The Cricket Thread

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Without the rain, absolutely.

[Ankit 3,176]

  On 05/08/2013 at 12:20, Alex said:

Without the rain, absolutely.

I beg to differ. Considering Cook's ultra defensive mindset, pretty sure he would have gone for a draw even if there was no rain.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

That's because Cook is too conservative a captain. He expected the game to be rained off, and for whatever time at the crease the batsmen should simply block out the overs. Now it looks like we'll get 60+ overs today, and instead of playing shots he is still intent on fending off hostile seam bowlers. He should be telling his troops to hang around and play shots when they can, not go gung-ho and try and play a t20 innings. Nevertheless, England should be attacking. Australia need 7 wickets, but England need 298 runs, which is achievable. Or should I say "was" achievable before three poor dismissals.

[Ankit 3,176]

I am not saying England should go all out as in a t20 but 35 runs in 20 overs. Are you kidding me? That's like when teams in football sit back and sit more deep and then concede a scrappy goal in the 85th min to lose the match!! All the confedence and momentum will be with Australia because they know English won't be doing anything. Clarke can attack all he wants now!!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

^ you're missing my point. I said before the start of the day's play, England knew they were going to bat. As you say, why just block all the way through? With 10 wickets in hand on a very good surface - a batting surface - a target of 332 is easily achievable if restraint and attacking nous are both on display. Instead Cook went out thinking he was going to block out 20 overs and the rain would come down. Not the right attitude at all.

[Ankit 3,176]

Absolutely with you on this!! Pathetic attitude by the captain and hence the team. But i would say it won't have been that "easy" to chase down 338. There are very few instances when teams have scored over 300 runs on the last day of a test match!! England haven't been an aggressive team under Cook, not just in this particular match but over all too in tests!!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

  On 05/08/2013 at 12:50, Ankit said:

Absolutely with you on this!! Pathetic attitude by the captain and hence the team. But i would say it won't have been that "easy" to chase down 338. There are very few instances when teams have scored over 300 runs on the last day of a test match!! England haven't been an aggressive team under Cook, not just in this particular match but over all too in tests!!

I agree, I think it's a poor attitude to demonstrate. Michael Clarke would have gone out with intentions to win the game, or lose by trying - never to draw.

Fair point on the run-chase, but I think this is a beautiful batting surface. Australia aren't a good batting side but they've managed to amass 700 runs for the loss of just 14 wickets over two innings. There is still pace in the pitch, and with the ball becoming heavier and wetter it will become difficult for the Aussies to maintain this bowling brilliance.

Only the rain can save us now! It's like the Ashes series of old

[Strike 7,314]

I feel England will hold on

[NishC300 1,865]

Feel sorry for the Aussies. If luck had favoured the could easily have been 2-1 up in this series.

[NishC300 1,865]

Thread seems awfully quiet even though u guys retained the Ashes. Congrats!

4th Test 2morrow!

[Duppy Conqueror 1,495]

Well the 4th test is unlikely to be a draw anyway. The Rogers decision shows another flaw in DRS.it's definitely the right thing to have in cricket they just need to fine tune it and get people with better eyesight to view and judge it.

[Ollie 4,400]

Sometimes i just wish i knew what goes through peoples minds. I mean, the reason you block and go steadily is because you want to save wickets and work on getting a big score over a couple of days without risk. 238 all out going at 2.5 an over? That obviously didn't work. We coulda treated it like a 1 day match and got 500. At the end of the day, there is no guarantee that being conservative will not lose you wickets. Yesterdays England innings was one of the worst test match innings i've ever seen and cooks innings was a pathetic waste of time.

I still think we'll get the Aussies out for under 200 though.

EDIT: Ok we won't now lol. Aussies putting on another big partnership. Maybe the pitch is getting flat and boring like the one at Old Trafford. BOOOORING!

Edited August 10, 2013 by Ollie

[Ankit 3,176]

Stat: England are yet to score 400 runs in one innings! Contrary to what everyone thought what would be a whitewash for England, Australia have given real competition to them. Except the 2nd test, Australia were on the verge of winning the other 2 tests!

Cook's defensive approach is sooo boring and irritating, it's like he just would not be aggressive even for one session! Captain's approach clearly reflects on the whole team.

[dave30 728]

I think we just need to accept that on the whole, Australia are a better cricketing nation than us. The amount of hype around this England team, and as far as I can see we're pretty average.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,495]

We beat India home and away and Australia home and away in the last test series' we have played against them and are 2-0 up in this series. South Africa the best test side in the world beat us 1-0 last time out.

There's been overhyping our football team for decades but with cricket they've always been underrated,in the 80's they would own Australia and beat India most series,but were classed as shit because they couldn't beat arguably the best team of test history the west indies.

When other teams beat us in the past we gave credit due to the team that beat us,we never said you only beat us because we are crap at present but we make excuses up for teams who lose to us now. I wouldn't class that as overhyping.

The top two teams in the world in tests ourselves and south Africa are tough teams to beat,that over grind the opposition.flashy cricket is for the one day games.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,495]

4th test in the balance now..as long as Bell can stay in and gets support for another session or so tomorrow,we should get a good total to put the pressure on.

[Ollie 4,400]

Ian Bell, take a bow son. Another 100 against the Aussies. Not in a bad position, effectively 202 for 5. If we can get another hundred then we may be able to win it in 5 or 6 sessions. Going to be an interesting final 2 days.

[Ankit 3,176]

  On 11/08/2013 at 17:27, Duppy Conqueror said:

We beat India home and away and Australia home and away in the last test series' we have played against them and are 2-0 up in this series. South Africa the best test side in the world beat us 1-0 last time out.

There's been overhyping our football team for decades but with cricket they've always been underrated,in the 80's they would own Australia and beat India most series,but were classed as shit because they couldn't beat arguably the best team of test history the west indies.

When other teams beat us in the past we gave credit due to the team that beat us,we never said you only beat us because we are crap at present but we make excuses up for teams who lose to us now. I wouldn't class that as overhyping.

The top two teams in the world in tests ourselves and south Africa are tough teams to beat,that over grind the opposition.flashy cricket is for the one day games.

England are as you said, are one of the top 2 teams in tests. But it's their approach to the game which isn't really "Champions" like. The approach is always defensive, although their isn't anything wrong in it but cricket has evolved a lot in the past decade or so and teams(thanks to the epic Australian team of the last decade) have started playing aggressive cricket which is not necessarily "flashy" but effective and more result oriented, it makes the game more exciting for the viewers. When i look at the England's team, there are players like KP, Bell, Prior who can be aggressive and entertaining but the approach of Cook and subsequently of the whole team is very defensive which makes the whole team boring for neutrals to watch.