[Cricket] England vs Australia, Ashes 4th test - Old Trafford

[BensGrandad]

Let's hope he lives up to his name...

It will be good if he can do as well as Leach did as night watchman.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Looking pretty grim now for this Test, have to hope we can get a draw somehow to take the series to the Oval with something to play for. Mitchell Starc batting at 9 for the Aussies has 54 not out at the moment, anyone care to predict how many of our " specialist " batsmen make it to this score ?

Big fat zero

 

[dangull]

Well its as exciting now as the last Test. This time its about 19 batsman trying to save the draw.

 

[maltaseagull]

Looking pretty grim now for this Test, have to hope we can get a draw somehow to take the series to the Oval with something to play for. Mitchell Starc batting at 9 for the Aussies has 54 not out at the moment, anyone care to predict how many of our " specialist " batsmen make it to this score ?

None.

 

[maltaseagull]

Rain tomorrow - we need to take our time again and avoid follow on too. Draw is there for the taking then go for it in the last test..

There is no point in hoping for any chance of a win if Smith is batting.
WE CANNOT GET HIM OUT!!!!

 

[Sorrel]

I do believe that Anderson in our side would have gone a long way to balance it up. Without Jimmy, we are a very ordinary bowling side. The man is world class.

Yep - it has been very sad that Jimmy hasn't been playing since the Ashes started. He deserves the same praise that for his record that Cook got last year - but the injury meant it wasn't to be. Such a pity.

As it is there is no denying that Australia are the better team.

 

[BensGrandad]

We need to still be batting on Saturday morning, obviously this innings, to stand any chance of avoiding a defeat.

 

[Arkwright]

We need to still be batting on Saturday morning, obviously this innings, to stand any chance of avoiding a defeat.

We need to still be battling on Sunday at stumps to avoid defeat.

 

[BensGrandad]

We need to still be battling on Sunday at stumps to avoid defeat.

True, but I was working on the principle that by Saturday morning we will have avoided the follow on and Australia will bat to make a defeat for them virtually impossible, taking in to account the last test result, which will then leave us little time to bat out the draw.t

 

[Arkwright]

True, but I was working on the principle that by Saturday morning we will have avoided the follow on and Australia will bat to make a defeat for them virtually impossible, taking in to account the last test result, which will then leave us little time to bat out the draw.t

Australia will be ruthless they could have batted today out but we're determined to have a crack at us tonight and made a good positive declaration taking an important early wicket. Obvious I know but for the Aussies to win they need to bowl us out twice and that's all they will worry about.

 

[OzMike]

We can get Smith out if catches are held and how the f does a spin bowler bowl a no ball, just beyond me.
Hold out for the draw and surprise them and us with a win in the final test should do it.
Overton is crap, Woakes would have been better by a country mile.

 

[zefarelly]

It was pretty clear by lunch time yesterday the padlocks back on the ashes case. Both side have 2 test batsmen, Smith is a cut above, our bowling and particularly fielding hasn't been good enough.

 

[knocky1]

Jason Roy as game’s top scorer not looking very likely....

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Overton is crap, Woakes would have been better by a country mile.

Overton isn't crap, but he was an odd selection for this game. There was some logic in leaving out Woakes - he looks wrecked and was unable to bowl his quota of overs in the third Test. Added to that the wicket here was always going to be flat, and the England attack are all bowlers who like to move it off the pitch, thus bringing one in who tries to swing it makes sense. What makes NO sense is that the player they brought in was not Sam Curran - I can't imagine for the life of me why they didn't.

 

[Taybha]

Flat Track , they probably all sat down and tried to find the tallest english bloke who could bowl and he fitted the bill , for some reason if it looks like a surface is slow and flat then bounce is considered the next best option , unfortunately for Curran he's fundamentally too short to get the ball to bounce very high is how i see it , if that's how it is then the poor bloke won't be seeing much test cricket , he deserves a go at it , and i wouldn't be that suprised if he comes in for Archer in the final test if we can't win the ashes , Archer looks well pissed off with something the whole match , i really hope he hasn't been told to tone down his aggression by the Toffs because that would be so very English .

 

[Bold Seagull]

Overton is crap, Woakes would have been better by a country mile.

He bowled more overs than anyone else, was the most economic, and got 2 wickets.

 

[The Wizard]

Rain till around 2pm today then set fair for the rest of the test. Feels like this whole series England have been on the back foot, mainly due to our own inadequacies.

Re: Overton, I thought he bowled alright, Leach and Broad bowled pretty well, Archer and Stokes were very poor. Was just a generally shocking day for England.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

We need to bat a day and half (if it rains) to save this game. How confident are we that our batsman can actually dig in and be disciplined enough to achieve this, I always live in hope.

 

[knocky1]

Flat Track , they probably all sat down and tried to find the tallest english bloke who could bowl and he fitted the bill , for some reason if it looks like a surface is slow and flat then bounce is considered the next best option , unfortunately for Curran he's fundamentally too short to get the ball to bounce very high is how i see it , if that's how it is then the poor bloke won't be seeing much test cricket , he deserves a go at it , and i wouldn't be that suprised if he comes in for Archer in the final test if we can't win the ashes , Archer looks well pissed off with something the whole match , i really hope he hasn't been told to tone down his aggression by the Toffs because that would be so very English .

A Sussex hatred of Manchester, perhaps?
The Oval is tailor made for Archer. Ashes not retained but series to play for.

 

[The Wizard]

A Sussex hatred of Manchester, perhaps?
The Oval is tailor made for Archer. Ashes not retained but series to play for.

You say that but Old Trafford is normally a fast bouncy pitch, and it looks as though it’s been prepared to be a sticky slow pitch by the looks of it, looks more like a sub continent pitch. I’d love to see an interview with Archer where he explains the drop in pace, my only guess could be that after that second test where he bowled express pace at times he realised he’s not going to be able to do that in test cricket over 5 days.