Maybe Cummins just bowls him the amount he does because he doesn’t want him to break down. Smart captaincy I’d say. And let’s not forget that when Lyon broke down at Lords and Cummins had no choice but to bowl Green for 22 overs in the test, that’s exactly what did happen when he tweaked his hamstring.

That worries me too, although the top order handled him pretty well. I could be wrong with this but I reckon he may have only got Khawaja in the first innings. Not sure he took another top 7 wicket for the test

That is a fair point, but the difference we have now is Mark Wood. That sheer pace is just so hard to face for those guys in the lower order. I fear that we are going to be 6 out all out for the remainder of the series unless it gets strengthened. Broad Woakes, Wood and even Tongue have shown that they can hang around for 20 to 50 balls with the recognised batter. I’m not so confident ours will be able to do that now that Wood is in there team

We did win at lord’s without a spinner. We still needed 19 wickets when Lyon went down. As you’ve mentioned Jeff we need to see what the pitch is like and what the overhead conditions will be like through the test. From what I can see with the Manchester weather forecast is a lot of rain from now until the start, and rain around for the first 3 days. We don’t want Murphy playing if the damage is going to be done by the quicks and he doesn’t bowl much again. Not just because having a fourth really good quick suited to the conditions, which is obviously the most important, but he strengthens our tail considerably. As I mentioned somewhere else yesterday, the only reason England are still in this series is because of there tail. And the only reason we haven’t won the ashes yet is because of our tail

I think if you weren’t going to pick Murphy Bush you’d have to play Maxwell. You need some overs of spin and Maxwell is better than Head and is probably equal to Joe Root who was there sole spinner at lords. If Maxwell was to play I think they would have to drop Warner. Obviously I can’t see it happening but it wouldn’t be the worst team if it did.
Khawaja
Labuschagne
Marsh
Smith
Head
Green
Maxwell
Carey
Neser
Starc
Cummins
That’s 2 ok spinners and 3 quicks that get it up to 140 plus and 2 quicks that are 130 plus. It would depend on conditions. If it’s looking overcast for a fair amount of the test and there is grass on the wicket, then Murphy might not get much of a bowl anyway. Personally I think there will be grass on the wicket because England are going to want a 4 day test at the most in case a day is wiped out by rain. If there is grass and overcast Neser would be as dangerous as Hazlewood. You’ve got 5 fast bowlers there that can take wickets and Carey 8, Neser 9, Starc 10 and Cummins 11 would be the best tail we have ever had. The reason England are still in this series is because of there tail and the reason we haven’t won it yet is because of our tail

Not as silly as it sounds Matt. Does Green and Marsh as 2 bowlers together cover Boland or Hazlewood as 1 bowler? Maybe not quite, but having Marsh at 6, Green at 7 and Carey at 8 might tip the ledger ahead that it comes out as a win. I think if we had Lyon to hold up an end it would be a great idea. Even still I’m not against it

That’s true Bush but maybe that behaviour played a part in the long room abusing the Australian players. I think personally if Broad hadn’t carried on like that and Stokes and Mccullum didn’t whinge about it in the media it would have blown over a lot quicker than it has.
I think all supporters in whatever sport they follow can be biased towards their team in some way. The answer to this situation in my opinion is that I have only heard Brad Hogg say what Australia did was wrong. But if you look on the England side of things, Atherton, Peiterson, Hussein, Strauss, Vaughan and Morgan, all recent past captains of England, have all said what Carey did wasn’t against the spirit of cricket and was actually very smart cricket. Broad has been caught up in the emotion of what happened and I’m pretty confident that down the track he will look at the opinions of these past captains and think to himself, far out I carried on like a pork chop back then

And apparently Mccullum has just said he will not be having a beer with the Australian team tonight. I’m sure the Aussies will cope ok without him

Pretty sure kuhneman is out with a back stress fracture

Yeah poor by Stokes. If you go and watch junior cricket which I have been involved with for 4 years, the keeper throws the ball at the stumps like that once every 4 overs. But the 14 year old batsmen aren’t dumb enough to leave there crease. Tells you a bit about Bairstow’s intelligence level. Out every day of the week

Na, don’t give them a chance. 400 in 4 sessions the game is over by tea day 5 with how they bat. Whether they get the runs or we bowl them out. Be 400 at tea and smack 80 in 10 or 12 overs and make them chase 480 from a day and 20 odd overs. Just please don’t lose 8 for 130 tonight and give them 350 to chase

Agree James, and a lot of your fielding is based around your keeper. In the majority of circumstances if your keeper does well, your team fields well. Carey has turned into the best gloveman in the world. A year ago I had some serious doubts. His keeping in the three tests so far have been unbelievable. And he’s making handy runs nearly every time he bats. Now he has to start turning his 20’s,30’s 40’s and 50’s into 70 plus scores. Bairstow is deplorable. Did anyone see the ball that missed Khawaja’s leg stump by not much and the ball went for 4 byes with Bairstow not even bothering to try he was so far away from it.

Very well said Oz. Warner is averaging 35 so far this series but the situations and conditions he has batted in I reckon his average is worth at least 50. So far, and I say so far, the selectors have been proven right to pick him. A lot of people on this site, with good reason were saying he should not be in England. But, if you look at all the past legends of the game, they were all saying Warner is a must for the ashes. From Ian Chappell, Hayden, Langer Border etc etc. Khawaja has averaged 90 so far this series so his average is worth about 120 lol. He has been clearly our best batter the past 2 years and probably second best in the world behind Root. Game still on here. We don’t want to lose 8 for 130 and give them a chance of making 350

Yeah I could not believe what I was seeing when Brook played that shot in the situation they were in. Thank god an Aussie hasn’t played a shot like that. As a supporter, I can handle losing if the team gives it all they’ve got and try and get through tough situations. If technically you weren’t good enough then so be it I’ll cop it on the chin. But the way they batted this innings would have to be a big kick in the guts as an English supporter

They had hit 50 odd off the previous 4 overs. They had 7 overs left in the day. They could have made another 70 and declared overnight when they woke in the morning of day 2 and saw a heap of cloud cover. If they made between 420 and 460, at worst they come away with a draw. 0-0 going to lords gives them a heck of a lot more of a chance to regain the ashes than where they sit right now

Cmon Geoff, of course the declaration cost them. It was ridiculous and arrogant. They may not have won the test but they wouldn’t have lost it. My maths says if this was a draw they’d be a lot more of a chance to regain the ashes from 0-0 than 0-1

Agree with that James. Day one was an absolute road. No swing no seem. Nathan Lyon kept us in the game. To take 4 wickets as an off spinner on day one was just massive. Then day 2 that first session was extremely tough to bat. Not enough has been said about the luck England had at the toss. It was a massive toss to win. Crystal balling, but I could see Australia 2 or 3 for 320 at stumps if we win that toss on that wicket. Another big factor in regards to Bazball is that with the pace that they score at, how are there bowlers going to feel heading into the third fourth and fifth test? We scored 2 more runs than them for the game, yet there bowlers bowled more than 60 overs then ours. That’s got to hurt and the back end of the series if not earlier. England can certainly come back, but they must be scratching there heads knowing that Marnus and Smithy combined for a total of 35 runs for the match. I can’t see that happening again

I wouldn’t be saying happy days yet. A wicket in the first half hour and we will struggle to make there score. Brilliant from Khawaja though. Call me a traditionalist but to me that is proper test match batting. I’d prefer to watch a 126 off 279 any day over a Harry Brook 100 off 80. Khawaja’s innings was a true test of skill temperament and the want to succeed for your team and country. I wonder how Ben Stokes is now feeling about his declaration. England in my eyes are still favourites but if they lose this, that declaration will go down as the worst declaration in cricket history

It’s basically out of Starc and Hazlewood for last spot. Boland is a lock. I have no doubt Starc will get the nod. At the end of the day Starc has been playing non stop for 2 years and Hazlewood virtually hasn’t played. Hard to pick a bloke that could do his groin in his first spell in front of a guy that rarely gets injured and has averaged 25 since the last ashes in England

Agree James choosing to bowl perhaps wasn’t the right decision but the way the ball was hooping around in that first session, if they had of bowled better they could have had us 5 for at lunch and be right on top at the moment. Warner and Labuschagne were outstanding. Labuschagne’s tactics were also very smart. He was batting a foot outside his crease which meant that the one that seamed back in a long way was either going to be going down leg or hitting him outside the line of off stump.

Agree with that Targa, the partnership between Labuschagne and Warner was nearly as crucial as Head and Smith. That was extremely tough batting conditions in that first session, and for Smith to only have to bat for 5 minutes in that session and Head not at all was massive. Warner’s 40 was worth 80 yesterday

Great summary Tempo

Why didn’t someone ask him what his excuse was for the previous ashes trip to Australia in 17/18? Or the one before that. In the previous 3 series in Australia, they have lost 13-0. In both the drawn tests they would have been clean swept but were saved by rain. In 4 of the past 5 series in Australia, England have lost 18-0 which would have been 20-0 of it wasn’t for poor Sydney and Melbourne weather. Don’t think the covid bubbles had too much to do with them

Yeah and he will most likely face that same bowler in the tests, but for longer periods, plus another one who has taken 700 test wickets, and the other one who has taken 600 test wickets. All good to get through Robinson up one end but when you’ve got another 2 who are just as good or if not better, you don’t get a reprieve

Not sure if I’m being a bit harsh but I would have liked to have seen Smith and Labuschagne getting out in different manners than LBW. I could be wrong but think they may have been out LBW the last 5 times they have batted between them. I know they have made runs which is great, but the bowling they will face in the 6 test matches is going to be on a different level. That shuffle across still worries me