The Ashes 2021-22 - England in Australia

Devongone · (This post was last modified: 20-12-2021, 14:23 by Devongone.)

Think I somewhat agree about uncovered wickets and fast bowlers getting fewer injuries on such a surface, but I also think that they bowled more overs because they bowled many more overs coming up. If you emerge from a cotton-wool upbringing as quick at twenty, it comes as a huge shock facing better batsmen and being expected to bowl quicker and for longer. You breakdown because you strain to do something you aren't used to doing.

Mahmood struck me as an obvious choice, Liam Livingstone couldn't have done much more to put himself in front of the selectors, but one of the forgotten elements to our failure seems to be an amateur element to man-management. We seem to run on the lines of Pateley Bridge Third XI. Bairstow whinges he doesn't want to open, He wants to be a keeper too, like Buttler who currently gets the job. The captain wants a quiet life and no moans over the cucumber sandwiches so we try to make everyone happy. Bairstow should be told if he wants to play he is an opening batsman and he will never be a test class wicket keeper whilst he has a hole in his bottom, likewise Buttler should be told that he is our potentially destructive No6 batsman so long as he forgets about wicketkeeping. Equally somebody has to point out to Burns that nobody else in world cricket bats like him for a reason and that's why we are sending him home to re-learn the game he was taught! This isn't Sunday afternoon village cricket where everyone does what they want, these are Test matches, you are representing your country, you follow orders, you listen to your captain and you keep fighting however tough it gets.

England heads drop as often as Buttler catches. You know if Root and Malan get out, there is going to be a batting collapse. The batsman heading to the crease should be thinking he has a great opportunity. Instead he's convinced he's toast. Similarly our current crop of spinners come on to bowl thinking they might keep the batsman in check. Nathan Lyons isn't actually that brilliant a bowler, but he is always convinced he's about to get a wicket, and so he does. Young Parkinson, also appears to have a bit of that in him .... despite not quite looking the part. And why would we have taken Dom Bess along when he's been having trouble pitching the ball?

The sad thing is thay needn't have played these two tests at all. We could easily have written all this stuff before they even arrived. as JJamez I think pointed out, this isn't the benefit of hindsight. This is almost universal foresight that no one listened to until it became hindsight.

Devongone · 21-12-2021, 16:55

(20-12-2021, 14:22)Devongone Wrote: Think I somewhat agree about uncovered wickets and fast bowlers getting fewer injuries on such a surface, but I also think that they bowled more overs because they bowled many more overs coming up. If you emerge from a cotton-wool upbringing as quick at twenty, it comes as a huge shock facing better batsmen and being expected to bowl quicker and for longer. You breakdown because you strain to do something you aren't used to doing.

Mahmood struck me as an obvious choice, Liam Livingstone couldn't have done much more to put himself in front of the selectors, but one of the forgotten elements to our failure seems to be an amateur element to man-management. We seem to run on the lines of Pateley Bridge Third XI. Bairstow whinges he doesn't want to open, He wants to be a keeper too, like Buttler who currently gets the job. The captain wants a quiet life and no moans over the cucumber sandwiches so we try to make everyone happy. Bairstow should be told if he wants to play he is an opening batsman and he will never be a test class wicket keeper whilst he has a hole in his bottom, likewise Buttler should be told that he is our potentially destructive No6 batsman so long as he forgets about wicketkeeping. Equally somebody has to point out to Burns that nobody else in world cricket bats like him for a reason and that's why we are sending him home to re-learn the game he was taught! This isn't Sunday afternoon village cricket where everyone does what they want, these are Test matches, you are representing your country, you follow orders, you listen to your captain and you keep fighting however tough it gets.

England heads drop as often as Buttler catches. You know if Root and Malan get out, there is going to be a batting collapse. The batsman heading to the crease should be thinking he has a great opportunity. Instead he's convinced he's toast. Similarly our current crop of spinners come on to bowl thinking they might keep the batsman in check. Nathan Lyons isn't actually that brilliant a bowler, but he is always convinced he's about to get a wicket, and so he does. Young Parkinson, also appears to have a bit of that in him .... despite not quite looking the part. And why would we have taken Dom Bess along when he's been having trouble pitching the ball?

The sad thing is thay needn't have played these two tests at all. We could easily have written all this stuff before they even arrived. as JJamez I think pointed out, this isn't the benefit of hindsight. This is almost universal foresight that no one listened to until it became hindsight.

And now by sheer genius Chris Silverwood says he would select the same two teams again. I didn't think he'd be a bad choice for his job. How wrong could I have been? Could he leave tomorrow maybe?

theo_luddite · 21-12-2021, 21:13

Well so would I, as long as the Aussies were bowling with balls with bells in them so our lot had a clue when they were coming and where they were coming from. Whistle

They need to work on their timing - they clock out to soon after they clock in.

jjamez · 28-12-2021, 05:04

Well this has gone from bad to worse to embarrassing and humiliating.

Changes need to be made, heads need to roll, certain test careers need to be put on indefinite hold, with some players being told just to focus on white ball careers, pointless playing red ball international cricket if you've hardly seen a domestic red ball game for 5 years. I think you know whom I'm referring to.

We can't make wholesale changes at this moment, can possibly call up players that are in the blast which isn't ideal, but I'd say James Vince is more of a test batter than buttler and Lawrence combined and one good innings in test cricket would lead to a purple patch, much like Ian bell needed. Only thing is Ian bell had the likes of cook, Strauss, trott, pietersen and Collingwood. We've got Joe root and pretty much the flower pot men. It's the batting that is letting us down, the bowling in general is fine. Team selection is also failing us but that's a different story.

Going on that story who would replace silverwood? Giles was adamant he wanted an English coach, it's gone as well as Peter Moore's two stints, I mean Giles might not be safe tbh. Would dizzy Gillespie do it? I do doubt it, Tom moody is a white ball coach, Mickey Arthur has just got the Derbyshire gig, probably with the eye on the England job, just not this soon. Mike hesson who did the new Zealand job, he played a big part in their rebuild, much like Andy flower did for us, but I don't see us going back to flower.

As for the captain, everything root has tried has gone wrong, but are there really any options as replacements? Burns is a championship winning captain, but is unselectable for the test side, buttler will be a casualty of this tour, theres already murmurs of foakes taking the gloves in windies onwards. Stokes would be like giving Flintoff off the gig, alright for a one off, but would ruin his game if any longer. So who else is there? Bairstow is in and out more than the hokey cokey, and will probably find himself on the way out once again after this unless he redefines his test batting. Can't see England wanting broad or Anderson even as stop gaps, they tried broad in white ball and it didn't last long. That leaves essentially inexperienced players who are too young or too early into their careers, (Pope may captain England one day) or woakes or malan, I think woakes would or could be a main stay in the side of he stuck to bowling a consistent, boring length ala McGrath and Pollock, 4/5th stump, too full to cut, too short to drive, make them make a mistake. Malan is getting on a bit and seems to be a stop gap for the selectors most the time. That leaves the the options at a county player or one time international player who is out of the reckoning but maybe with some sort of captaincy experience or a complete wild card. The one time international players would be the likes of vince who captains Hampshire, Sam Robson who had a half decent season, but first in God knows how long, not sure if he was or has ever captained or someone like Eoin Morgan who was found badly wanting last time in test cricket

**themaclad** · 28-12-2021, 11:18

68 all out

ritchiebaby · 06-01-2022, 00:10

Australia 126-3 on day 1. The press (yet again) give England a chance of winning. Can they get it right this time?

theo_luddite · 06-01-2022, 01:21

Cricketing lore states that you should never judge a pitch until England have had a chance to collapse in a heap on it.

**Ska'dForLife-WBA** · 09-01-2022, 09:54

Hallelujah. Whitewash avoided by the skin of the skin of the skin of our teeth. In the circumstances, I'm not sure if it'll go down in history alongside Cardiff 2009, but it's nice to see the boys fight to the death and salvage a sliver of pride from this clown-car pile-up.

**themaclad** · 16-01-2022, 14:01

In Morrison's at 10.30 left at 10.50 lost 4 wickets

**Lord Snooty** · 16-01-2022, 14:40

Well that's done now. We can concentrate on the proper cricket. One dayers in the Windies.