England vs Australia 4th Test, Trent Bridge

As The Ashes thread has gone on a tangent arguing over who is SA's best fast bowler, let's get back on topic with a match thread.

Conditions for the 5 days look generally dry so there will be an almost certain result for either team. Also looking cloudy for large periods, so the loss of Anderson might be huge for England

England: Cook, Lyth, Bell, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler, Ali, Broad, Wood, Finn

Australia: Rogers, Warner, Smith, S Marsh, Clarke, Voges, Nevill, Johnson, Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon

Bit grim down south. Good toss to lose.

Not Siddle in for Hazlewood?

seanmichaels wrote:Not Siddle in for Hazlewood?

Might be - we will have to see. I get a sense that Australia will not feel the bowling attack is a particular problem, but will be looking to get rid of Voges and maybe re-shuffle the batting order

And VERY grim in Nottingham this morning. Could be a delayed start and looks like a bowling day

I'm going to be very upset if Hazlewood doesn't get a game

Pretty grey, has tended to rain in spurts rather than in long patches lately though so should be good. Cant see Cook putting himself in if he wins the toss

kingraf wrote:I'm going to be very upset if Hazlewood doesn't get a game

Well Siddle or Haizlewood to my uneducated eye says it depends what you are after. If you opt for Siddle he will give you much more control and is very economical so is the better of the pair to build pressure. However, the better wicket-taking option is Haizlewood but that comes at a cost as he leaks runs.

If this was the First Test I'd have said start with Siddle to keeps things tight but now Australia are 2-1 down in the series and running out of time. They need to win this test and to do that they need twenty wickets and Haizlewood is likely to get more in the wickets column than Siddle so I'd say he is the option to go for.

As for England this is their chance to prove they aren't overly dependent on Jimmy Anderson which I think would be a very good thing. He isn't going to be around I'd say in a couple or three years time so they will have to learn how to survive and win without him.

I think Adam Lyth should ask for the 667th Cap. 666 is obviously too strong for him.

Is this the last Test Anderson missed? Dinesh Ramdin century, Tino Best 95. Hmm....

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/534207.html

England have won five of the last six tests here; Australia lost in '05 and '13.

Weather a touch gloomy - bowl first, get at the troubled Australian batting order?

Conditions should suit England and they have a good record here against Australia in the last few series. Anderson is a loss but if Finn can have another good day at the office and Stokes turn up then England have plenty of resources to cover.

Looking at the weather theres a fair bit of cloud for the morning session but brightening up and sunny tomorrow morning. Assuming a classic Trent Bridge pitch as mentioned above it could be a tricky toss to win, negotiating the first session will be key and both teams are pretty fragile. Bowl out the opposition today and you get tpossibly the best battiung conditions of the match tomorrow. The problem is of course if as England did in the second test you fail to capitalise on the early movement then the batting team holds all the aces.

I wouldnt bother buying tickets for Monday, cant see this going the distance.

If England had Anderson I'd say win the toss, put the Aussies in and get into them. I think they need to bat first, get runs on the board and then go from there.

Wood may revel with the new ball in these conditions. Win the toss and field, then skittle them for 150. Easy!!!

Marky wrote:If England had Anderson I'd say win the toss, put the Aussies in and get into them. I think they need to bat first, get runs on the board and then go from there.

No I think if the toss is won then you must bowl. The Australian batting line-up is looking fragile and get into the top order. The pitch is said to be one that will do something early on then play better.

This is a bowl first pitch everytime. Green, very overcast, stick them in.

Sean replaces Mitch Marsh apparently.

Expect Wood to replace Jimmy

I'd be gobsmacked if Anderson is not replaced by Wood - that looks set in stone since the injury cropped up.

CaledonianCraig wrote:As for England this is their chance to prove they aren't overly dependent on Jimmy Anderson

why even try...to prove ( or disprove ) their dependence on Anderson.

they are very highly dependent on Anderson...who is their all time great bowler....his numbers also speak the same language.

English positions should be ...we are considerably weakened in bowling without Anderson in seaming / swinging conditions....and that would be an honest statement

Thing is both teams trust their bowlers more than their batsmen. At least from an Aus perspective they have their batting top loaded, so although it would be a huge risk to put their best bats in when the ball could banana they are more likely to be able to weather it than Englands fragile top 3.
I could certainly see where the temptation would be to bowl first, as a captain youd probably be glad to leave the choice to the opposition.


Marshes swapping is a surprise...I guess they are banking on this being a short game and being able to get away with not having to bowl a huge bulk of overs. There couldve been a temptation to give Watson a go at delivering some county style swing ...I gues this really shows he is gone now and theres little sentiment ( as with Haddin) in the selections. Clarke better check his contract or score some runs.

I think any team that loses a world class bowler a week before a test will be considerably weakened. I wouldn't really consider this a fair reflection.

Excellent, England bowling first.

Seems like a bowl first day, but that can go quite badly wrong sometimes. Am thinking the second test vs. NZ here, which got away from England once conditions improved as NZ weathered the storm and made a decent total whilst also having the advantage of batting third

Well England have won the toss and elected to bowl. No surprise there.

The road map for the day for Australia will be to bat sensibly and get through to lunch no worse than 100 for 2. Get through to tea on 225 for 4 and close on around 350 for 7.

For England they will be hoping to exploit what looks like favourable bowling conditions and reduce England/Australia to 100 for 4 at lunch. Get to tea with Australia in trouble at 210 for 7 and bowling them out for no more than 250 an hour after tea. Get the pads on and bat through to close no worse than 50 for 1.

Wood in for Anderson and will get the new ball and Australia have brought Shaun Marsh in for Mitchell Marsh. Shaun batting at four and Clarke batting at five.

I agree it probably makes sense to bowl first, but if England without Anderson can't make inroads it will backfire in a big way.

Had to be a bowl first day. Conditions will not be better for bowling.

Marky wrote:I agree it probably makes sense to bowl first, but if England without Anderson can't make inroads it will backfire in a big way.

It's not like he's going to come back after today though. We've got to bowl at some point. Lunch prediction - 98-3.

Likewise our fragile top order could get knocked over in the opening hour.

You have to bowl first here

Guessing Voges survives on local knowledge. Bit light on seamers now

England's seam bowling ability to be potent is reduced by 50% in the absence of anderson

Not every day is a sunday ...expect Aus to take advantage of missing....Anderson's.....show more resolve, greater depth of specialist batters.... and have a decent day....means around 300ish for 5

Reckon Clarke would have bowled first so you could say it makes sense for England to do something the opposition won't like. Always think putting opposition in puts pressure on the bowlers.

KP_fan wrote:England's seam bowling ability to be potent is reduced by 50% in the absence of anderson

Not every day is a sunday ...expect Aus to take advantage of missing....Anderson's.....show more resolve, greater depth of specialist batters.... and have a decent day....means around 300ish for 5

Cheers KP_fan.

After your initial foray of England won't even win a test in this series, this probably means Australia will struggle to hit three digits!

KP_Fan talking more rubbish than LiamB on the football forum

I maintain we should use Jerusalem as the national anthem

I put KPF on ignore about a year ago. Thoroughly recommend it

What a start, 300 for Broady.

Beautiful. Good captaincy to have Broad round the wicket straight away, nice bit of away movement.

What a start!

Said it all along, bowl first

There goes Rogers. Could be a short morning if Broads in the mood

Get Finn on to Smith

I'm claiming that one

No need GSC

He deserves this! Bowled well for very little reward over the course of the series, now has two in one over.

Adelaide 2010 all over again!

Crazy first over, 10 runs and 2 wickets!

Shaun Marsh probably didn't think he'd be in after 1 over...

3 down.

Jimmy who?

What a start!

Yep, Englands bowling has been reduced by 50%

Australia can't play a ball that moves.

Extraordinary. Outstanding.

So yeah, bowling first...

Michael Clarke. Massive Pressure

Mayhem!

Who needs Anderson?

Duty281 wrote:Australia can't play a ball that moves.

Extraordinary. Outstanding.

I'm not sure that ball moved all that much Duty, think that's more of a technical problem Warner has were his bat doesn't come down in a straight line.