Ashes 2015

[QF WP]

Eek, I woke up to a shock:

Thank God for Rogers because the rest were woeful

 

[Rugby]

I hope there's still some cricket to watch on Saturday night

 

[JohnK]

Embarrassing. We could only bat for 36.4 overs?

If you keep painting overs cracks occasionally they look good from different angles. Hope match is not ruined by rain. We deserve to be smashed. The wake up call from First Test was not enough. The second test means nothing. A fluke. We got all the breaks.

 

[david1]

The conditions were much better for England than Lords, their swing bowling is very good, and our batters aren't great at playing it. It isn't that surprising that they got skittled.

I thought our bowling was more disappointing though. Hopefully they come out better tonight and knock them over quickly, otherwise we are finished and will need a lot of rain to avoid a draw.

 

[SeatBackForward]

The conditions were much better for England than Lords, their swing bowling is very good, and our batters aren't great at playing it. It isn't that surprising that they got skittled.

I thought our bowling was more disappointing though. Hopefully they come out better tonight and knock them over quickly, otherwise we are finished and will need a lot of rain to avoid a draw.

Does Australia have a decent swing bowler in the current team? or has too much focus been on improving sledging and arm tattoos for the past decade?

 

[moa999]

Australia has very rarely had a good swing bowler

 

[JohnK]

Australia has very rarely had a good swing bowler

Harris? McGrath. Clark. Alderman. Lillee.

 

[moa999]

Harris I'll agree. McGrath/Lillee were outright fast bowlers who developed a bit of swing as they slowed.

Your typical English swing bowler is a med/med-quick who if they weren't swinging the ball would be dispatched all over the park

 

[trixydoza]

I thought seam was more important than swing yesterday, but it was obviously a combination of both. Obviously much harder to bat when the ball is moving around, and when you don't have experience and a technique like Rogers.

 

[trixydoza]

McGrath/Lillee were outright fast bowlers who developed a bit of swing as they slowed.

I don't think McGrath was ever all that fast. His key skills were control and moving the ball "just enough". Starc and Johnson can do way more with the ball, but not always in a way that gets wickets.

 

[david1]

Starc swings the ball well when he's bowling well, but he is very inconsistent. Hazelwood is alright too. I think our bowlers are better than our batsmen at the moment, with the exceptions of Rogers and Smith.

In terms of past swing bowlers, Harris was very good. Clark, Fleming, Gillespie were good too, but generally Australian conditions favour pace and bounce rather than swing.

 

[samh004]

Eek, I woke up to a shock:
View attachment 53204
Thank God for Rogers because the rest were woeful

Nah. The way it's going Australia will win in three days...

Looks like I missed some fun last night too!

Only just remembered to check the cricket and then this thread pops up, good timing!

 

[JohnK]

Starc swings the ball well when he's bowling well, but he is very inconsistent. Hazelwood is alright too. I think our bowlers are better than our batsmen at the moment, with the exceptions of Rogers and Smith.

Problem is we've relied on any 2 players to get us out of trouble and when that fails we are gone.

Haddin and Johnson won the last Ashes series. Our batting was 5 down for less than 150 in each test match and he got us out of trouble. And Johnson found some form.

Rogers and Smith won last test with their first day partnership. The bowlers got cheap wickets. Batting and bowling averages made to look much better.

 

[trixydoza]

Healy and Johnson won the last Ashes series. Our batting was 5 down for less than 150 in each test match and he got us out of trouble.

That would be Haddin. Healy just kept squawking from the commentary box.

 

[james2k]

Wish Haddin was playing! His experience would have been useful yesterday!

 

[david1]

Yeah some better sledges and England would be 6 down!

 

[SeatBackForward]

Yeah some better sledges and England would be 6 down!

England are batting, Plenty of time left to improve their act

 

[Warks]

Exciting start already. Can't give the score though!!

 

[TheRealTMA]

Exciting start already. Can't give the score though!!

They shouldn't have booed Mitch.

 

[JohnK]

England have butchered this one. Given away lots of cheap wickets. Aussies bowling average. Why wouldn't you review that LBW with 2 reviews left?

Game has swung.