Ashes 2021/22 and other cricket through the winter of 2021 thread

[Mind the windows Tino.]

First topic message reminder :

James Bracey? Admittedly looked painfully bad vs NZ in the summer, but if we are wanting to give guys a chance then he shouldn’t be forgotten about so quickly. Especially as he was batting out of position. Better FC record than Hameed and made a half century for the Lions in Aus in 2020 and a ton this time. But he was flown home because English scoring runs just isn’t on!

Fair. Had forgotten about him actually and he was thrown a suicide pass in the summer against the best test team in the world. He probably does deserve another shot in the near future.

[Pal Joey]

Another majestic century for Usman. What a perfect match he's having. Cool as you like.

Surely the declaration is coming soon.

[kingraf]

Twin tons for Khawaja. On his recall. The stuff of dreams. England have been willing to help make the dream come true, what with them bowling part timers and a tired Wood, but what a knock

[alfie]

And it is drinks again with the lead at 380. Paradoxically , the ease with which runs have come lately might be delaying the declaration a bit - captains are always a bit conservative.

But even if they don't have too long to survive tonight I cannot see England getting out of this now : they don't bat "time" well - at least most of them don't. The ones in some form yesterday like Bairstow and Stokes are better when trying to score rather than block ; so a lot left to Root - not for the first time.

Aussies winning this unless a lot of rain returns tomorrow.

[Pal Joey]

He's now averaging 98.33 at the SCG.

He joins Doug Walters (1968/69) and Ricky Ponting (2005/06) as the only players to score hundreds in each innings at the SCG.

[alfie]

Consolation wicket for Leach as Green skies one for Root...gone for 74. Batting on though as Carey comes out to play. Must want that 400 lead.

[alfie]

Carey out first ball ! Fine take by Pope...

But spoilsport Cummins denies Leach a shot at a hat trick by declaring ...boo !

England need 388. Good luck with that

[Pal Joey]

So about 45-50 minutes left in the day.

Some huge dark clouds near me but I don't think they're moving towards the SCG all that quickly.

[alfie]

Without wishing to be unkind , the question on everyone's mind now is not so much "can Crawley and Hameed survive tonight ?" as "how many will be down in fifty minutes time ?"

Right on cue the cloud cover is coming back too

[Pal Joey]

Without wishing to be unkind , the question on everyone's mind now is not so much "can Crawley and Hameed survive tonight ?" as "how many will be down in fifty minutes time ?"

Right on cue the cloud cover is coming back too

So far so good for England. Looks like these two will see it out for the day and the night watchman can rest easy for a change.

Pouring with rain here. I think they'll just escape the approaching deluge at the ground by about 15 minutes.

[kingraf]

Really good from England. 0-30 after 11. 358 in 98 overs feels like a lot, but we've seen two upset victories already this year, and it's always amusing to see a declaration lead to a loss, although that almost never happens anymore. Not sure anyone has ever lost having declared twice (excluding the leather jacket Test)

[alfie]

Well done the two of them...survived 11 overs - and with 30 on the board that's a record opening stand for England this series

The rain has timed things nicely to allow an uninterrupted day. Not sure about tomorrow ? Have heard there may be some weather breaks but we will see...

[alfie]

Really good from England. 0-30 after 11. 358 in 98 overs feels like a lot, but we've seen two upset victories already this year, and it's always amusing to see a declaration lead to a loss, although that almost never happens anymore. Not sure anyone has ever lost having declared twice (excluding the leather jacket Test)

Suppose 358 in 98 - if they get them all in - isn't impossible . Think we can be fairly sure it wouldn't happen here ; but if England got a couple of partnerships going perhaps Australia might have to consider the run situation and dial back on the attacking field placings.

Nice to see a fifth day anyway !

[VTR]

England are never batting 98 overs to save or win it. Maybe rain will reduce that to 60 overs or less, then they would have a chance. But they do have very recent history of losing badly when only having to bat 2 sessions to save a match

[alfie]

Aussie weather tends to be quite patriotic : the only time it rained heavily enough to reduce time four years ago was when England had made about 500

Hard to predict Sydney weather , as PJ will attest . Could lose a good block - could get a free day like today turned out , despite dire predictions of storms.

Agree it is hard to see this England outfit lasting 98 overs - or anything like that. But was at least pleasing to see HH and ZC hang in tonight. Hope they make the home team work tomorrow. Small steps...

[Mind the windows Tino.]

Fifty for Green now...  He battled early ; but is cashing in now under what has to be termed less than severe pressure. Will be a relief to him as his batting really hasn't been up to scratch in this series - though he's done a good job with the ball.

226/4

I see Warne now talking Green up to "dominate world cricket" after a low pressure half century against an under powered, one foot on the plane home English attack.

Look up hyperbole in the dictionary and you'll find a picture of his reworked face gurning away.

You can also look up one or two words on urban dictionary and find his face there as well.

[alfie]

Warne also thinks England should get Mason Crane back in the Test team asap ...

[VTR]

Warne also thinks England should get Mason Crane back in the Test team asap ...

Did he mean Matt Parkinson? Does he have any idea what he's talking about?!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Pope being legitimately excellent at keeping against spin whilst simultaneously looking like a 11 year old playing his first game of cricket when he’s batting against it, is hilarious

[Duty281]

Weather's been better than forecast right through the test, so on that flimsy basis I think Australia will still win. No way are England surviving 98 overs on this.

[Pal Joey]

It's been so touch and go, Duty.

There was a decent shower just after the close of play but only for 30 minutes or so. It's been dry ever since.

Last night, for instance, we had another massive downpour. I was thinking there's no way things will clear up by the morning. Then, this morning I go outside at 7am and it's all blue skies. The giveaway from the storm was that everything outside looked pretty soaked with rainwater.

Around lunchtime it was hot and humid and there was this light hazy type of cloud forming but you could see it intensify as the afternoon wore on.

Although one of my weather apps says "90% chance of rain/thunderstorm between 11am-1pm" then 80% at 2pm, 70% at 3pm, 60% at 4pm... it's where the storm hits.

My other weather app says early rain 10% chance of 0mm at 8am, 5% chance of 0mm at 11am, 5%, 0mm at 2pm and 5%, 0mm at 5pm.
So 5% of nothing...?

I don't know who to trust.

[guildfordbat]

149/4 at tea ; as Joe Root produces a surprise bouncer on the last ball of the session ! That really took off - and brought a great take by Ollie Pope and a big grin from Khawaja.

This stand has made it a good session for Australia after a slightly dodgy start. England doing well to hang in there but you'd think they are going to be batting late today with a bit of a mountain in front of them...

Saw that on the highlights. Great take by Pope but unnecessary and irresponsible bowling from Root. Like too much of Root's bowling today, a poor ball which deserved to finish up on the boundary.

Btw, my post before the lunch break in support of Harris keeping his place was intended to mean that Head will need to wait to get back rather than Khawaja being left out. Just before I turned the tv off and headed for bed, Cook was firmly in the other camp and suggesting Harris was for the chop.

[Pal Joey]

149/4 at tea ; as Joe Root produces a surprise bouncer on the last ball of the session ! That really took off - and brought a great take by Ollie Pope and a big grin from Khawaja.

This stand has made it a good session for Australia after a slightly dodgy start. England doing well to hang in there but you'd think they are going to be batting late today with a bit of a mountain in front of them...

Saw that on the highlights. Great take by Pope but unnecessary and irresponsible bowling from Root. Like too much of Root's bowling today, a poor ball which deserved to finish up on the boundary.

Btw, my post before the lunch break in support of Harris keeping his place was intended to mean that Head will need to wait to get back rather than Khawaja being left out. Just before I turned the tv off and headed for bed, Cook was firmly in the other camp and suggesting Harris was for the chop.

Yes, that's the general consensus here too, Guildford.

All the big ex-Test players (you'll know who the 3 or 4 are*... but one of them is Mike Hussey) went to great pains praising Harris and saying he has played very well and deserves to remain in the team for Hobart.... but... things have changed today and now you can't possibly deny Khawaja a spot for the 5th Test. Similar things happened with Harris/Marsh/Khawaja in the past and this is no different they're saying.

They're now suggesting Usman will almost certainly open with Warner and Head will slot back into No. 5. It will also be good prep for Usie when they tour Pakistan in March... so he doesn't "go in cold" there.

* Influencers and Ex-Selectors.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

So we have confirmed broken thumb for Bairstow and broken finger for Buttler. And a confirmed side strain for Stokes

Billings has made it to Sydney - 10 hour drive later! Apparently was two hours away from catching a flight to the West Indies to link up with the T20 squad when he got the call. Textbook! He will make his debut in the 5th test.

Bairstow/Buttler batting with broken digits, Stokes with a side strain…if it doesn’t rain they’re going to be needing a miracle to survive this one

[msp83]

Decent effort from England to stay alive for the 5th day. Even better that Joe Root didn't end up batting on day 4, even after there were 11 overs for the Australians to bowl!
I maintained that Bairstow, with all his technical limitations, is a better bet than the 20Something lot that they carry around as specialist bats! But that Led 20Something, Oliver Pope, can actually be picked to keep wickets. Seemed decent. Perhaps, if picked as a wicketkeeper bat at 7, his once in 10 innings good performances, might have a more substantial impact. Can't be worse than Buttler. Instead of Buttler, Bairstow in as specialist bat batting no more up than 6, and Pope at 7 might be a a bit of a small fix for this English batting lineup.

[king_carlos]

So we have confirmed broken thumb for Bairstow and broken finger for Buttler. And a confirmed side strain for Stokes

Billings has made it to Sydney - 10 hour drive later! Apparently was two hours away from catching a flight to the West Indies to link up with the T20 squad when he got the call. Textbook! He will make his debut in the 5th test.

Bairstow/Buttler batting with broken digits, Stokes with a side strain…if it doesn’t rain they’re going to be needing a miracle to survive this one

1.Crawley 2.Hameed 3.Malan 4.Root 5.Lawrence 6.Pope 7.Billings

Ouch.

There must be a thought for Burns to come back in up top with Crawley in the middle order given Pope has done well with the gloves?

[alfie]

Better hope no one else gets injured today...

[Pal Joey]

Vaughan has just posted up his preferred lineup for Hobart

Crawley
Burns
Malan
Root
Stokes (Lawrence)
Pope
Billings (wk)
Woakes
Wood
Robinson
Broad

Given Tasmania offers the closest thing to English conditions, I would still keep Anderson and hopefully send him off these shores on a positive note.

All the chopping and changing at the top and it still seems precarious and I'm not so confident about that middle order. Maybe they have no choice. However, England will certainly be forced to make some changes by Friday and as Duty and Guildford say... they may as well put the broom through the side after Sydney and just try and select the fittest and least injured XI.

For Australia, Khawaja seems to be already locked in according to Warne.

Khawaja
Warner
Labuschagne
Smith
Head
Green
Carey
Cummins
Starc
Lyon
Boland

Richardson in reserve.

[guildfordbat]

Evening / Morning Joey and all - I'm actually more like Alfie and would say wait for this Test to be finished before picking the side for the next one.

[Pal Joey]

Evening / Morning Joey and all - I'm actually more like Alfie and would say wait for this Test to be finished before picking the side for the next one.

Morning Guildford.

I suppose you are both right. Let's see who's still available after today before jumping to any conclusions.

The skies look very grey and bleak around here. No sign of any rain just yet, alfie.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

People of Sydney aware this game went to a 5th day?

[guildfordbat]

That was a bad drop by Carey. Should have been comfortably taken by a Test keeper.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Alex Carey is #bad #bad

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

If Crawley can crack it he’s gonna be a hell of a player to watch - plays some ridiculously beautiful shots at times

[Pal Joey]

People of Sydney aware this game went to a 5th day?

Many people probably thought it was pretty much over yesterday, or like me, stayed away from the ground with 30,000 covid infections yesterday.
Also the weather is a bit iffy. Still, there have been over 100,000 spectators going into the 5th day. I guess most of us thought there would be more of a tussle than there has been so far.

There you go. Your man Carey swallows one. We like to do England slowly, Olly. It's not as if Vihari and Ashwin are out there.  

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Playing Hameed in Hobart would amount to cruelty at this point

[alfie]

Wicket keeping in this series has been ordinary to say the least - by both teams. Sub keeper Pope looked better yesterday than either Carey or Buttler...

[Pal Joey]

Wicket keeping in this series has been ordinary to say the least - by both teams. Sub keeper Pope looked better yesterday than either Carey or Buttler...

Sure, but he's loses points for his cheap comments after Carey's dismissal... and his ordinary batting this series.

[Pal Joey]

If Crawley can crack it he’s gonna be a hell of a player to watch - plays some ridiculously beautiful shots at times

He does look as though he's got what it takes to make a big score today.

Nothing to lose in a situation like this... just go for it as he is currently doing. He's played some very nice shots this morning.

[guildfordbat]

Wicket keeping in this series has been ordinary to say the least - by both teams. Sub keeper Pope looked better yesterday than either Carey or Buttler...

Sure, but he's loses points for his cheap comments after Carey's dismissal... and his ordinary batting this series.

I wasn't aware of that. Repeatable here, Joey?

[alfie]

Playing Hameed in Hobart would amount to cruelty at this point

Unfortunately Hameed has had a total disaster on this tour. Real pity after he came back quite well into the side at home and it may well see him buried again in the aftermath.
Guess it has been shown pretty clearly that his technique is completely hopeless for Australian conditions - and would be a waste of time ever taking him to SA. Basically he may be another Keaton Jennings - possibly useful in the sub continent ...

On the positive side Crawley has done better this innings - though it remains to be seen whether he can turn his good start into something truly significant . He's had an awful time recently but looks more like a competent batsman than the other top order hopefuls. Has to produce output equal to potential sooner or later though.

[Pal Joey]

Wicket keeping in this series has been ordinary to say the least - by both teams. Sub keeper Pope looked better yesterday than either Carey or Buttler...

Sure, but he's loses points for his cheap comments after Carey's dismissal... and his ordinary batting this series.

I wasn't aware of that. Repeatable here, Joey?

I was just a friendly remark about "walking off". Carey did the right thing but Pope let him know.

[alfie]

Playing Hameed in Hobart would amount to cruelty at this point

Unfortunately Hameed has had a total disaster on this tour. Real pity after he came back quite well into the side at home and it may well see him buried again in the aftermath.
Guess it has been shown pretty clearly that his technique is completely hopeless for Australian conditions - and would be a waste of time ever taking him to SA. Basically he may be another Keaton Jennings - possibly useful in the sub continent ...

On the positive side Crawley has done better this innings - though it remains to be seen whether he can turn his good start into something truly significant . He's had an awful time recently but looks more like a competent batsman than the other top order hopefuls. Has to produce output equal to potential sooner or later though.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I really liked early signs of Hameed. He looked unfussed by missed strokes and seemed solid compared to Burns. But this has been a cruel trip.

I feel for him. Floated in at the back end of one lot, then over to Australia with no preparation, your partner gets out first ball, there's never any security around you and then you struggle. Certainly unsure what you do from here given Burns and Sibley have been chopped prior. If there's no good openers about, maybe just push a talented and, more importantly, experienced player and hope for reward.

[alfie]

Apologies for the duplicate post ...bloody twitchy iPad I am not competent to operate !

Fifty for Crawley and he has looked good this morning. Of course he generally looks good - until he gets out for 15-18 as he has done too often lately. Confess I am something of a Crawley fan : have thought  , even from his early games , that he has more potential than any of the other young guns ; but my confidence has been sorely tried since that 267.

This is a start at least.

Missed the Pope send off of Carey. Would have thought a holy man should have more Christian charity towards a fellow glove man

[Duty281]

Playing Hameed in Hobart would amount to cruelty at this point

Unfortunately Hameed has had a total disaster on this tour. Real pity after he came back quite well into the side at home and it may well see him buried again in the aftermath.
Guess it has been shown pretty clearly that his technique is completely hopeless for Australian conditions - and would be a waste of time ever taking him to SA. Basically he may be another Keaton Jennings - possibly useful in the sub continent ...

On the positive side Crawley has done better this innings - though it remains to be seen whether he can turn his good start into something truly significant . He's had an awful time recently but looks more like a competent batsman than the other top order hopefuls. Has to produce output equal to potential sooner or later though.

It's a shame England, and most test sides, wouldn't be intelligent enough to employ Hameed in such a way. Instead they push their batsmen to perform in all conditions, or drop them entirely. They should have used Sibley on this tour, and gone back to Hameed for the summer.

Crawley is probably another Vince. Plays beautifully, but gets out for 30 or fewer the vast majority of the time.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Malan misjudged the length to that delivery so so badly

[king_carlos]

Oh Dawid.

He's been one of England's better performers on this tour but he is another who is Pope bad against spin.

[alfie]

Oh dear. That was poor judgement from Malan. He likes that shot but it was always fraught with danger against Lyon on a fifth day...and too early in his innings.
He started this tour well but has rather tailed off as it went on.

Long way to go with only 8 wickets left. Four of them bunnies and three walking wounded too...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

So about that rain forecast….is it happening our Aussie folk?

[alfie]

Oh that's a lovely piece of bowling from Green

Crawley done beautifully , even though he was seeing it so well. Top innings for 77 at least gives hope for his future though.

Into the hospital outpatients now so I fear resistance might not prolong this too long today.

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