1st Ashes Test: Australia v England @ Gabba Dec 8-12, 2021

[BunniesMan]

Joe Root has never been great in Australia. He needs at least one big game changing dig on his resume to be truly considered a generational player.

There is still so much time left in this game. Both these blokes are in. If they both get hundreds all of a sudden it is game on.

BM knows

 

[hineyrulz]

*Blows

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Great batting by Ellen and Dagwood who have brought the draw back into play.

The pitch has become a typical day 3 pitch in Brisbane which is good for batting.

We're definitely carrying bowlers at the moment, Starc needs the new ball to do anything and even then it's a 50/50 proposition, Lyon is horrendous and Cam Green a work in progress. This of course is the same bowling line-up that got embarrassed by India in the last test we played.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

I actually think that the selectors need to bring in a second spinner into the squad, probably Swepson, just to show the BOAT that his spot in the team isn't a gimme.

Interesting article from cricinfo about how teams are playing him and shows he has no idea how to adapt:

Nathan Lyon plays the long game in quest for 400 Test wickets

Spinner's climb towards latest milestone has been arduous

www.google.com

 

[Twizzle]

The Boat

 

[Twizzle]

Never been a fan of Lyon, the selectors will bang on about his record (which is not really that good) and ignore the fact that he's a toothless tiger.

I can't ever recall him blowing us to victory in the last innings of a test match which is what he is there for, so many opportunities recently and he ends up with 1 for or none for in the last innings, yet we still keep picking him.

Surely someone else can see this, it's so obvious we need someone like Swepson to come in. He doesn't need to be a world beater to be better than Lyon.

 

[Twizzle]

lol

 

[The Lounge Lizard]

When will the Australian selectors ever learn that having a spinner in the team with the first name Nathan is fraught with danger?

Once upon a time there was a nobody called Hauritz. Lyon is slowly but surely approaching the dizzy lows of Hauritz, who should have taken a mechanics apprenticeship at his old man's workshop in Tiaro, Queensland.

 

[Eelectrica]

Nothing at all on Hazlewood? Seems really strange he didn't bowl in the afternoon when a few overs from him could have brought some results.

 

[The Lounge Lizard]

Never been a fan of Lyon, the selectors will bang on about his record (which is not really that good) and ignore the fact that he's a toothless tiger.

Lyon is the result of the breeding between a toothless tiger and a bald eagle.

 

[TheParraboy]

If we're chasing anything more than 120, we're toast.

Id say we can run down 250 if we have ton of time to do it

There doesnt appear to be any demons in the deck and should be fine for batting all the way through. Its getting better each day

Only getting out early due to stupidity from our main guns like Smith and Marnus will put us in a peril perhaps

Get poms out within 2 sessions today if we can. So the chase is around 100-150

 

[TheParraboy]

Shame SOK couldn't control his off field behavior, with multiple chances. Lyon gets nowhere near 400 test wickets if SOK got more tests, probably nowhere near 200

There literally has been no one else, other than the emergence of Swepson over the last couple of years. Tanveer Sangha looks the goods, but early days, played 2 Shield games. He would be worth a look at in the near future. Maybe worth a punt behind Swepson.

We are touring Asian countries basically in 2022. Id be taking all 3 mentioned spinners

I think Lyon has cost us more test wins than he has won for us. Is that harsh statement or close to the money?

 

[Tweed Titan]

But but but he's got 400 test wickets. Any Joe Blow first class offie would get 400 test wickets if they'd been given 6000 test matches like Lyon.

As far as I'm concerned if you are a specialist bowler and you average well over 30 in tests on a decent sample size you're probably a below average test bowler. Regardless of if you have 50, 100, 400 or more wickets. Lots of wickets at a bad average just means you've bowled lots of deliveries.

 

[Eelectrica]

Plan for England is simple. Get a 350 run lead, instead of declaring gift Lyon a bag full of wickets to ensure he stays in the team.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Shame SOK couldn't control his off field behavior, with multiple chances. Lyon gets nowhere near 400 test wickets if SOK got more tests, probably nowhere near 200

There literally has been no one else, other than the emergence of Swepson over the last couple of years. Tanveer Sangha looks the goods, but early days, played 2 Shield games. He would be worth a look at in the near future. Maybe worth a punt behind Swepson.

We are touring Asian countries basically in 2022. Id be taking all 3 mentioned spinners

I think Lyon has cost us more test wins than he has won for us. Is that harsh statement or close to the money?

O’Keefe wasn’t favoured even before his off field problems. He clearly had the best FC record of any spinner in Australia during the last 10 years.

But I think the real scandal has been the failure to produce a leg spinner post the Warne years.

 

[TheParraboy]

But but but he's got 400 test wickets. Any Joe Blow first class offie would get 400 test wickets if they'd been given 6000 test matches like Lyon.

As far as I'm concerned if you are a specialist bowler and you average well over 30 in tests on a decent sample size you're probably a below average test bowler. Regardless of if you have 50, 100, 400 or more wickets. Lots of wickets at a bad average just means you've bowled lots of deliveries.

Nathan Hauritz (yeah I know, bear with me) was punted for Lyon after 17 tests

The irony here is, after Lyon had 17 tests, his record was almost bang on identical to Hauritz

Both came into the test team averaging well over 40.00 per wicket in Shield, says it all

 

[herbert henry1908]

But but but he's got 400 test wickets. Any Joe Blow first class offie would get 400 test wickets if they'd been given 6000 test matches like Lyon.

As far as I'm concerned if you are a specialist bowler and you average well over 30 in tests on a decent sample size you're probably a below average test bowler. Regardless of if you have 50, 100, 400 or more wickets. Lots of wickets at a bad average just means you've bowled lots of deliveries.

Off spin has traditionally been a thankless task in Australia, not even Murali or Ashwin averaged below 30 here.

Lyon‘s career hasn’t been too bad, it’s just that he’s a one trick pony. If he isn’t getting nice flight on the ball then he’s totally impotent.

 

[Tweed Titan]

Hopefully Hazlewood can bowl today. It's going to be up to Hazlewood and Cummins to carry their passenger bowling team mates.

 

[Tweed Titan]

Off spin has traditionally been a thankless task in Australia, not even Murali or Ashwin averaged below 30 here.

Lyon‘s career hasn’t been too bad, it’s just that he’s a one trick pony. If he isn’t getting nice flight on the ball then he’s totally impotent.

He averages 32.3* (and rapidly rising) in tests worldwide not just Australia.

Maybe don't give an offie an automatic spot in the test team for 10 years then if off spin bowling doesn't work well in Australia?

 

[herbert henry1908]

He averages 32.3* (and rapidly rising) in tests worldwide not just Australia.

Maybe don't give an offie an automatic spot in the test team for 10 years then if off spin bowling doesn't work well in Australia?

I would‘ve had Okeefe in front of Lyon, but really they were the only two options. We’ve failed to produce decent spinners for ages now. Fwiw Lyon does average a tick below 30 overseas.

Finally we have another option on Swepson, he’s been bowling well the last 2-3 years. Hopefully his time is soon, because these second innings problems can’t continue.