The Cricket Thread 2017

[UK Redsox]

I wish they’d stop showing and talking about the bloody ‘Barmy Army’, they are the cricket equivalent of the Sheffield Wednesday/England band only with added boorish, pissed up blokes.

I'm with you on this Chris.

If I've ever got the money to head down under for the Ashes, I'll be sitting nowhere near that lot.

[paul_e]

I thought the day completely summed up the tour. Got ourselves into a good position before throwing the advantage away, Australia just kept it tight and hung in there and England couldn't see it through. That's why we're 3-0 down.

The worst ting is we did it twice, Cook and Vince looked so comfortable that you could've gone to bed with them in and not been surprised to wake up to 250-1 and both in treble figures, losing both fairly cheaply was frustrating.

One thing that is interesting to consider, in both sessions we lost wickets in the 'extra' overs due to the rain delay.  With Root and Cook both having been at the wicket for more than 30 overs in as single session when they fell could it be that the altered structure of the day has played a part?  Cook in particular was out to a ball you'd expect him to handle and it looked like a lapse in concentration, which he doesn't do very often.

That said Root clearly has a mental issue when it comes to converting now, it doesn't happen this often without a problem.

For tomorrow Malan needs to build on his 50 and convert it and Ali/Curran/Broad need to stick with him long enough to make it happen.  350 is par here so we need to get up around there so we need to see out the morning session, by which time we'll be there or thereabouts.

To be a little more positive, if the ball moves off the seam and spins like it has today the England bowlers will be looking forward to this and if the pitch deteriorates as expected the 4th innings could fly by, we just need to give ourselves a chance and get a score to protect.

[taylorsworkrate]

England's day up until last 10 minutes. Harsh on Root, as he got a good score, but his wicket has opened the door and now Bairstow is gone and we're into the tail. We'll be lucky to get 280 as opposed to the 400 we should get.

Not harsh on Root imo. Once again underlined the difference in character between him and Smith.

[Proposition Joe]

I think when the England batters chat to each other mid-pitch between overs they are mainly in discussion about whether we're in a comfortable enough position, and if so whose turn is it to throw their wicket away.

It's like they take Sir Geoffrey's mantra "if the score looks good, add a couple of wickets to it" as an instruction rather than a warning.

[OzVilla]

Some hot weather (high 30's) forecast for days 3 and 4 so i'm pretty certain it's going to turn at the back end of the game.

[cdbearsfan]

Some hot weather (high 30's) forecast for days 3 and 4 so i'm pretty certain it's going to turn to shit for England at the back end of the game.

FTFY.

[olaftab]

I like SCG it had so much more cricket character than MCG. The Members and Ladies Pavilions are a great sight. It’s a shame that it’s not really well served by public transport but we enjoyed the walk up Surrey Hills to get there. What a shame the day ended so badly. I lay the blame squarely in Roots lap. Him and Malan had played superbly to take it away from Aussies but then he goes and ducks it up. It was coming as after being ever so careful he started attacking Starc. Warning was there early on as after driving him for a four he luckily got away with a sliced 4 to long stop. Bairstow was also hopeless as he should have been more careful having avoided a review dismissal. And why oh why no use of a night watchman?😥

[olaftab]

Some hot weather (high 30's) forecast for days 3 and 4 so i'm pretty certain it's going to turn at the back end of the game.

Not looking forward to that as we have no cover where our seats are😟

[olaftab]

I wish they’d stop showing and talking about the bloody ‘Barmy Army’, they are the cricket equivalent of the Sheffield Wednesday/England band only with added boorish, pissed up blokes.

And shamefully totally infiltrated by football chavness. Moron’s singing “shall we sing a song for you” and “you’re are shit .....” to any Australian player close by. However the left, middle, right and convicts is a classic to be admired.

[PaulWinch again]

We really need Moeen to be back to his swashbuckling best to get anything here. New ball bowling is also going to be vital, we can't afford to start bowling poorly.

[PaulWinch again]

I wish they’d stop showing and talking about the bloody ‘Barmy Army’, they are the cricket equivalent of the Sheffield Wednesday/England band only with added boorish, pissed up blokes.

I'm with you on this Chris.

If I've ever got the money to head down under for the Ashes, I'll be sitting nowhere near that lot.

I agree, I'd be gutted to sit near them.

[PaulWinch again]

Root's struggles converting 50s into 100s is a real concern and he needs to work out what it is that is stopping him managing to do it.

[PaulWinch again]

Also there comes a point where management should step in terms of use of a night watchman. The time left in the day meant that Bairstow going in could have absolutely no gain. It shouldn't be up to the player in that scenario. I get it with say an hour left to play, because you can turn the situation round but not 10 minutes. If we'd sent a tailender in we'd at least have had 3 batsmen left tomorrow, and frankly the only use they have at the moment is in the exact situation we faced this evening. As it is one wicket and we're likely to be knocked over quick tomorrow.

[olaftab]

A very sunny and hot morning here. Play starts early at 10 so going to set out in few minutes. I am hoping for a Moeen Renaissance and at least 300.

[Gareth]

A very sunny and hot morning here. Play starts early at 10 so going to set out in few minutes. I am hoping for a Moeen Renaissance and at least 300.

Hope it’s a good day :-) Enjoy!! meanwhile back here we’ll have messrs Boycott & Vaughan to listen to both praying that Moeen gets out early so they can pile into him, think they have both enjoyed this Ashes immensely