[Cricket] **** England v Australia, 1st Specsavers Ashes Test, Edgbaston. Official match thread ****

[pasty]

Cheats win toss and bat

 

[Titanic]

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Rory Burns, 3 Joe Root (capt), 4 Joe Denly, 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Cameron Bancroft, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steve Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Matthew Wade, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Peter Siddle.

 

[LlcoolJ]

Well, at least we can't be 15/3 after 10. Let's hope they are. Come on England.

 

[The Wizard]

I don’t think bowling is bad in these conditions, pitch looks hard but overhead conditions look good for bowling.

 

[pasty]

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Rory Burns, 3 Joe Root (capt), 4 Joe Denly, 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Cameron Bancroft, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steve Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Matthew Wade, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Peter Siddle.

Three proven cheats in the top four. Hope they all fail miserably.

 

[Titanic]

Three proven cheats in the top four. Hope they all fail miserably.

BOOOOOO BOO <polite applause> BOOOOOO!!!!

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The Essex opener Nick Browne, who averages over 40 in FC cricket.

I'm not that up with my County Championship knowledge but having read this from ESPN:

Nick Browne, a tall, watchful left-hander with the ability to grow into an innings

He seems like the perfect choice!

Thing is Burns averages big in county cricket, but looks absolute pony in test match cricket. So many players who score hundreds upon hundreds come into the England top order and fail.

Not comparable though, imo. Simply because his technique is fatally flawed, which is always going to be exposed by top class bowlers. Desperately need an opener (actually TWO, ideally) with better technique. It really doesn't matter how modest their scoring rates are. 60/0 at lunch on the first day of a Test, with your solid openers set, and the opposition bowlers with 28 overs in their legs, is an unfashionable target, but a pretty good one.

 

[Gwylan]

I did say 'similar to Wells' (I grew up playing with Wells so I'd love to see him push on, the last few years have been difficult for him)

James Hildreth is exactly the type of person I mean. He scores runs all around the country on the CC circuit and knows how to build a proper innings. His technique also seems sound in English conditions. Burns doesn't have the technique and Denly doesn't have the runs/grit/determination.

I'd like to see Wells push on as well. As he's bowled more, his batting form has declined, I wonder if there's a connection there.

I really rate Hildreth - he's a class act, I'd love to have seen him in test cricket but his face clearly didn't fit, for some reason.

 

[LlcoolJ]

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Rory Burns, 3 Joe Root (capt), 4 Joe Denly, 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Cameron Bancroft, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steve Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Matthew Wade, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Peter Siddle.

It's a balanced Aussie side but far from a great one. Think they've played a blinder including Siddle though, unfortunately. Paine is a decent bloke but if it wasn't for sandpaper he'd be nowhere near this team, let alone captain.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Rory Burns, 3 Joe Root (capt), 4 Joe Denly, 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson

All eleven England players have an 'O' in their name.

Carry on.

 

[LlcoolJ]

Not comparable though, imo. Simply because his technique is fatally flawed, which is always going to be exposed by top class bowlers. Desperately need an opener (actually TWO, ideally) with better technique. It really doesn't matter how modest their scoring rates are. 60/0 at lunch on the first day of a Test, with your solid openers set, and the opposition bowlers with 28 overs in their legs, is an unfashionable target, but a pretty good one.

Oh for 60/0 at lunch. When did we last manage that?

 

[Rodney Thomas]

I'd like to see Wells push on as well. As he's bowled more, his batting form has declined, I wonder if there's a connection there.

I really rate Hildreth - he's a class act, I'd love to have seen him in test cricket but his face clearly didn't fit, for some reason.

I agree with you!

I think his face didn't fit as he was in his prime during the sea change from traditional test cricket players to more attacking players (with the introduction of T20 and Warner being a prime example). I feel we've gone too far now and as [MENTION=3566]hans kraay fan club[/MENTION] states 60-0 is 60-0 in a test match regardless of the amount of overs it has taken.

 

[The Wizard]

Ausssies top 4 looks strong, have to make inroads early. My only worry is lack of pace, if there’s not much movement off the pitch the lack of a bowler with extra pace could be a problem.

^Re: above, I think the days of being 60/0 at lunch are gone, cricket is a different game now with more attacking openers, whether it should be like that or not is another question

 

[knocky1]

Whoever backed their car into Jimmy Anderson's this morning may have done us a big favour.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Aussies win toss and bat. Consensus in commentary box was that it's a good toss to lose. We'll see.

 

[A1X]

Ausssies top 4 looks strong, have to make inroads early. My only worry is lack of pace, if there’s not much movement off the pitch the lack of a bowler with extra pace could be a problem.

I don't think this will be such a problem at a ground like Edgbaston (or Trent Bridge) where it "does a bit". It's more likely to be an issue at Lord's or the Oval which are generally flatter wickets.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I guess this will be Sir Jimmy's last Ashes series. Certainly his last at home.

This makes me very, very sad.

What an absolute HERO that man has been.

 

[The Wizard]

Why the hell did the groundsman reduce the amount of grass on the pitch? Useless.

 

[The Wizard]

Got to say, I’m not a fan of this gospel choir type anthem singing.

 

[vegster]

Brave move by the convicts to win the toss and bat given the situation, this could backfire on them quite badly.