The Ashes

[Bender]

England threatening to get to 70

[Exiled_red]

64-7 Moeen Ali gone

[Bender]

64-7 Moeen Ali gone

England threatening to get to 65

[ChesterDave]

We should revise our target from 509 to Monday

[Exiled_red]

101-9

[Exiled_red]

All out for 103

[Fredo]

England

[EwarWoo]

I think this is more along the lines of what we expected. Lol.

Re: lineup, that's hardly to blame for this, they're a much better team than this, there are systemic issues fetching people down who come into the squad.

The Cook factor.

[peekay]

Stokes run out, because he didn't have his bat down

52-5

Cricketers should be fined significantly when they get run out that way. One of my pet peeves in sport.

[EwarWoo]

They should also be fined for being called Cook or Broad

[ChesterDave]

Cricketers should be fined significantly when they get run out that way. One of my pet peeves in sport.

Sometimes its laziness sometimes its legit.

Player actually got home safely (about half a yard) in a T20 game this week (think it was Yorks v Worcester on Tuesday).

Glenn Maxwell got a direct hit on the stumps from cow corner! Insane throw that smashed right into the base of middle stump - strikers end too

Sometime you can just be done by brilliant fielding when there really should be a run there.

[Shaggy]

Such a difficult one - my instinct would be to drop Lyth, Ballance and Bell but 3 of the top 5 is too many changes and we don't want to go back to the dark days of constantly chopping and changing. Lyth made a ton two Tests ago against a good side so you can make a case for him, but personally he'd be the one change I'd make and get Hales in to add some impetus.

Root moving up to 3 is another option.

[captainfog]

Such a difficult one - my instinct would be to drop Lyth, Ballance and Bell but 3 of the top 5 is too many changes and we don't want to go back to the dark days of constantly chopping and changing. Lyth made a ton two Tests ago against a good side so you can make a case for him, but personally he'd be the one change I'd make and get Hales in to add some impetus.

Root moving up to 3 is another option.

I do think the toss was massive in this game and if we had batted first we probably would have won or at least drawn. You stand in the field for 150 overs and the top order is always going to struggle and the fact that we made 300 in the first innings despite being 40-4 is quite amazing really and the last innings was entirely predictable given the hopeless game situation.

The top order is a massive concern though. In almost every innings we've played in the last 12 months we've lost 3 early wickets and it's become standard to expect 3 out of the top 4 to fail and this is simply not good enough and we've got to make a change and bring someone else in. I talked about Bairstow and Hales and I think Hales must come into the side, but another option is Rashid. Why not drop one of Ballance and Bell and just move everyone up the order by one place and have Rashid at number 8?

[peekay]

Sometimes its laziness sometimes its legit.

Player actually got home safely (about half a yard) in a T20 game this week (think it was Yorks v Worcester on Tuesday).

Glenn Maxwell got a direct hit on the stumps from cow corner! Insane throw that smashed right into the base of middle stump - strikers end too

Sometime you can just be done by brilliant fielding when there really should be a run there.

I have not watched the Maxwell run out so cannot comment on it. But the Stokes one was pure laziness.

I was home in India last summer and was watching some primary school kids play some old fashioned galli cricket in front of my house. One of the batsmen got a tongue lashing from another member in his team for not planting his bat when going for a risky single.

I dont support England or Australia as I am an Indian living in the US. Though I have been enjoying the English renaissance a wee bit in the Kiwi series primarily due to appreciation for the quality of positive cricket on display. Despite me being neutral towards England, that dismissal pissed me off no end.

[captainfog]

I think Stokes was trying avoid the throw and forgot to put his bat down.