It's The Ashes (again)

[Cheshire East Baggie]

Baz talking bollocks today. "I thought Jonny kept well throughout" and "We'll go a little harder". Is it just me, or does he come across as a bit of a knob? If we get a result at Lords OK, but what will Baz'n'Ben say if we get out-played at proper cricket there again? We'll go even harder? And if Bairstow keeps badly, Mo's finger splits open again, Crawley fails again, will that be a reason to stick even harder to "the plan".

It really is Valball in whites, on a much bigger stage.

[AnelkasBeard]

Baz talking bollocks today. "I thought Jonny kept well throughout" and "We'll go a little harder". Is it just me, or does he come across as a bit of a knob? If we get a result at Lords OK, but what will Baz'n'Ben say if we get out-played at proper cricket there again? We'll go even harder? And if Bairstow keeps badly, Mo's finger splits open again, Crawley fails again, will that be a reason to stick even harder to "the plan".

It really is Valball in whites, on a much bigger stage.

In what world did we get outplayed? The Test went to the final minutes of Day 5, with us needing 2 wickets, and them needing around 40 runs. They managed to get over the line. That's about as even as it gets.

And what do you expect him to say? "Yeah Jonny is fucking shit at keeper, he cost us the game". Great way to galvanise and motivate the team. I do agree they need to find some way of getting Foakes in to keep, but they won't be saying that publically, will they?

Crawley also didn't fail, he got a 60 in the first innings and got out to a very good ball, then 2nd innings, got done during the most bowler friendly portion of the game under heavy cloud cover.

Mo/the spinner is the biggest worry though, for sure. How they deal with that will be very telling.

[wba13]

I really think some want England to fail reading some comments, we lost by small margins. Great match i won’t criticise any players they all contributed.

[SuperBob2002]

Surrey v Middlesex in the T20 tonight is some game.

Surrey scored 252 in their innings. Sussex currently 205-2 with 4.3 overs left.

[Cheshire East Baggie]

Baz talking bollocks today. "I thought Jonny kept well throughout" and "We'll go a little harder". Is it just me, or does he come across as a bit of a knob? If we get a result at Lords OK, but what will Baz'n'Ben say if we get out-played at proper cricket there again? We'll go even harder? And if Bairstow keeps badly, Mo's finger splits open again, Crawley fails again, will that be a reason to stick even harder to "the plan".

It really is Valball in whites, on a much bigger stage.

In what world did we get outplayed? The Test went to the final minutes of Day 5, with us needing 2 wickets, and them needing around 40 runs. They managed to get over the line. That's about as even as it gets.

And what do you expect him to say? "Yeah Jonny is fucking shit at keeper, he cost us the game". Great way to galvanise and motivate the team. I do agree they need to find some way of getting Foakes in to keep, but they won't be saying that publically, will they?

Crawley also didn't fail, he got a 60 in the first innings and got out to a very good ball, then 2nd innings, got done during the most bowler friendly portion of the game under heavy cloud cover.

Mo/the spinner is the biggest worry though, for sure. How they deal with that will be very telling.

You could read the piece on the Beeb cricket page instead of just venting. "McCullum said there were no plans to return the gloves to Foakes".

I said the Aussies outplayed us at proper cricket because they took their chances in the field and didn't take so many risks with the bat. It seems "going harder at them" is the only plan we have. That might not cut out the errors that cost us the match.

[AnelkasBeard]

Baz talking bollocks today. "I thought Jonny kept well throughout" and "We'll go a little harder". Is it just me, or does he come across as a bit of a knob? If we get a result at Lords OK, but what will Baz'n'Ben say if we get out-played at proper cricket there again? We'll go even harder? And if Bairstow keeps badly, Mo's finger splits open again, Crawley fails again, will that be a reason to stick even harder to "the plan".

It really is Valball in whites, on a much bigger stage.

In what world did we get outplayed? The Test went to the final minutes of Day 5, with us needing 2 wickets, and them needing around 40 runs. They managed to get over the line. That's about as even as it gets.

And what do you expect him to say? "Yeah Jonny is fucking shit at keeper, he cost us the game". Great way to galvanise and motivate the team. I do agree they need to find some way of getting Foakes in to keep, but they won't be saying that publically, will they?

Crawley also didn't fail, he got a 60 in the first innings and got out to a very good ball, then 2nd innings, got done during the most bowler friendly portion of the game under heavy cloud cover.

Mo/the spinner is the biggest worry though, for sure. How they deal with that will be very telling.

You could read the piece on the Beeb cricket page instead of just venting. "McCullum said there were no plans to return the gloves to Foakes".

I said the Aussies outplayed us at proper cricket because they took their chances in the field and didn't take so many risks with the bat. It seems "going harder at them" is the only plan we have. That might not cut out the errors that cost us the match.

Fair enough, I take your point here. I assumed you just meant "proper defensive cricket" was better. But yes, they did the "proper" cricket things like catches etc better than we did. That's why they won.

If the only tactic is "going harder", and we lost again by a bigger margin, then I think it's a fair enough discussion to talk about lack of plan b.

[Lurker#3]

Rehan Ahmed added to squad. Bold. I like it.

[SuperBob2002]

Rehan Ahmed added to squad. Bold. I like it.

Correct call.

[AnelkasBeard]

Rehan Ahmed added to squad. Bold. I like it.

If this had happened under previous regimes, I'd be worried that it would ruin and his confidence etc. Hopefully the positive vibes from Stokes and Baz don't allow that to happen.

[SuperBob2002]

England Men's XI

1. Ben Duckett
2. Zak Crawley
3. Ollie Pope
4. Joe Root
5. Harry Brook
6. Ben Stokes *
7. Jonathan Bairstow +
8. Stuart Broad
9. Ollie Robinson
10. Josh Tongue
11. James Anderson

Sigh. We haven't learned from our mistakes. No specialist wicket keeper, the continued selection of Crawley and no front line spinner. What is going on? I'm not sure if it's sheer overconfidence, arrogance, and ignorance, or stupidly? Possibly a combination.