The creekit

[eric olthwaite]

Have we just won the one toss in five this series? That's a bit shit. Australians better tossers, clearly.

[dirty leeds]

Uh-oh, we're finding ways to fuck up again. And Yorkshire are about to lose their match at Somerset too...

[eric olthwaite]

Every time I check we lose a wicket. I'll stop checking.

[eric olthwaite]

Oh God. Hoping for rain again, are we?

[The Tin Man]

Have we just won the one toss in five this series? That's a bit shit. Australians better tossers, clearly.

Yep, they're total tossers but still a lot better than us.

[Devi]

Who knew Marsh was one of us?

[dirty leeds]

Oh God. Hoping for rain again, are we?

Won't be getting any.

[kennyb41]

Don’t understand Paine’s decision to bowl first or the selections TBH.

And then there's also the fact that we have a slight tendency in any given game to collapse at any point of our innings, i went out at 125/2 and Root seemed to have 9 lives, what happened ?

Yip, just start praying for rain again, we're not even good at that and we're in fcking England!...Where's that fcking coward bigot Walt ? Gone AWOL again



Must dash.

[Vampire]

Don’t understand Paine’s decision to bowl first or the selections TBH.

And then there's also the fact that we have a slight tendency in any given game to collapse at any point of our innings, i went out at 125/2 and Root seemed to have 9 lives, what happened ?

Yip, just start praying for rain again, we're not even good at that and we're in fcking England!

I still think it was a poor decision to bowl first - albeit the pommie middle order has let Paine get away with it to some extent. But the pitch looks like it will be difficult to bat on fourth dig so we’re going to need a decent first innings lead.

Overall, it seems to have been a strange day’s play. Poor decision at the toss, some poor selections by us, poor fielding, and poor batting. It has the feel of an end of long summer match.

Where's that fcking coward bigot Walt ? Gone AWOL again

Walt has no interest in cricket, Kenny. You only see him on this thread when he thinks he sees an opportunity to have a dig at me - someone he pretends to be ignoring.

He is, of course, poorly armed for a battle of wits on any thread, but whenever he appears on this one he resembles a retard with a potato gun.

[kennyb41]

Fck me you've just put a lovely picture in my head.

[Bobbycollins]

According to the Sky cricket website Trevor Bayliss blames England's poor batting on the lack of flat wickets - "If we can play for longer on flatter wickets it gives batters the opportunity to bat for longer in those conditions - the best thing to do is play on those wickets as much as we possibly can at the level below so we can bat longer and get more consistent performances".

The suggestion from Bayliss seems wrong on several levels. Firstly Test cricket should involve matches in a variety of conditions - in Australia and South Africa the pitches are harder with more bounce, in India and Bangladesh the spinners are key, whilst in England the ball moves off the seam and through the air, with additional variety from the weather. Secondly England were criticised during the World Cup for having developed a flat track bully mentality by playing previous ODIs on flat pitches, such that when the World Cup authorities instructed that the pitches should have a bit more in them, England could not repeat the near 400 scores and initially struggled. Thirdly England players rarely play County Cricket as Counties are instructed not to select England players at the start of the season, the remainder of which is taken up by England games.

As has been shown by Labushagne, who played 18 innings for Glamorgan this season before becoming the only Australian after Smith who could bat, becoming accustomed to local conditions is a key factor in batting long. England (and other touring sides) start Test matches under-cooked, after preparation of which only Hockaday would approve, including a single match against a local farmers co-operative or similar.

Does Australian Shield cricket suffer from similar woes?

Strauss has a lot of work to do in his new capacity as Chair of the ECB to improve the quality of England's cricket.

[Devi]

So are you saying test players should play more county cricket?
Is that they don’t down to the players, counties, ECB or ICC?

(I think they should too btw)

[Vampire]

Does Australian Shield cricket suffer from similar woes?

The Shield has always been a higher standard than country cricket for two reasons. First there are only six states - so the better players are spread less thinly. There’s been occasions where NSW has had half the test team playing. Second, the States seek to retain the historical characteristics of their pitches - so the players experience different conditions - for example pace and bounce in Perth and Brisbane, spin in Sydney and Adelaide.

More recently there have been concerns about declining standards in the Shield. Congested test schedules, one day and big bash means test players play less Shield. And drop in pitches threaten traditional character as we have seen at the MCG. But overall I’d say the standard is still higher than County Cricket.

[kennyb41]

Where's that coward hiding huh...in his WAAAAAABULANCE!! ....



Must dash.

[dirty leeds]

Does Australian Shield cricket suffer from similar woes?

The Shield has always been a higher standard than country cricket for two reasons. First there are only six states - so the better players are spread less thinly. There’s been occasions where NSW has had half the test team playing. Second, the States seek to retain the historical characteristics of their pitches - so the players experience different conditions - for example pace and bounce in Perth and Brisbane, spin in Sydney and Adelaide.

More recently there have been concerns about declining standards in the Shield. Congested test schedules, one day and big bash means test players play less Shield. And drop in pitches threaten traditional character as we have seen at the MCG. But overall I’d say the standard is still higher than County Cricket.

Yep, I think the way to go is to have fewer counties here too. Probably looking at a Premier League equivalent of the county game. That's if they really want to save it [and therefore the standard of our test cricket].

[Vampire]

Am I alone in thinking Leach should be batting higher than no.10?

[kennyb41]

No i wanna see him opening and like i said yonks back ...GET BEN FOAKES IN !!!

[kennyb41]

Warner struggling like fck and seems to have totally lost his game and any sort of composure.

[kennyb41]

Bairstow open, Leach at 3 Root at 4.

[eric olthwaite]

Repetitive, this. Aus openers hardly make it worth the effort to walk out to the middle, then we settle straight into two days of Smith and the South African scoring 500.