creeeeeeeekeeeeeet

[Prufrock]

Bad toss to lose. And then you can't drop someone as good as Labuschagne twice. This has got horror-show written through it. Long day in the field tomorrow then a collapse under the lights.

I also think calling this a very good Australia side is generous. Better than us, sure, and their good players are nicely balanced. They're good, but nothing special.

[Worthy4England]

All we have to do is bat for two days. Ignore the total. They've gone at under 3 an over - so not stellar in the scheme of things...Just bat...(Like that's going to happen).

Good outcome - make maybe 350, concede lead of 100, end up with two sessions to bat out last day.
Bad outcome, skittled for 130 again then on a downward spiral, bat again and get skittled for 130 again...

[Prufrock]

Yeah. Can't say we've bowled well, but kept the run rate down enough that a draw should be doable if we bat properly*

* As you say, lol

[BWFC_Insane]

Serious point. IF England once again are skittled out cheaply and IF Australia decide to have a quick dart rather than make us follow on (or if we just narrowly avoid the follow on) I'd make the batsmen bowl. I'd not ask Jimmy or Stuart or Ollie to toil away. Just get Rory and Haseeb and Dawid to bloody do it.

[jimbo]

I’d be surprised if we don’t lose 3 wickets this evening.

[jimbo]

Yeah. Can't say we've bowled well, but kept the run rate down enough that a draw should be doable if we bat properly*

* As you say, lol

This session has put a bit of time back into the game though. They’re rollicking along.

[Prufrock]

Yep. This isn't going to be a fun hour and a half. What do we think is realistic? No way we're not seeing Malan. Pretty likely Root too. Hopefully get far enough that Ben can have a nice sleep and maybe send Robinson out.

[jimbo]

I think we’ll lose 3. I don’t think we’ve got the technique to manage the pace of starc, the movement, and the pressure of batting under lights with aggressive fields.

[Prufrock]

I mean, I agree, but it really is a huge session. Said yesterday I think describing this as a v good Aus side is generous.. They have excellent players, but Hazelwood and Cummins are two of them. Starc is very hit and miss. Richardson looks talented but unknown. Shouldn't be fear here.

Good start. But it's inevitable

[Prufrock]

Yeesh that Richardson over. Aaaand again.

Here we go again. He's shite. But there's noone else.

[jimbo]

I mean, I agree, but it really is a huge session. Said yesterday I think describing this as a v good Aus side is generous.. They have excellent players, but Hazelwood and Cummins are two of them. Starc is very hit and miss. Richardson looks talented but unknown. Shouldn't be fear here.

Good start. But it's inevitable

Good luck lads

[Prufrock]

A shocker from Hameed too. Saved by the lightening. At least for now.

[BWFC_Insane]

You'd think that after humiliation upon humiliation someone in English cricket would have the gumption that Strauss and Morgan had in 2015 with the white ball game to undertake a full review and really understand why we are such an absolutely miserably bad side and work on a plan to rectify it. Because its not going to fix itself. The plan would need to be long and manage the short term but also really focus on player development. Such an approach is well overdue as we've been hapless for far too long.

To think in 15 we could have had Langer as coach too....

But we are where we are. Silverwood should step up and force this review - but he seems as gormless as the players.

Root hasn't got the same mentality that Morgan has and we're seemingly happy to carry on being embarrassed. Its simply a shocking state of affairs for English cricket.

[Worthy4England]

I believe the technical term is "fcuked"...

[Worthy4England]

You'd think that after humiliation upon humiliation someone in English cricket would have the gumption that Strauss and Morgan had in 2015 with the white ball game to undertake a full review and really understand why we are such an absolutely miserably bad side and work on a plan to rectify it. Because its not going to fix itself. The plan would need to be long and manage the short term but also really focus on player development. Such an approach is well overdue as we've been hapless for far too long.

To think in 15 we could have had Langer as coach too....

But we are where we are. Silverwood should step up and force this review - but he seems as gormless as the players.

Root hasn't got the same mentality that Morgan has and we're seemingly happy to carry on being embarrassed. Its simply a shocking state of affairs for English cricket.

Root isn't playing the same game as Morgan. I think it's tough to put much on Root to account for our batsmen not knowing how to spell it, or which way up to hold it.

[BWFC_Insane]

You'd think that after humiliation upon humiliation someone in English cricket would have the gumption that Strauss and Morgan had in 2015 with the white ball game to undertake a full review and really understand why we are such an absolutely miserably bad side and work on a plan to rectify it. Because its not going to fix itself. The plan would need to be long and manage the short term but also really focus on player development. Such an approach is well overdue as we've been hapless for far too long.

To think in 15 we could have had Langer as coach too....

But we are where we are. Silverwood should step up and force this review - but he seems as gormless as the players.

Root hasn't got the same mentality that Morgan has and we're seemingly happy to carry on being embarrassed. Its simply a shocking state of affairs for English cricket.

Root isn't playing the same game as Morgan. I think it's tough to put much on Root to account for our batsmen not knowing how to spell it, or which way up to hold it.

Morgan had significant input into the turnaround - he couldn't take the way England had played.

Root as captain strikes me as a nice lad with absolutely no leadership ability at all. Morgan a ruthless type determined to win. Root just isn't that. Not blaming him. He's not someone who is responsible. But people need to step up to force a review into the state of English test cricket and he could be a part of that.

[nicholaldo]

I'm not sure why anyone would hanker after Langer as coach. If I remember correctly the choice was between Silverwood and Gary Kirsten and it seems clear we made the wrong decision.

As has been noted though, the problem is structural. This is the end result of a failure, over a number of years, to prioritise first-class cricket.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm not sure why anyone would hanker after Langer as coach. If I remember correctly the choice was between Silverwood and Gary Kirsten and it seems clear we made the wrong decision.

As has been noted though, the problem is structural. This is the end result of a failure, over a number of years, to prioritise first-class cricket.

Yes 2019 we had that choice and went wrong. 2015 Langer was in the mix and Gillespie.

[Prufrock]

I mean, isn't that exactly not the problem though? Langer was under big pressure going into the world cup. I'm not sure he's all that. But in red ball terms Cricket Australia is doing a much better job and that's structural. Goes way way beyond the coach.

[Worthy4England]

You'd think that after humiliation upon humiliation someone in English cricket would have the gumption that Strauss and Morgan had in 2015 with the white ball game to undertake a full review and really understand why we are such an absolutely miserably bad side and work on a plan to rectify it. Because its not going to fix itself. The plan would need to be long and manage the short term but also really focus on player development. Such an approach is well overdue as we've been hapless for far too long.

To think in 15 we could have had Langer as coach too....

But we are where we are. Silverwood should step up and force this review - but he seems as gormless as the players.

Root hasn't got the same mentality that Morgan has and we're seemingly happy to carry on being embarrassed. Its simply a shocking state of affairs for English cricket.

Root isn't playing the same game as Morgan. I think it's tough to put much on Root to account for our batsmen not knowing how to spell it, or which way up to hold it.

Morgan had significant input into the turnaround - he couldn't take the way England had played.

Root as captain strikes me as a nice lad with absolutely no leadership ability at all. Morgan a ruthless type determined to win. Root just isn't that. Not blaming him. He's not someone who is responsible. But people need to step up to force a review into the state of English test cricket and he could be a part of that.

Oh, I agree we need to have a review (and I'm not opposed to changing Captain's - Brearley was worth his place) but I doubt that will ensure a production line of test quality players. Similar with Pru's view on the Coach.

If we had a load of ODI players averaging something comparable to 18.6 that you quoted the other day, then all Morgan's efforts wouldn't amount to much. I don't for one minute think that someone like Bairstow being able to score 637 runs in the last 2 years and average 49 in ODI, yet scoring 351 test runs at an average of 25 over the same period, is down to Eoin Morgan.

I mean Buttler has gone the other way - can't spell it in the few ODI's he's played in the last 2 years, his average is better at tests...Maybe that's down to Morgan too?

Crawley, same as Bairstow (although a very low number of ODI's) - averaging 48...couldn't spell it in Tests, averaging 11 over the last two years.

One thing that was fairly clear was that when we got knocked out in 2015, 8 of the team were part of the Test team...by the time the next ODI came around only 3 were part of the same team. The reason for that (to my simple mind) is they're completely different games needing completely different skill sets. We currently have an abundance of ODI talent but very little Test talent, to execute the opposite scenario...