The Ashes - August/September 2019

[firlandsfarm]

So just over 325 ahead with 3 wickets left … maybe go for 350 and declare with about an hour at England tonight. If that leaves England looking for 300 on the 5th day then the stats will say "forget it" … scoring 300 on the 5th day of a test match to win it is a landmark that has been near impossible in the past. If anyone has the stats maybe they could share them, the only one I'm aware of was Australia beating England by 7 wickets at Headingley 1948. They actually needed 404 after England carried on batting in the morning thinking they had played Australia out of the game! https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/175 ... gland-1948

Way before my time but that must have been one hell of a game

[Archangel]

Draw currently approaching evens

Not sure how likely it is that England can grind it out a draw

[Berts Certs]

Draw currently approaching evens

Not sure how likely it is that England can grind it out a draw

Lyon looks a real danger to me, not sure he will get much help from the quicks though.

[Emmson]

On all known evidence Aus will win tomorrow but it pays not to make too many assumptions.

[greenmark]

On all known evidence Aus will win tomorrow but it pays not to make too many assumptions.

What evidence? Just curious.

[Archangel]

Unless England pull off a miracle and win tomorrow, I have a large loss on this test match

[greenmark]

You're stuffed. Unless Lyon sprains an ankle and England's top order all hit their potential on the same day.

[firlandsfarm]

What evidence? Just curious.

Cricket evidence! 5th day pitch, plenty of rough, taking spin and Aussies have nothing to lose so can attack all day. The only thing England can do is keep the Aussies thinking there is a chance of us winning so they step back on the attacking. This test match has been a disaster for England, they will be frightened of Smith for the remaining 4 tests, he will have the voodoo on them!

[Emmson]

On all known evidence Aus will win tomorrow but it pays not to make too many assumptions.

What evidence? Just curious.

As well as what previous poster mentioned, massive question marks about this Eng batting unit, not much evidence they can bat time. If the target was 30+ runs fewer that would give Eng a glimmer of a victory but it looks completely off the table so Aus can set attacking fields with men around the bat.

But I try not to make assumptions.

[firlandsfarm]

... massive question marks about this Eng batting unit, not much evidence they can bat time. ...

The problem is too many of the batsmen have won their place on their attacking play and so are not tested at carrying their bat when needed. England have had many such batsmen in the past but it seems a dying trade nowadays. Atherton v's South Africa 1995

[BetBuddy]

England don’t have any real test match batsman.

Nowadays the money is in ODI and T20.

You can see Roy is unhappy batting that way. He doesn’t want to spend 8 hours scoring 25 runs. It’s not in his DNA, therefore he will take risks when he shouldn’t etc.

[greenmark]

England don’t have any real test match batsman.

Nowadays the money is in ODI and T20.

You can see Roy is unhappy batting that way. He doesn’t want to spend 8 hours scoring 25 runs. It’s not in his DNA, therefore he will take risks when he shouldn’t etc.

Sadly, you are absolutely spot on about Roy.

[superfrank]

Test cricket (and their markets) are so often fascinating, today being a case in point.

Shame Roy had that brain fart.

[PunterLog]

At best, England have 3 batsmen who are proper Test quality bats. The rest of the hacks should stick to LOI's.

Having different set of players for Tests and LOI's is absolutely necessary if you want to dominate all formats. It should be no surprise to see that England increasingly focussing on LOI's has costed them results in the Test format.

[superfrank]

At best, England have 3 batsmen who are proper Test quality bats. The rest of the hacks should stick to LOI's.

Root, Stokes, who's the 3rd?!!