It's The Ashes (again)

[Tom Joad]

Pat Cummins completely lost the plot on days 2 and 3. Dismal display of captaincy when faced with the full might of England's aggression. I can't imagine he'll be the Aussie's captain for long if he can't save this series. He needs the weather, for sure. If the Fifth Test is the decider, should he be "rested"? His bowling has been poor since Lords.

What's becoming more obvious is that we should be 3-0 up, not 2-1 down. OK, Wood was (apparently) not quite fit, but put Woakes in ahead of Anderson, Foakes behind the stumps and we win at Edgbaston and Lords. Jimmy offering very little again in this match, he's bowled loads of overs 'cos they're desperate to get him to 700 wickets, but not a nibble.

Bairstow is bleating in the press about criticism of his keeping. His argument appears to be "If people knew how bad the broken leg was they might see things differently". No, Jonny, if we knew how bad the injury was we'd be thinking "Why are they picking a bloke who is just about adequate when fit, but is still recovering from a bad broken leg?".

Cummins is a very good player, test bowling average still about 22 runs per wicket. Only made captain because Smith's ban and the then first choice replacement not working. I agree he'll be stood down when they inevitably reappoint the banned cheat but he is a world class bowler and, like Starc, a bit bewildered against the pure aggression of England's batting. 
Woakes has made a huge difference, as has the 90+mph of Wood. I'd never knock Jimmy, he still only goes for 2 an over, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
I feel for Bairstow. He gives it all but isn't as good as Foakes. He has certainly played a massive part with the bat though of course, dropping Crawley would be the only way to accommodate Bairstow and look what happened with Crawley this time.
They can only pick 11 and its nice to be giving the no.1 side in the world a battle. I genuinelythink nearly all our mistakes were at Edgbaston and we got punished. To come back from 2 down would be the greatest Ashes in my lifetime. Still hoping.