The International Cricket Thread

[LeeB]

Get ourselves back in it then turn into a bunch of Mark Bunns, ffs.

[OzVilla]

That was a really poor effort from England today, bowled poorly and dropped 5. Just garbage.

[PaulWinch again]

Far too many drops, this Test and in all likelihood the series are on an inexorable path.

[PaulWinch again]

If you’re brutally honest they’ve bowled really well once, and badly twice. As a unit they’ve batted really badly twice, and once got an ok score because one player was outstanding. In the field they don’t look match fit enough.

It’s pretty bad and it’ll take an incredible turnaround to save this Test now.

[tony scott]

It’s really frustrating locked into constantly bowling short, crying out for less speed more guile.  Dropping catches, it happens one or two, but five so far.  They will get pesters in the press deservedly.

[PaulWinch again]

I don’t think the short bowling was a plan in that first session, I think the just bowled badly.

In theory they’re still in the game, but the cold reality is to have a chance from here they’d need to be exceptional. They’d need to knock Aus over quickly in the morning and then in all likelihood bat for a day and a half to set up the chance to win. Nothing has suggested they’re capable of a sustained period of high performance across both disciplines.

The reality is Aus will get a lead of 120, we’ll be put into bat as twighlight hits. Starc will run through us and Aus will win by an innings or have a very modest target to chase.

[simboy]

Bang on PW - although i think their lead will be closer to, or may be a little over 200. The first session seems to be the easiest time to bat and with four wickets in hand it's party time. they scored close to 120 in the session this morning didnt they? and that was with getting Archer out and having three maidens first up. 

[LeeB]

Bang on PW - although i think their lead will be closer to, or may be a little over 200. The first session seems to be the easiest time to bat and with four wickets in hand it's party time. they scored close to 120 in the session this morning didnt they? and that was with getting Archer out and having three maidens first up. 

Yeah, they'll pile on the runs and it will be all over before close of play tomorrow is my bet.

[cdbearsfan]

Australia dismissed for a lead of around 100, England collapse to 120 all out, Australia knock off the winning runs in two overs, IMO.

[PaulWinch again]

It’s infuriating, because England have underperformed and they don’t look prepared. They better fucking fight tomorrow, they’ve shown very little application (beyond Root obviously, and Crawley actually - who changed his approach).

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

Only just caught up. You can't drop that many catches, a couple of them no professional cricketer should be dropping.

[PaulWinch again]

There is a number of problems, but one of the biggest is that England are going from decent positions to completely reversing the momentum. Happened in the defeat in Perth and it happened here this morning. I still think score yesterday was ok, but they then ship 120 in 20 overs, which is astonishingly bad in the circumstances. Too many players are underperforming. It’s not really a selection, or tactics thing, it’s mainly performance.

[tomd2103]

I was pretty amazed to hear Steve Finn say in commentary that there were "a lot of tired bodies out there" when England were bowling.  I get it's hot out there, but tired from what?  It was day two after we'd batted the day before and more than a week after the first test which had only gone two days

[tomd2103]

I don’t think the short bowling was a plan in that first session, I think the just bowled badly.

In theory they’re still in the game, but the cold reality is to have a chance from here they’d need to be exceptional. They’d need to knock Aus over quickly in the morning and then in all likelihood bat for a day and a half to set up the chance to win. Nothing has suggested they’re capable of a sustained period of high performance across both disciplines.

The reality is Aus will get a lead of 120, we’ll be put into bat as twighlight hits. Starc will run through us and Aus will win by an innings or have a very modest target to chase.

Yep, I think that's exactly how it plays out.  They look beaten already. 

[PaulWinch again]

I was pretty amazed to hear Steve Finn say in commentary that there were "a lot of tired bodies out there" when England were bowling.  I get it's hot out there, but tired from what?  It was day two after we'd batted the day before and more than a week after the first test which had only gone two days

Agnew made that point as well. It’s hot, but it’s not super hot for Brisbane. They just don’t appear to be in match condition, which entirely makes sense. I don’t know with international schedules how easy it is to get actual game miles in the legs, but in setting this tour out it feels like they’ve not really done anything to build for that.