The Ashes - TEST 2

Yesterday wasn't anything to do with Bazball.

It was a simple matter of the bowlers not being disciplined enough to build pressure.

I think they saw the conditions and felt, as I did to be honest, that we would have then 3 or 4 down for not many by lunch.

Just a bad day at the cricketing office. Let's hope for one of Broad's miracle spells this morning to get them out for under 400.
 
atypical_boro said:
Not sure that’s true per se, it’s just that Bazball as a tactic really turned the side’s fortunes around so many (including me) bought fully into it.

You’re right about Stokes selection though. I said the other day he should maybe just open the batting now and lead from the front at the top of the order, he’s not in the side for his middle order batting or bowling.
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I don’t think Stokes is an opener.
 
Colgates_shaving_foam said:
Yesterday wasn't anything to do with Bazball.

It was a simple matter of the bowlers not being disciplined enough to build pressure.

I think they saw the conditions and felt, as I did to be honest, that we would have then 3 or 4 down for not many by lunch.

Just a bad day at the cricketing office. Let's hope for one of Broad's miracle spells this morning to get them out for under 400.
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I think Jimmy is fading.

I say this partly in hope that he will prove me wrong with a bag full of wickets for the rest of the series…….
 
Colgates_shaving_foam said:
Yesterday wasn't anything to do with Bazball.

It was a simple matter of the bowlers not being disciplined enough to build pressure.

I think they saw the conditions and felt, as I did to be honest, that we would have then 3 or 4 down for not many by lunch.

Just a bad day at the cricketing office. Let's hope for one of Broad's miracle spells this morning to get them out for under 400.
Click to expand...

I thought bazball was the way we play now.

Maybe its just for when things go well
 
1finny said:
I thought bazball was the way we play now.

Maybe its just for when things go well
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I get what C_S_F is saying. Yesterday was just a poor bowling performance. We let them score too easily and didn't bowl aggressive enough. Dropped early catches AGAIN. Would you consider the decision to bowl as being "Bazball"? Probably not. It didn't feel ultra aggressive. The conditions justified the decision. Although with 2 days of good bowling conditions forecast, I think I would have still been tempted to bat.

The real test of whether we stick to "Bazball" will be when we go out with the bat. We need to try and find a way to get a result in this match to keep the series alive whether it be a draw or a win. If we go and "waft the bat" on this pitch we will be looking at a follow on. Maybe we just need to give this first batting innings a bit more thought and play with a bit more pragmatism. Horses for courses.
 
Just an observation about how always putting the opposition in will bite us one of these days , because in a normal game it means that England could bat last on a worn wicket . It also nullifies any advantage in winning the toss.

But an obvious England fault at the moment is that our fielding is not up to par and if you cannot hold your catches , you are not going to beat anyone, especially the Aussies.
 
The entertainment v intensity debate is interesting. Perhaps the coaching staff have identified a mental weakness in our ability to play intensely (essentially putting ourselves under too much mental pressure resulting in sub-par performance).

The mental makeup of every team is different and not every player will be the same but you endeavour to prepare the players mentally to perform at their best more often than not.

For what it's worth I think Australia's style of play matches their collective mentality almost perfectly, which is probably why they're the best in the world.

We've essentially said to our lads "the pressure is off" which has (to a much greater extent than before) yielded results.
 
changingman said:
The entertainment v intensity debate is interesting. Perhaps the coaching staff have identified a mental weakness in our ability to play intensely (essentially putting ourselves under too much mental pressure resulting in sub-par performance).

The mental makeup of every team is different and not every player will be the same but you endeavour to prepare the players mentally to perform at their best more often than not.

For what it's worth I think Australia's style of play matches their collective mentality almost perfectly, which is probably why they're the best in the world.

We've essentially said to our lads "the pressure is off" which has (to a much greater extent than before) yielded results.
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On top of that, I was looking through their squad yesterday reminding myself of actually how good most of them are. Their pace attack is indeed pretty scary, Lyon is a wily customer, and their top 5 with the bat are easily the best in the world. Think I'd convinced myself that at home we'd still get the better of them and edge it, but now starting to feel like they're just back to having a very good team again.
 
atypical_boro said:
their top 5 with the bat are easily the best in the world
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I wouldn't say their top 5 are 'easily' the best in the world.

They're definitely the best test team in the world, throughout the full team. I don't think anyone would argue with that.

And their top 5 are up there with the best, but if picking a top 5, it wouldn't be those exact 5, easily.
 
Marvanelli said:
I wouldn't say their top 5 are 'easily' the best in the world.

They're definitely the best test team in the world, throughout the full team. I don't think anyone would argue with that.

And their top 5 are up there with the best, but if picking a top 5, it wouldn't be those exact 5, easily.
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Yeah I meant they have the best 'top 5' in the world rather than the best 5 in the world. Though they do occupy 3 of the top 4 rankings I think.

Basically they're the best batting side in test cricket, once again.
 
atypical_boro said:
Yeah I meant they have the best 'top 5' in the world rather than the best 5 in the world. Though they do occupy 3 of the top 4 rankings I think.

Basically they're the best batting side in test cricket, once again.
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Australia can bat further than the top five, Mitchell Starc's just came in at eight and is pretty useful with the bat.
 
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