Said after the first test it would be 5-0 and haven't changed my mind. How the hell have we let a very average player in Mitchell Marsh get to 175no?! Alistair Cook stood at slip going through the motions, offering no support to root or the bowlers and his contributions with the bat have been embarrassing. Why not pack in now before the fourth test and then maybe someone else will contribute at the top of the order. Don't get me started on Moeen Ali, suppose to be our front line spinner and very occasionally contributes something with the bat. Nathan Lyon said before the series they wanted to end test careers, well for starters it should be Cook, Broad, Anderson and Ali.
One great day in the series so far with Malan and Bairstow smacking the ball around. Today's offering has been shocking. Since I upgraded my package to include BT Sport I've recorded the day's play and just got up to watch it over maybe a 2-3 hour session. Hitting the Plus 30 seconds button after every ball cuts out the nothing in between. Well today I've been doing it differently. It's been moving along ten minutes at a time with only the odd rewind to see something "interesting". I'm not one of those cricket fans who delights in seeing opposition players creaming the ball to the boundary at will and I had no desire to watch Smith and Marsh piling the runs up as if they were facing amateur bowling. What a contrast that has been to the lunchtime showing of highlights from the Old Trafford test of 2005. Now that WAS an exciting test match. Today's offering was simply England meekly surrendering The Ashes and was awful to watch.
Bowler wise you'd think our own Ben Coad and the Curran brothers must be close to getting a chance. Our middle order wouldn't collapse so badly with Alex Hales in there. His game isn't suited to being an opener where we wrecked him. Rashid is a better spinner than Ali. Keaton Jennings got a good score between tests in the tour match, so looks suited to the Australia pitches. We haven't got players to the standard that those they would replace were at in their prime. But if they aren't given a chance we will never know. Jennings, Stoneman, Root, Malan, Hales, Bairstow would be a strong top six. Seven if you include Woakes. Could have Rashid at eight.
God knows how Cook is getting picked,Anderson is a brilliant bowler but only when the conditions suit him,Ali when he is 'on' with the bat is good but should never be a first choice spinner. We blew this one as soon as the batting collapsed after Mallan and Bairstow made it look easy.
