Yeah Renshaw would average less than 22 in his last 6 first class innings. Marnus no doubt is struggling for runs but you don’t average 60 in your first 3 years of test cricket by fluke. The lad can bat, but international test cricket ain’t easy and teams will work you out. But if you’ve averaged 60 for your first 3 years you are going to be good enough to get through your weaknesses that the opposition have worked out. Back 20 to 30 years ago you get dropped for someone like Lehmann Hayden Bevan etc that are averaging 50 plus in first class cricket. We don’t have that luxury at the moment or maybe anymore so persist unless it becomes diabolical which we are still 5 or 6 test matches away from

Captain and coach

Yeah the run out and the lead up was just so selfish of Jadeja. All he wanted was his hundred and he didn’t care about the guy on debut at the other end who was batting unbelievably well. It wasn’t just the run out but also the lead up. 2 overs earlier Jadeja defended to cover and took off for a dodgy single only to be sent back by Sarfaraz. Jadeja gave him the stare as if to say there was a run in that. A few balls later he defended again and took off in the same circumstances and Sarfaraz, who has probably idealised Jadeja for 10 years was never going to say no to him again and had to make a full length dive to make his ground. You would have thought that Jadeja would have woken up and thought to himself this blokes individual innings on debut is probably just as important as me getting a 100. I noticed he was still able to perform is sword act 2 minutes later when he brought up his ton. So poor

Not willing him to fail Don. If you watched he played and missed 9 times. Don’t trust the Oz cricket commentary. Follow cricinfo, much more description and a lot more accurate. He was all over the shop last night but the bottom line is he survived

For me it’s Bancroft. He was just starting to make his way as a test batsman in the Sandpaper test series. Pretty sure he was our leading scorer in that series up until then. He is pretty inspiring at Short leg as well, although more than a little stupid. Trying to catch full blooded pull shots from short leg without taking your eyes off the ball is pretty gutsy

Yeah the toss is crucial. I can see Australia posting a decent score and defending it, but our hopes nosedive if India bat first. Interesting that most of the teams at the start of the tournament were winning the toss and bowling but now everyone wants to bat first when they win the toss. How can they not work out at the start of the tournament that runs on the board puts pressure on the opposition.
Probably the closest India have come to a loss in this tournament was against Australia. If Mitch Marsh had of taken that easy catch of Kohli, India would have been 4 for 20 chasing 200 and it would have been very close to all over

Ellis is one. Give him a year of international cricket and watch him grow. Behrendorf another for a couple of years and Jhye Richardson would be a gun but his body won’t allow him

Cummins bowled a lot better than just ok. He was absolutely outstanding especially towards the back end when Neesham was going off. To be honest you couldn’t have too many arguments if he was given man of the match when you add in his batting. The quicks from both teams went for 391 from 41 overs at 9.5 an over excluding Cummins and Cummins went for 10 overs for 66 with 2 wickets. It’s not easy for the quicks over there. It’s been a really good comeback from the Aussies after our first 2 games but I get the feeling our bowling isn’t going to be good enough to win 2 finals. Most teams are bowling 30 overs of spin and we are bowling only 20. Think this will be the reason if we don’t go all the way

Unreliability of Warner. Think you are getting the red ball mixed up with the white one. He’s been our best bat in the past 6 weeks. Super consistent and going at a good rate for the majority

A bit harsh Echo but a few good points. Carey is woefully out of form and even when he is in form he is way too similar to Labuschagne and Smith. He has to go for Inglis who can be dynamic coming in at 6 or 7. We need another spinner but that can’t happen now unless there is an injury. Head will make a massive difference to team balance when he’s back. Green chews up too many balls and can’t work the singles. All good if you are 15 off 25 if you go on and make 50 odd off 40 odd like he did last warm up game but that only happens one in 6 innings. When Head is back I’d go with
Head
Warner
Smith
Labuschagne
Marsh
Inglis
Maxwell
Cummins/Agar
Starc
Zampa
Hazlewood
If Agar was in the squad you’d take Cummins out and put him in and in my opinion that would be hard to beat

Yeah excepting a 2-2 draw is hard to except. Better than losing 5-0 though I suppose

Since 1989 Australia have won 55 tests to England’s 24. You can have your 2-2 draws in England

Would have been nice if the ball they swapped late in the day was similar to the one they were using. No way that ball was similar and it played like a ball that was virtually new. That ball is going to be a challenge for 10 overs, unless that last 2 overs in the drizzle with it, makes it a bit heavy

It’s going to be really interesting how the changeover happens between Murphy and Lyon. Lyon has said he’s still keen to be playing in the next ashes in England, but far out we don’t want Murphy playing shield cricket for the next 4 years with the odd tour of the sub continent. This is a big call because Lyon has obviously been a star for a long time, but I think Murphy could end up better. He bowls accurate like Lyon, he already has more variations, and changes his speed a lot without any change in his action. Well as far as I can pick up. I don’t know how it’s going to work, but it would be totally wrong for the future if Murphy is left in the wilderness for a long time. He’s too good to let that happen

I agree we are ahead in the game right now, but I’m still worried. Im just not sure we are going well enough at the moment. We have been good this series but certainly not great. We have had chance through the first 3 tests to really put them away at stages but haven’t. They would probably think the same about themselves. Here is another chance tonight. We have our best 3 batsmen at the crease now with the other coming in next. One of them needs to make a 100, preferably a big one. Personally I don’t think we will get much from Head. He’s had a good series but I think they have him at the moment. Another chance to really nail a test tonight. 6 for 380 at stumps pretty please

It actually would have been 15-0 from last 3 series but weather cost Australia in a Sydney test and Melbourne test

That was t meant to be question marks either. I’m having a shocker lol

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Sorry about doing this twice. The first post didn’t go through initially so I did it again. Lol

Well said knightwatchman. I was at the pub Friday night before the start of the third day and a few of us were saying that we hoped day 4 and 5 would be washed out. Our major concern though was the possibility of losing by the end of day 3. It’s been said by a number of media people that the Poms should have declared by lunch on day 3, but i honestly thought that they should have been looking at declaring 30 minutes before lunch and sending us in for 4 or 5 overs. They lead by 67 overnight and I thought they’d tea off virtually from the start, aim to go at 8 to 10 an over for 15 overs and lead by 200 to 230 and have a crack just before lunch. If they got bowled out before then so be it, get bowling, you need 10 wickets to win. I couldn’t believe it when they went at 4 to 5 an over in that first session. I thought they knew inside info about the weather day 4 and 5 that I didn’t know. Instead they bat until after drinks in the middle session which left them only 35 to 40 overs to have us 4 for 110. That’s nearly 2 hours lost. They could have had us at least 8 down especially as the outfield was dry so the ball was swinging. If they had us 8 for, they would have got the extra 30 minutes, so that’s 2.5 hours they lost to potentially wrap the match up, so they weren’t relying on the weather the last 2 days. The declaration on day one of the first test was an even worse decision from Stokes. If I was England I’d be hiring a declaration coach instead of coming across once again as the whinging poms

Well said Knightwatchman. I was at the pub on Friday night before the start of day 3, and a few of us were talking that hopefully rain would wash out a lot of day 4 and 5. But we were all a touch worried that the game could be over by the end of day 3. A lot of people have been saying that England should have declared at lunch, by I honestly thought they should have been going for the win on day 3 and had in there mind to declare and send us in for 5 or 6 overs before lunch. England’s lead was 67 overnight. They should have been looking to go at 8 to 10 an over for the first 15 overs and had a lead of about 200 to 230. If they got bowled out earlier so be it. We were pretty gobsmacked that they were only going at 4 to 5 an over. As it turned out they only had 35 or so overs at us at the end of day 3 and still had us 4 for 110. They lost nearly 2 hours by batting conservatively at the start of the day. In that 2 hours they could easily have had us 8 down as the outfield was dry and the ball was swinging. Had they had us 8 down they would have got an extra 30 minutes, as a result by the end of the day was very possible. So that’s 2.5 hours they lost to bowl us out day 3. Stokes made a big blue and to most of us it is blatantly obvious. His declaration in the first test was even worse and he cost them the game there for sure. I’d be appointing a declaration coach if I was the poms and that might stop all the ridiculous pommie whinging

You should try working out the rules of rugby Union. I was never brought up on Rugby, but have barely missed a wallabies game in the past 25 years and I’ve still got no idea on some of the rulings, and half the time neither do the commentators who have played the game all their lives

I’d look to play a wicket keeper though pierro but not Johnny Bairstow

Probably not the exact way you’d want to retain the ashes, but if I was told before the series we’d win the first 2 tests in close games, lose the third in a close one, get smashed in the fourth but saved by rain, and then smashed in the fifth for a 2-2 draw I would have taken it. And yet the fifth test hasn’t been played, and you just get the feeling that this little escape will give our guys a massive leg up for the 5th test. Big chance for a 3-1 result.
I wonder what the English newspapers have to say who ran with the “karma stories” after we lost the 3rd test. Man, this is karma served up at its best. Yippee

The day 4 weather forecast was pretty similar to what the day 5 forecast says now, so I wouldn’t be saying that.
Labuschagne and Marsh did an awesome job last night but potentially we could still be up against it. New ball 9 overs away, so if England get 30 overs in it gives them every chance still