Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

I fail to believe a top player basically gets out because he feel batting is too easy and gives it away.
Especially at a time England needs him to score big hundreds to win games considering England are really get root cheaply and England cheaply team at the moment.

Adi wrote:

alfie wrote:

budgetmeansbudget wrote:Still wouldn't put our chances much above 5%.

Been here so many times before to know we very rarely prosper.

Not much on putting percentages on these chases...I'm with Boycott on this with his "add two wickets" and look at it ; so it is very much on a knife edge.
But if (big if !) Root and Woakes could bat through the first session (which would entail seeing off the new ball) the game would swing massively towards England . And you'd not have thought that even a remote possibility 24 hours ago.

As of now , Australia are still in the pound seats : due to historical records and the late wicket of Malan. But whatever happens this has been a welcome fight back by England . Pity they have taken do long to click into gear as this has the makings of an excellent competitive series - as long as it isn't killed off too early.

Glad to see Anderson isn't ready for the scrap heap , by the way. He'll be needed for a year or two yet.

Scoreboard pressure and new day. I expect wickets to tumble in first session itself.

Going as speculated. Very likely to finish in first session.

188/7. England need 166.

Looks like I should have placed more trust on australia, thought England might win or come very close to winning this morning.

At least England have been got out by good deliveries rather than throwing it away. But I'm clutching at straws here. This is not unexpected, but disappointing nonetheless.

Australia lost 80-6 yesterday from 4 down, I'm not even sure if England managed that.

All the pressure back on Root's decision to bowl first. Given the first innings score compared to the other three, it looks pretty damning, but how much was the decision to bowl, and how much was how badly England executed on day 1 (and batted on day 3)?

2-0 as Aussies win by massive 160 runs margin.

Calls for Bairstow to move up the order are only going to get louder.

England could bring Ballance in for Vince, but will be wary of having yet another southpaw in the batting line-up given Lyon's effectiveness. I suspect Vince's 83 will give him another chance in Perth, although given England's record there, he's probably on a hiding to nothing.

It's not just Joe, it's the whole side that has trouble converting (Cook used to be an awful lot better than now as well). Looking at the stats since the start of 2014 (when the current England era arguably began, after so many retirements post 2013 Ashes), England have one of the worst ratio of 100s to matches played of any team (only West Indies and Bangladesh are lower), and one of the worst conversion rates of 50s to 100s as well (worst of all the top 8 teams, only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are lower). But their rate of scoring 50s but not converting them is higher than any other team in the period, and their overall rate of 50+ scores (50s and 100s) per game is about equal to the other top teams - Australia, India and Pakistan, and better than South Africa.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

That's very telling, IMO. This current batting generation just doesn't seem to have the concentration to grind out the big scores on a regular basis like the players from India, Australia and Pakistan do, and like England used to when Gooch was the batting coach and the lineup featured Strauss, Trott, KP & Bell. South Africa also seem to have fallen off on that count since the loss of Kallis and Amla's drop in form.

Cook, KP, Bell were 200+ scorers on their peak. Currently the newbies are struggling to score even a 100.

Only Joe from the recent lot can score a 200.

Well that went much better than i expected:)

Will Australian press talk turn to Australia having 4 quicks for Perth like it does every year.

Is this also the last test for the iconic WACA?

Some positives for England from this match, but not enough. Australia will be happy that they can win without big contributions from Smith and Warner.

Don't you need a spinner to bowl into the Doctor?

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Don't you need a spinner to bowl into the Doctor?

Lyons place is not in question. 11 wickets already this series. But the press love to talk up the pace of the WACA, and I'm sure at some stage they will bring up the 4 man pace attack.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Don't you need a spinner to bowl into the Doctor?

Not many spinners have prospered at the WACA. The list of spinners to take 5 or more wickets there in their entire career is pretty short.
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=bowling

Warne's record there is much worse than his career record, and Lyon's is horrible.

That said, I think England would probably be happier if Lyon were left out for another quick like Bird, given how he's bowling at the moment. That's a pretty good reason not to leave him out. I doubt they will. More likely IMO is that Handscomb is dropped for a fast-bowling allrounder (Mitch3, perhaps).

Marsh has started bowling again, and has made 100 at the WACA this year. Might be worth a look.

Maxwell has also been making a lot of runs.

I thought Mitch3 wasn't bowling at the moment.

I'd guess there'll be no changes for either side. Australia are 2-0 up and England don't have anyone in the squad better than those in the team.

yuppie wrote:Well that went much better than i expected:)

Will Australian press talk turn to Australia having 4 quicks for Perth like it does every year.

Is this also the last test for the iconic WACA?

Some positives for England from this match, but not enough. Australia will be happy that they can win without big contributions from Smith and Warner.

I think that they are starting to talk up the need for a backup bowler though.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks back, MM is not done in the green baggy yet. He has been in form with the bat, and is now starting to bowl again after his shoulder op.

Handscomb(e)?

Australia do need the extra bowler. Marsh has made runs, but Maxwell has made more.

Tough on Handscomb as he should make runs at Perth. The ball should not move as much. I guess no one expected S Marsh to be Australia's top scorer after 2 tests. But Australia do need to find another bowling option in the team. Though the 4 person bowling line up is working because Lyon is bowling so well.

Im not sure any of the 3 pace men will want a rest, more so that the next game is at Perth. Perhaps Australia will plan in a rotation for the MCG test?