Rodders Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 (edited) blimey. Well done England, toughed it out there, Malan with a crucial knock there. Not going to get ahead of myself, it has to be mini target by mini target. We have the time - but do we have the nerve! Root, Woakes, Bairstow, Moeen and Overton can get runs, can they get 150-160 ( at least, wouldn't fancy Jimmy or Stuart adding more than 15-20 ) on day 5? No room for error with early wickets. Feels like it's set up for a glorious failure where we fall 40 runs short, and a host of ifs and buts, but then again plenty of ifs and buts for the Aussies too. Edited December 5, 2017 by Rodders 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_avfc Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 3 minutes ago, Rodders said: blimey. Well done England, toughed it out there, Malan with a crucial knock there. Not going to get ahead of myself, it has to be mini target by mini target. We have the time - but do we have the nerve! Root, Woakes, Bairstow, Moeen and Overton can get runs, can they get 150-160 ( at least, wouldn't fancy Jimmy or Stuart adding more than 15-20 ) on day 5? No room for error with early wickets. Feels like it's set up for a glorious failure where we fall 40 runs short, and a host of ifs and buts, but then again plenty of ifs and buts for the Aussies too. Good summing up. I think if Woakes and Root could put on a 50 partnership first thing tomorrow then all the pressure will be heaped onto Australia. Could be a huge momentum swing for the series as a whole if we manage to pull a win out of the bag here. Smith will get a lot of criticism for his decision not to enforce the follow on and the Aussie confidence will take a bit of a beating for the first time in the series. As you say though, I also think we'll fall slightly short. The new ball could be pretty key and if we can get through that with recognised batsmen still in then the chase really will be on. It's nice to see some fight from the England batsmen though with only Vince likely to be massively disappointed in the way he's got out. We need to find a way to score off Lyon though as the difference between him and Moeen Ali at the moment could be a large part of what wins this series for Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 (edited) Massive innings for Woakes tomorrow, absolutely massive! The difference between a 10 and a 40 really could decide this one. How great would it be to see a Villa fan lead the charge! I'll be up about 3:30 to see how things are going. Edited December 5, 2017 by AVFCDAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted December 5, 2017 Moderator Share Posted December 5, 2017 2 hours ago, tom_avfc said: Smith will get a lot of criticism for his decision not to enforce the follow on and the Aussie confidence will take a bit of a beating for the first time in the series. I'm , er, in Australia at the mo' and it's noticeable how for the first test and the first half of this one, the Aussie media and commentators have been all like "the poms are garbage, all our players are great, no contest, awesome" but since the failure to put England straight back in and then the skittling , they've totally turned. The coach, the Aussie bowlers, the media - they're slamming Clarke. They're even more binary than us Villa fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_avfc Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 2 minutes ago, blandy said: I'm , er, in Australia at the mo' and it's noticeable how for the first test and the first half of this one, the Aussie media and commentators have been all like "the poms are garbage, all our players are great, no contest, awesome" but since the failure to put England straight back in and then the skittling , they've totally turned. The coach, the Aussie bowlers, the media - they're slamming Clarke. They're even more binary than us Villa fans. The Aussies have always been quick to get on the team's (and the captain's in particular) back when it starts to look a little tougher. It's why a good start in an Ashes series is essential. Smith will be starting to feel the heat a bit at the moment and I think his performance today showed that - a dropped catch, using up the reviews early doors and his general demeanour in the field. Unfortunately I do think we've left ourselves a little too much to do. If we managed to win it, the pressure on Smith would be huge and as their best batsman that's only going to play into England's hands. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 woakes will get 250, chill out man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 8 hours ago, blandy said: The coach, the Aussie bowlers, the media - they're slamming Clarke. They're even more binary than us Villa fans. Poor old Clarke, retired years ago and still getting the blame. Whereabouts in Oz are you @blandy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 I’m almost too nervous to go to sleep tonight because of that feeling I’ll have when my alarm goes off at 6:30am and I’ll see the alerts on my phone. It was good this morning seeing that the Aussie innings was done and we’d made a solid start in response but the stakes are a lot higher tonight. I can already envisage seeing the alerts now - WICKET, WICKET, WICKET, WICKET, WICKET, WICKET, INNINGS, RESULT . Reminds me of Brexit night. Hopefully there’ll be a better result this time. I’m going to predict glorious failure but there’s the chance for several players to make legends of themselves. Whatever happens, they just can’t be throwing their wickets away. Again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted December 6, 2017 Moderator Share Posted December 6, 2017 2 hours ago, MrDuck said: Poor old Clarke, retired years ago and still getting the blame. Whereabouts in Oz are you @blandy? Doh! Smith, Smith, I meant Smith. Freo at the mo’ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 37 minutes ago, blandy said: Doh! Smith, Smith, I meant Smith. Freo at the mo’ Out West for the Perth test? If you get a chance, head into Propeller for a meal (Queen Victoria St, North Freo), some of the best food in WA, run by my brother-in-law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 Oh dear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted December 6, 2017 Moderator Share Posted December 6, 2017 2 hours ago, MrDuck said: Out West for the Perth test? If you get a chance, head into Propeller for a meal (Queen Victoria St, North Freo), some of the best food in WA, run by my brother-in-law Not far away.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 11 minutes ago, snowychap said: Oh dear. Time to go back to bed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted December 6, 2017 Moderator Share Posted December 6, 2017 Just now, snowychap said: Time to go back to bed. Pub, for me. Damnit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 Oh FFS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 (edited) 17 hours ago, snowychap said: Hey, Steve: I guess the joke's on us now. Edited December 6, 2017 by snowychap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 Excellent bowling from the Aussies but England really need to sort out their batting - it's not good at all. Drop Vince and try Bairstow at 3 and maybe give Foakes a debut (batting him at 6). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 Last 7 wickets for 60-odd runs. Piss-poor effort in the end England Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted December 6, 2017 Moderator Share Posted December 6, 2017 To be fair, that was some pretty good bowling, but ashes gone for sure. Oh well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 oh for **** sake. it's the hope that kills you. Another f**king collapse after the good work yesterday - PLAY WELL FOR MORE THAN 4 SESSIONS PLEASE. I knew it would be tough to reach, but to lose so quickly feels desperately disappointing. Yet another unconverted 50 from Root as well, he still has a lot to do if he wants to be considered a great test player. You need to score big Joe. Urgh. Well, at least there's a couple of weeks to forget about cricket now. Please try and start Day 1 in Perth like you did halfway through day 3, thanks. I know the Perth record is even worse than the Gabba, but we can beat them. We just need to connect the good performances together in a row! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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