The Ashes - 2023 Edition

[Ham]

Bairstow has had an absolute mare this series. 

 

[Bob Singleton]

With 98 to win with 6 wickets in hand, England still stood a chance.
73 with 4 in hand, things have strongly swung Australia's way.

Bairstow needs to be dropped for the remainder of the series, irrespective of what happens now.

[Blue Moon]

4 to go

[Bob Singleton]

When Bairstow was out, I didn't expect an England win. Notwithstanding the result, Bairstow must play no further part in this series. Too many dropped catches. Too few runs. Too many other mistakes.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Bob Singleton
Typo

[Ham]

Beautiful.  Comfortably over the line in the end. 

Game on for the series now 🤜💥

If the usual match -winners come back into form for the remaining tests, anything goes.  

[boratsbrother]

9 hours ago, Alex said:

I applaud your optimism, but IMO the series is most probably already gone.  It's too close for one of the three results left not to go their way. I wouldn't rule out an England collapse today either. 

 

Being two down i would usually say the Ashes were gone, but these are two extremely evenly matched teams and either one could just as easily be 3-0 up instead of it being 2-1.

Anyway. Congrats to England and thanks to both teams for putting on another great game for the fans to watch in what is turning out to be another classic Ashes series.

Edited July 9, 2023 by boratsbrother

[xceleryx]

GG's to England, keeps the series interesting.

Felt Australia really dropped the ball in the first innings allowing Englands tail to score the runs they did, then their awful batting performance in the second innings just didn't provide enough runs for our bowlers to work with. 

Cummin's isn't a good captain when it comes to making pressure decisions, his insistence on allowing England easy singles when things got tight was appalling. Our bowlers also need to stop bowling short to the England tail and focus more on the stumps.

Going to be interesting to see what sort of side we field for the fourth test. I'd love to see Neser in the side, Marsh should hold his place also even if Green is fit. While Warners place in the lineup has to really be up for grabs, his time has come and we need more from the top order particularly with how lacklustre Marnus has been. 

[Alex]

14 hours ago, Bob Singleton said:

When Bairstow was out, I didn't expect an England win. Notwithstanding the result, Bairstow must play no further part in this series. Too many dropped catches. Too few runs. Too many other mistakes.

Yes in any normal world he'd be dropped for Foakes. I'd be surprised if it happened though. 

We had a real let-off, largely thanks to our luck with the weather, especially after losing Robinson.

[Alex]

3 hours ago, xceleryx said:

GG's to England, keeps the series interesting.

Felt Australia really dropped the ball in the first innings allowing Englands tail to score the runs they did, then their awful batting performance in the second innings just didn't provide enough runs for our bowlers to work with. 

Cummin's isn't a good captain when it comes to making pressure decisions, his insistence on allowing England easy singles when things got tight was appalling. Our bowlers also need to stop bowling short to the England tail and focus more on the stumps.

Going to be interesting to see what sort of side we field for the fourth test. I'd love to see Neser in the side, Marsh should hold his place also even if Green is fit. While Warners place in the lineup has to really be up for grabs, his time has come and we need more from the top order particularly with how lacklustre Marnus has been. 

I think you're being a bit hard on them there. They had some extremely difficult conditions to bat in during their second innings that stopped not long before England started theirs. Same thing happened in the first test the other way round, but was shorter and only led to two wickets.

Yes the insistence on bowling bouncers was strange, bit England did that too on day 3. Bowling bouncers when it was seaming and swinging all over the place.

[Alex]

14 hours ago, boratsbrother said:

Being two down i would usually say the Ashes were gone, but these are two extremely evenly matched teams and either one could just as easily be 3-0 up instead of it being 2-1.

Anyway. Congrats to England and thanks to both teams for putting on another great game for the fans to watch in what is turning out to be another classic Ashes series.

Well we'll see. If we can somehow win the next one it turns into a shoot-out. We just have too many questions about our players for me. Who will bat at three, will they continue to let Bairstow cock-up anything else, will Root or Anderson turn-up in the series, can Wood stay fit for anything more than the next test? Will Robinson get over his back spasms. What we will do if we don't have Warner's gimme early wicket to Broad to get us into the game?

[xceleryx]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

I think you're being a bit hard on them there. They had some extremely difficult conditions to bat in during their second innings that stopped not long before England started theirs. Same thing happened in the first test the other way round, but was shorter and only led to two wickets.

Yes the insistence on bowling bouncers was strange, bit England did that too on day 3. Bowling bouncers when it was seaming and swinging all over the place.

England certainly had the better conditions to operate in, both with bat and ball, but that shouldn't be an excuse for the way Australia played in their second innings either. Neither Marnus or Smith for example were victims of conditions, they both just threw their wickets away with soft dismissals. 

[Sciatika]

Yesterday was the first day I had to follow the series (albeit only on the radio), but I was surprised that the Australian attack bowlers weren't varying their strategy either to suit the batsman on strike or just to keep them guessing. Maybe I missed something.

[Ham]

3 hours ago, Sciatika said:

Yesterday was the first day I had to follow the series (albeit only on the radio), but I was surprised that the Australian attack bowlers weren't varying their strategy either to suit the batsman on strike or just to keep them guessing. Maybe I missed something.

You should have seen the previous test then.......

5 days of bodyline. 

[CarefreeMuratcan]

It's a tight series, close results etc. but I feel like the quality of the cricket is lower than it was with the 2019 series and certainly nowhere near the golden age of the 00s battles. 

It's just a shame Test Cricket in general doesn't have this kind of following, rather than being focused on the Ashes. The Ashes is to Test Cricket, what Wimbledon is to Tennis. 

And I say that while being part of the problem myself and only paying attention when it's the Ashes or a World Cup. 

[xceleryx]

On 10/07/2023 at 18:27, Sciatika said:

Yesterday was the first day I had to follow the series (albeit only on the radio), but I was surprised that the Australian attack bowlers weren't varying their strategy either to suit the batsman on strike or just to keep them guessing. Maybe I missed something.

Australia had the worst bowling conditions compared to England - no real swing or seam. Then losing Lyon for the series in the prior test really hampered things further, as it was hard to really throw the inexperienced Murphy in to the mix, especially in the second innings given the lack of runs to defend.

That being said, the approach the Aussie bowlers have taken at times has been bewildering. They'll bowl well to the top order then completely lose the plot against the tail. Sick of the short length approach and not just attacking the stumps. They did it in the second test, Green being a huge culprit with Stokes battering him around the park and he continued to bowl short. 

The field placement at times by Cummins has to also come under fire. Often too defensive and allowing England to rotate the strike, which doesn't aid the bowlers being able to build some rhythm and tie a batter down to create pressure. 

[xceleryx]

19 hours ago, CarefreeMuratcan said:

It's a tight series, close results etc. but I feel like the quality of the cricket is lower than it was with the 2019 series and certainly nowhere near the golden age of the 00s battles. 

It's just a shame Test Cricket in general doesn't have this kind of following, rather than being focused on the Ashes. The Ashes is to Test Cricket, what Wimbledon is to Tennis. 

And I say that while being part of the problem myself and only paying attention when it's the Ashes or a World Cup. 

Much like with football, and several other sports really, we were spoiled with talent during the 2000's.

On the plus side at least we're seeing close matches with both sides having their moments, and getting the full allotment of days. When  test cricket has the intrigue and balance of an Ashes series like this it really is the pinnacle. Unfortunately there's just not enough funding in other countries to maintain the standard of yesteryear - point in case the West Indies. And with T20 being such an oversaturated but profitable model it's kinda ruined things further. 

[ROTG]

On 12/07/2023 at 06:04, xceleryx said:

Much like with football, and several other sports really, we were spoiled with talent during the 2000's.

On the plus side at least we're seeing close matches with both sides having their moments, and getting the full allotment of days. When  test cricket has the intrigue and balance of an Ashes series like this it really is the pinnacle. Unfortunately there's just not enough funding in other countries to maintain the standard of yesteryear - point in case the West Indies. And with T20 being such an oversaturated but profitable model it's kinda ruined things further. 

You can keep the ashes pt1 “ladies”

Part 2 is coming home 😀

[xceleryx]

6 hours ago, ROTG said:

You can keep the ashes pt1 “ladies”

Part 2 is coming home 😀

Just like the World Cup? 

If England do one thing well, it's bottling the big occasions. 😉

[My Blood Is Blue]

This is very enjoyable at the moment!!

[Alex]

On 12/07/2023 at 10:55, xceleryx said:

Australia had the worst bowling conditions compared to England - no real swing or seam. Then losing Lyon for the series in the prior test really hampered things further, as it was hard to really throw the inexperienced Murphy in to the mix, especially in the second innings given the lack of runs to defend.

England lost their number 1 spinner in Jack Leach just before the series and had to bring back Moeen Ali from retirement who played no red ball cricket for two years. He retired after a horror show in India, while four years ago in the Ashes he played one test, Australia went after him and he was batted out the series and replaced by Leach.

When both Lyon and Leach were fit I was fancying England as series winners, Lyon's injury only evened things out in terms of luck.

[Alex]

And the oft-ridiculed English weather looks like it might save Australia this test

[Ham]

1 hour ago, Alex said:

And the oft-ridiculed English weather looks like it might save Australia this test

Would be an awful shame if that was the case as England deserve the right to win the ashes outright. 

[RDCW]

6 hours ago, Ham said:

Would be an awful shame if that was the case as England deserve the right to win the ashes outright. 

Such a shame all round. The forecast is awful, not just for this test, but for The Oval too. A soggy end to an amazing series!

[xceleryx]

11 hours ago, Alex said:

England lost their number 1 spinner in Jack Leach just before the series and had to bring back Moeen Ali from retirement who played no red ball cricket for two years. He retired after a horror show in India, while four years ago in the Ashes he played one test, Australia went after him and he was batted out the series and replaced by Leach.

When both Lyon and Leach were fit I was fancying England as series winners, Lyon's injury only evened things out in terms of luck.

Comparing Leach to Lyon though is a little.... 

Either way, Australia's bowling has been awful the last two tests and not aided by Cummins terrible captaincy and field settings. The inclusions of Woakes  and Wood for England have been game changers though, they've both come in and delivered. Woods in particular has caused all sorts with his extra pace. 

[Alex]

10 hours ago, xceleryx said:

Comparing Leach to Lyon though is a little.... 

Leach is very similar to Lyon in his role in the team. He holds up an end, batsmen go after him and he consistently takes wickets. There's the same consistency and simplicity to both of their games.  Neither have carrom/sodukku balls, doosras or other mystery deliveries. Moeen Ali does have those balls in his arsenal, gets a huge amount of revs on the ball, takes some amazing wickets and also bowls a tremendous amount of filth that sees him get whacked all over the place.

Leach was also approaching his peak as a player, getting better all the time. Mo, much as I love him is over the hill. He's still made some key contributions in the past two games though, even if his overall stats are poor.