5th Test, the Oval. 27-31st July

Yes a fair result I reckon. With a great finish. Not a Broad fan but I don't think anyone would have denied him a fairy tale ending. Doesn't happen very often. Although as I've said before England have constantly had the best of the conditions throughout. But that's the luck of the draw. You wonder had Foakes played whether it may have been different in the first 2 tests when Bairstow dropped all those catches. But we'll never know. Oh it's not the end of the season is it, the 100 to look forward to!

The series was drawn 2-2

Australia retain the ashes

Cue thousands of idiots informing all and sundry that "we won."

If pigs had wings etc etc etc..........................

I see Frank Sinatra,sorry Moeen Ali has retired again.

Badges wrote:The series was drawn 2-2

Australia retain the ashes

Cue thousands of idiots informing all and sundry that "we won."

If pigs had wings etc etc etc..........................

We did WIN the match and draw the series 2/2, most real England supporters would be quite happy after coming from behind.Can’t understand why you’re so miserable and begrudging?

We did WIN the match and draw the series 2/2, most real England supporters would be quite happy after coming from behind.Can’t understand why you’re so miserable and begrudging?[/quote]

I think i can count myself as a real England supporter having watched them since the 1963 series against West Indies.I've been to scores of Test Matches since then mainly at The Oval and Lord's but also quite a few in The Caribbean.

I must admit to losing interest recently mainly due to the following.........................

The exclusion of Ben Foakes and inclusion of Bairstow .Puzzling if not downright unfair.

Selecting Moeen Ali when he hasn't played a CC game for at least 4 seasons - i didn't check back any further.

The ludicrous,insulting declaration in the first game when 8 down and one batsman on a hundred and odd.

The stupid term "bazball"  

Hordes of drunken louts chanting "Same old Aussies" and trying to take some sort of moral highground especially after a perfectly legitimate run out/stumping by Carey.

And a few other things......................................

I don't like the fact that so many "real England fans" take so little interest in English cricket.

The England team is the representative side of England cricket. English cricket does not exist solely for the purpose of producing an England team.

It is massively unhealthy that Sky is pulling the strings to the extent it is.

"Red-ball cricket." Aaaaaaargh!

I think Badges needs to retire out as he or she seems to have lost it. I've been watching the same amount of time but can at least keep up with developments in the game. Relax and enjoy.

This post was made by Longshanks who is currently on your ignore list.

Just discovered the ignore/block feature!

I do agree that some of the "they're not scoring runs slowly enough" stuff is nonsense.

My final thoughts on this series:
I do think this Aussie side underperformed after the second test. In saying that they lost Lyon who would have made a hell of a difference and would have given their slightly aging quicks some respite by the 4th Test onwards at least. Remember they've played 6 Tests on the bounce which is daft scheduling and they are playing away. However good you are winning away is not easy. But they were still good enough to retain the Ashes.
Conversely England's "bazball "effect, which is really just hitting out, caused their even older bowlers to bowl a lot more overs because they scored their runs quicker. Fortunately Wood just about made it and Broad and Woakes showed their excellence in English conditions, particularly Woakes. Ali largely bowled a mix of the odd good ball and junk, but got wickets for some reason. And Anderson should really acknowledge that time waits for no man. Not sure what he is trying to prove. I'd be surprised if he is picked for India and may well have played his last Test.
To me yesterday though was proper Test cricket, it had the lot and wasn't crash, bang, wallop (that's this month) and I would have thought whatever your views on the modern approach, it's pretty sad if you didn't enjoy it.
I listened on the radio because I don't have the sky pay wall and refuse to do so. But what a shame for the bulk of the country who are unable to see one of the world's oldest sporting rivalries live.
But I think I've learned at long last not to try to predict what is going to happen in cricket, which makes this game so special.

England made things happen Australia reacted to it. Aussies imo lucky to be taking the Ashes home.Would admit Lyon injury a big turning point.

No one has mentioned the fact that Stokes was unable to bowl a significant numbers of overs in the series because of his knee injury,because of this we had to pick 4 seamers each match,because of that we could not pick the extra batsman instead. A fully fit Stokes would have enabled to play both Bairstow and Foakes. I think if Ben had played Ben in first Test we would have won it . The number of runs Bairstow cost us in this made all the difference in very tight finish!! Furthermore ,as Anderson’s form fell off a cliff,he didn’t he contribute significantly. Added to that ,we surely would have won the 4th Test ,but for a last day washout! Overall I think we were unlucky not to win the series. As far as injuries are concerned,nobody mentioned the fact that we lost Leach before the series started and Ollie Pope during it. I think these two injuries equate to Lyon’s injury.

Ollie is a Fantastic player not sure he is a No 3 Batsman.I’m doubting will he consistently make enough Runs in the 3 birth.

Jhe10077 wrote:Ollie is a Fantastic player not sure he is a No 3 Batsman.I’m doubting will he consistently make enough Runs in the 3 birth.

I totally agree with this. But I'm not sure who is an obvious choice for that spot. With the amount of one day cricket being played there seem to be plenty of batsmen available who can score runs quickly - including Ollie. But you would ideally want someone at number 3 who can dig in if the situation demands it.

My closing thoughts on the test, and more importantly the series.

I was wrong about the draw, though it was still way overpriced at close day 4 at 9/2. I would be much more embarrassed if I had been knee-jerking about the pitch being dead which is the pavlovian response these days whenever wickets don't go crashing for a few hours. The ball change was outrageous and will only encourage fielding teams to keep trying it on. Woakes made the most of his dream conditions yesterday, no-one else bowled consistently well, and the Aussie lower middle order had a collective brain-fade.

The series was even, an intruiging contrast of styles. England benefitted from just about all the luck going with conditions, apart from rain at Old Trafford. Even when Cummins at last won a toss, the changeable conditions worked against his team.

The quality of both sides was distinctly ordinary. This Australian side was a pale shadow of any of their great teams of the 90s and early 00s. That they are "world test champions" is a sad reflection of the standards elsewhere. In mitigation, the schedule was crazy and their superior bowling attack visibly ran out of gas, having to absorb the extra workload resulting from Lyon's injury. England - whether by luck or out of necessity with Robinson injured - freshened up their attack mid-series with Wood and Woakes.

I have seen at least four England Ashes teams who would have wiped the floor with this lot: Illingworth's 71 side, the Brearley "Botham" side of 81, and the 05 and 09 sides. Probably the 85 team which won the series 3-1 here too. Oh for a bloke who could bat a day and get a  "daddy hundred" as Graham Gooch called it; or for a spinner of Underwood, Swann or even Emburey's class. In terms of brutal batting (I am trying to avoid the 'B-word)... the man we all love to hate, KP, could have done it as often, for longer, and against better, fresher bowlers.

I am just glad the whole Broad circus is over and hope Jimmy - who may be grumpy but seems a more genuine bloke - goes quietly and with dignity.

Jackers wrote:My closing thoughts on the test, and more importantly the series.

I was wrong about the draw, though it was still way overpriced at close day 4 at 9/2. I would be much more embarrassed if I had been knee-jerking about the pitch being dead which is the pavlovian response these days whenever wickets don't go crashing for a few hours. The ball change was outrageous and will only encourage fielding teams to keep trying it on. Woakes made the most of his dream conditions yesterday, no-one else bowled consistently well, and the Aussie lower middle order had a collective brain-fade.

The series was even, an intruiging contrast of styles. England benefitted from just about all the luck going with conditions, apart from rain at Old Trafford. Even when Cummins at last won a toss, the changeable conditions worked against his team.

The quality of both sides was distinctly ordinary. This Australian side was a pale shadow of any of their great teams of the 90s and early 00s. That they are "world test champions" is a sad reflection of the standards elsewhere. In mitigation, the schedule was crazy and their superior bowling attack visibly ran out of gas, having to absorb the extra workload resulting from Lyon's injury. England - whether by luck or out of necessity with Robinson injured - freshened up their attack mid-series with Wood and Woakes.

I have seen at least four England Ashes teams who would have wiped the floor with this lot: Illingworth's 71 side, the Brearley "Botham" side of 81, and the 05 and 09 sides. Probably the 85 team which won the series 3-1 here too. Oh for a bloke who could bat a day and get a  "daddy hundred" as Graham Gooch called it; or for a spinner of Underwood, Swann or even Emburey's class. In terms of brutal batting (I am trying to avoid the 'B-word)... the man we all love to hate, KP, could have done it as often, for longer, and against better, fresher bowlers.

I am just glad the whole Broad circus is over and hope Jimmy - who may be grumpy but seems a more genuine bloke - goes quietly and with dignity.

Excellent review, Jackers. Not too dissimilar to my own. I thought this was an exciting series between 2 mediocre teams one of which played test cricket , the other bashball. There wasn't more than one batsman on each side who is capable of batting for more than 3 hours and not a top class spin bowler to be seen. I appreciate Lyon has a good test record but is he really world class? Both wicket keepers are below average. As for the latest idea of bowling bouncers to tailenders with the hope of getting them caught hooking, why do they get themselves out, just duck and tire the bowlers. What happened to full, fast and straight with 2 or 3 slips?
Also, many of the batsmen gave their wickets away rather than making the bowler earn it.

Obviously, England now need to find a few replacements but the cupboard isn't actually overflowing so whoever goes to India next time will have an opportunity to put themselves in poll position for the next few series.

I also believe the ECB should ensure that players participate in red ball cricket to acclimatise themselves to test matches. If that means MORE championship matches then so be it.

Whinge whinge whinge whinge whinge. For goodness' sake, England have been excellent in the last 14 months and yet you lot hate it because they bat "too quickly".

I imagine Anderson may fancy a few more games for Lancashire this season with no more Tests until India next year. Write him off at your peril: I thought he was very unlucky in the last two games.

The hype over the series has been way over the top. Let’s face it both sides on the whole were well below par. Even the likes of Root was struggling by his standards. Both teams deserved to lose. England completely messed up with their team selections and Australia messed up by playing well below their high standards.
It was a grotty series that will go down as one of the worst Ashes series of modern times.

I suppose there are two ways of thinking about this. Some look at it and say that every Test bar one could have been won by either team and that makes for one of the most exciting and memorable Ashes series of modern times. Others say that the actual quality of the play was not good, so write off the series. That does of course mean taking a particular view of what constitutes quality - are Root's rverse ramps rare quality or its antithesis?

In football some of the dullest matches ever have been between two high quality teams whose priority is not to lose and which are particularly good at neutralising the opposition's attacking strengths. The most exciting matches may end up 5-4 and contain the most awful defending. Which would you rather watch?

The below par Root averaged over 50 by the way. Only Crawley from either side averaged more - who would have thunk it? Not me, I admit, but all of a sudden the "he must have something on McCallum" stuff seems to have subsided.

Some of you need to find another sport to follow.

Sir Winston Churchill wrote:It was a grotty series that will go down as one of the worst Ashes series of modern times.

It was a far better Ashes than the awful 2015 series, where the result was decided on the first day of every match.

MatthewC wrote:

Sir Winston Churchill wrote:It was a grotty series that will go down as one of the worst Ashes series of modern times.

It was a far better Ashes than the awful 2015 series, where the result was decided on the first day of every match.

Absolutely. Ok I don't like this idea of importing  T20 styles of play into Test matches because after a while it's almost as dull as watching 10 Blast games on the bounce and is very hit and miss.. The thing though is the long game should have its peaks and troughs, ups and downs which makes it what it is. But I'd sooner see some action than awful bore draws, or indeed one side overpowering the other all the time.
The scheduling and selection policy was pants, and with a top class spinner and keeper the result would probably have been different. The Aussies didn't play to their full potential in the last 3 Tests for a number of reasons, but ultimately  let's say the more traditional style of playing tests won out over the dubious bazeball approach.
But come on people, grotty and worst series? No, and despite my numerous reservations on the "modern" approach, I can't agree with that.

It was close, for sure. If they want to charge a hundred plus notes to England v West Indies next year good luck to anyone booking a day 3 ticket. And in terms of quality, what you've never known you'll never miss, so it may satisfy the younger generation who just want everything fast and frantic all the time. For me, though, it is like seeing a restaurant which has served high-class five-course banquets over the years turned into a Maccie-Ds, and eating there five weeks running.

As James said "If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor...".

I think i'll stick to County Championship Cricket from now on.A game where when the batsman is given out by the Umpire they walk off,my fellow spectators are there to watch Cricket and not to try and get on TV and you don't have to listen to drunken idiots singing banal,repetitive songs and playing trumpets all day long.

Sit down next to me.........................(or at least one seat away !)