4th Ashes Test Durham

First topic message reminder :

They're all at it again on Friday. Just as England are likely to chuck in a bad performance when everyone expects them to win (Leeds 09, Perth 2010/11, Manchester 2013) they usually bounce back next Test (Lord's and Oval 09, Melbourne 2010/11).
I'm taking England to win one of the last two Tests to ensure a series victory. Onions, it seems, will come in and that could be a good move. Still think this is not a very strong Australia team. It's just that they were an average team playing poorly in the first two Test while at Manchester they were an average team playing well.
Before Manchester, we were asking if Australia could improve/get back into the series. Well they certainly achieved the former if not the latter. Now we could ask - Can England start firing on all cylinders ?

Cook very unlucky with his, if you saw the hawkeye for the line the ball would have held it would have been a good leave.

If Prior doesn't make a score soon (ie this test) providing we don't lose this test I'd use the last one as a chance of giving Bairstow the gloves and calling up Taylor.

Scrumpy wrote:God I hope not if his dreadful run continues, one swallow doesn't make a summer, he fails when England need him the most.

Like in Nagpur?

Reckon Root should be moved back down the order where he seems more comfortable.

He might make a good opener in a few years' time when he's got a few more series under his belt and maybe a couple of thousand Test runs.

With age comes experience and all that...

hodge wrote:Cook very unlucky with his, if you saw the hawkeye for the line the ball would have held it would have been a good leave.

If Prior doesn't make a score soon (ie this test) providing we don't lose this test I'd use the last one as a chance of giving Bairstow the gloves and calling up Taylor.

Good lord, drop Prior?

This forum has completely melted.

Brainless cricket by Bell there.

bell needs to go

ok full scale collapse. chalk this one in the book for aussie.

this isn't good enough.

shocking batting.

That's an awful shot from Bell. There's a time and place for taking the attack to Aus and the first over after tea when you are 155-4 and have just suffered a mini collapse isn't it. Need some runs from Matthew now.

Now that is a rubbish dismissal for Bell - really threw that away , and straight after tea too !

Guess he was due a failure , but disappointed in that.

Lyon the destroyer  

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:Now I may be totally wrong. But I don't think this is a 400 pitch at all.
Three players have got a start - at least - and not gone on , though there haven't been many alarms in between the wickets ; and Cook has really grafted for his runs.
Pitch may quicken up tomorrow. Might change things a bit.

Guess we will find out over the next couple of days.

Difficult to deduce really. There's a bit of swing out there, slow outfield, slow pitch, and it may turn later on.

If England get 400, they should win I'd have thought.

If I heard Atherton correctly when I first switched on this morning, no side batting first this season at Durham in the County Championship has even reached 300. That's quite a stat.

Doesn't look like England are going to get too near it either as Bell goes ....

Or maybe England have melted? Bit brainless that to say the least.

107/1 to 155/5 - You know you're watching England!

dyrewolfe wrote:Reckon Root should be moved back down the order where he seems more comfortable.

He might make a good opener in a few years' time when he's got a few more series under his belt and maybe a couple of thousand Test runs.

With age comes experience and all that...

    

Wow - Lyon enjoying a bit of a purple patch here...though Bell gave him a lot of help there.

Uncharacteristic error by Bell, but he doesn't help England's cause with that daft dismissal for just 6.

England now 155-5 and they'll be able to smell the brown stuff creeping up around their knees now...

Just hope our bowling attack can limit the Aussies in their first innings or else this isn't going to be pretty viewing.

Another great decision to bat, Well done Capt Cook  

If the stat about Durham is correct then what was Cook and England thinking?

Good job the Aussies can't win the Ashes now as they are in the box seat

So bbc right and only an idiot would bat first here and second team always do better.

Cook is struggling.

guildfordbat wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:Now I may be totally wrong. But I don't think this is a 400 pitch at all.
Three players have got a start - at least - and not gone on , though there haven't been many alarms in between the wickets ; and Cook has really grafted for his runs.
Pitch may quicken up tomorrow. Might change things a bit.

Guess we will find out over the next couple of days.

Difficult to deduce really. There's a bit of swing out there, slow outfield, slow pitch, and it may turn later on.

If England get 400, they should win I'd have thought.

If I heard Atherton correctly when I first switched on this morning, no side batting first this season at Durham in the County Championship has even reached 300. That's quite a stat.

Doesn't look like England are going to get too near it either as Bell goes ....

That is quite a stat. England are over halfway to 300!

Scrumpy wrote:Another great decision to bat, Well done Capt Cook  

If the stat about Durham is correct then what was Cook and England thinking?

Good job the Aussies can't win the Ashes now as they are in the box seat

Good lord, I need a lie down.

Time to wheel out the classic 'never judge a pitch till both sides have batted on it' cliche, but if it is true that no side batting first at the ICG has made 300 this year then either the Test match pitch is flatter and Eng have batted badly or their are hidden gremlins that I haven't seen yet.

Nice straight drive from JB.

Duty281 wrote:Or maybe England have melted? Bit brainless that to say the least.

107/1 to 155/5 - You know you're watching England!

Do you suppose its the inevitable complacency / brain-melt, knowing they've retained the Ashes?

Nathan Lyon 3-28 on a first day pitch. Decent bowler but that says it all to me. Need Prior to make a score, another class player horribly out of form.

Have you seen England bowl!

We've dropped our standards there too.

Aus will win this one.

JDizzle wrote:Time to wheel out the classic 'never judge a pitch till both sides have batted on it' cliche, but if it is true that no side batting first at the ICG has made 300 this year then either the Test match pitch is flatter and Eng have batted badly or their are hidden gremlins that I haven't seen yet.

Nice straight drive from JB.

Well, the Aussie bowlers don't appear to have been exactly terrorising our batsmen...most of the wickets seem to be either poor shots or misjudgements on our part.

And given this pitch is meant to help seam bowlers, thats pretty poor going.

As our coach was smart enough to not pick the one man who could really perform here scrumpy.

England are going to get hammered this winter. I'm losing faith in their decision making, selections and especially their ability to bat. The bowling could be good but the coach is only picking his favourites now it seems. Not good.

Wow. All this optimism on here  

Anyone would think England had been getting regularly hammered lately , instead of having six wins and five draws from their last eleven Test Matches.

This is day one , first innings of four. Australia will be feeling quite happy right now but there is a lot of cricket to be played yet. Not quite time to start slashing our wrists...

What's frustrating is the hard work was done, 100-1 and the game was open. Then some terrible cricket and we are under the cosh.

dyrewolfe wrote:

JDizzle wrote:Time to wheel out the classic 'never judge a pitch till both sides have batted on it' cliche, but if it is true that no side batting first at the ICG has made 300 this year then either the Test match pitch is flatter and Eng have batted badly or their are hidden gremlins that I haven't seen yet.

Nice straight drive from JB.

Well, the Aussie bowlers don't appear to have been exactly terrorising our batsmen...most of the wickets seem to be either poor shots or misjudgements on our part.

And given this pitch is meant to help seam bowlers, thats pretty poor going.

To be fair, Cook got a cracker, Root got a decent ball (playing it on the move though, perhaps a slight technical issue), Trott just found another way to get out, I missed the KP dismissal and Bell's was a stupid shot. I'd only really say Bell's dismissal was the one where the batsman has got himself out.

Durham will always offer something to the bowler as the ball will seam pretty much all the way through and as a batsman you can never really say you are in there, which probably accounts for the number of batsmen who have got in and then out there. If England hit their spots then I think 300 will be about par here. Hopefully.

alfie wrote:Wow.  All this optimism on here  

Anyone would think England had been getting regularly hammered lately , instead of having six wins and five draws from their last eleven Test Matches.

This is day one , first innings of four.  Australia will be feeling quite happy right now but there is a lot of cricket to be played yet.  Not quite time to start slashing our wrists...

We nearly let the 1st Test slip through our fingers with some pretty shoddy bowling at the end.

Granted the 2nd Test was a huge win, but the Ashes were only secured after the 3rd Test was washed out.

And this is against an Australia side that is nothing like the all-conquering sides of yore.

The Aussies have played some good cricket at times and indeed have been the better side at times.

This is why there is so much pessimism around. England have almost never looked all that convincing as a team and have usually had to rely on one or two batsmen making big scores, or for our bowlers to skittle the opposition for low scores.

Credit to the Aussies for keeping on fighting, even after the Ashes have gone, but you have to say we're giving them a lot of help.

for about a year we were a seriously solid side and I started to dream we were past the Athers day of collapsing if someone sneezes but now.. it's all coming back.  It's horrible.

Yeah , all true , Wolfe , but despite all that it is still 2-0 . And against NZ England had some difficult times too , and yet they still kept finding a way to win - or draw.
Some luck maybe. But they have consistently showed they are not easy to beat.

Which is why I am not in a hurry to declare doom is upon us...I have faith in the bowlers. I think there is just enough for the bowlers here (and since lunch I think Australia have bowled well) that Australia will not find scoring too easy when it is their turn to bat.
And they will have to bat last.

Anyway I am just going to relax and watch it.

mystiroakey wrote:bell needs to go

lol #headsgone

First innings scores here this season have all been around 250

Perfect opportunity for Bairstow to prove whether he's upto it

GSC wrote:First innings scores here this season have all been around 250

 and second?

alfie wrote:Yeah , all true , Wolfe , but despite all that it is still 2-0 .  And against NZ England had some difficult times too , and yet they still kept finding a way to win - or draw.
Some luck maybe.  But they have consistently showed they are not easy to beat.

Which is why I am not in a hurry to declare doom is upon us...I have faith in the bowlers. I think there is just enough for the bowlers here (and since lunch I think Australia have bowled well) that Australia will not find scoring too easy when it is their turn to bat.
And they will have to bat last.

Anyway I am just going to relax and watch it.

Good points alfie.

I'm a bit like trebell in that I'm prone to panicking when we lose a bunch of wickets cheaply...like him I keep having flashbacks to when we were really bad.  

Hope you're right...though I can't believe you used the word "relax" in conjunction with watching England!

trebellbobaggins wrote:for about a year we were a seriously solid side and I started to dream we were past the Athers day of collapsing if someone sneezes but now.. it's all coming back.  It's horrible.

Just when you thought it was safe to watch England again...

haha exactly.

11 Consecutive Tests without Defeat.

Now stop knee-jerking. No surrender, ever.

dyrewolfe wrote:

trebellbobaggins wrote:for about a year we were a seriously solid side and I started to dream we were past the Athers day of collapsing if someone sneezes but now.. it's all coming back.  It's horrible.

Just when you thought it was safe to watch England again...

Haha...might have to get that ghost out of the castle to come and put the wind up Watson , eh ? He has done a good job of locking up the scoring rate...

By the way you are right that relaxing at an Ashes Test is difficult to manage...but for some reason after surviving that last match I am feeling a lot less twitchy than usual. Probably due to an alcohol deficiency...

Getting late here. Might have to leave this soon and hope they can make it through to stumps without total destruction.

Before I go , must say that Bairstow 12 off 67 and Prior something similar says either that Australia are bowling hand grenades or this pitch is not quite the road many seem to have been assuming.

By the way if anyone thinks there is a bit of knee jerking on here sometimes , check out the BBC live score feedback ! Blimey there are some nutters on there ...one chap wanted KP sent back to his county to learn discretion because he just can't be relied on  

That's a huge wicket for Australia, and another good review by them. Certainly didn't look out live, not sure why we needed to check the inside edge so many times either.

Matchoo Prior out LBW on review. Brings a painful partnership to an end. Pitch might not be spitting viciously but it is definitely not easy to score against disciplined bowling out there.

bloody hell.

have we put Durham ladies out by mistake or something?

we really have got deep problems with our batting.  Maybe it's a coaching issue. if it is everyone getting into poor form at once then new selection are needed. if it's mental weakness.. well then that's just endemic in English cricket for most of my life.

trebellbobaggins wrote:bloody hell.

have we put Durham ladies out by mistake or something?

They're a bloody good side.

oops, sorry to Durham ladies.  They can probably bat.

Can't wait for England to bowl on this because, until then, it'll be impossible to know what's a good score on this pitch.

a good batting side would have got 350 here.  aussie probably 300 + if Clarke goes well.

unbelievably timid defensive cricket from eng, since winning T2.
drop shutter and shut shop too quickly in the series

England of old.  no confidence.

Slightly timid at Old Trafford, yes. Bairstow and Prior just playing to the situation here. KP, Trott and Bell all tried to play positively and got out. 155-5 + slow pitch + good bowling = not scoring at 3.5 an over.

Dear oh dear...Matty Prior! No big innings from him this time either.

Aussies appear to be getting us on accuracy, rather than anything really tricky.

England 189-6 and looking like falling well short of the 300 par score for this pitch.