Boxing Day ashes 3 rd test at the MCG starts at 11pm

Cardiffdaffs said:
I was out there for the 2006-7 series. Even though England were poor and lost 5-0 then and Freddie Flintoff's captaincy was abject, at least the first three tests reached the fifth day. To lose the Melbourne Boxing Day test in less than 2 1/2 days is just horrendous.

What is to be done in my mind is to find, coach and reboot the whole approach. The top order is critical. I have never known an England test side with no test class openers.

Lack of preparation, which was a factor, is only a part of the issue. Thank goodness we weren't able to travel to watch it.
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I keep reading the excuse of white ball cricket has ruined the side. That has to be stopped. NZ play lots of limited overs cricket and yet we have created a strong mental approach to test cricket. Devon Conway has transitioned from a essentially a T20 specialist to a mentally tough middle order and opening batsman.

India is dominated by IPL. A few years ago people were saying India weren't interested in test cricket and yet they went to Australia last winter and beat Australia and reached the test world final.

No excuses for this terrible English side. New captain, new coach the very least should kick things off. Let the heads roll.
 
Abel Tasman said:
I keep reading the excuse of white ball cricket has ruined the side. That has to be stopped. NZ play lots of limited overs cricket and yet we have created a strong mental approach to test cricket. Devon Conway has transitioned from a essentially a T20 specialist to a mentally tough middle order and opening batsman.

India is dominated by IPL. A few years ago people were saying India weren't interested in test cricket and yet they went to Australia last winter and beat Australia and reached the test world final.

No excuses for this terrible English side. New captain, new coach the very least should kick things off. Let the heads roll.
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They’re all a bunch of fannies Abel, frightened of their own shadows!!
 
The entire management structure of England needs to go, they are 100% focused on money and care little for actual cricket

I've said before that what we are seeing now is the legacy of trying to play as much cricket as possible during Covid, dropping batsman in India who were in good nick only for them to come back into the squad out of it and never recovered.

The problem isn't with the likes of Stokes or Buttler, their job is to take the game away from a tiring attack with an old ball, not rebuild from 40-5 after 20 overs every innings.

That being said, the most baffling selections and choosing to bat first on a green top in the 1st game still blows my mind and there's no mitigation for that.
 
Compared to the Sheffield Shield, the County Championship is a joke. It is not anywhere near the level required to produce Test cricketers.

The focus on white ball success even at County level has led to this situation.

With bat and ball.

England’s best bet was if Archer, Stone and Woods had all been in prime fitness. Truth is, we’d have still been spanked because we only have one lonely Test standard batter!
 
Kosovo said:
Would look at the players playing in the big bash and bring some in for the next test because that’s a disgrace
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Funny you say that as look what test match special just tweeted

67 from @sambillings as @ThunderBBL set 200/7 against unbeaten leaders @ScorchersBBL.
 
zorro_mfc said:
Funny you say that as look what test match special just tweeted

67 from @sambillings as @ThunderBBL set 200/7 against unbeaten leaders @ScorchersBBL.
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Ben Duckett and Joe Clarke both got runs yesterday. Also bring Saqid Mahmood to add more pace with Wood. If Foakes is still down there he’s a must for me. Sadly we’ll still be stuck with no openers of any quality
 
Let’s be honest be it white ball or red even if he survives the first ball he’s done better than burns
 
We’ve recalled someone for this test who has been proven (around 10 times) not to be worthy of selection. Everyone says Pope is the future - so why not let him learn in these tough conditions.

We have one world class spinner in the country and he’s got no interest in playing red ball cricket which is a big shame. Leach is just not even close to being good enough. Lovely bloke and great team guy, but wouldn’t be a good club cricketer on Saturdays. It’s clear that Root doesn’t trust him.

We have a world class keeper batsman who fought his way into the side, got injured and hasn’t had a look in since. Arguably our keeper could have changed the game by not spilling easy chances last game. Harsh.

As a public, we’ve criticised Sibley for being too boring, and perhaps he is, but test cricket is attrition and you look at our most successful opening batmen in recent times (Strauss and Cook). They both had 2, possibly 3, attacking shots, the rest was defence.

Finally - these guys have been in a bubble for almost 2 years. The positive cases with families over the last few days must have been really tough. I really feel for them. They get paid well, but must feel incredibly isolated.

Silverwood will surely go, we need to find a world class spinner, and probably look to someone like Pope to take over the captaincy for the next series.
 
S7DiscoDown said:
All out for 68.....a new low😕

Just fly the T20 squad out. I'm sure they could do better. I mean you'd at least have a decent skipper.

Jokes aside..... Its awful and pretty embarrassing. I imagine these matches are scaring many players. I'm suprised that nobody has 'walked' like Swann did. Just pack in during a tour. I can't believe it's doing any of them any good.

You really have to feel for the bowlers. They must look at those batters and think FFS. Hopefully this isn't Jimmy's send off. It's no way for him to go out.
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At least the bowlers get a few days rest now🤭
 
Its not back to the drawing board (just yet) from me. No-one expected a result in this series - away from home against a better side (albeit the form of defeat isn't great!)

We have some winnable series next year against supposed "lesser" teams - if we're getting battered by them it will be time to start again for me but it's clear there is no long term development plan or strategy for test cricket in the UK.
 
I don’t know what we’ll do for these next two tests… but once this nightmare in Oz is over I think we need to stick with the likes of Pope, Hameed, Crawley.. they’re the best we’ve got.

actually playing some first class cricket in the summer rather than April and October would certainly be a start towards improving them as test cricketers

we still don’t have a spinner though.

Hameed
Crawley
Malan
Root
Stokes
Pope / Lawrence
Foakes
Robinson
Broad
Wood
Anderson
 
changingman said:
Its not back to the drawing board (just yet) from me. No-one expected a result in this series - away from home against a better side (albeit the form of defeat isn't great!)

We have some winnable series next year against supposed "lesser" teams - if we're getting battered by them it will be time to start again for me but it's clear there is no long term development plan or strategy for test cricket in the UK.
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How can there be a long term plan when the people in charge are incompetent and driven purely on generating income?

The 100 might have generated more interest in cricket in females & children but it destroyed the county game.

As far as I know the format of the county game in 2022 has not been decided yet and certainly no fixtures announced.

We will never produce quality batsmen & spinners as long as the 4 day game plays second fiddle to white ball cricket.
 
Abel Tasman said:
I keep reading the excuse of white ball cricket has ruined the side. That has to be stopped. NZ play lots of limited overs cricket and yet we have created a strong mental approach to test cricket. Devon Conway has transitioned from a essentially a T20 specialist to a mentally tough middle order and opening batsman.

India is dominated by IPL. A few years ago people were saying India weren't interested in test cricket and yet they went to Australia last winter and beat Australia and reached the test world final.

No excuses for this terrible English side. New captain, new coach the very least should kick things off. Let the heads roll.
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Gold point that
Just wondering what the financial rewards for test cricket are in NZ and India? Any idea…
Pretty clear some of the England guys can earn a fortune in limited overs v international tests.

Whatever the reasons - it is fascinating that India and NZ cricketers have adapted and ours haven’t.
 
White ball cricket getting the blame is an easy cop out. Australia have just won the T20 World Cup, NZ are runners up in both the 50 over T20 world cups and yet won the Test Championship and India can play all 3 formats with no issues
 
changingman said:
Its not back to the drawing board (just yet) from me. No-one expected a result in this series - away from home against a better side (albeit the form of defeat isn't great!)

We have some winnable series next year against supposed "lesser" teams - if we're getting battered by them it will be time to start again for me but it's clear there is no long term development plan or strategy for test cricket in the UK.
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I don’t agree.

This was not a great Australian team, by any means and they have humiliated us.

I think there will be changes.
 
Mwelolo said:
I don’t agree.

This was not a great Australian team, by any means and they have humiliated us.

I think there will be changes.
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I agree as smith was mediocre by his usual high standards.

As let’s be honest Australia didn’t get out of first gear as they didn’t need to
 
County cricket has been dying for years. The odd time I watch one on sky there are only a few 100 at the game. People arent going to bother with 4 day games anymore. Limited overs matches are fast and exciting against the chess game with test cricket and county.
The one day internationals used to aways use the same team as the tests but then, year by year, two entirely different teams emerged so now its more like rugby league and union.
Limited overs games obviously trains the batsmen to go for it and geoff boycott run rates are worse than being out for a duck.
thats my opinion, any road.
 
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