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[Cricket] England v Australia- 5th Ashes Test- The Oval- Thursday 12th September 2019



Eeyore

Lord Donkey of Queen's Park
NSC Patreon
Apr 5, 2014
23,380
Curran is as good as Bairstow has been with the bat this series plus you get an alternative bowler to try to get Smith out. Nothing to chose between Buttler and Bairstow behind the stumps.

I'd choose Foakes.
 




Ozymandias86

Active member
Jun 24, 2011
120
Kanazawa
Me too (going and thoughts on our chances).

I've actually got a spare e-ticket if anyone on here is interested - sensible offers etc (if this is in breach of any NSC rules I'll take it down!)...
 


Eeyore

Lord Donkey of Queen's Park
NSC Patreon
Apr 5, 2014
23,380
I agree but Curran is an extra bowler. Are you saying drop both Bairstow and Buttler? Do we pick a team to win this test or plan for the future?

I'd swap Buttler for Foakes and let Bairstow have a hit.
 


Cheshire Cat

The most curious thing..
Whole team are walking wickets at the moment. But we desperately need a settled first three, and assuming Root prefers to bat at 4, I can't think of anyone with a good case.

Stokes at 4 is too high, but again what is the alternative?
 






The Wizard

Well-known member
Jul 2, 2009
18,383
What’s going to be more annoying, if we lose the series by playing turd again or if we suddenly make 500 batting first after being shit all series? Tough one.
 


hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
61,094
Chandlers Ford
I cannot see the point in dropping Roy and playing Stokes as a batsman and bringing in Woakes and Curran;; I would have thought one or the other or even stuck with Overton and brought in another batsman like Pope possibly.

Stokes can't bowl.

Your team thus would be a bowler light. We saw how that turned out, when Anderson was unable to bowl, in the First Test.
 




Eeyore

Lord Donkey of Queen's Park
NSC Patreon
Apr 5, 2014
23,380
Wrong decision by Paine in normal circumstances. The grass never lasts long.

That said, our line up is so vulnerable.

Warne asking why Siddle is playing. He did well at The Oval last time. But I would normally rather face him than Starc.
 


Gazwag

5 millionth post poster
Mar 4, 2004
30,093
Bexhill-on-Sea
10.30am Time for the toss. Heads is the call, and Australia win the toss and bowl!

Two changes confirmed, Marsh for Head, and Siddle for Starc. "Travis is very unlucky, but Marsh is in for some extra bowling, and we want the combinations to take 20 wickets."

Root says he'd have batted first, "might move around a bit but looks dry underneath."

"We cant win the Ashes back but we don't want to lose the series, plenty of incentives there, World Championship points, and we've been blessed with wonderful support throughout the summer, and we feel like we owe a bit back."

Roy and Overton out, Woakes and Curran in, as expected.

England: 1 Rory Burns, 2 Joe Denly, 3 Joe Root (capt), 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Jack Leach.

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Marcus Harris, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Matthew Wade, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.


62-3 at lunch
 










Mackenzie

Old Brightonian
Nov 7, 2003
33,508
East Wales
Interesting psychology going into this, will either team be at 100% now that this is a dead rubber.....although I guess the new test Championship means that every result matters. Hopefully that’ll be enough to motivate our lot.
 






Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,719
Hove
Interesting psychology going into this, will either team be at 100% now that this is a dead rubber.....although I guess the new test Championship means that every result matters. Hopefully that’ll be enough to motivate our lot.

Got to say, for England more than the Aussies, careers are on the line, and places for the winter up for grabs. New coach to be appointed as well, and winning this will mean not losing the series. I think there is a lot on the line for England.

Interesting piece about 'dead Ashes' games in the paper today. In '87 Border who didn't want the captaincy as such went into the final Sydney test 2 down and the Ashes lost on their own soil. They won that test which probably saved Border as captain, and the rest as they say is history.
 


Jul 5, 2003
6,776
Bristol
Feels to me that Burns, like Curran actually, feels like he belongs in test cricket. Both should be in and around the squad for the foreseeable. Now just to find another five or so players who share this mentality for this style of the game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Eeyore

Lord Donkey of Queen's Park
NSC Patreon
Apr 5, 2014
23,380
Interesting psychology going into this, will either team be at 100% now that this is a dead rubber.....although I guess the new test Championship means that every result matters. Hopefully that’ll be enough to motivate our lot.

Very competitive game. They keep the urn but an England victory means they still haven't won here since 2001.

A few playing for places too.
 




Eeyore

Lord Donkey of Queen's Park
NSC Patreon
Apr 5, 2014
23,380
Feels to me that Burns, like Curran actually, feels like he belongs in test cricket. Both should be in and around the squad for the foreseeable. Now just to find another five or so players who share this mentality for this style of the game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Another time Burns would be playing for his place. I've got huge doubts about his stance and technique in the long run. But, as things stand, he's got plenty of time to sort it out.
 


Jul 5, 2003
6,776
Bristol
Another time Burns would be playing for his place. I've got huge doubts about his stance and technique in the long run. But, as things stand, he's got plenty of time to sort it out.

During the early professional years of Rugby (Union), the RFU wrote to all schools and clubs and asked them to identify promising back-row forwards who could be retrained to play in the front row. I.E- moving naturally athletic, ball carrying players in to the front row (who at that point were just the fattest players in the school/club).

I wonder whether we need to take a similar approach in the county game. Pope is 21- he's run scoring ability is obviously beyond question. Can we not look at moving he, and other players with either natural ability or obvious mental fortitude, in to the top 3, give them a season or two or three in the county game (absolutely not fast track them in to the national team), let them learn without any pressure and then get them into the England set-up around the age of 24 (which seems like a far more sensible age than 21 anyway).
Another thing would be to identify players who have a natural ability more suited to long form cricket- make them focus on that and that only, and pay them a kind of non-20/20 playing subsidy.

We need to do something about the top 3, it's not going to get any better in the long run without some seriously creative thinking.
 



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