The Ashes - 2023 Edition

[Alex]

And it worked for Cummins in the first two tests. They've been boring, but they're 2-1 up and they've generally made smarter decisions than England.

Yes Woakes has been great, he's always been great, but not quite as good as Anderson, who up until this series has kept doing it for England. He came into this series as the number one ranked test bowler.

Wood's got even better with age. His pace has increased slightly and he's got more accurate and consistent. If he and Archer could stay fit....

[Ham]

How on earth did that last wicket go to review?

 

[Alex]

Well that was a really shit way to lose the Ashes, two days of rain in Manchester.

[Ham]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

Well that was a really shit way to lose the Ashes, two days of rain in Manchester.

What were the odds of rain in Manchester? 

 

 

[boratsbrother]

An appalling way for what was a great (in terms of entertainment rather than all round quality) Ashes series to be decided. There surely should be a provision for an extra day if a day is washed out, especially when a result looks certain. While love the history tradition of Test Cricket, this is one improvement they could and should make. Robbed the game and it's fans of a classic final test.

Btw. Well done to Bairstow  for coming back with a strong performance after much criticism.

As for the Aussie bowling attack and captaincy🤡🤡 Probably the worst I've ever seen from an Aussie side.

[Alex]

On 27/07/2023 at 01:59, boratsbrother said:

An appalling way for what was a great (in terms of entertainment rather than all round quality) Ashes series to be decided. There surely should be a provision for an extra day if a day is washed out, especially when a result looks certain. While love the history tradition of Test Cricket, this is one improvement they could and should make. Robbed the game and it's fans of a classic final test.

Btw. Well done to Bairstow  for coming back with a strong performance after much criticism.

As for the Aussie bowling attack and captaincy🤡🤡 Probably the worst I've ever seen from an Aussie side.

Better captaincy from Cummins than Captain Hubris. His decisions and a lot of our batsmen's decisions were dreadful in the first two tests. It was piss-poor cricket. We had a chance to bury the Aussies this series and we blew it.

Cummins seems a likeable guy too who you can't really dislike, something else the Aussie's have taken away from us. 

[Blue Moon]

Quote from BBC website comments:

     "Six from the final ball he faced ... wicket with the final ball he bowled. Thank you Stuart Broad. Legend."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[Ham]

Perfect end to a brilliant series.  In reality England won the series of course after the landslide victory at old Trafford that never happened. 

[xceleryx]

GG's England. 

Ended up going to bed when the sides went off for rain after lunch, so missed the the last two sessions sadly. The perils of games being late and also being sick. 

Great series though overall, it had basically everything one would want. Nothing quite beats Ashes cricket. 

[Alex]

On 01/08/2023 at 07:06, xceleryx said:

It had basically everything one would want. 

Except the standard of cricket was piss poor from two top teams. As a cricket writer I know said to me, any fool can slog at a ball that's pitched up and often get away with it. And any fool can bang one in halfway down the pitch and hope for a top edge.

That nonsense played by England in the first two tests shouldn't be forgotten. Their dedication to their style of play with no nuance or pragmatism was just dumb. 

 

[Ham]

3 minutes ago, Alex said:

Except the standard of cricket was piss poor from two top teams. As a cricket writer I know said to me, any fool can slog at a ball that's pitched up and often get away with it. And any fool can bang one in halfway down the pitch and hope for a top edge.

That nonsense played by England in the first two tests shouldn't be forgotten. Their dedication to their style of play with no nuance or pragmatism was just dumb. 

 

You say that but had England declared a little later they'd have probably won the first test.  

If we showed anything it was arrogance. 

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Ham

[xceleryx]

10 hours ago, Alex said:

Except the standard of cricket was piss poor from two top teams. As a cricket writer I know said to me, any fool can slog at a ball that's pitched up and often get away with it. And any fool can bang one in halfway down the pitch and hope for a top edge.

That nonsense played by England in the first two tests shouldn't be forgotten. Their dedication to their style of play with no nuance or pragmatism was just dumb. 

Well yeah, the standard wasn't necessarily as good as it may have read on paper, but the reality is that contest itself was. All the games were close and both sides had their up and downs with opportunities to win. In terms of test match cricket that's what you want to see, much better than seeing white washes.

The Duke balls were fucking awful, and how England got the ball swap they did in the final test baffles me. Australia having to play the Test Championship prior was bad scheduling and effectively created a 6 test series for them, which you could see took a toll in the final two tests particularly with the short 3 day turn around.

England were arrogant in the first two tests but made the adjustments needed to finish the stronger of the two sides. Australia were captained poorly by Cummins, and had too many big names not pull their weight as consistently as expected. Then the loss of Lyon really hurt them further. England not having Woods and Woakes at the start impacted them negatively, as did the struggles of Anderson. 

Overall though it was an engaging series with enough good cricket and drama to satisfy most needs. 

[Alex]

10 hours ago, Ham said:

You say that but had England declared a little later they'd have probably won the first test.  

If we showed anything it was arrogance. 

 

I don't understand your point, whether we won or not, it was still a very poor standard of cricket from England swinging at everything as though it's white-ball. It just allowed Australia to sit back and win the game by restricting runs and playing a probability game.

Stokes shouldn't have declared at all with that much time again, it was a very stupid decision.

As a result of chucking everything away in the first two games with a reckless dedication to Bazball, he became much more orthodox in the last three games and England were much better.

 

[Alex]

1 hour ago, xceleryx said:

Well yeah, the standard wasn't necessarily as good as it may have read on paper, but the reality is that contest itself was. 

Well we're just down to opinions here. For me the nonsense of England's play in the first two tests shouldn't and won't be forgotten. Stokes will be a bit shy to review from now-on I think, while the victorious series in  Pakistan on a life-less pitch against a poor bowling attack influenced England's thinking too much.

Lyon's absence was surely felt, but if England had Archer and Leach fit, it would also have been a different story. Wood can't play more than a few tests on the bounce, he gets injured like he did at the Oval. Woakes has an amazing home record, but then again so does Anderson who came into the series as the number one ranked test bowler. That Woakes would do what he usually does, but that Anderson wouldn't was a surprise.

Delighted to see the two sandpaper boys play like they did. For me Smith will never be anything but the captain that pressured a junior player into taking sandpaper onto the pitch, lie about it afterwards, (saying it was just some "sporting tape and some granules from the pitch") and then cry like a baby feeling sorry for himself when it all unraveled. Warner will forever be the other sandpaperer, the bloke that punched Joe Root in a pub,  Broad's bunny and possibly a troubled teen that Helen Daniel took-in on Neighbours.

And yes drama sure, but from this England fan's perspective a badly blown opportunity to regain the Ashes.

[Alex]

Yep the last ball change was quite an extreme example of a ball doing nothing being swapped for one that did and in a considerably different condition. Did seem somewhat unfortunate, but Australia benefitted from ball changes all series as did England.  I think too much whining and fuss is being made of it, like the Bairstow stumping, it's just a piece of bad luck. 

 

 

[Alex]

Don't see what was so awful about Dukes balls either, I much prefer the swing threat a Dukes brings after it's no-longer new and been worked on in comparison to the way a Kookaburra stops swinging when it's no longer new. For me it makes for a far more interesting contest where there's usually something in it for the bowlers.