The Ashes 2021/22

Well I'm not much of an England supporter these days, but this is always of an interest even if you are neutral. And it's starting in the middle of the Paine episode, the racism business hanging over English cricket like a ledden sky, our old mate Covid John still in business with his new found friend Omicron Olive, and poor old Michael Vaughan dropped by the BBC. Dear me.
I expect our odds of maybe a win or two has improved somewhat now Stokes is back (he does tend to make things happen) although his ability to bowl more than 3 overs is going to be an issue I'm sure. Batting wise I'd even give Australia slight advantage, but they have the better bowling attack by miles on their turf; 3 quicks against our one, Wood, who probably won't last more than two Tests.
Cricket often defies all the odds (remember Gatting's side in 1987?), but I'd stick my neck out and go for Australia 3/1 with one drawn. Despite Paine they've just won the T20 WC, and will be well up for it.

I think Wood is a waste  of time.He is always injured.

Chinaman wrote:Covid John still in business with his new found friend Omicron Olive

For some reason Omicron makes me think of eye drops!

Ha! I would have bet money on this debacle. Fancy not playing your best bowler because you want to save him for pink ball test number 2, and then batting on a green top. It would funny if it were not so imbecilic. This is the result of selling your soul to the hit and giggle by being run by an inept governing body. And what was Burns doing?

Look on the bright side we might have Burns playing a bit more cricket for Surrey next season if allowed of course

I think Burns was thinking - great, four runs off my first ball. Not a good look when you miss it though.

What exactly did people expect, in the old days the priority was:

1. Win the Ashes
2. Win the 50 Over World Cup

Now the priority is:

1. The Hundred
2. A Biannual World T20 competition

Players contracted to Cricket Australia are not required to play in the Big Bash. England players will be required to play in the Hundred prior to the South Africa Series.

The old distinction whereby you got more money for being a contraced Test Player (red ball contract) than a white ball contract is gone . Now all players are equal. Except those who will be the beneficiaries of the new £ 1 million pound salary spend per Hundred Franchise. Pretty obvious the direction of travel under "Teflon Tom"

Now why is it England cannot produce a competitive Red Ball side - Hmm let's think....

As long as County members accept this state of affairs it will continue. Let's face it most on this forum are members of a county cricket club which brags we have a great business plan and can serve "Poached salmon pavé, dressed with herbs and whole grain mustard" to corporates - Shame about the cricket though...

For the ECB and Counties to focus on Cricket and their core membership for a change won't solve everything - But it would be a start

I will generally stick up for Rory. But what the fuck was that?

Alex! wrote:I will generally stick up for Rory. But what the fuck was that?

Genuinely think it’s the hair. The fact he’s chosen to keep it like that shows a lack of coherent decision making skills on his part.

No luck but still a poor performance.

Good fightback by the chaps!

Root out, the whole sorry shower collapse in a heap. If English Cricket ever needed a complete restructure from the bottom up its now crying and pleading for it. How sad.

Whilst Rory had a poor game individually, in the bigger picture I am more concerned about Ollie Pope's test progress. His consistent ability to get out to headstrong, careless shots is still put down to his comparative youth, but you'd have hoped that, after 36 test innings, the message might have sunk in by now. Yes, he's still young, but it's not as if he's an inexperienced kid anymore and he needs big scores over 50 soon or the knives will be out for him and we'll start seeing those familiar "he only gets picked because he plays for Surrey" comments.

Yes I agree. On the basis of this Test and indeed about the last 10 or so England Tests, I'd almost dump the whole lot of them, Root aside, and play the England A squad, although they are not doing very good either. These players are undercooked, suffer from an awful ECB system, and I think most of them are not good enough anyway. Ok Wood and Robinson bowled ok, but no more than that. Australia got over 400 and won by 9 wickets inside 3.5 days. I see no positives in that. Let's see if an ageing Anderson and declining Broad have anything left in the tank.

The worst thing isn’t so much our laughable batting lineup but the fact it’s probably the best batting lineup we can currently put out.

That and the fact 8/11 (except Pope, Hameed and Robinson) are over 30 years old so it’s not like we’re going to get better any time sooner.

We’ll be an even bigger state when Broad and Anderson retire soon ish.

nice to see Buttler proving his worth again

Yes the catch for the 1st wicket was a very good one, but that still means you have to catch the dollies at the end of the day, and not let 1 of the best batsmen in the world off

5 right arm seamers of similar pace, not making the batsmen play and largely too short. Pitch it up! Poor field settings too.
I presume Wood has an injury? Otherwise why isn't he playing.
No spinner, well I suppose they just haven't got one.
Be a hard day tomorrow at 39c.

Wood isnt playing as he cant play 2 tests in a row
as you say we arent playing a spinner as we dont have a decent 1
The fact is that our 2 greatest bowlers were rested in test 1 for this test, and we wasted it.

Poor captain, poor management and a poor team

lets be honest did we expect anything else

Agree but what we're they "rested" from? They haven't played any cricket for months. Perhaps they wanted to protect them from a visit by Omicron Olive.

How does Buttler get away with it? GET FOAKES IN FFS.....................

Burns is hopeless. With that stance he will never be a Test opener.

How depressing are England,they are so predictably bad. Don’t learn from their mistakes, keep playing a part time wicketkeeper and paying the price, as someone posted earlier I sure Foakes would overall e a much better choice, almost as a good a batsman as Butler and considerably better keeper! Keep playing Woakes whose record is abysmal away from home. Clearly Stokes is not fit enough to bowl at full pace. I think we are paying the price for ECB ‘s prioritising White Ball cricket to the detriment of red ball. Unfortunately,can’t see any improvement on the horizon with these idiots in charge.

Just popping in to wish everyone a Happy Christmas.

For those of us who care about Surrey rather than England (the two are now mutually exclusive, thanks to the ECB)...it's good news. It is becoming increasingly clear that we will have our captain available for the whole of next season's championship campaign. For all that he is not test class, he is a proven plunderer of county bowling, and his presence and runs may well prove the difference between us being relegated and surviving in the top division, given how weak our seam bowling is likely to be.

I was thinking exactly that, we have a good precedent for this in our great player Mark Rampracash.

optimistnot wrote:I was thinking exactly that, we have a good precedent for this in our great player Mark Rampracash.

The difference is that Ramprakash's technique was surely of Test class but for some reason his temperament seemed to betray him at that level. With Burns it seems to me the other way round, though even his temperament is under stress at the moment.

Freudian slip in the spelling if his name, as the word "cash" was used in some of the stuff aimed at him after he moved across the river. Water under whichever bridge he used now.

My favourite Ramprakash story was when he was extremely rude about statisticians after some kind of DLS mess-up (so long ago it might have been just DL). His father's job? A government statistician...