Cricket Thread

[Saintjay]

As above anything in the region of 150 - 200 i think would be ideal. Some of the Australian top order haven't hit there straps yet and it worries me at some point they will.
Plus it's always possible with England they can fold like a deck of cards in the morning session.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

189 ahead with 2 wickets left. I think we’d want a bit more. Certainly over 200.

Australia don’t have to win this, just bat for rain, but the bigger the lead the more psychological pressure they’ll feel.

 

[ncurd]

189 ahead with 2 wickets left. I think we’d want a bit more. Certainly over 200.

Australia don’t have to win this, just bat for rain, but the bigger the lead the more psychological pressure they’ll feel.

Yeah they've also been pathetically poor with the over rate only 23 in that session.

(Long stated 10 runs per over not bowled without mitgation would fix it).

 

[Saintjay]

Warner and Smith trying one run an over for hours, playing for the draw incoming i think.

 

[ncurd]

Warner and Smith trying one run an over for hours, playing for the draw incoming i think.

Being ultra conservatives batting for a draw always end in tears. When England get 6-7 wickets in they might do that but they have to play normal Cricket at least otherwise they'll just be 50-7.

 

[ncurd]

Here we go, Ashes won or still lost over the next 3.5 hours.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Good effort with the bat. Over to the bowlers.

BTW loved that Broad took his landmark 600th test wicket at the James Anderson End.

 

[ncurd]

Fingers look under the ball but these things are a flip of a coin on the third umpire. I wish there was some tech to help.

 

[ncurd]

Can't argue with that hate those calls you can't say definitively one way or the other.

 

[Reiser99]

I'm happy to go umpire's call there. Not clear.

 

[OldSchoolRugga]

Raw pace is so great to watch. Mark Wood is awesome to watch.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Decapitation is the way forwards it seems

 

[ncurd]

Right good position, gotta hope the weather allows for enough play now.

 

[Reiser99]

Right good position, gotta hope the weather allows for enough play now.

Hope so.

However, I feel this situation is really exposing what a poor decision it was to declare on the first day of the first test. Yes Stokes has said they want to win, but it wasn't needed then and had England kept batting they could well have won the first test. Instead Australia are 2-0 and only need a draw to retain the Ashes which means England have to win this test and the next. If they hadn't lost that first test then the rain now would not be the issue it is.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

What's the craic with the weather today (as above: very much a cricket newbie)

Looks like rain until 12-1ish, then clear until 4 - do they sit around and wait for the dry spell (like the last test where they were in and out) or is there a threshold where they say it'll rain for >50% of the day so the whole day's off?

 

[Reiser99]

If there is a chance of play they will wait. I think fans though will get a refund is there is less than a certain amount of play. Can't remember if that's hours or overs. I remember one of England's matches they smashed what was left inside an hour so fans got a refund and saw the end of the test.

 

[OldSchoolRugga]

I use accuweather, and that site is pretty good

Sat: Variable cloudiness with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm, 96% rain. 18 degrees Celsius.
Sun: Intervals of clouds and sun with a couple of showers, 92% rain. 18 degrees Celsius.

 

[OldSchoolRugga]

For all the good England have done the last week and a bit, they made another massive error yesterday. They should've declared with 200 runs ahead. The extra time it took to chase down the extra 75 runs, minus the change over, could've been used to gather more wickets.

This could prevent them from winning the Ashes. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Reiser99]

For all the good England have done the last week and a bit, they made another massive error yesterday. They should've declared with 200 runs ahead. The extra time it took to chase down the extra 75 runs, minus the change over, could've been used to gather more wickets.

This could prevent them from winning the Ashes. Hope I'm wrong.

I think their thinking was it was easier to score runs now than try and chase later. But yeah, they may not have given themselves enough time. Having said that if they had declared earlier then Aus might have got a big score anyway. Ultimately we won't know until end of tomorrow if it was the right decision.

 

[ncurd]

Declare too early 1st test, declare too late 4th test. There are rarely right or wrong decisions in this regards ultimately England would of liked a wicket or two extra yesterday when compare to overs bowled. They had a session and a half as opposed to two yesterday so yout 12-13 overs lost. I'm not a big fan of retrospectively deciding if decisions were right or wrong. Learn from them sure bit you have take context of what was known at the time.

This one will be hard to judge what to learn from because its could England of needed that extra hour to get the rickets? Would Australia get a second innings lead? How big a lead? How do you judge a forecast 48 hours in advance?

If the next two days are a washout it doesn't matter anyway.