The Ashes - official thread

[Soul Requiem]

First topic message reminder :

I don't understand why Buttler isn't hogging the strike here.

[Afro]

Is Smith's average better this Ashes or the last one? Must be quite close

[Gooseberry]

Someone should go back and dig out everything we said about Smith after the first couple of tests in 2015. Mega lols

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Archer has four, Marsh caught by Leach at the boundary

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Root drops Smith with a chance in the slips. Curran has bothered him, Root gets his palm there and he probably could have taken it

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

In my opinion, dropping Steve Smith is a bad idea.

[robbo277]

Possibly the game. Definitely not helpful. We have enough trouble getting Smith once an innings, let alone twice.

166/6 with Paine and Siddle at the crease and you're thinking a lead of at least 50. Now all options are still open.

[Afro]

Says it all that getting it feels like we have missed getting Smith out cheapily because he is "only" in the 60s.

[Afro]

Says it all that getting it feels like we have missed getting Smith out cheapily because he is "only" in the 60s.

Also noticed something from Michael Vaughan earlier. Last test he said he would be happy if we restricted Smith to 70 runs total in the game. This morning, he said the same, but had upped the runs to 120. Shows how expectation changes!!!!

BTW Archer's going to get Smith in the next 3 overs......... #predictioninhope

[robbo277]

He's the only batsman who will routinely punish you. Root got a few lives yesterday but didn't convert that to a punishing score. The first drop was on 25 and he added another 32 for 57.

If Smith adds 32 before we finally get him then I'd take that.

[Soul Requiem]

Only Dwayne Bravo has a worse average than Mitchell Marsh playing at 6.

[Gooseberry]

Give Bairstow a few more games SR

[Duty281]

Don't need to bother with silly technicalities like getting Smith out - just get the other 10 out.

Pointless review from Cummins. Curran showing today why he should have been in the side earlier.

[robbo277]

England nosing ahead. But Smith is still there. Hopefully this isn't another Edgbaston.

[Duty281]

Smith needs a Leach-type batsman at the other end so he can do his thing.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I’ve just accidentally and overexcitedly commentated the Curran heroics to the admin group cos I’m tired and a child. Afro pointed out how much better than Overton little Curran is.

Weird, I heard his swing meant he could not get wickets

[Gooseberry]

I'd venture to suggest that Leach could do with a Smith type batsman at the other end once in a while then he wouldnt to have to do his thing

[GSC]

Curran and Marsh have found movement nobody else really has. That seemed unlikely

[robbo277]

Only Dwayne Bravo has a worse average than Mitchell Marsh playing at 6.

To qualify, I think that's players who have played as much as Marsh or more. Marsh averages 26.68 at 6.

In 120 batting innings, Bairstow has batted 5, 6, 7 on 109 occasions. He averages 28 at 5 and 39 at 6 or 7. He obviously played 5 this test, and didn't bat as well.

Stokes averages less than Bairstow does batting at 6 (37) - despite the fact his 258 and most of his innings were at 6. He's averaging 44 at 5.

[GSC]

Really does underline that Smith has been the difference in this series. Beyond that, not much difference between the teams

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Sarah Connor must be somewhere as the Terminator comes in to bowl spin

[Dolphin Ziggler]

HES GONE

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Woakes has bowled pure Poopie all day then gets Smith first ball of his new spell - funny old game

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Sarah Connor must be somewhere as the Terminator comes in to bowl spin

Is it obvious I’ve never watched one of those films and don’t understand the reference I’ve made?

[Duty281]

Wow, only 80. England in charge and in command and all the other adjectives that haven't often applied to them this Ashes.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Woakes has found his rhythm now. Might actually be bowling a little too well at these tailenders

[GSC]

crap balls take wickets

[sirfredperry]

Some stats. Smith only the third man to twice make 750 runs or more in a Test series.

The others? Lara (twice) and Bradman (four times)

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Woakes has found his rhythm now. Might actually be bowling a little too well at these tailenders

Now that Lyon seems to be taking the mick out of him, I’d suggest I was wrong

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

England are always gonna England aren’t they? Somehow allowing Lyon to cut down the lead now

[GSC]

What a player Archer is

[Dolphin Ziggler]

What a catch Rory!

[GSC]

69 run lead.

England should put something on the board that's going to be tough in the 4th innings but who knows. A few are batting for their future here.

[Soul Requiem]

Great catch by Burns that, reminds me of a theory I once had involving Daryl Mitchell, a decent enough opener but an absolutely fantastic slip fielder something this team is also missing.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

What a player Archer is

22 wickets at under 17.5 with two 6-fors in 3-and-a-half Tests. Not bad

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Is Wade only in the side to talk pure crap at short leg?

[Dolphin Ziggler]

That’s a horror drop.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Thank god for DRS

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Horror call my the umpire too. I have decided to award all the runs for our lead to Denly, and I hope to make that official with the government of cricket and the royal family of tests by tomorrow

[GSC]

that's a terrible decision

[Duty281]

Great day for Curran, Archer and England. Now to convert this strong position into a match-winning one.

As it's only day three tomorrow and the wicket still looks beautiful and because Steve Smith exists, England will likely need to set more than the usual fourth innings target - anything above 275 should be golden in this circumstance. Bat through tomorrow and win the game. For heaven's sake, don't collapse!

[Gooseberry]

So despite England batting woefuly and two bowlers not really turning up England somewhow have a sizeable lead. I guess this again sums up just how bad everyone except Smith in the Aus side is with the bat. Two deeply flawed batting units, England for once on top.
Well done Curran!

[Gooseberry]

Some stats. Smith only the third man to twice make 750 runs or more in a Test series.

The others? Lara (twice) and Bradman (four times)

Not many get to play this many 5 tests series these days but lets face it the guy is head and shoulders the best test bat in this generation. Its always hard to compare across the ages but as with bradman his stats blow away the competition from the same era.

[JDizzle]

Some stats. Smith only the third man to twice make 750 runs or more in a Test series.

The others? Lara (twice) and Bradman (four times)

Not many get to play this many 5 tests series these days but lets face it the guy is head and shoulders the best test bat in this generation. Its always hard to compare across the ages but as with bradman his stats blow away the competition from the same era.

And Smith has done it twice in four Test series - vs India in 14/15, and effectively three Tests (only six innings) this series. Unreal.

[sirfredperry]

England should be on the verge of the Ashes now if only, if only.
From 122-8 at Edgbaston England should have gone on to win that match.

Instead, after Lord's, with England one down instead of one up, it was asking a lot of a fragile England batting line-up to avoid defeat in three successive Tests. Instead, England will have, hopefully, to settle for 2-2.

Some more thoughts on Smith. He's made his runs in a poor batting side and has often had to come in after early wickets have gone down and the bowlers have been on top. It makes his achievement all the more praiseworthy.

[robbo277]

Any talk of Australia getting away with one at Edgbaston could be countered by the Headingley result. You could easily switch both looking at the half time scores.

Saying that, if we'd got 20 more overs at Lords or 20 fewer overs at Headingley you could flip those results. I think that's where we could say the luck has been against England.

I hope we get the win (duh) but I also think 2-2 would be a fair reflection, especially if we actually finish 2-2. If we collapse from here then yeah we don't deserve the series draw.

70 runs ahead. Bat 3 sessions, 80 overs these days and 240 at the rate we've been going. That gives us 310. Could Australia do their own Headingley? With Smith there anything is possible, but beyond him and Laubuschagne there's not all that many runs this series.

[alfie]

Well I did say yesterday that nearly 300 might be enough for a contest...

Useful lead. No certainty in the future development though : as Duty noted above the pitch still is playing OK and likely to do so for another day at least so England need to have a decent second innings. They don't have a spinner who is likely to destroy the Australian second innings so their best chance is probably batting them right out of it : ie bat all day Saturday. If they can (big if !) then victory is likely. In their favour is they have thrown the Aussie bowlers back out there again with minimal rest - especially Cummins and Hazlewood. Something that has bitten England often enough recently !

Curran did a job , eh ? A lot of people diss him for lack of pace ; but I think the left arm angle and the swing compensate for that to a significant degree. May not be a hit in India , for example ; but I think he is at least a squad member anywhere going forward...and really should have played the previous Test this series ( and that is not hindsight in my case !)
Archer obviously had a great day -perhaps his best in the Tests , given the conditions ? I don't actually think he's been all that good with the new ball earlier in the series - it has generally been Broad doing the early damage , while he has taken wickets later in the innings - but today when Broad appeared to be a little off (accumulated fatigue ?) though I think he might have had Labuschagne caught very early had they reviewed ; he really carried the attack.
I have no idea what is wrong with Woakes . But at least he seems to get Smith out eventually which the rest of them can't do

Strangely both teams are missing a few catches in this match . Looks bright enough seeing so not sure why they're going down like this ... Hope Denly can cash in tomorrow...

[KP_fan]

Is there a way Eng can , not win from here ?
I cannot foresee any.
Although experts are singing praises for Archer.
Butler's innings is the one worth in gold .

For even Mitch Marsh picked a 5fer

[Dolphin Ziggler]

That’s the worst poem I’ve ever read

[sirfredperry]

Another interesting stat. Apparently even The Don didn't have a 10-innings Ashes batting spree as good as Smith's current one.

OK, Anderson has been missing this series but Smith has still had to contend with Broad and Archer.

[Gooseberry]

I mean Smith's good but he hasn't had to face Mitch Marsh right

Jokes aside I agree with SFP but expanding on that it's also coming back in difficult circumstances with a crowd on his back and everything else.
What really seems to set Smith apart isn't his batting skills, but his seemingly unflappable nature. Even getting smashed up by Archer hasn't affected him one bit. Every ball every innings he seems completely in control of the mental game.
Nothing he does is over complicated if you take away the manerisisms, he has a good range of strokes to deal with any type of bowling and field but sticks to a simple plan for each ball.
Rarely hesitant rarely picks the wrong way to play. All you can do is hope some movement beats him or he fails to execute.
Trott used to be the same and also wind up the opposition with his pre ball rituals. He cracked and lost it though, whereas smith seems to have incredible resilience and mental toughness.
It's a cliche to say it's an austrlian trait, and he has it more than anyone, but it is something the England players ( leach aside) seem to badly lack in batting.
It's not even battling bloody mindedness with him, just simple calmly getting on with the job and churning out the runs.

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