Smith is going to win them this series almost singlehandedly. I hate to admit it but he is a phenomenal batsman. The best in the world in my opinion.
Yes, he is outstanding. We have a mountain to climb. It is him vs Stokes as it stands. I'm hoping for a hurricane in Manchester for the next few days.
Stokes is good (not in the same class as Smith) but inconsistent and needs to ride his luck to build a game winning innings - I hope he can do it again but I'm not confident. I think you're right that we need the weather to help us out.
Looks a good day with very little rain.... https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/gcw25grrk#?date=2019-09-06
Agree with this. When coming into bowl pull out of your run up on the odd occasion, take more time with field placings, make him wait, try some delaying tactics, anything to get him a little rattled and out of his comfort zone. It seems like we make it far too easy for him. In addition, just bowl a consistent line and length at the top of off stump. We only seem able to do that for a short while and when we don't get his wicket early we deviate away from that plan and it just goes to sh*t! Smith even admitted last night we played into his hands by bowling too short too soon on a slow pitch.
Excellent post. Joe Root is the problem. He isn't scoring runs and it's effecting his all round game. This includes his judgement. It's about time we had Eoin Morgan brought back in from the cold. Even when his batting is poor his captaincy never suffers.
Not sure a loss can be attributed to losing the toss. We need a couple of solid partnerships. Wish we had a batsman of Smith's quality but they don't come round often.
Scoreboard pressure will kill England now. Its demoralising looking at the scoreboard and seeing 497. Rather than thinking if we bat and bat and bat and we move onto the Oval they will crumble.
We just don't seem to have the test match mentality these days, bowlers can't maintain a line and length without as you say trying something different and letting any pressure off, same with the batsmen don't score for an over so the have a swing
It was a braindead shot. The single intent for 45 minutes is survival. I was first taught pre teens to check the field every ball and look for safe areas to score based on the bowler and what he's trying to do and what the pitch is offering. So for a test opener (though he's not naturally opening at Kent in the county game, another crazy fudge as we aim to solve the problem in the wrong way) to play a shot, either not knowing the fielder was there, or, playing the shot knowing he was is just mind sapping. I've been thinking about this and a possible answer is to radically alter the batting structure. Play 3 openers, Root at 4 and then 3 of the sloggers. Tell the top 4, your job is to bat time. 2 an over is fine. Wear the bowlers out and be attritional. Then after Root, have the intent to get in, see the ball well, then slog. If we shift the balance to go low risk low scoring rate and wear the bowlers and be scoring at 2. Then get the sloggers with an older ball and tired bowers aiming to score at 4 an over. I don't think it works trying to get players doing things they aren't good at. I don't think Burns will be a quality test opener, Denly and Roy certainly aren't test openers, and Root isn't in the right headspace to bat long like he did earlier in his career. I'd probably give Burns 15-20 tests to see if he can find a level, but we need 2 more openers. Then after that, pick 3 sloggers that are in best form and see how you go.
I agree with David Gower about Denly getting hit. A test batsman shouldn't be taking his eye off the ball. I don't think Gower thinks he's test quality. Also Botham and Atherton commented on Burns playing defensive at 4th and 5th stump lines. He doesn't need to do it. The only thing he'll achieve there is a nick to wicket keeper or slip. Attack or leave outside off stump.
