God help me - the Test Cricket thread

[Professer E]

They'll just change the rules EB so India will play at home.  "Too much rain in England" or some other BS justification.

[ElwoodBlues1]

They'll just change the rules EB so India will play at home.  "Too much rain in England" or some other BS justification.

Prof, there was the whinge that England has too much rain etc etc but 6 days made a result possible and England has proven
great for results in recent times given the bowler friendly conditions and there have been very few Draws.
I'm sure Kholi and crew will push for batting friendly Dubai as the neutral venue but I thought the Hampshire bowl was a great ground with atmosphere as well  as conditions that make it a great test for players and thats what Test Cricket is about.
I'm not handing India conditions that suit their spinners and negate every other team whose attack is pace based and who dont have the quality or depth India have with spinners.
Only concession I might make is a three test final series but still in England...

[Professer E]

Damn straight brother.

[LP]

Starc the enigma up to his old tricks again, five wickets smash the Windies in the 1st ODI, let's see if that means he goes missing for the next 5 games before we make a call on way or the other!

[ElwoodBlues1]

Been watching the start of the England vs India Test series and I think the upcoming Ashes series will be a bit of let down.
The English wont have Archer(injured elbow and ruled out), probably wont have Stokes due to mental health problems and their
team is going to look very B Grade what ever they send out here and thats if they do come as the players are not happy with our Strict CoVid rules and partners/family probably wont be allowed to join them which in Stokes case wont help his issues.
They have some of their other best quicks in Wood injured and unable to play more than a few tests each series and Woakes also has been unvailable so their attack is going to be the old blokes in Anderson and Broad again with a few newbie kids like Robinson....both still bowling well but conditions in Aus wont be suiting Anderson in particular.
The English batting too is very Joe average with Joe Root the only decent batsman they have and I cant see them being competitive...

[capcom]

Bread and circuses EB.

[ElwoodBlues1]

The Taliban have said all is good for Agfhan cricketers to continue playing test cricket and they want a good relationship with Australia on that front so Afghan and Aussie cricketers can play in both countries.
The World is a funny place, sport seems to transcend global pandemics, wars etc..

[bricky]

Circuses, not so sure about the bread

[capcom]

So Slater gets sacked from C7 ... deservedly

[ElwoodBlues1]

Ashes series looks set to go with England picking their team and the schedule in place.
England have gone with the tried and failed in the main, No Stokes and No Archer so their big guns wont be playing and that doesnt leave them with much match winning material other than oldies like Anderson and Broad plus Root with the bat.
No Mooen Ali who has decided to retire from Test Cricket...a decision made earlier than expected IMO due to his lack of form in Australian conditions and they have gone with Leach and Dom Bess who is a offie who can bat a little bit.
Watched the Eng vs India series and wasnt impressed with the POMS at all other than Root and new kid Robinson who is a tall swing/seam bowler. Woakes was injured for most of the series but came back at the end and did ok and is a decent cricketer but apart from Wood who cant stay on the park they have no pace bowlers over 140kmh.
Their batting is a shambles, Burns is a battler who averages 32, Hameed a spud who wont like the pace and bounce in Aus.
Their class players are Root and Malan.......the latter fell out of favour at test level but has dominated in the short formats and has been brought in because there was no one else in county cricket capable.
We have seen him before and he made runs in Aus and impressed, he is that lazy left hander who will play away from his body and give the slips a chance but he also can play some cracking shots and he has that bit of class and time that good players have.
Root was sensational vs the Indians and dominated the series but after that its slim picking with the overhyped Butler, Bairstow who should have retired and wonder kid Ollie Pope who looks good but cant make big scores.
3-0 Australia providing we have all our best quicks fit and dont provide wickets with too much grass that England can exploit.
We want fast, dry, bouncy wickets that suit our tall quicks and Lyon who get some bounce.....
Need to find an opening partner for Warner who should be primed to make runs after his disaster tour of England where Broad had him on toast all series but out here with no movement I expect Warner to dominate along with Smith.