Ashes 2019

[JonHenry]

Time Paine has always been a stop gap Captain until someone else comes out of the woodwork. Unfortunately, nobody really has as yet. Being Captain has hurt his game, both batting and fielding. His replacement as a keeper is probably not far away. But who will Captain after him is an issue with no obvious answer as yet.

As for your specific question, bowling first on this pitch was an extremely poor idea and it probably cost us the match. Instead of being able to bat our way to a decent total and control the game, we were reacting all of the time, not setting the agenda.

I think Paine will learn from his mistakes, but I am not sure he will be there long enough for that to be important.

He didn't learn from his mistakes with the DRS!!!

Really, apart from Smith, and to a lesser affect Wade, the batting this tour has been very ordinary. Labuschagne
Had Smith not been so dynamic, we would have lost, no two ways about it. The bowlers dominated the series on pitches that were bowler friendly.
I think you will notice that the batsmen will improve when we play at home. Warner, when the ball doesn't move around quite so much, will be a much stronger option.
The reality of the situation is simple: we have one top batsman in any conditions (Smith). The rest make up the numbers. We will see just which ones come to the party when the season starts in Australia.
This was not a decision that I can explain. Sidds has been a warrior for a long time, but his present pace is questionable when there were guys like Starc available. I would like to have seen Starc play to get him back into decent form the the Summer.
My only suggestion is that this test, a dead rubber, was given to Sidds as a reward and a final game.

To be fair, I think the entire team was off the boil in this game. Having won the previous game and retained the Ashes, the overriding will to win just wasn't there.
I just can't cop that. You think they didn't have the will to win the ashes? It's like their GF!!!