.

They knew the test was going to be affected by rain. They should have planned their whole game strategy around getting the win in as short a time as possible. The perfect outcome for them would have been bowling us out in the 2nd innings with a small target for them to reach in their dig.

They got themselves in a bind. I thought they should have declared with an hour to go on day 2. Would have been about level at that stage, but if they'd taken a couple of wickets that evening they could have run through us on day three and left themselves time to chase whatever they needed. They would have been better of taking a risk and losing than having the rain impact and allow the draw.

Fortunately they declared in the first test at it bit them in the bum so they didn't pull the trigger in this one. Cowards.

 

[Substance]

Don't ruin the mood by posting that flog

 

[Stax on the mill]

Woke up several times during the evening due to sick wife and kids. Each time it was raining here in Sydney, with anticipation i would open Cricinfo to check the state of play there. It was beautiful and made up for waking up a dozen times with the family.

Glorious. I'm about to sit down and watch a replay of the whole of day 5.

 

[Festerz]

 

[Altum Volantes]

There's probably more interesting in the Women's World Cup.

To put it in perspective the most of the English grounds over 5 days don't hold as much as the MCG on boxing day.

Cricket while winning has a bit more casual interest, but is way down the ranks compared to football, union, league.

League?

League is only played in a few regional areas by meatheads and people who couldn’t get into private school.

Kinda like Australia really.

 

[Titch3Votes0MooreAA]

There is no better time than now to watch Dennis Lillee collapse some pompous, highfalutin Poms.

 

[Geelong_Bisons_#36]

One for a nearly century and one for taking a catch

View attachment 1751949

Is that legit?

 

[beside the seaside]

Had no impact on the end result. Was the right decision to bat on.

It was a shocking call. Should have declared at lunch and put pressure on. The fact you can't see this shows how blind you are. Stokes has to take some responsibility.

 

[Croadymeister]

I suspect because at a management level they're happy as long as the money keeps coming in which it is at the moment. If anything England's the place where weirdly you probably both need changes most (because of the weather) and least (because the interest in test cricket is still there).

Previous inaction shouldn't be reasoning for why action shouldn't be explored going forward though.

We don't have sensible provisions in place for circumstances like this because ECB are firmly stuck in the past. Even a series like this being robbed of a decider won't bring about any significant changes.

Hopefully you guys do win the last test then perhaps we can properly reflect on bottling those first two tests so spectacularly.

 

[Titch3Votes0MooreAA]

We've won the Ashes. Let's celebrate.

 

[Linda Lovelace]

Because they are morons

The English are nothing but hypocrites on every front.

They retained the ashes in 2013 due to rain. Didn’t here root complaining then.

Pissweak the lot of them.

Never heard a country whinge so much when they don’t get it their way.

England won the 2013 series 3-0. Even if both drawn matches had been won by Australia, we still would have lost the series, and England would have retained.

If you are talking about English fans being equally crazy nuffies prematurely celebrating a potential drawn series just like you are all doing now, sure, that was equally stupid.

But you can't claim they retained the ashes due to rain because, no, they would have retained without that rain anyway.

 

[Tonga Bob]

Going for a pint tonight. Who's in??

 

[Gough]

 

[Titch3Votes0MooreAA]

G'day Piers...