Cricket Thread

Phenom session there. crawley hitting 106* in that session alone. Huge! England less than 100 behind Australia now, with 8wkts still in the sheds.

 

I will repeat again, this isn’t the game I grew up with lol.

 

Absolute madness! Brilliant day's play once again and all the kudos belong to Crawley and the England today. They are the ones needing a result and they are the ones making the absolute running really has put Australia on the defensive, losing in the field, tactically in this test, and mentally in this series. It's far from done, but just as Stokes & co have stepped up after going 2-0 down, the questions are now being put to Australia, and see what answers they can come up with under this pressure.

 

Between all the hype we have had to endure on the tv with their lionesses over the last few months it will now be ten times worse with their cricket teams "heroics".

 

Think you could be wrong mate, what’s happening here is madness, nothing like the game I was brought up with tbh. If they manage to pull this back it will be heroics, genuine heroics. I totally understand your point with the English press, trust me , but what they are trying to play is madness on the borderline with genius. Five days long a test, and about 7 hours a day of cricket, it’s got to the stage with these two you can’t miss a ball

 

Aussies next batsman on the weekend

 

Going by the weather, it’s unlikely any cricket will be played in the final two days. Shame that, because England were a certainty to win

 

If they can get 4/5 hours tomorrow, England win the ashes…..I’ve gone bold lol.

 

Can't help but laugh at this joke as I can't stand Piers Morgan. I don't follow cricket (as you've probably already guessed) but I just don't get the rules re a series being decided by the weather

 

Solida first day of the 5th test. Plenty of action, especially in England's inning, bowled out for 283, but Australia spurned 5 catches and a straightforward runout opportunity, so it could've and perhaps should've been much less. The Aussies closing 1/61.

Also congrats to Scotland for qualifying for next year's T20 World Cup, after defeating Denmark today to claim their place at mext year's tournament!

 

England got lucky, could have been at least an hundred less than they got. Can’t believe it’s the last test, really going to miss TMS on in the background, kinda feels the summers over when it stops being on. Mind you with the weather it could be right lol.

 

There is still plenty of cricket to come, such as the Hundred, but it's not even close to being the same. Test cricket gets you invested, because you spend days and weeks (even months in the old days) following the ups and downs, thn tension and drama etc. I could tell what happened in test matches from 35 years ago, but would struggle to even remember who won the T20 Blast a few weeks ago or The Hundred from last year.

TBH, England have had a fair slice of luck as it is this series, winning every toss before this test, and especially when it comes to batting or bowling in conditions have been most favourable for each of those particular skills.

 

Curious day's play there today. Australia's soporific batting in the morning seemed to have completely backfired as they were going nowhere and I get if it then meant that the middle order could then capitalize on a tired attack, but the problem with that is, if you're not ticking the scoring over, and then a collapse happens, which is what happened in that middle session, then it could've been disasterous. Thankfully the tail wagged to creep past England's first inning.

 

Yes go Scotland Go!!

 

Aussie tail today really helped. I was honest yesterday about England having 100 more runs than they should have, today was the Aussies slice of luck, could have been the same tbh. Never seen an Aussie side lacking in such confidence, look * scared in all honesty. Tomorrow’s a big day…..

 

Same. It was really weird to understand exactly what the thinking was behing how slow Labushagne & Khawaja batted in the morning session. I get being patient and wearing the bowlers down, but there is still the need to at least rotate the strike in those situations.

Anyhow, it has made the test very finely poised going into Day 3 and England's 2nd dig.

 

Labushagne, best batsman in the world, 9 runs off 82 balls..? Ball moving yes but that much..?
Really think this is genius or madness from the Aussies tbh

 

Another phenom day of batting from England there, to give them their due. Australia really does seem to be pretty rattled at time point and will have a big job on their hands over the next couple of days to chase down whatever England end up setting them.

And Stuart Broad announced his retirement for the end of this match. 602 wickets, one of the all time greats.

 

That broad announcement shocked me , honestly expected jimmy to be the one doing that speech tbh.

 

Same. This caught me completely off guard also, especially after literally yesterday Jimmy Anderson said he has no intention of stopping any time soon ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/66337179 ). But it did seem a bit off at tea when TMS had his fiance, Mollie King (formerly of The Saturdays & BBC1 presenter) on for an interview about him, just seemed odd, but makes total sense in retrospect.

But while Anderson has not been as effective in this series, Broad has been the real leader of the attack and seems to be really thriving and still as much a threat as he pretty much always has been.