Ashes 2021-22.

[alfie]

Agree with a lot of what Yuppie says there.

England are an average Test team at best at present ; but their dire performance in these three Tests is at least partly a function of the ludicrous excuse for preparation : two intra squad games reduced by weather to glorified centre wicket nets : seriously ? Covid made it hard enough anyway but with half the team coming straight from the white ball thrash and the rest going in basically cold (Stokes' chance of being anywhere near his best after no cricket for months was remote - not that I blame them for including him) the lack of proper warm up virtually ensured a rotten start. And as we all know , a bad start in Australia is usually a death sentence...

My own (faint ) hopes for a competitive series were based on a belief that the Australian batting was (is) still largely dependant on three players. If one - hopefully two - of them could be restrained perhaps there would be a chance of knocking them over cheaply once or twice. Ironically Smith (so far) has only had one good knock ; but Warner re-found his form at the t20 show and has generally delivered - albeit with a bit of good fortune. Of course it also required a couple of bats standing up alongside Root - and that just hasn't happened.

Apart from Warner's runs , the big plus for Australia has been Green with the ball. He has enabled Cummins (also a - fortuitous !- improvement on Paine I think) to maintain the pressure in the field. And Lyon seems happier this year - was that milestone wicket really preying on his mind that much ? Who knows... Green currently can't buy a run but his wickets - and catches ! - have been pivotal.

I am not quite as sure as some of the local papers that Australia is actually poised to return to Top of the world just yet : let us see them overseas again first , eh ? But they have every right to be encouraged by the way they've done a job on England over the last few weeks.

For England , it is a bit of back to the drawing board...

[sussexpob]

Of course, all of the above is true Alfie.

My problem with all that is how predictable the outcome was always going to be, and how it was all so avoidable. There was no pressure on England to agree to a tour straight after the world cup without adequate preparations. And England decided themselves to play the intra-squad preparation matches rather than an Australian line up, probably on the basis they wanted to cut the time down to the minimum.

If they had brains, they would have insisted starting the series 2-3 weeks later, and Australia really wouldn't have any choice but to accept, seeing as there was a danger till very late England may not have even toured. It's not honourable behaviour to hold an opposition board to ransom, but it's also not normal times. England would have been well within their rights to request a Mid December start and some FC cricketers to play.

But is symbolic of the sheer lack of care in the ECB and it's setup. They should have known instantly these decisions condemned the team to failure. They should have known sending the lions home before they could be any use was utterly pointless (as I'd guess by now 1-2-3 players might have been swapped in).

This is where the press right now are really annoying me. There is a lot of articles pinning the blame high up in the stratosphere of the ECB, but it's the team director and coaches who really need to grow some balls, and maybe even the captain to point out these schedules don't work.

We are led to believe the players have the power to cancel the tour, but not to demand schedules that give us a chance? Gives the impression we were always piloting into OZ for as little time as possible, and get out as soon as possible

[sussexpob]

Silverwood to miss the next test after a family member tests positive for covid....Thorpe will be head coach

[Durhamfootman]

I saw that

will he be a miss, I wonder?

will he be pulling the strings virtually anyway.... is that why Colly isn't stepping in?

[sussexpob]

I see Warner is offering England batting tips too....maybe we can get some tips on cheating on a buy one, get one free basis.

No matter how much of shambles our batters are, at least none of them have been reduced to crying like a little ***** in a presser

[Durhamfootman]

Ponting thinks county cricket should use a kookaburra for half a season in an ashes year........ yeah, because England batsmen play loads of county cricket Ricky

[alfie]

Of course, all of the above is true Alfie.

My problem with all that is how predictable the outcome was always going to be, and how it was all so avoidable. There was no pressure on England to agree to a tour straight after the world cup without adequate preparations. And England decided themselves to play the intra-squad preparation matches rather than an Australian line up, probably on the basis they wanted to cut the time down to the minimum.

If they had brains, they would have insisted starting the series 2-3 weeks later, and Australia really wouldn't have any choice but to accept, seeing as there was a danger till very late England may not have even toured. It's not honourable behaviour to hold an opposition board to ransom, but it's also not normal times. England would have been well within their rights to request a Mid December start and some FC cricketers to play.

But is symbolic of the sheer lack of care in the ECB and it's setup. They should have known instantly these decisions condemned the team to failure. They should have known sending the lions home before they could be any use was utterly pointless (as I'd guess by now 1-2-3 players might have been swapped in).

This is where the press right now are really annoying me. There is a lot of articles pinning the blame high up in the stratosphere of the ECB, but it's the team director and coaches who really need to grow some balls, and maybe even the captain to point out these schedules don't work.

We are led to believe the players have the power to cancel the tour, but not to demand schedules that give us a chance? Gives the impression we were always piloting into OZ for as little time as possible, and get out as soon as possible

Yes I totally share your frustration with the readiness of the ECB to accept these ridiculous tour schedules. Is it symptomatic of a general disregard for the red ball game , despite their protestations that the Ashes is something they've been planning for for two years ? Or just because they haven't the stomach for rigorous horse trading with other boards - particularly in this crazy world of bubbles and quarantine regulations ?

Does seem daft that a series as allegedly important as this should have been shoe-horned in to a few weeks at the cost of much of its credibility. I suppose it is far from easy for all governing bodies to even keep international sport going in the current circumstances so we perhaps ought to be grateful for at least having games to watch ; but it might have actually been better to have cut this visit down to , say , three games (with the Ashes not even in contention - as was done once back in the late 70's ) and arranged for a proper tour a year later when things might hopefully be back to something approaching normal.

Guess that might all be "too hard" with this Future tours programme and WTC stuff everyone has signed up to. But just maybe that could and should have been put on hold too for a year or so...

[alfie]

Be interesting to see how both teams line up in Sydney. Travis Head is out with a Covid positive and I hear there may be some issues around Harris as well...and with match referee David Boon , and Silverwood , positive already , and others in the parties, I wonder if we will see more forced absences on 5th January...

[sussexpob]

Or a test at all

[GarlicJam]

Harris has been cleared, I heard.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Some entertaining stats on how badly England have done this year. Though I don't agree with all the conclusions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59825697

From BBC.

14 ducks from England openers in 2021.

[GarlicJam]

In case you can't see the full week, it is a continuation of the first few days.

Not good, unless you are keen to avoid a whitewash.

[Durhamfootman]

If Australia can find enough time between the storms to score 200 runs and they can get in a couple of sessions with the ball over those 5 days, then that'll be too good for this England team

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes, just need ten sessions and some cloud.

Smith says he's surprised Broad hasn't been playing, which means he wants to bat against him in Sydney. An old Steve Waugh trick, though back in those days it was to get someone called up for a debut from the CC.

[Durhamfootman]

well, one of the 3 players called up as cover for Head, NIc Maddinson, played for the Renegades today, so I'm guessing he ain't the replacement.... perhaps they weren't sure if he was Mitchell Marsh or not and eventually realised he wasn't