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[the ashes] test 3. Manchester

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Mainze said:
Will have to wait until both sides have batted but aye it looks like draw pitch....unless it breaks up in the next day or so.

People are forgetting a draw is enough, a few years ago we would have been praying for this result. Far too many people getting caught up in the 10-0 hype.

Australia are not a great team but neither are we, the gulf between the sides was far greater when the Aussies had their all stars.
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Think people just really want to see the whitewash, and so logic is thrown out the window. Our batting line up hasn't been up to much at all this series just theres has been so bad and bell has been on top form so this is a challenge.
 
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Randy Ostrich said:
That's very true. The strange thing about this series for me is that it feels like we're only ahead because Australia have batted so badly. Uncharted territory :shock:

Our bowlers deserve a lot of credit but even then, we haven't looked like we've had the same level of bowling tactics that we had under Vaughan for instance.
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That’s the thing for me. When Australia were better they were substantially so, and I daresay we were better than this current Australia team at that time as well.

Whereas here Australia have given the two tests away, and while there have been chances for England to prove how dominant they are they’ve never really took the blade to the throat. Just steady, decent cricket against erratic, average to poor cricket for the first two tests.

Australia are now playing about as well as have, batting wise, basically two batsmen have shown up while the rest have been middling to poor, but even that has given us more issues than at any other point so far. Although I think they’re probably scoring quicker than England would marginally. Two good knocks for two good batsmen wouldn’t have stopped a truly good team’s momentum of being 2-0 up in a series that the other team looked out of.
 
Geoffrey Boycott, Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special
"It's a perfect batting pitch. England can't do a lot about this - not with four bowlers. Root can turn his hand and Trott won't trouble the Australians. But they can only do a few overs - they're not a bowling option like Shane Watson. My grandma would score a few runs on here, never mind my mum."
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Anyone doing Boycott Bingo?
 
200 Test wickets for Broad there, just behind Jon Snow in the all-time list

Jonathan Agnew, BBC Test Match Special
"Why would you swipe that? That was the top drawer of brainlessness. An absolute swipe. When he gets back to the dressing-room, Darren Lehmann should usher Peter Siddle into the naughty corner and make him sit there for at least 20 minutes. How do you explain that? People in club 4th XIs tomorrow will be playing better shots than that."
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:lol:
 
Mr Redknapp said:
he didn't get roons by slacking.
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That's roobish is that

Geoffrey Boycott, Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special
"Some of my Yorkshire captains would have done more than tell me to sit on the naughty step. Brian Close would have given me a bunch of fives. He would have had steam coming out of his ears."
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I'm surprised he wants to talk about giving people bunches of fives...
 
mackembhoy said:
Unless we capitulate this has surely got to be a draw.
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On current batting form we'll do well to match the total, and even if we do, unless Prior and KP play the best they have for about three years we can't score quick enough to leave time for them to bat and us to overtake them. It would take either an absolutely enormous collapse from Oz or incredible display with bat and ball from us to win.
 
Randy Ostrich said:
Trouble is, we are quite capable of capitulating. It needs some really disciplined batting up front, a bit of luck a proper knocks from players that haven't really contributed much with the bat.
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Yeah if the roles were reversed you'd be talking England victory here, and for all we're not as brittle as Aus we're still very prone to making heavy weather of things. A solid innings form the top order would be statistically less likley than a collapse at present.
 
sonson said:
Yeah if the roles were reversed you'd be talking England victory here, and for all we're not as brittle as Aus we're still very prone to making heavy weather of things. A solid innings form the top order would be statistically less likley than a collapse at present.
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Must admit that's my feeling too.

I'd like to see a little more creativity from Cook but he's hamstrung to an extent by the players he has available (though he did have a hand in choosing them). It's always easy to be wise after the event but games like this show that going into games with 4 bowlers isn't always sufficient.
 
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