3rd Ashes Test: England v Australia at Birmingham on Jul 29-Aug 2, 2015

[lockyno1]

I also still think Haze and Starc are our best good young bowlers, problem is being young they can be inconsistent and possibly too much score board watching and trying to get wickets every ball.

Maturity and patience needed and all this is a learning curve for these guys.

Starc...really. I'd almost rather have Siddle bowling than him. If this doesn't stop selectors picking blokes off no red ball form...really. Utterly terrible, no control, no pressure. Padding the stats getting number 10/11's out...meh.

If we want a left armer, Jason Behrendoff is better with good red ball form.

 

[lockyno1]

Amla is bog average?

Wouldn't listen to him. SA have a good lineup. Add Du Plessis to that too.

All sides have a couple of good bats.

 

[umina panther]

Cummins and Pattinson are better bowlers than Starc

 

[lockyno1]

Cummins and Pattinson are better bowlers than Starc

Plus Behrendoff plus a few other bowlers. Never seen a bowler gifted so many baggy greens than Starc!

 

[WaznTheGreat]

Pat Cummins can't even stay on the field for 5 mins without getting injured,people who can't stay on the field for more than 5 mins are not better than Starc

 

[Ibleedblue]

Cummins and Pattinson are better bowlers than Starc

Starc has taken 70 wickets in 20 tests not to bad of a record. I rate him a lot higher in the shorter format though.

 

[WaznTheGreat]

90% of the time when we lose its our batters fault,our bowlers are not the problem.

 

[Timbo]

Too much T20 cricket has ruined batsmens techniques. Alec Stewart was on the radio last night and he made an excellent point - when did we start talking about strike rates in tests? As recently as the late 90s scorecards on TV didn't show you how many balls a guy had faced in test cricket, they only put that up during ODIs.

Commentators talk about a high strike rate like it's the best thing since sliced bread. The game goes for five days, who cares how fast you score your runs?

 

[BunniesMan]

Timbo is spot on.

Assuming no rain there is time for each innings to go well over 100 overs. A team batting first should be aiming to go for 5 sessions.

We all like attacking test cricket but there is a balance and I feel the pendulum has swung too far. There's no discipline.

 

[Pete Cash]

We will be lucky if this test goes into lunch day 3. Both sides are guilty of some really, really dumb batting. Bell and Root from the English were appalling dismissals

Obviously Australia all sucked.

And the pitch wasn't moving that much. No wonder pitches are so flat. Cricketing boards are terrified of this happening.

 

[Red Bear]

An attacking batmen has good value. See Gilchrist, Hayden and the starts they got us off to. Can really swing momentum towards a side. But there's a need for decent balance in the lineup. other than Rogers (and, on first glance, Nevill), we lack a player really prepared to play with a bit of discipline. Guys who are older and should be able to have that role are wafting outside off as well and we're giving away wickets (under some good pressure bowling, granted). And Rogers is almost done.

If you have all slow scorers it can be hard to force results. If you have like our current lineup there are tests like this and cardiff we're a bit of discipline could've been an entirely different result. We need some players to balance out the game that Warner brings along (Smith is capable of changing gears, but still young, no one else at present inspires much confidence though).

 

[saint.nick]

test cricket batting standards have fallen way too far in the past decade...

 

[JJ]

Too much T20 cricket has ruined batsmens techniques. Alec Stewart was on the radio last night and he made an excellent point - when did we start talking about strike rates in tests? As recently as the late 90s scorecards on TV didn't show you how many balls a guy had faced in test cricket, they only put that up during ODIs.

Commentators talk about a high strike rate like it's the best thing since sliced bread. The game goes for five days, who cares how fast you score your runs?

Luminaries here have derided the likes of Kallis and Dravid for being slow for many years...

I know I am a fan boy - but Williamson and Root have shown that you can be a terrific player across all forms of the game with a sound technique and temperament - no need to play like McCullum or Warner.

 

[Pete Cash]

Hmm Root has a few technical issues especially in Australian/south African conditions.

 

[Pete Cash]

Like he is stuck on the back foot with a ludicrous baseball bat stance. Which means he is going to struggle to come forward against really fast bowling and on bouncy wickets he is going to end up driving on the up.

It brings up an interesting point. Australians moan about how our techniques transfer to England but the reverse is true. English batsman don't look to control the ball when playing a pull shot like Australians do so really good players of the pull shot like cook can get out in Australia. Same with the baseball bat stances English batsman have. They can't come forward as easily.

 

[JJ]

Like he is stuck on the back foot with a ludicrous baseball bat stance. Which means he is going to struggle to come forward against really fast bowling and on bouncy wickets he is going to end up driving on the up.

It brings up an interesting point. Australians moan about how our techniques transfer to England but the reverse is true. English batsman don't look to control the ball when playing a pull shot like Australians do so really good players of the pull shot like cook can get out in Australia. Same with the baseball bat stances English batsman have. They can't come forward as easily.

Yeah, fair enough - he has improved though

The English (and NZ) should continue to produce seaming wickets imo - sideways movement is a natural product of the damper conditions we have - certainly Indians and Australians don't always adjust well, but so be it

 

[WaznTheGreat]

Guys like Warner and Mcullum would average less than 10 if they tried to play properly like Boycott,Some players have to be aggressive to be successful,and on the end Kane Williamson and Joe Root would average less than 10 if they tried to play like Mcullum/Warner.

 

[JJ]

for sure, just thin strike rate in tests is generally overrated - in certain circumstances it is invaluable - in all likelihood Warner's innings yesterday was a non-event

 

[Johnnie Red]

If we can somehow get 150 run lead then we are in with a slim chance. If not then the game will be over by tea.

 

[WaznTheGreat]

1st Test fifty for Nevill,well done fella.