The Ashes

[Cheshire East Baggie]

Easy to catastrophise after a defeat like that
.

But it does come down to a tremendous innings by Head. Yes you can say we should have got more runs, but in truth we could have scored another 100 and I'm not sure it would have been enough given Heads innings.

And another day Head would have mis timed one of his aggressive shots early in the innings and it might have been a very different story. And it's not like we don't have players capable of replicating what Head did.

I'm not a massive fan of how we approach test cricket, but the loss today wasn't because of the approach, it was down to an extraordinary individual batting performance.

It's really not just down to Head's tremendous innings. Two catastrophic and embarrassing batting collapses undermined England's excellent first innings bowling. It's about application and attitude as much as ability. England have (as usual) left themselves with a mountain to climb. Can we bat with more common sense? Can we bowl that well again?

[GooseWBA]

Easy to catastrophise after a defeat like that
.

But it does come down to a tremendous innings by Head. Yes you can say we should have got more runs, but in truth we could have scored another 100 and I'm not sure it would have been enough given Heads innings.

And another day Head would have mis timed one of his aggressive shots early in the innings and it might have been a very different story. And it's not like we don't have players capable of replicating what Head did.

I'm not a massive fan of how we approach test cricket, but the loss today wasn't because of the approach, it was down to an extraordinary individual batting performance.

The loss TODAY was totally down to the  players being so conditioned to playing Bazball that they are unable/incapable of adjusting their mindset to suit the match situation. Test cricket requires a pretty full skillset, something that those out there don't seem to possess. And those that did have had it knocked out of them by the leadership at the top.

But as others have pointed out, Head played an aggressive form of cricket that totally aligned with the approach England's batters are encouraged to take. He just did it better today than any of our batsmen

Like I say, I'm not a fan of this approach to test cricket and I think other test nations are far better at reigning in when necessary than we are, but that's not what happened today.

Head played aggressively in a situation in which he had licence to. He wasn't playing baseball shots in the middle order when  the game was on a knife edge.  He could swing and get the runs, if he didn't plenty of decent batsmen to come in after him and they needed 205 on a day two wicket. And he is a great batsman who is massively underrated even in Australia where he has pulled them from disaster to victory before.

Bazball does not work. So get rid of Baz.

[Tom Joad 25]

Still fumin'. Criticism is justified. Australia were bowling outside off stump, all we needed to do was let them toil. All we needed to do was occupy the crease, not by stonewalling, but by just ticking over picking when to attack and when to defend - or leave alone. Game totally, utterly, thrown away.

[oldun]

Still fumin'. Criticism is justified. Australia were bowling  outside off stump, all we needed to do was let them toil. All we needed to do was occupy the crease, not by stonewalling, but by just ticking over picking when to attack and when to defend - or leave alone.  Game totally, utterly, thrown away.

Spot on
I was watching in the early hours and saw a West Brom flag draped over the railings and thought there's  an omen. It was , just a bad one, both England and us contriving to lose a game again

[rsbaggy2]

Astonishing levels of arrogance! After the apalling batting performance at Perth, surely a pink ball warm up would have been ideal?
Or is the lure of the beach/golf course/plain idleness take priority? The coach should not have asked the players, he should have told them - get yourselves there!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/arti...94pz4eqy1o

Meanwhile India are being handed their arses to them by a very good Saffers side. Gambhir has to go and Pant is no skipper.

[Jacko]

Australia name an unchanged squad for the 2nd Test. Cummins and Hazlewood still not fit. I make this a must-win for England, a tall order looking at the convicts pink ball home record and particularly Mitch Starc's record in those matches.

[Ted Maul]

Will Jacks in the team for Brisbane. Why on earth have we wasted so much time on Bashir and binned the best English spinner in Jack Leach to accommodate a bloke who hardly bowls in FC cricket for Surrey?

Khawaja, Cummins and Hazelwood all out for Australia. Again, a huge chance for England if they can refrain from being morons for a few hours.

[richbaggie]

I hope I'm wrong but can't see us winning a pink ball game given their ridiculous record in them.

[Cheshire East Baggie]

Will Jacks in the team for Brisbane. Why on earth have we wasted so much time on Bashir and binned the best English spinner in Jack Leach to accommodate a bloke who hardly bowls in FC cricket for Surrey?

Khawaja, Cummins and Hazelwood all out for Australia. Again, a huge chance for England if they can refrain from being morons for a few hours.

49 wickets at an average of 42 in County Cricket. That's his whole career, not just last season. Awesome. This tour is where Baz'n'Ben's bright ideas either work out or fail spectacularly. The Bashir plan is the weirdest of the lot.

[ElbowGrease73]

Will Jacks in the team for Brisbane. Why on earth have we wasted so much time on Bashir and binned the best English spinner in Jack Leach to accommodate a bloke who hardly bowls in FC cricket for Surrey?

Khawaja, Cummins and Hazelwood all out for Australia. Again, a huge chance for England if they can refrain from being morons for a few hours.

I didn't see the Jacks decision coming. Very strange. Can't see him spinning us to victory. Definitely picked for his batting ability as opposed to his bowling. If this doesn't pay off, the press coverage won't be kind.