Anyone know how Alastair Cook is getting on this test match ?

Not heard much from West Yorkshire this week ?
This series has been a total shambles !

 

I started off this series by setting my alarm and checking my phone every so often during the night to see the score, much to the annoyance of "the powers that be". I've slept like a log most of the winter so far.

 

Getting innings by innings closer to the top of the leading test run scorers. 1374 runs until he becomes the second leading run scorer in Test Match History. 15 months time?

 

It wasn’t unexpected though. We will win the ashes back in 2 years and so the cycle continues

I actually think Cook will still be opening the batting if he wants to.

 

I thought we'd do better than we have, but I was concerned if we went behind we'd get smashed, which we have.

I'm completely unimpressed by this coach, we've gone backwards so far at test level and we've a team of flat bat sloggers aside from Cook and Root. We don't have a spinner and our best bowlers are ageing fast.

Perhaps the worst aspect is the lack of fight and mental toughness. In years gone by we've had at least one or two batsmen who could play attritional cricket to try and save a game. But now once Cook is out cheaply, it feels like game over when we play overseas.

Combine that with a complete lack of preparation, plan, or players to suit the conditions and it's no surprise we're losing to a very very poor Australia team.

 

Very harsh to call this a very poor Australian team. It doesent happen often that 4 bowlers in a side get 20 wickets each in a series. And have arguabley the best batter in the world. Granted there are flaws but to call them very poor is unfair to them and England.

 

This team got beaten by Bangladesh. They lose overseas regularly. A good team they aren't. On pancake pitches that don't move they can bat. But in comparison to good teams through the ages, they are very very poor. Just that we're absolutely dire.

 

They aren’t the side of the 90s and 00s but ‘very very poor’ is a bit wide of the mark.

Like a lot of the better test teams of the current era they will beat most at home and struggle more away. I’m not sure England would beat them 4-0 in England. But we’d beat them I’d wager.

India and South Africa aren’t great away from home.

On and off the field this ashes tour has been a disaster since before it even started. The mental impact on all the rest of the side of losing Stokes has affected them every bit as much as losing his ability. He’d have been a very effective bowler on the Aussie wickets (except probably Melbourne), would have stood up to the short pitched bowling and would have lengthened and strengthened the batting lineup. With him in the side we would have been better; the main issue being that to me, the whole team, captain and coach down, gave up before they started and accepted they had little chance without him. They’ve played with fear and acceptance of defeat. A bit like watching the ashes games of the nineties and early naughties.

Then weve had the Bairstow and general culture stuff. They were ripped apart mentally before a ball was bowled.

Onwards to the future.

I hope Cook, Anderson and Broad stay on for a couple of years at least. Anderson is the oldest but doesn’t look old and past it. Cook clearly has runs left. Broad I’m hoping is still young enough to regain his form. Hopefully a bit of success in New Zealand is possible and might rejuvenate them.

 

Agree re Cook etc, they should stay on, they are good players.

But I stand firm this is a very very poor Australia team in my opinion. The test scene is exceptionally bad at the moment and statistics of bad teams winning make them look less bad than what they are.

 

Your right its not a vintage Australian team. But theyre not poor. The big difference for us is our mentality. We keep hearing weve not quite grabbed hold of the big moments throughout this series but thats because mentally were terrible. Aussies seem to constantly hunt in packs, if we can get one we will get 5, not England. The moment a couple of mornings ago summed up the whole series for me. Joe Root gifted his wicket to a leg side delivery with 2 overs left, exposingjonny bairstow who then got out. Australia wouldnt have done that. The whole initiative of the test handed to a more hungry and eager opponent.

 

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of good days we have had on this tour. It may even be as little as two or three. I've been sick at home for the best part of a month so have had the opportunity to watch every day from the second test onwards. When I say "watch" though, what I actually mean is getting up fairly early and then punching the plus 30 seconds button at regular intervals and, during the last couple of matches, flashing through it in plus ten minute sections. Noticing that less than ten runs have been scored in those segments gives me the satisfaction of knowing I don't have to watch it live.

I'm a fan of test cricket but this has been very, very poor stuff all the way through. The Aussie bowling tactic of aiming the ball at the upper body gets tedious after a while. Watching Lyon trundling through his overs is like watching paint dry as well. We are no better - Ali is no front line spinner. Bringing a young lad in for the last match didn't work either - he's a long way off being good enough. There has been hardly any exciting batting to watch. I'm afraid I can't jump up and down with excitement seeing opposition batsmen scoring 50s and 100s at regular intervals. Steve Smith is supposedly the best in the world but what a boring watch he is!! His habit of shuffling across the stumps every ball and then straight batting it or smacking it for four just gets tedious after a while. Flair batsman he definitely is not!

I really don't understand the enthusiasm whipped up by the Barmy Army down there. I want to see England playing well and winning - I'd be sitting dozing in the sunshine watching this lot, not bouncing up and down singing. All we can hope for now is a better showing in the one day matches and then, like many others have said, a reversal of fortunes next time they come to England. We never seem to beat them 4 or 5 nil but the overseas tour syndrome affects them as much as England.

 

I'm just amazed he scores the volume of runs he does. He seems an absolute nailed on LBW candidate every time he steps onto the pitch, but jeeze, he never chuffing misses the ball. Ugly to watch but highly effective and his numbers are incredible. Once his 'eye' goes he'll be knackered 'cos he has no technique to fall back on.

 

As Sir Geoffrey said this morning though, proper fast bowlers win you matches, and we never seem to have any these days. By that I mean bowlers who can arrow a ball into the middle stump on a regular basis with a bit of swing to deceive the batsman.

If Smith was in our team on this tour he would have been caught LBW regularly by the likes of Starc. Pure pace wins every time over shuffling techniques like Smith's. I hate watching him because he bats like a robot. That's not entertaining.

 

I wish England had some of these type of players!!!

 

It's supposed to be an entertainment business though and Smith does NOT entertain. Metronomic batting turns people off the game. The Aussies might love him because he piles the runs up but they would have a different attitude if they were losing this series, I'm sure.