Maybe they will learn their lesson. But knowing Bazball just as the pressure comes he will get a century at some point and survive to the Ashes. Still I am not sure about Bazball across all three formats working well. And from Febuary it’s a decisive p 12 months with the Champions trophy probably happening followed by India series, Ashes and then T20 World Cup to finish it off.
It's a bit like watching Graeme Hick back in the 90s. You could see he was struggling, but then he'd pull something out of the bag and hit a mini purple patch, and then go back to struggling. Hick had an imperious first class record though.
Crawley surely has to be dropped, from the first ball he was like a rabbit in headlights, playing at shots he should be leaving and just not defending shots he should be. You just knew he was going to go sooner rather than later. Just surprised he got into double figures.
The Aussie team against India is old. Ten of them are over 30, five over 35. Khawaja and Lyon will both be 38 by the time the next Ashes start.
They might need a major revamp before then but do they have the talent to do so? Once their India series is over they only four tests before the Ashes. Two in Sri Lanka at the end of January/February and two in the West Indies in June.
The over rate rules in Test cricket are ridiculous. Australia bowl 44.1 overs in 4 hours, but because India are bowled out inside 80 overs, nobody faces any sanctions. England are being treated differently, need to take a stand against the ICC.
Surprised Australia were not punished by the ICC for just bowling out India considering the ICC is scared of India breaking away..
It's ridiculous that you can be punished for over rates when it doesn't impact the result. They should be much more lenient (you don't want teams going at 10 an hour for example) and the current rates only apply in the event of a draw.
Should do it across a day. Set a minimum for an undisrupted day and every over under is six runs to the opposition eifher in their next innings or for the next match match the bowling team plays.
Players are discussing collective action in response to the changes in ECB policy around franchise leagues, announced last week.Possible action includes boycotting Hundred retentions and drafts; others strongly considering red-ball retirement to play PSL https://t.co/Nr5LlAL8pK— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) December 6, 2024 Can’t remember if you’d already posted this Fireburn but interesting stuff. I completely side with the players. The absolute gall of the ECB to talk about protecting the summer when they have ruined literally everything tests, county cricket, Odis and the Blast all for their little project.
Interestingly it says the counties are currently pretty happy with the ECB’s stance over this. I don’t fully side with the players. I’m not sure it’s controversial to think that players should be expected to play as much as they can domestically before going abroad.
Be interesting to see that baring something spectacular if Crawley does get dropped for the third test. All the experts still mostly think he won’t.
It’s got to the stage when Crawley is batting and Matt Henry is running up, he might as well just walk off and concede his wicket.
There's nobody else as a realistic option to open in the squad. They could fly Keaton Jennings over from Australia where he's signed up for the BBL, otherwise it would have to be Bethell or Pope opening. Although Carse or Atkinson could probably do just as good a job as Crawley.
With three days left, might as well let Root go for as many as he can. A 36th century is in his sights, and it's not going to hurt to give him time to close the gap on Dravid, Kallis and Ponting. He's got his 100th 50+ score in tests - the fourth person to achieve that.
Harry Brook now has 2280 runs from 38 innings. If he can score 720 runs in his next 12 then he'll be the second quickest to 3000 test runs. No chance of breaking the record though. A certain Australian managed it in just 33 innings.
The two series next year are very interesting. Everyone talks about the Ashes for obvious reasons, but I’m excited to see how the India series goes, especially given I have tickets. Bumrah will obviously cause us problems, but I think there are definitely parts of their team that are vulnerable. We do also have a good record against them at home historically.
I know New Zealand are actually a very good team but I find it bonkers that they can go to India and beat them 3-0 but when we go to the subcontinent, we usually get battered, especially against India. I know our style suits the Kiwis more but just find it intriguing how they can do well in India but we can’t.
It will definitely be interesting. Sharma will be 38 and coming off a really poor year. Kohli hasn't been Kohli for some time, and they tend to save Ashwin for spinning wickets. Despite that, they still have a boatload of talent coming through and Bumrah is currently in the midst of one of the greatest years that any bowler has had (53 wickets @15 with a strike rate of 30). It wouldn't be a surprise if he's leading the team in the summer.
Kohli might retire during that series as he apparently plans to live in London post retirement rather than India.
Root has 19 centuries since the start of 2021. Nobody else has double figures - Williamson with 9, Brook with 8, a few with 7.