The Cricket Thread 2017

[OzVilla]

They telegraphed that. Starc puts a short leg in and silly point and bangs it in short, Woakes responds by trying to fend at shoulder height instead of dropping his hands and just guided the ball straight to the cordon. That's another soft dismissal,  Woakes has had a very ordinary match here.

What would we give now for that 40/50 run lead we  should have had on 1st innings.

[OzVilla]

Bairstow gone, nothing shot.

[taylorsworkrate]

That was just fucking dreadful from Bairstow. They put a man there for that shot and he falls right for it. Absolutely crazy.

We really have gifted Australia this match should they go on and win it

[taylorsworkrate]

Yet another batting collapse

[OzVilla]

God we miss Stokes, batsman and quality bowler short. We've really felt his absence here the idiot. Hope he's still up watching this and not tucked up warm in bed.

[taylorsworkrate]

4 wickets for 10 runs. Pathetic

[OzVilla]

All out, Ausdies to chase 170 to win as the tail gets blown away again. We have at least 2 number 11's in this line up with Ball and Anderson.

A few soft dismissals since lunch from Moen, Woakes and Bairstow. We've got ourselves into this game but again a tale of what might have been.

[Risso]

Another poor England display down under, this series has got whitewash written all over it.

[OzVilla]

In fairness we've played really well in patches, I thought we had our noses in front for days 1, 2 and half of day 3. But once it turns Australia's way they bury you and they've done that today.

You simply must take your chances when you break the game open and we didn't yesterday after lunch. We let it drift and got punished, that was the match right there.

[Risso]

In fairness we've played really well in patches, I thought we had our noses in front for days 1, 2 and half of day 3. But once it turns Australia's way they bury you and they've done that today.

You simply must take your chances when you break the game open and we didn't yesterday after lunch. We let it drift and got punished, that was the match right there.

Too many failures batting and not nearly enough bite in attack. We’ve no tail at all, so failures higher up the order are going to cost us matches. Cook especially needs a long hard look at himself this week.

[manic-road]

It won't take long for the Aussies to win tomorrow, our bowling attack looks weak but we have had them in trouble during this game at times let them off the hook when were in a strong position.

[PaulWinch again]

Not good enough again, 3 batsmen get to 40-50 and can't push on. The tail is offering absolutely zero resistance so basically 6 down and it's all over. Then to cap it off the bowling was toothless.

The weakness of the tail means our batsmen have to do a better job. Getting to 40 odd does nothing for us.

[PaulWinch again]

They should call Plunkett up now, he offers something that might actually cause the Aussies difficulty on a flat pitch and he would strengthen the batting.

[OzVilla]

Can they do that?

[PaulWinch again]

They can add who they want, I really don't get his omission.

As an aside the tactic of bowling tight is being undermined by the change bowlers. The Aussies know they can see off Jimmy and Broad and then score off the others. Woakes and Ball (or another) need to step up. If you're not express pace you need to give nothing away. Mo bowled poorly, by his own admission, but he's not a holding bowler. He has to be used to attack.