The International Cricket Thread

[cdbearsfan]

Feel a bit sorry for England, not going to join in with the criticism. They bowled well then got knackered as was bound to happen when a bowler short. And Smith is one of the best batsmen on the planet.

That said, vital to finish the day without losing an opener.

[PaulWinch again]

Maybe no more booing? Doesn’t appear to help much.

[cdbearsfan]

Pleased to see no Night Watchman.

[cdbearsfan]

Maybe no more booing? Doesn’t appear to help much.

I'd say it makes no odds either way but the crowd enjoyed themselves. Who cares?

[olaftab]

Maybe no more booing? Doesn’t appear to help much.

Not sure if it really affects players either way. . You could say it worked  against Warner and Bancraft and for Smith.

[cdbearsfan]

Anyway, some of them might have been shouting "Boo... urns".

[PaulWinch again]

Good struggle from Burns and Roy.

That was a tough phase and they did well.

[hilts_coolerking]

Our attack was too samey.  No left arm, no real pace, unthreatening spin (first day pitch though).  Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes are all fine bowlers but as a four-pronged pace attack?  Not for me.  How do you get Archer / Stone and Curran into that side?

[taylorsworkrate]

I think the last two partnerships for Australia showed the pitch as one very good for batting. Neither Siddle or Lyon looked in any sort of trouble. Think 330-350 was probably a par score, particularly after winning the toss.

Broad and Woakes were exceptional up until tea, then tired. I think Stokes was pretty poor to be honest, didn't back the other seamers up at all.

I suppose it would have been a match situation England would have been happy with at the start of the day, but with the momentum the Aussies have gathered and our general poor batting, I think we will be in deficit by a decent amount on 1st innings.

[UK Redsox]

Would one of you who’s there tomorrow please track down Billy and shove his fecking trumpet where the sun don’t shine

[paul_e]

Our attack was too samey.  No left arm, no real pace, unthreatening spin (first day pitch though).  Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes are all fine bowlers but as a four-pronged pace attack?  Not for me.  How do you get Archer / Stone and Curran into that side?

This is why I put in an extra bowler. None of them deserve to lose their place as they've all done good things but I really want the express pace of Archer or Stone in there (I think I've given up on Wood, he's a great bowler when fit but he's just never fit for long enough to cement his place).

[UK Redsox]

Our attack was too samey.  No left arm, no real pace, unthreatening spin (first day pitch though).  Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes are all fine bowlers but as a four-pronged pace attack?  Not for me.  How do you get Archer / Stone and Curran into that side?

By leaving out Burns or Denly ?

[NottsVilla]

Our attack was too samey.  No left arm, no real pace, unthreatening spin (first day pitch though).  Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes are all fine bowlers but as a four-pronged pace attack?  Not for me.  How do you get Archer / Stone and Curran into that side?

By leaving out Burns or Denly ?

Denly would be the one dropped for me and have Stokes promoted up the order seeming as he would only need to bowl 5 or 6 overs in an innings if he were the 5th seamer.

I'd be in favour of trying to get Leach or Bess into the side as well but that might leave our tail a tad weak without Ali.

[Monty]

There are questions to be asked of England and obviously they should have done better bowling at the tail, but sometimes you do have to hold your hands up in the face of quality. Smith proved he's an all-timer today, in my view.

[hilts_coolerking]

Our attack was too samey.  No left arm, no real pace, unthreatening spin (first day pitch though).  Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes are all fine bowlers but as a four-pronged pace attack?  Not for me.  How do you get Archer / Stone and Curran into that side?

By leaving out Burns or Denly ?

Denly would be the one dropped for me and have Stokes promoted up the order seeming as he would only need to bowl 5 or 6 overs in an innings if he were the 5th seamer.

I'd be in favour of trying to get Leach or Bess into the side as well but that might leave our tail a tad weak without Ali.

I'd worry about Stokes, Buttler or Bairstow coming in at 4.  I just think it's too high for them, especially if they're coming in after only a few overs which is always likely.  We've got to find a way of seeing off the new ball and getting their bowlers into second or third spells before the strokemakers come in and lash them around when the ball's not doing so much.