He was the next obvious cab off the rank, more easily hailed now he has settled into a regular batting spot.

Thanks, regarding the opening, but the tail failed, when not enough attention was given to spelling and syntax in the allotted editing time!

Warner out, Renshaw in. The past has been given a chance for redemption, now it’s time for the future to gain experience. We could only hope if he gets a run he brings footwork and technique with him to the crease. I’ve never seen so many chop ons from a metre outside off and poderpuff pokes as in these three Tests. Pathetic techniques! Mark Taylor is right as leftie giving advice to the openers, but holds true for both stances, if the bowler comes around, drive through mid off, that at least means a large stride of the front foot to off, where you then have your head somewhere near the line to play, or as importantly, leave. Pommy grounds are the size of Primary school playgrounds, the run rate takes care of itself. But when the England captain shapes up to a 150kph ball to play a french cricket shot, you know the contest might be back in Tests, but the technique has rapidly declined. What a shame the top four batsmen for the WTC team mentally choked against 125kph dobbers bowling which then gave the advantage to the pace of Wood. Anyway their batting is more mentally feeble thankfully!

Excellent synopsis, from a player who’s been in the fishbowl and had the distractions of storm in a tea cup to take the opponents focus away from the job at hand.

You need to brush up on your comprehension of sarcasm. Also there’s no need to read more carefully, you tend to just go in circles. It’s been interesting though! Thankfully there’ll be some actual cricket tomorrow. Only 120 posts in two years for such a worldly sporting elite is strange, no9. Oh well, I suppose when there’s cricket on it keeps you editors busy, eh?

‘They came to see me bat, not YOU bowl’ wasn’t directed at anyone? It wasn’t personally derisive? You certainly are unique. Your posts have made my day, they are hilarious and driven a lot of comebacks. You editors, certainly have some tricks, all 9 of you!

At what point do you say, “well, that was within the rules, but morally not a good look, or is there no limit?” At what point? You don’t. Morality is transitory, there is no limit. At the same time you’re watching a sportsman roll an orb at 3 sticks creating a meltdown of moral indignation on a British patch of grass, in Seattle USA middle age men only in their underwear were twerking in front of children on a public street in a ‘pride’ march with a legitimate permit to do so! Apparently that was acceptable under the rules set, but might be considered differently in Teheran.

4. All sport is 90% mental and Bairstows keeping suffers from the same issue his dismissal did; lack of concentration on the basics. Rod Marsh had a similar physique and early glove problems, but he committed to the basics. When he started watching the ball more closely into his gloves, his batting benefitted too. 90% Mental.

Sledging began in Australia and its disease has spread like a virus….Come on mate, you’re digging a hole that you’ll need a ladder too get out of! WG Grace; “They came here to see me, not you”. Sneering, sanctimonious put downs to the County professionals from the amateur toffs in the 19th and early 20th Century. English sportsman night anecdotes accompanying benefit years in cricket and football going back decades littered with the titillating stories and salty language County players used against each other, to entertain live crowds, not possible to be told in ‘polite’ media. Your morality is blinkered to the point of one eye being completely covered by the end of you post above and your true feelings exposed.

So the rule book is a work in progress, got you. In this instance Bairstow – not Carey – is the catalyst for change, or modification of the rules then. Maybe you could point that out to the crowd booing the Man of the Match who had nothing to do with it.

Have a look at the running video beside your comment, mate. Apparently there’s a lot of unfair behaviour on all levels and formats of the game, even when the Aussies aren’t playing!

Seen any of the footage of Robinson in the last 2 tests and his ‘banter’, including to non strikers? Seriously, there’s no lemon squeezes, but a large basket of sour grapes might be involved!

You’re seeing what you want mate. Ging CLEARLY did not scratch guard, he scuffed the ground behind the crease. Even if he’d actually marked his guard, how does that change that Carey may have lost count of balls in the over, the umpires conferred, the third umpire adjudicated? Are you honestly saying that the rule book is irrelevant and players should play to a kumbuya code, decided on by a coupla different players when it suits them? What’s next? ‘We think you’re struggling and know there’s only two overs left, but we’d like five to clean up the tail, you’ll be fibe with that, surely as we have played a dashed good game and feel we deserve a win’?

‘England’s main issue has been that they believe Bairstow thought the ball was dead at the end of the over when he wandered out of his crease and was stumped by Alex Carey.’ Oh well that’s OK then, any plonker can claim they thought anything in hindsight. What if Carey claims he’d lost count of the ball count and as Ging had wandered out three balls in a row he immediately had a shy? All good then? Or would the victimhood continue from the hypocrite, kumbuya squad? They lost the game when they collapsed in the first innings and now are typically, for a pommy team, looking for scapegoats for their game plan implosion!

I watched the last 2 sessions without sound altogether. I don’t need commentators giving me my opinion. That’s why the ‘controversy’ surprised me, I saw Carey scoop on the bounce, throw immediately, before Bairstow even scratched the dirt. You know, like we’ve seen from all keepers in all forms of the game. No noise is better than white noise.

Spot on, the Aussies have been aware of his penchant to wander from past experience and the ball had actually left Carey’s hand before Bairstow stepped out. So the hindsight hyperventilating and idiocy from spectators is misplaced, parochial and typical of Pommy spectators who aren’t actually real cricket fans. You know, the clowns doing whatever the hell that dance is when a six is edged.

Yeah saw their squad. Curran isn’t a world beater at 25 but has nearly 50 Test wickets from 24 Tests. Economy OK, average ordinary, but presents a new angle from a whole hearted competitor. Also has a batting average in the 20’s with three half centuries. Looks better to me than Robinson or Woakes right arm pedestrian. Anyway, moot point, apparently.

Great to see the development of Murphy at 2-0 up. Good luck to him, I hope he holds his nerve against the plonkers, as they’ll pick up a win before the series is out. Now if only the bowling coaches would decide on a long term plan for Green. There’s no future in him bowling short rubbish to poorly set fields on postage stamp grounds. All the top 3 bowlers can bowl more effective short spells on demand – even if overused like yesterday at the tail – but Green has a craft to learn on different styles of wickets in different conditions. His height can produce bounce from a length, but he needs a stock ball and one variation to work on for the next 3 years to be the top class bowler that his Shield form indicated. A slower or faster ball will reap him the breakthrough needed when he’s called on. There’s way too many wickets on offer against premeditating batsmen like he’s playing against now, to give the stumps away. A shock bouncer will be more effective, but he’ll pick up more wickets with a change of pace on the pegs. The coaching is running him out of form, especially as an allrounder. In fact the last half hour of the game was hard to fathom from a tactical view. 9,10, jack can’t keep out a dozen balls on the pegs, especially getting a full view like Tongue & Anderson were providing. One day change up is enough for the tail, rather than the bouncer blitz designed for the top/middle. The tail have the same deficiency on the stumps that Pope & Brooks have, make them defend the stumps!

Jesus, what a tiresome sanctimonious diatribe! Claims that if you defend your team – either side – you have no place in the argument, then weirdly, if you claim to be unbiased you’re not, because it’s about morality! What exactly is the author an ‘expert’ in?

Stokes correctly observes when he says it is not the way he would like to win. Easy thing for him to say, his team hasn’t done any winning in this series! You do raise an interesting point though, you know, saying “As an Australian, I’m disgusted by blah,blah, blah…”. I’ve never understood how the claim of being an Australian adds weight to your actual point, which is trashing a representative team that doesn’t demand you watch, barrack for, finance them! Don’t watch, follow another team, it isn’t mandatory to follow the country you’re from, then you don’t have to be indignant! Apparently after you turned the TV off you didn’t do any research, as it wasn’t McKenzie it was the Ollie Robinson style plonker, Martin Snedden. Also you might wish to watch as recently as an innings before to see Bairstow trying to wait out Labuschagne for the same result. Would Stokes have taken the win?
You can now go back through the countless games of all formats – many without Australia playing – where wicket keepers have done exactly the same thing and many other umpires have given it out. Storm in a teacup, blown up as a distraction.

I particularly enjoyed that you hate watching Australia, but obviously still do and then you RECKON the split second decision that Carey was actually trying to impress Warner! Comedy Gold. Thanks for the heads up, Crocket, I’ll treat future comments from you in the context of this enlightening post.

Is there some reason why Aussies are supposed to give two sheets about what pommy talking heads and spectators who only came on the day because the tickets were a quarter of the normal price? England are 0-2 down and the peripheral white noise is typical of pommy trashmedia and their frontrunner spectators. I’m sure the true Pommy cricket fan isn’t happy with the ginger as well as the third umpire and the Australian wicketkeeper who can actually glove a regulation ball, but the melt down is tiresome drivel from quotes for hire! Well done to Stokes, another measured innings, making up for the deficiencies in their middle order which now have to be addressed. As do the long tail from all the right arm short bowlers. Curran gives variety with left arm over, can hold a bat and has a heart the size of Robinsons mouth. If you are going to play hit and miss cricket you need to critically assess your personnel and the sum total of their loss isn’t hidden by white noise from irrelevant dial-a-quotes to make the media feel they’re important in what is good ebb and flow Test cricket, which I enjoyed on day five without the sound on……thankfully!

How good is Broad? What a stupid comment to Carey. Go back through that Test and review the absolute certainty of him demanding reviews from Stokes where balls missed the bat or pad, clearly were going down leg and then when the only one which woulda hit wasn’t reviewed he had a petulant two year old response when McCullum signalled it was out from the balcony.
That’s what I’ll remember from Broad the cricketer; bowls great in favourable conditions, fighter with bat and always petulant.
The thing which always get lost in these ‘incidents’ is that there are umpires on the field and now scanning a thousand frames a second to dissect instantaneous decisions by players. Starc clearly had control of the ball in his catch, but he ran it along the grass and that was deemed to have hit the ground, move on. The ginger dwarf from Lord of Rings went walkabout and the UMPIRE deemed him out. McCullum and Broad bleating about not having a beer after being 2-0 down are hypocrites. Bazball Kumbuya cricket is about shrugging the shoulders and playing how you want isnt it? You know, like Robinson sledging constantly thru both Tests, whose ‘spirit’ of the game does that fit into?
This all smacks of that overused comment from the nauseating Nassar Hussain; ‘England are bossing the game here’. Yep they sure are attempting to have it all their way on and off field. At 0-2 they’re coming up short where it matters, leaving everything to too few!

New Zealand’s Wagner worked that out in the Poms tour there a few months ago. He went at 10 an over in a coupla innings, but realised they can’t judge those shots consistently, but can’t help themselves not to play them. So the top order holed out and bottom fended.
I guess the Aussies have shown being able to tweak your plans can bring dividends! No doubt they’ll revert to the top of off throughout the series depending on the wickets.

It certainly is more suited to an exhibition match with Baz, Sehwag, Gilchrist, Warne (swinging for the fence on 99) etc, but harder to replicate when trying to find enough national players with those attributes at present. However the Poms appointed him on that basis and early success says it has merit, but neither McCullum or anyone in the Pommy hierarchy have claimed it’s the finished article, so dismissing it outright is fraught with premature ridicule. Sure ridicule the laughable Robinson, strutters like Brooks & Pope who haven’t proven anything of note against tough opponents, all of whom have suspect basic techniques to attempt to launch Bazball from, but this approach will have influence in up and comers, as well as Captains pushing for wins and backing their decisions. That will create evolution in Tests for all nations, which even the most staid parochial critic will grudgingly favour, especially if their team create thrilling finishes.
Why do I think that? Because as an Aussie, I believe the recent 2nd Test in New Zealand (Pommy like conditions) against the Bazball Poms was one of the most enjoyable Tests to watch in a decade from a non partisan standpoint. Followed up by the Edgbaston Test, albeit played in front of a large portion of the crowd being spectators, not fans, the cricket itself surely brought a smile to fans in other countries who see two approaches to the game ebb and flow to an enthralling conclusion and reinvigorate Tests in their minds too!
That’s a welcome, far cry from sneering at Test cricket and sanctimoniously declaring it is ‘now only a four day product at most’.