Day 1 of First Ashes Test

One team played Cricket - they won.STUPID STUPID STUPID declaration.Said it as it happened as did all other sensible people.Also two men STUMPED charging down the pitch on day one?DO ME A FAVOUR.Add to all that our supporters in the Hollies Stand were an absolute disgrace with their football style chanting."Your support is fxxxing shit" and several others were sickening.Have we really come to deem this acceptable in our Cricket grounds.

Jhe10077 wrote:Fantastic Match got people talking about test cricket again which is dying on its arse around the World.taking away the real importance of winning for.good or bad  I don’t know. Ironic they won 8 wickets down after our First innings declaration.

Your first sentence is what is being ignored here. Test cricket is almost dead everywhere other than England and Australia. Matches such as this one are what could give it life again and inspire teams around the globe.

If Test cricket doesn't evolve, it will no longer exist by the middle of the century; other than as a biennial curiosity played out by English and Australian players who have not managed to secure franchise contracts.

The first Test was in 1892.People have been telling us since then that Test Cricket is in danger.Cricket magazines have been declaring that Test Cricket is in danger for 100 years.

It's a load of bollocks.Test Cricket is not in danger, there are just too many people now who cannot sit still and watch for more than 10 minutes.The glass of beer in one hand,mobile phone in the other brigade.

These people would be better off sticking to T20.

Jhe10077, I thought so at the time that taking the new ball was the obvious thing to do , those runs from the Root over got Cummins going and was the turning point,

dougieginn wrote:Jhe10077, I thought so at the time that taking the new ball was the obvious thing to do , those runs from the Root over got Cummins going and was the turning point,

To be fair, I thought that the new ball should have been taken immediately but then Joe Root snared Carey and all seemed right with the world. With two right handers in, I thought at the time that Root should have been off but in a parallel universe Cummins might have got himself out trying. That over gave them belief back but who knows, they might have ticked the runs off anyway as the pitch was flat as anything with old or new ball. The obsession with bowling short when the pitch is flat is a bit worrying. Yes, sometimes it works but if you have the field set almost exclusively for that the bowler can't risk slipping the attempted yorker.

I agree with Badges about the crowd chants but even more than that I dislike the way that the media and players seem to glorify in what is basically unpleasant yobbishness. When the Aussies hit a boundary most of the crowd seemed top do what football crowds used to do when the opposition scored, namely keep quiet as if it hadn't happened (these days of course it has been replaced by shouting abuse at the scorer, as if there is something offensive about an opponent doing their job). People bang on about the atmosphere at Lord's Tests but I prefer that to Edgbaston or Headingley.

Badges also says that Test cricket is not in danger but at the same time that too many people lack the attention span to cope with anything beyond T20. But the latter surely explains why Test cricket is in danger! It also goes against the maxim that the customer is always right, though to be fair that is not always right! Blaming your customers for the failure of a product is not really the way to go though.

If you see the attendances around the other Test player countries in the World. Test Cricket is on the Slippery Slope more than ever.Bazball rightly or Wrongly is taking away the importance of winning Test Matches and becoming a Entertainment.

Any philosophy that doesn’t adapt to the conditions ,circumstances or the opposition is bound to fail as one size doesn’t fit all. Bazball we fall because it doesn’t change in any circumstances!

Interestingly though, yet again, circumstances rightly or wrongly, conspired to give a classic Test finish. And Baz- f.....g ball never got a look in. In fact it didn't really  through the whole game did it. Mr Bazball himself didn't score many runs and is surely the worst Test keeper of modern times. Out of all the bowlers only Broad looked fit and when you add two hopeless openers we were pretty lucky to get close to win it.

Chinaman wrote:Mr Bazball himself didn't score many runs and is surely the worst Test keeper of modern times.

This makes no sense. Bairstow got 78 first dig. Unless you're talking about Brendan McCullum, who scored 6,400 test runs?

RB wrote:

Chinaman wrote:Mr Bazball himself didn't score many runs and is surely the worst Test keeper of modern times.

This makes no sense. Bairstow got 78 first dig. Unless you're talking about Brendan McCullum, who scored 6,400 test runs?

I should have added than when you take into account his 4 drops it more or less negates any runs.

One team played proper test match cricket and won.
England played T20 type cricket and lost.
Ridiculous declaration.
Over 20 no balls, including a wicket taking ball compared to about 6 by Australia.
The wicketkeeper dropped 2 catches, missed another one and a stumping. He needed to score runs to make up for those errors.
Mo Ali didn't bowl particularly well but he did have 2 missed chances go begging.
It's all very well saying you want to entertain but isn't it more important to win; that needn't be boring as the Aussies showed.
Will anything change in the series? Doubt it, but who knows?

I have just watched the most ridiculous and annoying interview on the ECB website with Joe Root after the match. He has a continuous smirk on his face the whole interview and keeps on about all the positive things England did. Well Joe, WE LOST THE FIRST TEST TO AUSTRALIA!! Ridiculous declaration, three English batsmen stumped charging down the wicket, 4 misses by the wicketkeeper and a couple of other dropped chances, a couple of our batsmen out to terrible T20 inspired shots - yet Root keeps on saying they will continue to play in the same way. This is NOT the kind of red-ball Test match cricket I want to see and this awful response by Stokes, Root and other players after the match giving the impression that it really does not matter as long as people are entertained is doing my head in.

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately they are importing the hit and giggle into Test cricket and the beer soaked brigade with it. Mind you they probably didn't enjoy day 5 as it was a great day of proper test match  cricket, despite England letting them badly off the hook. But if test cricket has to have all this nonsense to "survive"  maybe it shouldn't.

Great post Chinaman couldn’t agree more. Baz and. Ben realise the new Cricket fan want entertainment & excitement and not necessarily test victories.I’m old school.but getting outnumbered these days.

This couldn't care less attitude always with his feet up, lounging around is a poor look for an international coach.

The game is changing.

Being Diluted.

And polluted.