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Australia v England, 2nd Test, 4th December 0400


Iamme said:
Live TV.

Alarm set for 1030. Brekky and Coffee start watching it as live at 11am with my beers. Skip lunch and tea breaks. Be done every ball by 530pm as Live.

Who still watches live TV. Watch the whole day at any time you want.

Life has moved on. Probably still all pay the TV licence as well live tv ers.
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‘ Who still watches live TV’

Maybe when live sport on ;)
 
Absolutely must win this.

A loss, particularly a bad one, and the entire ethos of this side is really questioned (after we threw it away against India)

Hope Crawley proves us all wrong in particular. I’m certain this must be really hard for him, so hope he proves a big point
 
Parkside said:
And if we do produce them,you're fined, resulting in England players unable to play spin.
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It’s stupid. We don’t have weather hot enough to make pitches start to turn on day 3 & 4 of a county game and as you say, they can’t be designed to turn earlier as there’s fines.

County cricket is a bit of a mess tbh, it’s no wonder the national side struggle in tests.
 
DonaldDownTheWing said:
Despite the result, it was lovely for the first test being sat up with 15 or so other fans. This place makes the ashes much more enjoyable.
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Make the most of it,we Luddites are a dying breed.
Excellent balanced view on forthcoming test from Dobell?

"This feels like a crossroads moment.

And not just in this Ashes series.

We live, it is true, in a time of hyperbole. But it does seem fair to suggest this is the most important Test in the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum era. Well, at least until the next one.

If that sounds like an exaggeration, then consider the fallout of defeat here. It's not only England's Ashes campaign that will be in ruins. The entire project will be in jeopardy.

Sure, it would be statistically possible for England to come from two down to win 3-2. An Australian team inspired by Don Bradman managed it in 1936/37. But they were playing at home. And asking an England team that hasn't won any of its most recent 16 Tests here to suddenly win three in a row seems more than a

So, if England lose at the Gabba, there will be renewed focus on their inadequate preparation ahead of the series. There will be renewed focus on the somewhat blinkered loyalty to certain players. There will be renewed focus on the approach of a side that all too often knows only fifth gear. And renewed focus on the long-term record of a side which has, to this point, promised somewhat more than it has delivered.

If you lose against the best sides away and draw against them at home, you have very little evidence of inspiring anyone or saving anything".
 
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Parkside said:
Make the most of it,we Luddites are a dying breed.
Excellent balanced view on forthcoming test from Dobell?

"This feels like a crossroads moment.

And not just in this Ashes series.

We live, it is true, in a time of hyperbole. But it does seem fair to suggest this is the most important Test in the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum era. Well, at least until the next one.

If that sounds like an exaggeration, then consider the fallout of defeat here. It's not only England's Ashes campaign that will be in ruins. The entire project will be in jeopardy.

Sure, it would be statistically possible for England to come from two down to win 3-2. An Australian team inspired by Don Bradman managed it in 1936/37. But they were playing at home. And asking an England team that hasn't won any of its most recent 16 Tests here to suddenly win three in a row seems more than a

So, if England lose at the Gabba, there will be renewed focus on their inadequate preparation ahead of the series. There will be renewed focus on the somewhat blinkered loyalty to certain players. There will be renewed focus on the approach of a side that all too often knows only fifth gear. And renewed focus on the long-term record of a side which has, to this point, promised somewhat more than it has delivered.

If you lose against the best sides away and draw against them at home, you have very little evidence of inspiring anyone or saving anything".
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That’s a generally fair assessment. But a couple of caveats.

However much we luddites regret it, whatever happens this test we are never returning to the era when a team prepared for a test tour by playing several first class matches. No one does that anymore. They should, but they won’t. There’ll be no scrutiny of that.

And while the frustration with the current team is that they have promised more than they have delivered, a fair assessment of what they have delivered still requires comparing the end point to the start. When England were sixth in the world rankings with one win in 17. Because it wasn’t just good teams they were drawing at home and losing away to, they were losing to the bad ones as well.

That’s the story of the current era for me. They’ve improved significantly but still under achieved. The frustration of Perth is that they failed to close out a winning position. But I have been fortunate enough that this is the fourth time I have been out here for an ashes series over the last couple of decades, for a couple of games each time. And Perth was the first time I’d seen an England team even get into a winning position in the first place in a match where the series was alive. It’s a low base.
 
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