1st ASHES TEST: @ Edgbaston, Birmingham June 16-20, 2023

[Bazal]

Head you stupid f**k. That's the worst wicket so far

Warner troll is obvious

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Apologies for this lil tanty.

I’m loving the commentary.
They slurped the English cocks, who could do no wrong. Australia were failing, flailing and tut tut tut.
f**k em.
Uzi is a star, the weakness to spin crap got brought up again when he was facing Ali in the 50s. f**k off merkins.
Ponting - f**k me mate, you a Strayan or what!?! Mel Jones carping on about how England are in ascendancy. It felt like it was 1985 era Australia were touring.
Three days to go of this shit and my mute button is getting a real work out.

Cmon Uzi, Cmon Carey!

 

[Twizzle]

so much for Bazball ?

we have Oozieball

 

[simmo1]

First 4 wickets were very ordinary. Green not much better but a bit unlucky he got the only ball that actually did something off this dead wicket.

Great knock from Khawaja. Carey is having a good couple of tests with the bat.

 

[Sphagnum]

Bazball is like an infectious disease that invades your nethers and gives geriatric plodders like Moeen a bag of wickets.

to everyone’s credit, this game should definitely force a result either way.

 

[LeedsRhinos]

My thoughts ahead of todays play

 

[some11]

Pleasent surprise to wake up to. Thank f**k Khawaja has his head screwed on.

Imagine if the other plonkers didn't throw their wickets away.

 

[Chins get the wins]

Warner troll is obvious

Chopping on is worse than the shot Head played?

 

[Fangs]

Chopping on is worse than the shot Head played?

Both terrible shots having seen the highlights this morning.

Warner should ditch the drive. He should take guard on off stump, bat a metre outside his crease and play behind the wicket or legside.

 

[Fangs]

Very even game, disappointing that we didn't get more runs from our top four on this wicket.

Our tail has nothing. So these two need to get us to about 380-400. Anything else is a big bonus.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Its interesting/disturbing how Australia has gone backwards in the things we used to have an advantage with over other teams.

Rotating the strike/quick singles: the amount of times we hit the fielder or declined runs yesterday was very poor.
Running between the wickets in general has also declined.
Fielding: Smith and Green apart our fielding is no longer special. Too many blokes to hide, Khawaja, Head, Lyon. Our field placements are stock standard defensive as well.
Lower order batting. I've never seen such a long tail. Cummins has declined so far that he probably should be at 10. Even Starc is no longer capable of any meaningful runs.

 

[JokerEel]

Apparently it's going to rain today so probably a session and a half today.

I hope we bat it out but I don't see our attention spanning that far.

 

[TheParraboy]

Really need to try get approx 100 lead, preferably lot more if we can.

Some of our guys got themselves out rather than any good bowling , and Smiths dismissal was an ordinary DRS

Not sure we want or be chasing anything beyond 250 last innings

Anyhow I’m off the the Tina Turner musical tonight so will miss the first session. Hopefully we are still batting well after lunch

Test cricket simply the best

Edit : Just saw Jokers post that will rain today . Might not even miss a ball then

 

[Bazal]

Chopping on is worse than the shot Head played?

Both terrible shots but one was the opener and one was the guy we give a licence to counter attack.

 

[BunniesMan]

How good is test cricket. Evenly matched but we've been lucky. Bairstow had a horror day, and we've given away a few easy wickets. But Khawaja is a bloody legend, and he is the reason we are in with a chance of a 1st innings lead. We need Uzzie and Carey to get a big chunk of the remaining deficit because as others have said I don't fancy our tail anymore.

Anything from a 50 run deficit to a 100 run lead is in play. Also the rain will be a factor, if it just rains uninterrupted it might be better for us. But if it comes and goes and there is time for those annoying little sessions between periods of rain, in overcast conditions, we might just get skittled.

 

[Chins get the wins]

Both terrible shots but one was the opener and one was the guy we give a licence to counter attack.

Probably fair. Labs might have actually been the worst, the was such a nothing shot.

 

[Chins get the wins]

I couldn't have timed being off work waiting for spinal surgery any better. I've been able to watch every ball so far

 

[TheParraboy]

I couldn't have timed being off work waiting for spinal surgery any better. I've been able to watch every ball so far

hope all goes well mate

 

[Eelectrica]

With our tail as long as it is I don’t think Warner is a luxury we can continue to afford.
More miss than hit these days. Which ever option we choose I think would be better than going with Warner.

Marcus Harris replacing Warner could be a minor upgrade.
Renshaw didn’t failed in India. Higher ceiling than Harris. Has failed to grasp opportunities is might babe no improvement either.

Final option is Head to open and Marsh to 5. Two all rounders in the team though.

Bancroft hasn’t done that great in county cricket so not an option, setting everything else aside with Bancroft.

 

[Fangs]

With our tail as long as it is I don’t think Warner is a luxury we can continue to afford.
More miss than hit these days. Which ever option we choose I think would be better than going with Warner.

Marcus Harris replacing Warner could be a minor upgrade.
Renshaw didn’t failed in India. Higher ceiling than Harris. Has failed to grasp opportunities is might babe no improvement either.

Final option is Head to open and Marsh to 5. Two all rounders in the team though.

Bancroft hasn’t done that great in county cricket so not an option, setting everything else aside with Bancroft.

Head is the obvious option.

Marsh has done well with the ball in England. Averages 15. Unfortunately his batting average is even lower at 14. Risky using him in the middle order.

Neser is handy with the bat so he is absolutely getting a run in this series.