The Ashes: Adelaide.

[yuppie]

Make 'em pay, Uzie.

He gets his half-century....

I find it hard to understand the calls for him to be dropped by some aspects of the Oz media. Yes, he has his occasional troubles against spin, but he averages 45 in Test cricket, for God's sake....

Im not sure its occasional troubles with spin though. He looks totally lost against them.

He's not having any trouble now, though.....

I think that anyone who wants to replace him has to average higher than him in Test cricket.

Shaun Marsh averages 36. I can't justify calls to drop Khawaja, and yet retain Marsh.

In no way am i justifying Marsh selection into the team.

But Questions were raised after Ali got him in Brisbane. After the way he played in the sub continent, and then getting out to Ali in Brisbane. Questions should have been asked.

But very happy to see him here making runs. He is great to watch when in full flow

[Arthur Crabtree]

I've just remembered. Adelaide is a ground where you really don't want to bat last.

[Aidan11]

Jimmy Jimmy.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Stoneman dropped UK off Woakes on 45. He didn't get too many more, but it took a couple of hours of work.

[meninblue]

Big wicket by Craig. Gives England hopes to comeback into this match now.

[yuppie]

Not watching the play at present. Is the ball doing much under lights?

[backfootpunch]

Bowling has been awful the last 45 mins


And why are we bowling anyway?

[yuppie]

Bowling has been awful the last 45 mins


And why are we bowling anyway?

Dont think about, just don't. I mena a great chance to wear down the Australian bowlers with a fullish day in the field........

Adelaide is good to bat day 2 and 3. The plan maybe to make the most of those conditions? Potentially though England could be facing the a new ball underlights tomorrow.

[backfootpunch]

Bowling has been awful the last 45 mins


And why are we bowling anyway?

Dont think about, just don't. I mena a great chance to wear down the Australian bowlers with a fullish day in the field........

Adelaide is good to bat day 2 and 3. The plan maybe to make the most of those conditions? Potentially though England could be facing the a new ball underlights tomorrow.

A new ball Jimmy just got to swing miles under lights in his one over with it

We are 6 days into this series and I already feel like only one team will win

[yuppie]

Bowling has been awful the last 45 mins


And why are we bowling anyway?

Dont think about, just don't. I mena a great chance to wear down the Australian bowlers with a fullish day in the field........

Adelaide is good to bat day 2 and 3. The plan maybe to make the most of those conditions? Potentially though England could be facing the a new ball underlights tomorrow.

A new ball Jimmy just got to swing miles under lights in his one over with it

We are 6 days into this series and I already feel like only one team will win

England really need to dismiss Australia quickly tomorrow morning. It seems they might not have made the most of the evening conditions. Handscomb will be a very likely candidate tomorrow morning for LBW to Anderson with the new ball. Then Englands into the tail. Australia still might struggle to make 300 due to the weakness of the batters left.

[sussexpob]

I find it hard to understand the calls for him to be dropped by some aspects of the Oz media. Yes, he has his occasional troubles against spin, but he averages 45 in Test cricket, for God's sake....

When has he got his runs?

Hundred vs New Zealand in a game with 1200 runs scored in the first innings (not all 20 wickets fell either)......
Hundred vs New Zealand in a game where Australia scored 850/8 over two innings
Hundred vs Windies in a game Australia scored near 750/6 over two innings
Hundred in an innings of 562

The only worthwhile effort is a hundred vs South Africa in a competitive match and a few good bowlers. The rest were on pancakes where every batsman made runs.... his top score comes in a test where Taylor scored 290 and Warner scored 250 I think. Away from home his record isnt test standard, in the 20s. When the Ball moves he hasnt performed even at home.

The ultimate flat track bully

[sussexpob]

England looked like they bowled way too short on the periods I watched later in the evening. Pitch is by no means doing everything, but a few balls seamed, and a few balls showed inconsistent bounce by getting large on the batsman. England wont want to be conceding 400 plus on this deck batting last.

That Handscomb has got an incredibly weird way of batting. Looks like a player whose technique would crumble vs the moving ball.

[meninblue]

Handscomb is very much a back foot batsman. Even his bat lift is far too high. However he is scoring runs. I think bowlers will look to get him onto the front foot, especially bowling the out-cutter. I am also keen to see him face a left arm pacer over the wicket. Maybe he will still score runs, but I think he will be more troubles by lefties bowling full over the wicket and moving away from him.

[bigfluffylemon]

Funny how things get framed. Smith said he would have batted first, so if Australia won the toss, the situation would be identical, and we'd be talking about how England had done reasonably well to restrict Australia under the circumstances. Instead everyone's talking about the innings of the context to bowl first.

Australia definitely have the edge based on D/N records in Australia, but shorn of that context, 209/4 is about honours even (and it's almost exactly where the close of play after Day 1 of Brisbane was). England are definitely in this game, but their batting is going to have to perform - you need a first innings lead to win batting last in Adelaide (unless you're Australia in 2006, shudder).

If England can knock over Australia in the morning session, then they'll likely get the best batting conditions of the game this afternoon and tomorrow (assuming they survive today's night sessions), Australia won't get the new ball under lights, and they'll be well placed to get a lead if they can take advantage of it. On the other hand, if Australia can bat into the evening, then they'll have 400+ on the board and a new ball under lights, and it could get very very messy. Whatever happens, England will need to bat much better than they did at Brisbane.

For the sake of the series, England really, really need a good day today for the above reasons.

[Durhamfootman]

Adelaide is good to bat day 2 and 3. The plan maybe to make the most of those conditions? Potentially though England could be facing the a new ball underlights tomorrow.

lets hope the Aussie bowlers make similar use of the favourable night time conditions. If we can get away with the loss of only one wicket it'll be a good result, I think. More likely perhaps that we commence our innings under lights, chasing 400, and subside to 80-5. Then the 5-0 will really be on