Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.
England Cricket 2025
Comments
-
Disgraceful really0
-
62-1
Head gives his wicket away trying to force the pace. Catch well taken by Carse from high0 -
Thank god a Surrey player wasn't under that.4
-
71-2
Weatherald out to a short ball in the last over before lunch.
Aus need 89 more runs.0 -
Thank god a Surrey player wasn't under thatkillerandflash said:Thank god a Surrey player wasn't under that.1 -
If I was England captain I would have walked off ages ago. Probably after the Jamie Smith incident before the Ashes had gone. When you have a system so bad no-one can trust it then action has to be taken. Force their hand if needs be by refusing to play. Make the cricketing authorities take notice.Callumcafc said:Disgraceful really2 -
Anyway, this Test has gone. We really needed a lead of over 180 AND for the Gods/luck/umpires to be on our side.0
-
92-3
Jacks bowls Smith through the gate0 -
All set up for Uzzie to have the fairytale finish.0
-
Bethell drops Labuschagne at gully0
-
Sponsored links:
-
119-4
Khawaja chops on to his stumps off Tongue’s bowling0 -
121-5
Marnus run out by Potts after a mix up0 -
Since their opening stand of 62, the Aussies are 63-5.
Only 35 to win - very likely too late for Englan0 -
140-5 at drinks
20 more needed0 -
This is so frustrating that if certain England batsmen had applied their selves and played the situation and valued their wicket then needing 200 on the 5th day would've been real pressure.
England have made a fight of it today but it was too little and too late.
They think it's all over it is now.2 -
Australia win by 5 wickets0
-
Player of the match goes to Travis Head for scores of 163 and 29.
Player of the series goes to AA’s 12/1 Mitchell Starc for 31 wickets at an average of 19.93 and 156 runs at an average of 26.0 -
Joe Root equals Alec Stewart for the most Ashes Test losses (22).0
-
Head, Starc and Carey had brilliant Ashes series and Boland has been so consistent by being so economical and taking 20 wickets. Steve Smith is a clever stand in captain and remains a pain in the backside to England.
No tests for Hazelwood, 1 for Captain Cummings and just 2 for Lyon's and yet a 4-1 mauling with so many England Batsmen not being responsible and just donating their wickets in test cricket.
It seems to take 3 losing tests for Ben Stokes to see that by so called getting his Players to not feel pressure which was the Mantra of 'Bazball' it manifested into casualness and the preparation in going to New Zealand in October and November in playing limited over cricket just seemed wrong.
Tongue and Bethell were the stand outs and Root got the monkey off his back with 2 centuries.
Ben and Brendon were a breath of fresh air but the reality is England has been worked out in the last 18 months and their new age way now of playing suddenly seems flaky against the tough Aussies in their back yard.
2 -
Did anyone predict 4-1 , think I was a 3-1
we’re just lame and too many are a bit lacking in the old grey matter0 -
Sponsored links:
-
If the farce of a match at Melbourne had been more than 2 days, the score would have probably been 5-0.0
-
Steve Smith, wonderful batsman who when he is at his best was almost impossible to dismiss prior to a big hundred, but still a cheat with a very punchable face.6
-
When McCullum took over England were sixth in the World Test Championship. We're seventh now so for all the attacking cricket we've been playing we have not improved overall. McCullum mentioned, in his interview this morning, that he felt that other teams have worked out a way of playing against them in the last 18 months and that they haven't adapted to that. Langer's response was that you can't have the likes of Jacks and Smith playing shots as they have at vital times in matches and Brook cannot get away with saying when he gets out "that is the way I play".soapboxsam said:Head, Starc and Carey had brilliant Ashes series and Boland has been so consistent by being so economical and taking 20 wickets. Steve Smith is a clever stand in captain and remains a pain in the backside to England.
No tests for Hazelwood, 1 for Captain Cummings and just 2 for Lyon's and yet a 4-1 mauling with so many England Batsmen not being responsible and just donating their wickets in test cricket.
It seems to take 3 losing tests for Ben Stokes to see that by so called getting his Players to not feel pressure which was the Mantra of 'Bazball' it manifested into casualness and the preparation in going to New Zealand in October and November in playing limited over cricket just seemed wrong.
Tongue and Bethell were the stand outs and Root got the monkey off his back with 2 centuries.
Ben and Brendon were a breath of fresh air but the reality is England has been worked out in the last 18 months and their new age way now of playing suddenly seems flaky against the tough Aussies in their back yard.
The confusion for the players comes from what McCullum and Stokes drilled into everyone internally and externally at the outset about taking the game to the opposition - "we'll win a lot but might lose a few doing so". Throughout this period they have nailed that to the mast. The message should be "play positive cricket, take it to the opposition at the right time but don't be reckless and think about the match situation". We've started to see a bit of that now with certain players not now going at it from the off but it has taken heavy defeats against India and Australia to get where we are now.
There was one other interesting message that McCullum delivered and that was in relation to selection and specifically Bethell. He said that they took a chance on him in New Zealand when they might have used someone that came through the county system (he was talking about Ollie Robinson). That might have been the right decision in this particular case but Cook was very clear in saying that this management have to start opening the way for county cricketers to make that step up.
Cook has been absolutely vehement that scoring runs and taking wickets in the CC is a challenge in itself whatever some might say. The reason why Crawley has the same average in county cricket as he has in the Test version is because the challenges for him are the same in both - a technique that he cannot trust when the ball is doing something and a lack of concentration when it isn't. Sort those two things out playing in the CC should make him a better player.
Bashir needs to be learning his game too. Playing seven games in nine months from April to January isn't going to improve him. His issues have become a "chicken and egg" situation simply because counties have been reluctant to invest (and I don't mean payment because he is centrally contracted) in hiring him when he doesn't play white ball, cannot bat and when the majority of the CC games are being played in April, May and September in seam friendly conditions. Smith, more or less, admitted that Australia might have made a mistake in not playing a frontline spinner here but Webster (who started his career as a spinner) taking the wickets of Brook, Stokes and Jacks effectively was one of the differences, ultimately, between them winning and losing. If Lyon had been fit there is no way that he would not have been selected but they elected to pick Webster over Murphy because the former isn't a rookie bowling spin and is a far better batsman. Bashir was never even close to being picked because we could not trust him on this stage and yet he is our number one spinner according to England's management. He needs to be playing matches and one can only hope that the Derbyshire rumours come to fruition and that he is encouraged to play.
Bethell needs to be doing the same not just to learn how to score big runs in English conditions but also to gain more experience bowling. Imagine what turning his arm over for a couple of hundred overs next summer would do for him. Unlike Bashir, he is guaranteed a place in a county side and if he really works at that (and doesn't becomes another KP or Root) then we could find ourselves with a first spinning option batting at three. That would massively increase the balance in the side and it would also ultimately solve that all rounder issue in ultimately replacing Stokes - 8, 9, 10 and 11 could all be quicks on a regular basis apart from, of course, in the likes of India and Sri Lanka where spin does prevail. Why shouldn't that be the case?
4 -
Yes I had a bet at the start. Will collect my £300 today. I can’t say it has given me much joy. We have been a total shambles for much of the Test series.oohaahmortimer said:Did anyone predict 4-1 , think I was a 3-1
we’re just lame and too many are a bit lacking in the old grey matter0 -
Cook is absolutely right , that pathway needs to be re-established from performing well at County level to making it to the test side. Just because the gamble on Bethell worked out doesn't mean every gamble on someone with barely any FC appearances will.
I really hope the constant almost belittling of County cricket stops regardless of who is in charge. The young talent is absolutely out there constantly scoring runs and taking wickets but will some of them ever get the chance because they don't fit into how this current management wants to do things.
Crawley spending the summer playing for Kent in the CC would be incredibly beneficial for both parties , time in the middle might even sort out his glaring technique issues. Okay you might not face Starc level pace but there's enough clever opening bowlers that will give him food for thought and the right kind of challenge.
8 -
Interesting that Stokes and McCullum's interviews were so different - Stokes saying we did well for the first 2 years under him but the approach has lost it's way and change is needed etc (shame he didn't realise that earlier though), whereas McCullum basically said another version of "that's just what we do" suggesting only a few tweaks are needed.
Should not be keeping Key and McCullum, change is needed.3 -
Not great predictions from most of these "pundits". Agnew's 3-2 to England is a bit at odds with his comments today about knowing in July that the approach was doomed to failure!
1 -
Ridiculousgolfaddick said:
If I was England captain I would have walked off ages ago. Probably after the Jamie Smith incident before the Ashes had gone. When you have a system so bad no-one can trust it then action has to be taken. Force their hand if needs be by refusing to play. Make the cricketing authorities take notice.Callumcafc said:Disgraceful really
Anyway, I think the decision today was correct. The sound registered wasn't a bat on ball spike, it was an extended low murmur (that continued into the next frame albeit quieter) that was probably shirt being brushed. Bat on ball doesn't produce a sound with that profile
The issue is that the Smith one was similar and that was, probably, the wrong call2 -
England's approach to squad selection is a bit like the Chelsea transfer policy in recent years, in that they've gone for potential, rather than picking players who've been doing it for several years. And an issue with a lot of young "starlets", chosen on the basis of "hunches" rather than masses of runs and wickets is that they've played so little red ball cricket, and are learning on the job in Test cricket. Especially with all the distractions of the white ball world.
Australia by contrast are an older, battle hardened team, who have done the hard yards. Interestingly, the one player consistently being picked, but not delivering, is Cameron Green, who is very similar to many of the younger England players. A young player who's clearly talented, but failing to deliver in games, and similarly stretched between different formats.
The Green versus Webster debate is Australia's version of the arguments we have between the player picked because of their attributes by McCullum and Key (Crawley, Bashir, Smith as a keeper etc), as opposed to the players churning out the performances in County Cricket.0 -
RIP Bazball - or it should be. Enjoyable while it lasted.
At least 2 huge positives out of series are Bethell and Tongue, but Smith and Crawley, my word, with Brook not far behind them for brain-fade cricket . If we had played 'pwopa' cricket then we might not have so far behind them, after all, they had Head and Starc, but not a lot contributed consistently outside those 2(not that they really needed to, i suppose!).
At least in 4 years time, we will still have Bethell and Tongue, but Oz will be without Starc,Boland,Hazlewood,Lyon,Khawaja,Smith at least. A major rebuild needed for them.
I wonder if Asa Tribe will continue his development?0
