While I’m in a ranty old mood, remember when a test match finished and you had over a week to wait for the next one? OK, those players would not rest but play county cricket, but international fixtures are another thing entirely. These matches are just coming too quickly. The second half of back-to-back games can produce extremely poor quality matches.
But we don’t care. It’s all about England winning. So post away. Enjoy the game. Add your comments below. It’s cricket. It’s the Ashes. Enjoy. It’s just the 14th test between the two teams in 24 months! It’s special! Let’s have more of it…..
Comments below. I’ll be at work. SE London doesn’t have an underground network. Life is a laugh, ain’t it?
Being Outside Cricket 
And so it begins. Pietersen baiting from the off in The Guardian:
there is Adam Lyth (on the receiving end of a constructive pep-talk from keen England fan Kevin Pietersen this week),
Obsessives.
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I genuinely ignore the OBO completely now. It bears about as much resemblance to the vintage one as Kanye West did to the Mothership/Family Stone on Saturday at Glastonbury.
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Early exchanges:
Botham reckons it’s a result pitch and the team winning the toss should bowl first.
Atherton and Ponting reckon the pitch has a green tinge but is also cracked and that it isn’t an easy decision to know what to do.
Holding (and now Warne and Hussain) reckon that Finn should take the new ball after England appeared to announce yesterday Wood would take it.
Weather looks overcast but dry. Weather forecast for the game very similar to Edgbaston (some chance of first day showers but otherwise no rain in sight although fairly cloudy and no heatwave).
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Holding knows more about fast bowling than I. If he thinks Finn is a better bet, it’s hard to disagree.
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Does anyone think Wood is a huge risk because of injury?
We are missing our strike bowler, and we are relying on a guy, Finn, who has been in the wilderness for the last 2 years. Yes, he had a great comeback, but who knows how long that will last. And we are now adding a guy who they didn’t think was fit 3 days ago with an injection.
This has the potential to go horribly wrong. I hope Moeen, Broad and Stokes are ready to bowl 75 overs a day between them. They may have to.
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Going ok so far… 😉
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From cricinfo: “The word coming from the ground is that it will be one Marsh for another in the Australia side with Shaun replacing Mitchell.”
Blimey. English respondents certainly a lot happier than Australian ones as well…
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So essentially a batsman for an all-rounder?
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Can’t see a viable fifth bowler option: recipe for disaster if even one frontline bowler goes missing, never mind a repeat of Edgbaston.
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Very odd decision. Bet that’ll go down well in the Marsh’s family home! Marsh for Voges was the obvious choice wasn’t it?
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Pushed the wrong button – seems like a desire to shore up the Aussie batting. Mitch Marsh doesn’t bowl that much, but if England manage a partnership, it could put wear on the bowlers. You wonder if it would have been a better bet to swap Voges out…
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I really thought they’d pick Siddle for Starc as well. If Starc doesn’t step up I think that’s the Ashes gone, especially without a Watson/Marsh (dry/partnership breaker) style fallback
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Based on the reaction, I think this is the Australian equivalent of Ahmedabad. Except they’re 2-1 down and in the last chance saloon. Really a very strange one.
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I guess they plan to bowl Lyon all innings at one end after the new ball has gone a bit soft…
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Starc is carrying an ankle injury since Cardiff which is tending to be forgotten.
Voges, Warner, Smith and (fitness allowing) Clarke could all bowl a few fill-in overs but it’s not the decision I’d have made.
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Astonishing. They printed my first post. Bet they won’t print this though:
‘Forgive me, but if Guardian correspondents are so concerned about the pressure on Adam Lyth, why did The Guardian reprint the article with an egregious headline that took Pietersen’s comments out of context? Surely, The Guardian is read by more folk than a Paddy Power blog isn’t it? You’re not being very consistent, Nick.’
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It’s a no brainier Paul. You criticised their editorial judgement. That will not be tolerated.
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Cook wins toss and bowls. Says it wasn’t a straightforward decision. England team as expected (including confirmation Wood will take the new ball).
Clarke evaded what he’d have done. Arron’s tip about the team confirmed. Clarke confirms he bats at No.5.
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I reckon Aus will be happy to bat. The pitch won’t do as much, Anderson isn’t here. This is their chance to seize the initiative. A good 1st innings has won each match so far…
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If this goes wrong, and it could big time, how many journalists will gloss over Cooks descion? We know they will fawn all over him if it goes right.
Surely England had an opportunity to bat first and put Aus under huge pressure. Have to bowl them out for less than 300 now or it will be a bad call with England having to bat last.
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By the way, Sir Ian Botham wants to bowl almost every time there is any tinge of green in the pitch.
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To be fair, I’d back Botham in his younger days any time there was a tinge of green…
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Swann just said ‘Alistair Cock’ not cook by accident (freudian slip?)
Made me giggle (I need it as I’m sat in an office 100 yards away from TB today wishing I had actually got tickets!
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Don’t tell the ECB Andy, They willl want to put up the prices!
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So TMS has a 30 second delay – I heard the roar through the window so knew to pay attention
Rogers out to Broad
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It’s his 300th wicket as well.
Congratulations to Broad!
Smith out as I write…….
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That must be really odd. I listen to TMS and because Sky is delayed I turn and watch interesting deliveries.
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Another out
Broad again
10/2 Smith out
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ffs Australia, try at least….Broad was right about Smith, get him early on a seaming wicket….10-2 Broad two wickets in the first over.
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2 in one over – who needs anderson……
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3 in 8 balls and Blowers is about to spontaneously combust!
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Marsh at 4…
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possibly another (wait 30 seconds)
Warner
10/3 to wood
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Wood just got Warner.
I’m an idiot. Botham is a genius!
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Nope, a stopped clock is right twice a day. Botham spouts so much nonsense that one of his predictions have to come true
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This is sub-1985 crap from Australia. Taking no pleasure whatsoever in this series, because I know what’s coming round the corner.
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Said to my brother last night that England should win the series 4-1. I’ve been disappointed with what has gone on here with the Aussies. I suspected the batting would be fragile but lordy. …
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oh yes, we were right, Cook is a genius blah blah blah.
The thing is at Edgbaston, when wickets were taken they often ran to Root first, and I still believe that the players have been informed of Cook’s decision to retire the captaincy (to concentrate on his batting).
The problem is that 4-1 will potentially make him change his mind (until we get hammered in Pakistan and South Africa). However in a way, him hanging on until then would be better for Root’s development.
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The fact this is currently such a humiliation indicates the fatal flaws Australia have.
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Is this turning into the England 2006 tour for Australia??
Lost Harris before it begins
Dropped Watson after 1
Dropped Marsh for Marsh after 2
Dropped Haddin
Captain changed in the batting order
I hope Clarke bats well and makes a game of it.
To quote Stephen Fleming, you can’t lose a match in the first session bowling first, you can lose a match in the first session batting first.
Even as I write this, Stephen Fleming’s words become prescient.
Marsh gone….
15/4
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so……
Broad gets another, marsh gone
15/4
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Andy, you are obviously on Radio and me on Sky. You are beating me every time with the delay.
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Broad just got another. Marsh out 15/4
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Four down in the third over. This is all kinds of bonkers.
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Run rate good though! Might struggle to bat all 20 overs… 🙂
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voges gone
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England need 2 more wickets – we don’t want either Clark or Voges batting themselves into form.
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Don’t judge a pitch until both teams. ….Oh leave it they’re done like a roast chicken in the oven for ten days.
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Great catch from Stokes.
21/5
What a difference a new bowling coach makes. (One for the Selvey fans)
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A Collingwoodesque catch from Stokes.
This is a bit insane. I wish I was more excited.
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Yes, it’s an odd feeling.
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Indeed. The saddest thing is that I should be really excited by this performance. But Cook has become like Gooch and Gatting for me – no doubting their cricketing prowess, but as human beings they make me lose interest in any organisation they are part of.
All out for 60. And a great weariness falls. Thanks to the ECB and their supporters for killing what small joy inside me came from cricket.
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Have to agree, I am very excited that we have torn through Australia, but its all the other crap that accompanies it that I am dreading.
Amusing, Blowers just called Hazelwood, Hazelcrack on TMS, not sure why
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You got it NorthernLight (nice to see you by the way). I really find it difficult to understand anyone getting excited by this absolute nonsense. There’s a *much* bigger picture.
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re Hazelwood / Hazelcrack
This was something Blowers discussed in a previous test. He has a friend with the surname Hazelcrack and miss called hazelwood – then it was discussed for about 2 hours and the name stuck
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oh man, Ben Stokes has just taken an amazing catch, Broad’s face is a picture, the ball was almost behind him and this is probably up there with a Jonty Rhodes special.
I just joked on the phone with my mate that we could see an innings in a session, but if this continues I could be right.
The pitch doesn’t look unplayable, a bit spicy, but it does show that as we’ve seen since 2005, Australians don’t play seaming deliveries that well
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My god, they’ve matched the England v McGrath score from Lord’s 2005.
Bet they don’t make 190 though. Not sure I’d even bet on 90.
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Actually, we made 155 in response to 190, didn’t we? All right then, bet they don’t make 155. Not sure I’d even bet on 55.
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Not looking good if you have a ticket for Sunday. If this keeps up Saturday ticket holders may be lucky to reach lunch.
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I can see Clarke digging in. If Nevill does too, Aus could mount a comeback.
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Right up there with the guy who said “Katich to score big” at Adelaide 2010, that one. Well done.
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Ok, I’m starting to get a little more optimistic now.
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What a strange game cricket is. Australia has just conceeded the ashes in 30 minutes of play.
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I’m actually feeling a tiny bit sorry for Michael Clarke. It’s a very strange feeling.
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(I posted that approximately 5 seconds before he was out, too.)
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We had KP in his first ever Test innings helping us get to 155 back in 2005. McGrath was absolutely unplayable until KP came in – best fast bowling spell that I’d ever seen and heartbreaking for an England fan like me back then.
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Clarke out 29/6 good catch from Cook.
Selvey just exploded in self glee.
Wait till both sides have batted before making a judgement.
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What the hell is going on? This is crazy.
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Sky keep zooming in on Strauss…………..
Nasser went off message for a bit there….. “England are doing well so Strauss decided to drive up the M1”
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“Sky keep zooming in on Strauss…………..”
Started already, has it?
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If this keeps up Arron,,It will be like The Triumph of the Will by close of play.
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Started after Cardiff, remember Berry’s puff piece!
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Ponting’s commentary is the very essence of stoicism.
Nasser Hussain responds to camera on Strauss: “Oh, England are doing well so Strauss has popped up the M1”.
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Snap, Mark!
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Broad 5 for 6 in less than 4 overs?! I don’t think that I’ve ever better bowling figures than that in Tests! Certainly not by an Englishman??
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Harmison 7 for 12 wasn’t it?
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You’re right LCL!
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thought this is right up there with Botham’s 5 for 1, Willis’ 8 for and Harmy’s above IMHO
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Still not out of the first hour! What will the drinks break be like for Australia lol!
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1st over almost up! 33-7!
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Sorry, meant first HOUR!
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So – Johnson and Starc batting to give themselves a target to bowl at…
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This is making Sydney 2013 look like the defence of Masada.
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That just made me laugh out loud. At least they are having their nadir a test match early.
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So Giles, “N”, Wally, tell us again how England/Australia/India represent the pinnacle of cricket.
Truly abysmal series, and I thought India were unsurpassably pathetic last year.
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Aussie score card as I speak.
0060(10)1221
It’s cricket, but not as we know it.
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just got back out of a meeting, what’d I miss?
oh….
Whats Australia’s lowest ever test score?
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in answer to myself it looks like
47 vs south africa
(cant get onto Stats guru to properly check)
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36 in 1902
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ta sherwick
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Totally conflicted on this one now. Half of my brain is going “GET IN ENGLAND!” and “Suck it up Aussies! Now you know how it feels!”
The other half of my brain is quietly pointing out that Australia completely forgetting how to play test cricket does not solve any of England’s problems and this result might just prolong them for a very long time.
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All of mine is getting angrier and angrier with administrators. Sorry, can’t help how I feel. They are making us watch more of the worst, least competitive cricket I’ve ever seen.
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Do people still think that this Australia team is as good as that of 2005?
One things for certain: The ECB have wasted 18 months. Imagine if they’d made Bayliss a serious offer in 2014.
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was discussing that with a mate a little earlier. Makes a mockery of appointing Downton/Moores et al and shows how getting the right people in place can make a difference
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But it had nothing to do with politics, oh no.
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Would love to have listened to the 2 Mitchell’s having a chat in the drinks break lol!
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If you had said Johnson might be a danger man before lunch on the first day, you would not have thought it was with the bat.
England might like a bit of sun to get on this pitch before they bat.
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I think Johnson will get a 50 here.
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Australia need to get to 50 first!! Johnson out! Broad 7-10!
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Broad 6 -10 now…
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46/8
45 minuets to take the remaining 2 wickets before lunch. All out in a session.
Perhaps a beer match on Saturday?
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All on malcolm Conn’s birthday. How ironic.
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50 up at last!
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This is just abysmal from the Aussies, no matter what way you look at it. This is not a bad wicket at all, sure its nibbled a bit, just rank bad batting. Sure Broad has bowled well but he’s been handed a lot of his wickets on the plate.
However I’m convinced our batting will make hard work of putting the Aussies out of their misery.
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Jimmy who?
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It was farce last week – this is utter rubbish – don’t suppose selector Newell had anything to do with this pitch at all, whatsoever – cricket as a ‘game’ is finished – thank you giles and srivi for all your efforts
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Broad 7-11 after 8 overs now with 4 maidens. Best Ashes spell ever I think.
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Think Jim Laker might be in the running.
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yep, he can’t take 19 that’s for sure. 17 would be good though.
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Hazlewood and Lyon trying to hang on until lunch…
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The pitch is slow, low and flat and not doing anything – it must be doctored, moan moan,
the pitch is green, bouncy and seaming – it must be doctored, moan moan
Can’t win
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On the one hand they say Countries should be allowed to doctor their own pitches, but then they are now floating the idea that the opposition should not toss the coin, but have the choice as what to do, bat or bowl?
Strange!
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Actually, just had a thought … not watching so don’t know what’s happening … could this be an Australian critique of the whole ‘Ashes’ propaganda? The team, sick of the hype and the nonsense, have decided to highlight in a very graphic way the way many people think of the mess created by Clarke and the Aussie admin regarding the frequency of matches between the team – to the detriment of everything else – and are skillfully portraying anti-cricket as a means of questioning the whole sordid business???
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“skillfully portraying anti-cricket as a means of questioning the whole sordid business???”
At one time I thought England were doing that in the last Ashes… they kind of went on strike, mentally…
But actually it looks like ineptitude is the answer.
Either that or we really have now got WWE cricket.
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Are you saying it is an existential cry for help?
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To quote Kirk St. Moritz in Dear John “you don’t need to do that. I know a builder”
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I think they thought this was a T20 match.
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Didn’t even last the full 20 overs though 😦
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You might get 400 scored in a 20/20 match
They may be struggling to make that in a test match.
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Broad finishes with 8-15 from 9.3 overs. 60 ao before lunch!
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60 all out.
There is no follow on target!
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I remember the 46 ao against the WI in 94/5?? (dates and runs may be wrong…)
We can still cock this up!
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Oh certainly. England could mess this up. That’s always true.
And we haven’t yet seen how the pitch looks with Johnson and Starc pounding away…
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Four of this Australian team have been involved in a worse Test innings:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/514029.html
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Nasser being naughty about Strauss again.
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Yes, I think he wants to run him out again.
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I would liked to have listened to channel 9 this morning. Warne says he has spent most of the day there. Not happy bunnies!
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TMS talking about Death of a Gentleman at lunch time in the next few minutes for those interested
Will be interesting to see what their angle/take on it is
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sam and Jarrod talk to Ed Smit and Aggers
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Well, that’s not a great start.
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Can’t listen in. What happened?
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Ed Smith coming into bat for the ICC…
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I just meant FICJAM being one of the interviewers.
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Heh. One of the Ashes panel with a possibly unimprovable tweet:
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Think. I. Might. EXPLODE.
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Ed Smith? Patronising? Never.
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More reaction:
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FICJAM should look over Sam and Jarrod and say “ah, that’s what journalists are”.
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Yay!
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“Hogging the airtime and taking a pro-establishment position.”
Tregaskis on FICJAM.
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Ed Smith has just revealed his true colours in all their rotten ECB glory.
If ever there was an example of who Smith really speaks for this was it. I have never heard him sound so animated. When confronted with a view he doesn’t like and doesn’t understand he sounds like a demented politician defending his own party.
If left to the Ed Smiths of this world we would all be living in caves.
The Smiths of this world are completely clueless. No wonder he writes incomprehensible clap trap.
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The Old Batsman
I think he just used the phrase “as an essayist…”
Andrew MillerVerified account
@miller_cricket @theoldbatsman @DOAGfilm for christ’s sake. If it was that easy to get the point across, Gideon Haigh would already have a Pulitzer.
And this is why we have to keep going. I think our instincts are right about pretty much everyone involved, administrators, media and actual journalists.
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He called himself an “essayist”. Please confirm this.
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Just shove Ed Smith’s name into Twitter search. Glorious.
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He called himself an “essayist”. Please confirm this.
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Below very paraphrased clip notes but the gist is there;
Ed says they attached certain people without really showing full evidence or delivering a knock out blow
DOAG doesn’t give examples of well run sports (says USA has more ‘money’ based sports and are doing well)
Sam saying about contracting flagship tournaments – no other sport doing that
Ed – how do you grow a game, brillaint cricket by assocs was a strange thing at the WC (if I heard that right!)
Jarrod – cricket played in USA, argentina, etc it is a global game ~150 nations play the game, but 3 take 52% of the funds – but the ICC playing lip service to ROW
Ed – football has terrible admins but is massive and growing – how can you say ICC is terrible
Sam – FIFA know to make money you grow game – ICC not doing that, just a few individuals taking lots of money from the pot, not worrying about expansion
Aggers – big 3 helps to oblige India to play their part in global game (tests to WI etc), not just IPL.
Jarrod – but they shouldn’t get more money from the little guys
Jarrod – one of the best stories is Afganistan, Come from nothing/refuges now ICC is making it harder for them to get to the WC.
Srini… is banned from working with the ICC, his IPL team have been banned form match fixing and yet he is head of the ICC
Talk about intimidation, ICC (clarke mentioned) taking his press pass away and trying to ruin him. A camera man with sam/jarrod said it doesn’t just feel like a sport investigation.
ESPN had to step in and say the film was separate to DOAG and that Clarke couldn’t remove press pass
Sam – something amazing about the custodians of the ‘spirit’ (MCC)not wanting to see the fiilm/not being allowed to show it for members
Aggers says its an enjoyable film and shines some light into dark areas – I can feel Ed bristling in the background.
All said, It’s interesting to hear sam/jarrod. I’ve not had chance to listen to TFT interview yet and now definitely want to.
Sam/Jarrod very passionate, Ed either being very good devils advocate, or just comes across as slightly smug and superior to me.
Worth a listen on iplayer/podcast (think 5 live put their lunch stuff out like that sometimes)
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Vithushan confirmed The Old Batsman’s tweet. Good enough for me.
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“Ed either being very good devils advocate, or just comes across as slightly smug and superior to me.”
I wish I’d had that as a 50/50 for £1m on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”.
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Dobell. Favourited. Tweet. FICJAM.
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I’m a little disappointed in Ed if I’m honest. Now if he’d said ‘as a belle-lettrist’…..
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Ed Smith is being utterly exposed here. He has the airs of a man who surrounds himself with people less intelligent than himself and is rarely challenged and has come to consider everything he says as being indisputably correct.
He’s not as bright as he thinks he is, and Kimber and Richardson, unprepared to do a Tufnell and cower to his education and reading, showed this without breaking a sweat.
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Jarrod confirmed to me this morning that they spent 42 minutes with Giles Clarke. FICJAM is a fairground ride compared to that cock.
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Ed Smith is what a stupid person thinks an intellectual is.
Probably why he hangs out with so many stupid people. He is Einstein in his own living room!
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It’s just inappropriate and irrelevant to attempt to conduct a donnish dissection of the quality of the argument, when what’s going on is so egregious.
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He’s a flat track bully, sorry a horzontal pathway browbeater.
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I do wonder whether they’ve lost me. I can’t bring myself to take any pleasure in England’s performances anymore. Bastards, I can’t forgive them. I should be loving this!
What will it take for me to like England again? Will Cook’s resignation in 2034 be enough?
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Clarke no longer involved in any way, shape or form.
Some sort of recognition that they’ve done wrong too.
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I don’t think Cook will be enough as Strauss has made himself a rather large part of the problem too. After this series, they won’t be going anywhere for a long, long time.
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And… today’s third comment at TFT is:
Maxie and his colleague Piers must be hating this.
And the fourth is:
KP come back – all is forgiven!
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For some reason TFT seems to have become a target for rubbish like that
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I went through a period a couple of months ago where I could barely stand to read BTL.
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They think they have a right to colonise all spaces: manifest destiny. They were just waiting until England strung a few wins together so they could argue that they’d been right all along. Risible stuff really, nasty too.
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I think the TFT guys slightly invite it by saying that they only want the blog to be a forum for debate, and by being ever so fair and accommodating about abusive comments.
While Dmitri has always been very clear that it’s his personal blog (with Legglance), like it or lump it.
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Lyth gone – time for the Englansd collapse
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Andy. Always in advance of the bbc wicket alert.
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It stops me working so must be good
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bell lbw – being reviewed
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umpires call – out, 34/2
Vaughn questioning hawkeye
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poor Belly
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Oh I do hope the dreaded drinks break doesn’t ruin the captain’s legendary, unparalleled powers of concentration and cause him to chase a wide ball.
#excusebingo
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Says a lot when the only member of the team coming out with their batting reputation unscathed is the #11.
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The downside for England is that they failed to dismiss Hazelwood.
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That’s true; the difference between this time and ’13-’14 is that Lyon keeps getting out.
And what’s with this two over spell thing?
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Most unfair Pontiac.
Extras played a blinder – top scorer for the first time in Ashes’s history.
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at least lyth outscored the aus batsmen
#lookforthepositive
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Cook gone. If it weren’t for what went before, we wouldn’t be terribly happy about this England innings.
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Ah, something to make me smile at last.
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Upped that average. But still a tiny blot.
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Tiny tiny. Miniscule at best.
Still below Brearley. Or is it Brierley? I can never remember. Too obsessed with arcane stuff to remember famous players’ names, me. Anyone got that Tuesday afternoon stat yet?
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?batting_positionmax1=2;batting_positionval1=batting_position;class=1;continent=4;filter=advanced;home_or_away=1;host=1;opposition=2;orderby=batting_average;qualmax1=100;qualmin1=5;qualval1=matches;spanmin1=11+Nov+1918;spanval1=span;team=1;template=results;type=batting
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Wait for Cook’s 43 being worth a century given the match context.
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Gower on Sky just said Cooks innings of 43 was “worth a few more in the context of the match”.
I think it’s reflexive for them, they just can’t help it.
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So then, Sky, what is 355* worth when the next highest score is 36?
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Gower has become a really sad pillar of the establishment. Sad.
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It is sad when you think of………Tiger moths, walking out of press conferences to go off to the theatre, Tshirts with “I’m still in charge” on, and extraudinary General meetings to question why he was deselected by Gooch. (He above all others should understand being frozen out by Puritan management.)
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Maybe everyone’s got a price, even the Anti-Gooch.
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So I guess it should go into the scorebooks as a 50, to go along with his 90 the other day which was actually a moral 100.
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Good lord. I’ve just seen the promotion for Sky’s The verdict.,
Set in a court room with Charles Colvile as the court usher. Players in the dock evey night.
Anyway, what’s the chance of 20 wickets in the day?
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There’s got to be some Shakespeare going on in that Australian dressing room.
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Blowers just announce FICJAM as Ed Wordsmith….I think with more than a touch of irony
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Is Joe Root’s (current) 64* worth 250 yet?
#ValueAddedCookyMaths
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God, without power for nearly 9 hours today, only to see that Australia have crumbled all out for 60. Yet another abject “batting” display. That will be the Ashes too.
My commiserations to everyone who will be subjected to the English press, and the rantings and ravings of the Selfeys and the westcorkthinktanks of the world.
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Can anyone tell me why Clarke is bringing Lyon on for 2, 1, 3 over spells? Honest question. He’s not getting clubbed, so why the short spells?
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And now Warner gets a bowl. Seriously?
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I’m gobsmacked. He’s also given the seamers too many overs. So long as England keep enough wickets intact for tomorrow there is plenty of chance to break them while building a huge total. Fairly brainless. I thought it was a silly decision to leave out Mitchell Marsh instead of Voges even before the game started. Now it looks like even bigger stupidity. That said I’m not sure Marsh M would have done that well with the bat.
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BTW, has there ever been an Ashes series where none of the matches made it to day 5?
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All the old ones in England where the matches were only played over three days?
Sorry.
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Let me rephrase that: has there ever been an Ashes series where none of the matches made it to the final day of scheduled play?
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This Aussie side looks scrambled. Very surprising.
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Collapses as extreme as that are weird phenomena, though, aren’t they? Some kind of collective brain failure sets in, it must be really horrible to be in the middle of it.
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How this series is an advertisement for cricket is beyond me. Maybe Mrs. Edwards, Clarke and Srini can explain this to the unwashed masses.
The cricket is worse than dreadful. In fact, is it even cricket?
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It seems that the first day lead of 286 after Day 1 by South Africa against Zimbabwe is under threat. Yeah, really competitive cricket.
So Mr. Richardson, can the away team be banned from the Ashes, as cricket is supposed to be only between the competitive nations?
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Seriously? 196/20 in the last two completed first innings for Australia, and some people still think that this is the indisputably best side in the world? What mind altering substance are these people on?
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Wretched, isn’t it? Anyone comparing it to 2005 (and yes I have seen some) should be banned from cricket threads.
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Could it be that we’re finally seeing the long anticipated negative impact of 20/20 on Test Match Cricket or is it just a freak series? Colin Graves may be ahead of the curve…..
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I think this series puts both the 5-0 Down Under and the India tour to England into some extra perspective. I’ve written before that home conditions and “back to back” Tests seem to have created more lopsided matches and series – but this feels like extra proof of that.
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No team barring South Africa A travel well. SA won 7, lost one game since February 2011. That loss came in the UAE, so that was technically not even an away fixture.
Since February 2011 (i.e after the 2010/11 Ashes) Australia’s 9 W, 13 L looks decent, until you realize that 4 of those wins were against West Indies. Pakistan are on W8, L9, but 3 of those wins were against BD, and the results against West Indies and Zimbabwe were not exactly great either. They did have a good series win in Sri Lanka recently though.
New Zealand are on 7/13.
England is on 4/11. They have won the series in India (2012), drawing with West Indies, and Sri Lanka (2012). Otherwise England have been fairly dismal on the road (drawn series in New Zealand, whitewashes in the UAE and Australia).
In fact, I think the only team that has not been whitewashed in the last 5 years is South Africa.
England were whitewashed in the UAE and Australia.
Australia were whitewashed in India (2013).
India had their horror tours of England (2011) and Australia (2011/12).
New Zealand had horror tours of South Africa and England (2013).
Pakistan had a horror tour in South Africa.
Sri Lanka were whitewashed by Australia in 2012.
West Indies were just whitewashed at home by Australia, and possibly saved from a whitewash by bad weather in South Africa recently either. Besides, West Indies have struggled to win just one away Test in the past decade (against the Big 8 teams). And whitewashed in the Tendulkar farewell series as well for example.
Zimbabwe hardly play cricket, but they have not been getting many winning results (but hard to judge them on 1-Test series).
Bangladesh were whitewashed by the West Indies in 2014.
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So, what else is on this weekend?
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I was going to post something on the Let’s Get The Message article but events have overtaken me. I hate what has happened today. I loathe what it will mean to the ECB , journalists and England’s loyal faithful. I don’t want to hear the sycophancy, the gibberish, the self adulation, the nausea. I don’t want to hear it. This ECBCookWaitroseEleven set up is shameful and immoral and I am not a part of it in anyway. No doubt they will proclaim they are world beaters. Australia were supposed to be the stern test that put this motley lot in their place. Instead we get shit. It is not good enough. Never will be good enough. In being true to myself they can all fuck off and cricket is the loser because I cannot abide watching or listening or following any of it.
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Perhaps you need a break from all things cricket?
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i.e. perhaps to be ‘outside cricket’ for a while..?
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Is that available on prescription ?
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Perhaps outside the asylum is a good and safe bet…? http://www.terindell.com/asylum/docs/asylum.html
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