Australia V England 2nd test of the 2017/18 Ashes @Adelaide Oval

[funk44]

Again with the sooking about Smith laughing.

I suppose it didn't matter when Broad gave Starc that send off though?

Of course the Australian team aren't saints; far from it. But a few people in that English side certainly aren't either, Anderson included, so England probably should quit the salt mining and get back to playing cricket.

Bairstow headbutting Bancroft hello is objectively funny and Bancrofts retelling of the story and deadpan delivery was hilarious

The poms are just doing what they do best, having a massive whinge

 

[Woody15]

Ben Stokes comes to mind as well re: sledging. Very aggressive. Run ins with Kohli (who hasn't) and Marlon Samuels.

 

[Borisdog]

Poor little Poms having a little cry about Australians taunting them. It’s a deadset wonder anyone still speaks to them after what they’ve done to a few of their “Dominions” in the past. It’s just a sporting conquest ya tossers, it’s not as if you’re sending heaps of troops who weren’t yours to command to their death without even thinking your way through it. Oh wait..... You’ve moved on from that haven’t you.

Poms. GGF the lot of you.

Harden up ya sooks.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Lol Jimmy

 

[HBF]

Anderson in full sook mode

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-01/anderson-unhappy-at-australian-bullying/9214724

Anderson is such a sook. He's happy enough to dish it out, yet throws his toys out of the cot when the shoe is on the other foot.

 

[RookiePick]

Complaining about a bouncer barrage?

Anyone with half a brain knew there would be plenty of short stuff second innings with the track quickening and the Aussie captain having to endure overs and overs of short, legside, trundling filth from Woakes and Ball.

 

[The Passenger]

What's this about England being annoyed at Smith laughing in the post-Brisbane presser?

He was laughing about the Bairstow/Bancroft incident, which let's face it, sounded pretty bizarre.

If that annoys them, then they must have pretty thin skins.

The Australian's have played the English like a fiddle so far.

The timing of this Bancroft/Bairstow "headbutt" was perfectly timed. Wait till they were behind the 8 ball in the test. Drop it on the stump mic with no context at all. If we can't sledge you hard on the field, we'll drop a bomb off it. No point wasting that when the series was even.

Everyone knows it's a nothing incident but it was maxed out to full affect.

This whole thing is ridiculous but **** me has it got under the pommy's skins.

But be wary - the English will have memories. 2019 Ashes and our boys will want to be on their toes from the moment they arrive at Heathrow.

 

[Gough]

I find the whole off field sledging pretty tiresome, particularly when it's coming from two teams that have been beaten by the Bangles of late. Worry about yer cricket lads.

 

[The Passenger]

I find the whole off field sledging pretty tiresome, particularly when it's coming from two teams that have been beaten by the Bangles of late. Worry about yer cricket lads.

Agreed. But come Ashes time the rule book gets thrown a little bit.

Plus not gonna deny the fact we are on the winning side off-field makes me a bit happier about it all. I can imagine English fans are livid.

 

[Woody15]

Yeh sometimes I wish we don't sledge. Comes back and bites us on the ass and is a distraction. Sledging a number 11 is pretty pointless as well. But watching this headbutt episode play out, I find this pretty funny.

I wish the broadcasters would allow an option to listen to the stump mics. Id love to listen in.

 

[Father Jack]

Why would we stop sledging when it has worked this surprisingly well? I cannot believe the poms haven't just stfu and moved on

 

[dogs105]

Just saw it on the BBC website. Root has lost the plot.

"we'll use their laughter to motivate us. If that's not motivation, what is?"


What a cockwombling numbnut.

 

[Doashuey]

Getting under their pastey skin. I would have thought winning the Ashes would be more motivation than some laughing convicts.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Just heard that Root was unhappy about Smith's hilarity over the head butting incident. They should be thankful Bancroft took it so well and made light of it otherwise it could have been another nasty off field incident for them. Fair dinkum these Poms are sooks (and stupid).

 

[PrideOf]

Just saw it on the BBC website. Root has lost the plot.

"we'll use their laughter to motivate us. If that's not motivation, what is?"


What a cockwombling numbnut.

Srs? Should stick to the daytime talk show.

 

[Woody15]

I must admit Smith did look like a giggling school kid. Cringed a little bit.

 

[Doss]

I must admit Smith did look like a giggling school kid. Cringed a little bit.

He’s got a baby face so that follows.

England need to harden up if that offends them.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

I like the Saturday start.

At least I should get to watch a full day's play on my day off this time (it will go three days won't it? ).

 

[Doss]

At least I should get to watch a full day's play on my day off this time (it will go three days won't it? ).

Hope you weren't laughing as you pondered that, bumps. Might offend Joe and Jimmy.

 

[frankrizzo]

Just heard that Root was unhappy about Smith's hilarity over the head butting incident. They should be thankful Bancroft took it so well and made light of it otherwise it could have been another nasty off field incident for them. Fair dinkum these Poms are sooks (and stupid).

Exactly, Bancroft bailed england out by turning the whole thing into a joke and now they are crying about it?

The poms really are in a tough spot, even though they sledge non stop and will do whatever it takes to win they still have this strongly held belief that they occupy some moral high ground over Australian cricket, the drunken idiocy of their players has exposed them for what they are.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Just to make sure I hadn't missed anything, I watched the Bairstow statement on the headbutting incident. At no point did he deny it was a headbutt which one of the pommy journos suggested in the interview with Bancroft and Smith. I mean really, even if it is some kind of weird English greeting (I have never ever heard of a head butt as a greeting), what was Bairstow thinking doing this to an Australian cricketer on the eve of the Ashes with the Stokes incident still fresh in everyone's mind. The whole thing beggars belief.

 

[frankrizzo]

It's no wonder their players actually convince themselves they are victims when you have cheerleaders like dobell writing stuff like this in support of stokes and Barstow.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/21605152/is-woakes-thug-australia-continue-fake-news-campaign

 

[Woody15]

This made me laugh

"That follows David Warner suggesting his punching of Joe Root in Birmingham in 2013 was a "lot less" severe than the Stokes incident. Warner's wife, Candice, also branded the Stokes incident "way worse." We must have missed the bit in the Warner incident where Root was swinging a bottle"

 

[krisholio14]

I definitely think people were too hard on Watson. We weren't exactly crawling with talent and relied on him a bit. I wonder how his career would have carried out if left down at 5 or 6 and stayed fit. But I certainly don't think he was elite or anywhere near the top 10 allrounders ever. 4 centuries and 75 test wickets isn't exactly an elite return.

I guess the stupid reviews and his inability to convert so many good starts was enough ammo for people to get stuck into him.

At test level they weren't. He was picked to deliver a certain level of performance and he never did that.

The reality is he continued to get selected for what he might do rather than what he did do. The fact he consistently delivered what was expected in the shorter formats only served to perpetuate the hope that one day the matchwinning, explosive Shane Watson of limited overs cricket would reveal himself at test level.

I don't believe for a single second that based on test performances alone, there wasn't a better option than Watson during his career. I think it also has to be considered that it has been well established that Watson wasn't exactly the best or most popular teammate in the dressing rooms during his career, and I don't think you can get away with that at test level.

He'll be remembered as a gamebreaking matchwinner at ODI/T20 level, and a disappointment at test level, which is pretty accurate I'd say.

 

[Woody15]

At test level they weren't. He was picked to deliver a certain level of performance and he never did that.

The reality is he continued to get selected for what he might do rather than what he did do. The fact he consistently delivered what was expected in the shorter formats only served to perpetuate the hope that one day the matchwinning, explosive Shane Watson of limited overs cricket would reveal himself at test level.

I don't believe for a single second that based on test performances alone, there wasn't a better option than Watson during his career. I think it also has to be considered that it has been well established that Watson wasn't exactly the best or most popular teammate in the dressing rooms during his career, and I don't think you can get away with that at test level.

He'll be remembered as a gamebreaking matchwinner at ODI/T20 level, and a disappointment at test level, which is pretty accurate I'd say.

I'm not saying he wasn't a disappointment. Just he's not close to being an elite allrounder but not a completely useless member of the team either. He was making runs (although not going on with it) and getting us off to good starts. He would have these stretches of games where he would be knocking up 50's. He always seemed to just hang in there. I agree in part that he was definitely selected for potential a lot, but also had some periods of OK form.

Yeh not a well liked member of the team by all accounts, and seemed to be disliked by the opposition as well.