They must have wished. Those holes at the top of the order have never been filled since the departure of Cook. Malan has been super at three but time is not on his side. Pitiful effort in concentration and technique.
I really don't understand the criticism. 236 is a fantastic score from this England batting line up. I gather the Aussies were asked to bat again to make sure we get cricket into the fifth day. In fact they have been asked by tv companies to just carry on batting for days 4 and 5 to keep the ashes contest theoretically alive.
10 overs in and haven’t remotely looked like taking a wicket. Quite abject. Root looks like he’s been up all night being haunted by the ghosts of England captains past. Ones that have won an ashes series.
Aussies make a rare error. If we'd be in the game people would have loved seeing Warner get run out but....
150 for 2 to 236 all out what another crock of ****, we'd be better off fielding a pack of cards they would be less likely to collapse than this lot
Not one word of criticism for Root or Silverwood. As usual from Agnew. Never sits anywhere else other than the fence.
We have Joe Root as a batsman . Malan has done well. Joffra is injured. Stokes is World class but has been hurried back . We have an aged or infirm bowling attack , no decent spin option and the only improvement I can suggest , without rearranging Titanic deck chairs, is Foulkes as keeper.
Watching England against Australia it's like Watford V Man City ....weak, spineless..... beaten before a ball is bowled or in Watford's case a ball is kicked
The fact that we didn’t pick a spinner but bowled Root, Malan and also Ollie ******* Robinson as a spinner is a sackable offence for anyone involved with selection. Amateur.
Joe Root just took a Mitchell Starc quick one to somewhere painful. Rolled around a bit and then a couple of overs later he’s out. Should all be over in the first hour tomorrow.
Agreed. As I said in an earlier post, the bowling 'attack' chosen was laughable for Aussie conditions. Anderson has no longer got enough 'zip' once the Kookaburra is 20 overs old; Broad hasn't had enough cricket and has also lost a critical yard of pace; Woakes is almost pointless on Aussie wickets; and we don't pick a spinner on a pitch that was clearly going to turn so have to ask part-timers to bowl (quite successful) spin. Silverwood has been an unmitigated disaster as head coach and we all know Root can't captain. I'm not sure we've got many alternatives in the batting department, but we seem to consistently choose the wrong bowling attack every game.
Cue a Ben Stokes super innings to at least force a draw or maybe even a win? Nah! I don't really believe that but we can still dream
I'd stick Bairstow in to open personally. Need some aggression at the top of the order. Foakes in for Buttler.
It's simple really, we are sh*t in all departments! We have NEVER replaced Cook & Strauss at the top of the order. By the time Root gets in we are usually 15-2 so it's a firefighting mission against a new ball. Your openers need to be averaging over 40 in test match cricket as a minimum to give your middle order an opportunity to build a good score against an ageing ball. No discipline, common sense, skill or PATIENCE against the new ball. Yes, you'll get the odd one that's unplayable and 'nick off' to slips but we usually throw our top order wickets away by falling into simple traps. Traps that you see Village cricketers set! You really don't have to be a good bowling attack to get into our middle order for no runs! Gone are the days when we saw Cook & Strauss smash the Aussies to all corners and put on 150+ runs for an opening stand. Then you have the bowlers. No decent spin option, Leach is absolutely garbage and would rather have Moen Ali back (at least he can smash a quick 50 in at number 8 every now and then). Our current spinners make 'Wheelie-bin' Giles look like Shane Warne! Anderson is class even now, but only really on English tracks with a bit of sideways movement or overcast conditions. Doesn't have the pace required now at this level to be a force. Broad the same. Both amazing servants to English Cricket but both need to be replaced now. Woakes is good on his day but has been shocking in this Series. Isn't the answer. Joffra is always injured and overrated anyway. I've been impressed with Robinson, he looks like a good bowler and Mark Wood, despite having express pace, is injury prone and will never be able to play 5 tests! Our bowling department is too similar. Don't even get me started on catching. We couldn't catch COVID! I think I heard the other day the Aussies have taken their last 24 chances in the field! The old adage is 'catches win matches' and it's very true! Basically, we are a mess, from the selectors, to the coach to the captain and players!
