Cricket chat
Great, smart century from Mitchell Marsh. Had the strength of Stokes but seemed smarter with more singles and twos.
Wood 5-30 something was some very strong bowling.
Did you see how much the ball was moving? Very entertaining.
Best commentary line I heard before bed was
'Stokes, Woakes, blokes and folks..."
He's not an overly tall fellow, I don't know how he summons the pace. He does fall over a bit once the ball is delivered so I suppose he dials it up to 11
Woakes did well too, 4 wickets or so.
Where were these guys for England in the last 2 tests?
Also: English fielding was appalling. Catches win matches. And Ashes series. They dismissed about 15 wickets but failed to catch 4 or 5 of them.
Reckon Wood would be about the same height as Akhtar, VJ.
Would have been a very different series so far if he and/or Archer had been available throughout.
R.e. Marsh, amazing what a lack of pressure can do (he surely knows he'll be dropped again once Green is back, so nothing to lose!)
Archer is finished isn't he? Hasn't played a test in 2yrs, missed last 2 ashes and now has same elbow injury again ruling him out for the summer? Think that's the last we'll see of him in tests unfortunately.
Yeah I suspect you're right. Outside chance he can recover, but he's probably better off ditching the red ball and focussing on the franchise $$$.
An alternative reality where he managed to get himself fit would have been very interesting.
Agreed. Jimmy might not have played a game if he and Wood were both fit from the start :)
"Did you see how much the ball was moving? Very entertaining."
Yep it was very entertaining alright. The swinging ball combined with a fast wicket that has got good carry and bounce. Certainly showed up the previous two wickets. I watched Marsh's complete innings and it really was something else. To come in with Aus in all sorts and still completely back himself was amazing. He rode his luck and made them pay dearly.
First session tonight should be a ripper.
Good morning session,4 wickets for 70 odd runs. Murphy is bowling well, Cummins and Starc on fire.
Agreed Blackers.
Stokes looks like he’s in some serious trouble with multiple injuries. He might come out swinging after lunch.
If he can! Hip flexor might slow him down. Robinson has a back strain apparently so may be over quickly.
Mind you, the way Wood has come out, it may be a quick but expensive.
Why don’t they bowl at the stumps to tail enders anymore? Does my head in!
You'd reckon it would be a no brainer. But the Baz seems to have taken over from common sense.
Lucky they got Stokes out, he hits the ball so cleanly, Could have been another 150+
@NDC did you manage to make it to this test?
Would love to hear your experience from on the ground.
Big day today. If the Aussies didn't lose the top order so cheaply, they would be in the box seat. Now it's evenly balanced I reckon. Whoever gets on top in the morning will go on to win. I suspect the poms would think they have a sniff now...
Be interesting to see how the Aussies approach it. Has losing those wickets got in their heads?
Let's see
Pretty exciting, constant wickets and tail enders having a smack at it - sounds a bit like Bazball. I thought seeing Stokes & Broad in again was like a replay of Lords, didn't last as long though. Both top orders have failed at times and someone in the middle digs it out.
I'd be thinking Australia can win this one at present, and the Ashes, with Marsh in based on his first innings.
Wonderful test match so far.
The Marsh/Head partnership is obviously crucial and hopefully Carey can get a few.
Might come down to whoever can hold their catches.
Any coincidence that we have a pace friendly wicket for the first time in the series now that Woakes and Wood are fit and in the team?
GuySmiley wrote:
Any coincidence that we have a pace friendly wicket for the first time in the series now that Woakes and Wood are fit and in the team?
C'mon GS. That wouldn't be in the spirit of cricket....
Don't they schedule the venues years in advance?
And which curator would deliberately produce a lacklustre pitch? I don't know enough to know if Lords or the first location have a rep as being this way - is it like the Gabba being a certain way, the WACA benefiting swing once the wind comes in, or being hot, flat and bouncy?
My understanding is that most host teams try an influence the respective venues according to what would suit their style of play/team etc and whilst winning means $$ the venues themselves want test matches to go at least 4/5 days to maximise their earning potential.
Rabbits68 wrote:
My understanding is that most host teams try an influence the respective venues according to what would suit their style of play/team etc and whilst winning means $$ the venues themselves want test matches to go at least 4/5 days to maximise their earning potential.
Yep and yep to your last 2 comments R68
Well they've got that and international controversy so far this ashes!
Also: how nice that Murphy's first (?) Ashes wicket was that of Stokes. A good moment for him.
Yeah bummer about the rain,
Stoked for Murphy VJ. Funny the songs the crowd were singing about him. If I heard him say correctly “you’re a shit Moen Ali & a shit Harry Potter”! Haha!
Oh that's terrible. Haha. My bro once got an Eagle forward to pull a finger at him during a match lol
What about Warner grinning like a Cheshire cat upon dismissal?
Classic VJ.
Yeah Warner’s demeanor did seem odd. He’s well & truly under Broad’s spell.
What about the sign at the MCG during an Ashes test: Gladstone Small The man with no neck!
Bloody rain....
As far as pitches are concerned, I think each ground has its own characteristic. Perth - pace and bounce, SCG- spin, etc.
And then each country has its own characteristic, which is then manipulated to according whatever the strength or weakness of the team is at the time.
I've often thought that there should somehow be independently prepared wickets according to the groundsman with no input from the countries involved.
Don't know how that would work though..
Agreed, the different grounds have different characteristics. I think it is as it should be, home ground advantage is just that. Variation keeps it interesting.
As for local conditions, the English have won the lottery this time. Australia batting under overcast skies, damp pitch, huge movement through the air and off the pitch. Just made for English swing bowlers. Then the sun comes out when they are batting.. It’s going to be tough to win from here.
blackers wrote:
Agreed, the different grounds have different characteristics. I think it is as it should be, home ground advantage is just that. Variation keeps it interesting.
As for local conditions, the English have won the lottery this time. Australia batting under overcast skies, damp pitch, huge movement through the air and off the pitch. Just made for English swing bowlers. Then the sun comes out when they are batting.. It’s going to be tough to win from here.
I agree with all of this but I think the pitches for the first two tests were curated perhaps more than normal conditions to blunt the Australian quicks and the fact it backfired on the poms makes the victories all the more impressive.
It’s difficult to see Australia getting up in the current test falling under the category of a bloody miracle if they do.
blackers wrote:
Agreed, the different grounds have different characteristics. I think it is as it should be, home ground advantage is just that. Variation keeps it interesting.
As for local conditions, the English have won the lottery this time. Australia batting under overcast skies, damp pitch, huge movement through the air and off the pitch. Just made for English swing bowlers. Then the sun comes out when they are batting.. It’s going to be tough to win from here.
100%
Given the way the first two and half tests have played out hopefully there are a few twists left in this one.
A bit more stumping controversy today:
https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/cricket-furore-explodes-as-india-…
That's hilarious VJ, he should have done it before over was called. One of the key requirements I would have thought. Nothing like a good furore, but it helps to get the basics right.
To do it to the dirty stinking poms is fair game and should be encouraged, and applauded....to do it to the poor ol battling Windies shows a saddistic streak!
Sport runs red in tooth and claw, SR :)
Was down your way recently, climbed some mountains, beautiful in the winter.
haha. It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eyeball VJ,..or a wicket in a fantastic stumping!! :-P
Yeah thought i saw you say something about being over this side.
Glad you got to experience some of nature's wonderland again, especially at this time of year. Definitely my favourite time here.
Yeah for sure, it's so nice. Really has a Tassie/Vic national park feel in places, with it's own unique plants which looked so healthy too. Got a family member with disability who wants to get to the top of things, and we did get up a bit and their confidence shone! Did a coastal cliff walk too that was epic, I can see how you guys can look down on the GWS migrating for eg. Saw whales again but at further distance. And a certain spot was cranking.
Question: my memories of south coast foredunes from 30 years ago - are they more eroded out now? Do beachies such as the nana one now have a more shallow flat sandbar impact zone? I remember way out east on that beach it being very deep underneath me. Is there marram in the foredunes there? Was suspecting the foredune steepening I see in Vic was also happening on south coast. Maybe there has been big swells?
Sounds unreal VJ. And a great experience for your family member too. Yeah, it has alot of healing energy down here in the natural envioronment...I think it's got something to do with the immense scale of things. Trees, waves, ocean, cliffs, erm..sharks....even this whole side of the country...it's huge!
I'm probably the wrong person to ask about 30 years ago as i wasn't here then, but having seen some old pics just recently of my home stretch, it's clear theres been alot of natural erosion from oceanic movements. Not so sure about that stretch you talk about though.
What i can say though is that the beaches and sand move around drastically here. It can carve a flat beach into a 3 or 4m high sand dune in just one swell, but then come back in summer and the sand is all stacked up again. So yeah, probably just swell energy.
Always welcome for a cuppa if you're back over this way again.
No worries thank you! And you the same for our place. We did notice that one coast walk had it's entry in the dunes eaten away, so had to go around and ad lib via some wallaby tracks. Yes it's extremely powerful and big down that way - everything; and you are right on the energy and healing energy. Our fella will want to walk further and higher next time, so about this time next year, for sure.
Are the dunes down there infested with marram? Cos if not I just had the feeling I'd seen an effect of the climate changing. With such huge variability as you mention, I'm not so sure - especially after 3 years of La Nina.
Epic. Cheers VJ!
Re. the Marram, i haven't noticed it away from the more popular beaches but definitely has a hold in some of the beaches where they've tried to stabilize and obviously failed. Nothing can ever stop a big swell!
I tend to stay away from the main tourist beaches here so can report that the more untouched ones still remain coastal heath and scrub.
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