Did England win the third Test, or did Australia just hand it to them?

I think I've been numbed and almost resigned to us losing these close ones over the years. Bit sad really. We should be better than this.

Great cricket for the non aligned observer, Geoff. But seriously , as an Aussie sitting up in the wee small hours watching the ridiculous things our heroes were presenting, I am surprised my TV remained in tact for the upcoming Footy finals.

What a game though Albo. Its a toss up between NRL and cricket in terms of which sport puts you through the emotional wringer the most - cricket just makes you go through it for longer. Amazing the twists and turns in that match.

Lets hope Smith is back ( fully functioning ) for the next Test , or it might already be over for us . He won't be getting any half volleys from pommie bowlers next innings. They will be testing his "yips" straight away.

Spot on Geoff . Total chaos exhibited by the Aussies. No planning or effort with the bowling trying to restrict the strike to Stokes when he was firing away. Pathetic use of the review system . Poor fielding at crucial moments ( Lyon) . And their batting without Smith continues to be pathetic when they should have locked England out of the match by day 4 with decent batting alone. They got exactly what they deserved for being so bad in one day. Hopefully they can now pick themselves up because the pommies will now be fully buoyant for the next Test at Old Trafford.

Put a fair bit of thought into that one Butch ?

The fact that we almost won without Smith was actually a positive :laughing:

Literally proved my point

I didnt ask to be a good loser, i said dont be a bad one. Massive difference

As the old say from way back: ”Catches win matches”

England won, but we made it as easy as we could for them, so even they couldn't screw it up. 1) Not batting them out of the match 2) Paine's misuse of the DRS 3) Lyon's missed runout 4) Loose bowling with the second new ball (No, not interested in blaming umpires' howlers. That's what DRS is for, Tim)

It's a side effect of Darren Lehmann. It will take some time to deprogram the team. To be fair, they didn't bowl as much short stuff as they have done in the past.

Well, then the betting markets have quite a few refunds to make Rob, because they've mistakenly paid out to people who tipped the upset. And, the MCC has made a major error because they've recorded the match as an English victory, and as of yet there has been no board meeting to alter the result. And then, it would be a complete surprise to Tim Paine and Justin Langer who have both congratulated England on beating Australia.

Bad captaincy and bad bowling, i've said it before and i will say it again, whoever is getting these fast bowler's to bowl short crap at their heads all the time is totally beyond me. You have the number 11 batter facing and all they wanted to do is knock his block off instead of attacking his stumps, he get's a single and 1 run to win,so Stokes get's to the batting end so what does he do he bowls a short ball to a guy who is on 120 something and seeing the ball like a football and get's to hit the winning run i just don't see the sense in all the short crap all the time, and whoever has put that rubbish bowling into their heads is a moron, wake up or they will be coming home empty handed again.

I wish I could put money on it.....Im positive Aus lost too

Got to give credit to Stokes but the Aussies certainly lost their composure - probably need to blame a combination of the senior playing group inclduing the captain, coaching staff and fast bowlers. Lyon looked like the only one capable of taking a wicket in those final frantic overs with his pinpoint accuracy. Everything seemed to happen so quickly - little time was taken between balls to set fields to disrupt Stokes. There were times when they needed to step back and make him think. And having everyone on the boundary took the pressure off him. And as I've said before none of the faster bowlers used slower balls to get Stokes to mistime and sky the ball - and hardly any yorkers. They were all over the place. Cannon fodder to a batter who was in the zone. Poor game management and I'm afraid we have to conclude they just lost it.

Appropriate moniker.

Pretty sure you did LOSE Rob, in fact I’m positive.

Not sure how much sport you have played James but I've played plenty and there's not much point in beimg a good loser because that is what you will remain.

Except we didn't loose, the only thing more inexplicable than that umpiring decision was the continued selection of the marsh brothers.