I question why Joe Denly has been picked and playing number 4. Your best batsman plays at number 4. Is Joe Denly really our best batsman?
Yeah I agree but hindsight and all that. Looking at it now he should have played in the Ireland test match to prove his fitness but nobody said it at the time but everyone is now. He could have got through the Ireland match and still broke down in this one.
Going to take a miracle to survive this day out now. Never mind, hopefully having a fully fit Archer back and some tweaks to the squad will make us more competitive. Their second innings have let us down massively.
Sad to say, pretty much what I expected from us. Gutless batting and not one player with resolve when things get tough. All show pony, no work horse. Not one of these players would have made it into the 2005, 2009 or 2010/11 ashes winning sides. Been a shambles since the first session. Maybe we should burn some more stumps and put them in a Tupperware box or something the modern day equivalent of the famous old urn.
Broad might have We've had some bad luck with Anderson and I have no idea whether anyone is at fault for including him. I hope we sort some of these issues out for the next match but I'm not convinced.
It goes in cycles. The Aussies win it for a few years then we do. Nobody really dominates. Then it goes through a cycle of us winning it in the U.K and the Aussies winning it down under. The Aussies then dominate for a sustained period. The reason being they are like Germany in the football. If they lose at a major tournament or the Ashes. They rebuild and set their sights on being the dominant force in world cricket. They aren't content to just regain the ashes or win the world cup.
Not his 2019 version of himself ;-) I suspect Archer will be selected and the world will expect the poor lad to bowl the convicts out for less than 40 each innings. We have to drop Ali. He's absolutely shot to bits, and I've never rated him even at his best. but if he can't get runs, and he can't get wickets when its turning sideways, theres no point selecting him. I guess Leach is next in line though he doesn't seem a test spinner, but we can hope. As for the batting... we are desperate for some nugget gritty belligerent batters. Oh for a Thorpe, Collingwood, Trott, Atherton.