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McFaul
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Our batting has been pretty shocking other than when Stoneman and Vince were going well in the first test.  Cook not firing at all is a problem and without Stokes the middle order doesn't look as strong as it has done.  The fact Ali is playing in the tour game suggests he's been struggling for fitness and it seems to be effecting his form.

It's a shame because with a fit Ali and Wood and an available Stokes I think it could have been a tight series.  Now it's looking like we're on course for another whitewash.

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Just read a piece in the standard about moeen’s finger injury. Apparently it rips open every time he sends a delivery down so we’ve effectively been operating without a spinner. And an uncapped rookie is our alternative. 

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4 hours ago, Alex said:

Tooj sent me a link to this.

https://www.thefulltoss.com/england-cricket-blog/england-ashes-lamentable-truth/

Difficult to argue with any of that

 

Good read. It’s hard to argue with the lack of strategy with the test side. The selectors have failed by persevering with players who aren’t good enough and failing to blood a proper spinner or some genuine pace, knowing this series was coming up.

 

the only thing I’d question is the new 20/20 tournament. They’re trying to chase the money, true, but won’t that also be good for the test team? I can see why they’d like to mirror what they’ve done in India and Australia. Our current t20 tournament is a damp squib in comparison.

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18 hours ago, David Kelly said:

Our batting has been pretty shocking other than when Stoneman and Vince were going well in the first test.  Cook not firing at all is a problem and without Stokes the middle order doesn't look as strong as it has done.  The fact Ali is playing in the tour game suggests he's been struggling for fitness and it seems to be effecting his form.

It's a shame because with a fit Ali and Wood and an available Stokes I think it could have been a tight series.  Now it's looking like we're on course for another whitewash.

I don't think fitness is the issue with him, he just can't get purchase on the ball, partly because of his finger injury and partly because he just can't anyway with the kookaburra.

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18 hours ago, Alex said:

Tooj sent me a link to this.

https://www.thefulltoss.com/england-cricket-blog/england-ashes-lamentable-truth/

Difficult to argue with any of that

All big cricketing countries have faced the problems that are now evident facing England tbh, I think I may have expressed this T20 issue a few years ago in this thread, and while it is a contributor to it there are obviously other developmental issues. The pool of players in the world who prioritise the 5 day game is shrinking. It is up to their governing bodies to respect the tradition and reverse the trend.

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Money talks. And outside of the ashes, there aren’t many series which guarantee to sell out. There was an interesting debate on how to broaden test cricket’s appeal on BT during the last test. Vaughan was saying put names and numbers on shirts and play 4 day tests with more overs in the day. 

 

The day/night experiment could help attract more crowds. More interesting pitches might help. Boycott was saying it was just about promoting the game better. How do you explain the death of the game in the windies? They used to love their test cricket. Perhaps it’s just a response to the fact their team had been shit for more than a decade.

 

It is obviously still the pinnacle of the sport but I’m not sure, I think you might have to upset the purists to turn the crowds who have embraced t20 towards test match. Cheerleaders and music every time a four or six is played would be too much though. 

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12 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

Money talks. And outside of the ashes, there aren’t many series which guarantee to sell out. There was an interesting debate on how to broaden test cricket’s appeal on BT during the last test. Vaughan was saying put names and numbers on shirts and play 4 day tests with more overs in the day. 

 

The day/night experiment could help attract more crowds. More interesting pitches might help. Boycott was saying it was just about promoting the game better. How do you explain the death of the game in the windies? They used to love their test cricket. Perhaps it’s just a response to the fact their team had been shit for more than a decade.

 

It is obviously still the pinnacle of the sport but I’m not sure, I think you might have to upset the purists to turn the crowds who have embraced t20 towards test match. Cheerleaders and music every time a four or six is played would be too much though. 

The cricketing calender is all out of whack to be fair. What is being played and how much of it, the different forms, and what it means - the gap is disparaging.

 

Names and numbers is daft man. Reducing tests to four days means little. Would that change results that we see now already?

 

Half the punters went home after 630pm in Adelaide. It depends on the state of play though of course.

 

The Windies are a nightmare. Politically, the game is not unified so there are no stepping stones to progress to get to the ultimate for their grassroots, the Windies aren't unified anymore, and there are other sports which attract youngsters now.

 

T20 enthusiasts will never embrace test match cricket and vice versa, although the latter would give it a go. T20 cricket is fast, and and a result is quick. The game attracts people who would have turned a blind eye to cricket before T20 mate.

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I watch all forms of the game. Test cricket for me is always the pinnacle but I enjoy the short form stuff too. Pretty sure there are plenty of people like me. I think it’s more about making test cricket more commercial and accessible without destroying its soul ... if that’s possible. 

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The state of that piece and his tweets suggests KP is enjoying his George Osborne moment, stirring the pot when his old foes are down.

 

I’d probably take KP ahead of cook in the batting lineup right now mind. 

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Yeah, agree with that. We have to put up with him on Channel Nine this year. He is an irritant and a pot stirrer, and now that he can't target us with it he has gone for you.

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Boycott is a lot more honest about the state of the performances than a lot of the other commentators are but he really does repeat himself far too much to enjoy his commentary.  The others that BT, even the Aussies, are pretty good (it's always good to hear Swanny compare a good catch to one of Pav's saves) but I do feel it's much better on Sky.

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On 09/12/2017 at 8:22 AM, Ken said:

I don't think fitness is the issue with him, he just can't get purchase on the ball, partly because of his finger injury and partly because he just can't anyway with the kookaburra.

So it is about his fitness.

 

He didn't bowl at all in the tour game the other day which makes me wonder what the point of him playing was.  I saw a bit of Wood's bowling at the end of the first day and he looked like he was going at a good pace and getting a bit of swing.  He went for 11 off his first over but got two wickets and only went for 2.5 in the first innings.  

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1 hour ago, David Kelly said:

So it is about his fitness.

 

He didn't bowl at all in the tour game the other day which makes me wonder what the point of him playing was.  I saw a bit of Wood's bowling at the end of the first day and he looked like he was going at a good pace and getting a bit of swing.  He went for 11 off his first over but got two wickets and only went for 2.5 in the first innings.  

 

he'd probably still be favourite to have a bowl in perth with one leg tbh

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TMS has been an absolute godsend during nightshift these past couple of weeks and ready to do it all again on Wednesday night. Any ideas when we're likely to get some kind of final decision on the Stokes situation from the CPS?

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21 hours ago, David Kelly said:

So it is about his fitness.

 

He didn't bowl at all in the tour game the other day which makes me wonder what the point of him playing was.  I saw a bit of Wood's bowling at the end of the first day and he looked like he was going at a good pace and getting a bit of swing.  He went for 11 off his first over but got two wickets and only went for 2.5 in the first innings.  

Well exactly. I didn't realise he hadn't bowled which is sensible given he has/had a tender cut that has kept getting ripped open and giving it time to heal would have been the common sense approach to that. Given that he didn't bowl I don't see why he needed to play, like you I find it a bit bewildering. Running around a field isn't building up match fitness is it?

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12 hours ago, catmag said:

TMS has been an absolute godsend during nightshift these past couple of weeks and ready to do it all again on Wednesday night. Any ideas when we're likely to get some kind of final decision on the Stokes situation from the CPS?

Hopefully, from your POV, he returns for the Boxing Day match, if he doesn't return there he won't play at all in the test series. He hasn't been setting the world on fire in NZ so he needs to keep building up his fitness. I guess he has set his sights on the ODI's.

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