God help me - the Test Cricket thread

[Mantis]

I don’t care too much about what is considered “out and what isn’t “. Whether the body line style bowling is what makes a fair game or not. Whether too many short balls are out of the spirit of the game. The technicalities of a decision for out are sometimes neither here nor there. This is what creates something the media can run with and discredit a teams real performance. I just hope Cummins as a captain can react better to a swing in momentum. He employed a tactic to Stokes that could have lost us the game. The English players thrived on the rewards for far too long. Only after a lunch break did the team tactics completely change, and as a result we won the game. We changed the bowling line and length. We limited scoring shots. It therefore put pressure on Stokes to make a mistake. This is where the game turned around in our favour. Mind you we missed too many opportunities. The old saying of catches win matches. The Australian squad lost some focus and missed chances to seal this game many runs before they did. They need to get this focus back. Don’t get me wrong. This was a very entertaining match. We however should have whipped the opponent far easier than we did. Some of our batting needs serious addressing. I would guess the English squad will throw every dirty tactic in the next encounter. Win at any cost. They are not that good to be honest. Players over 35 or 40. Batting line up that has talent but not the best in the world. Is the home ground advantage that great?

[DJC]

^
Excellent appraisal Mantis.

Just on the Bairstow dismissal, I remember Dean Jones getting run out in a Test in the West Indies.  He was cleaned bowled and started to walk off before realising that the umpire had called a no-ball.  A Windies fielder picked up the ball and pulled out a stump before Jones could get back to his crease.  At the time I thought it was pretty crook but it was according to the rules and epitomised the ruthless cricket that made the Windies a real cricket power.

Of course, Bairstow’s attempt to stump Lambuschagne completely undermines the Pommy outrage.

[LP]

Of course, Bairstow’s attempt to stump Lambuschagne completely undermines the Pommy outrage.

People have the wrong focus, it's the outrage that is the artificial and offensive, it's called a stumping.

Batsmen can't just wander around the crease willy nilly, but have a look at T20 and ODI, the batsmen claim mankad, not in the spirit of cricket, etc., etc.. when they are taking off for short runs and are 2m or 3mn down the crease by the time the bowler has released the ball.

Hypocrites!

[Lods]

Hypocrites!

And xenophobes...but some of my best ancestors were English.

[LP]

And xenophobes...but some of my best ancestors were English.

[img width=350]https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/000/894/wahmbulance.jpg[/img]

[LP]

Really, the whole controversy has being caused because Bairstow is sh1t at throwing.

If only Bairstow could throw straight, problem solved!

[RiverRat]

^

Of course, Bairstow’s attempt to stump Lambuschagne completely undermines the Pommy outrage.

Not necessarily.  That would depend on whether Marnus was batting out of his crease or batting in his crease, as Bairstow was, before taking a foolish wander down the pitch.  I don't know the answer but I think the two scenarios would be entirely different.

Whatever the situation, Aussie batters should be careful not to carelessly 'handle the ball' or take some other ill-advised action during the rest of the series.

[LP]

Even if batting in the crease, if you lose balance be it against a spinner or a paceman, you can be stumped if your feet have left the ground inside crease. It's not like grounding your bat on a run, which I think is a bogus interpretation anyway, raise your foot and you're dead!

If I recall correctly an Aussie was out stumped a year or two back when they overbalanced after trying to sweep from deep within the crease.

I also recall a batsmen being dismissed because they jumped after crossing the line on the run, which is why the grounding the bat rule was changed to what it is now. Might have been our own Dean Jones.

I doubt you'll hear many complaints from Bairstow, he is wisely staying on mute!

[Micky0]

So say Carey threw to the stumps and it missed and it was a wild throw that took off - would the Poms have taken the opportunity for a run? I absolutely think so.

[rocky]

Interesting on CH7 sport, Travis Head relayed a story that in the 1st test Bairstow did exactly the same thing to him (he missed) and when Head quizzed him at the end of the over along the lines of "would you have run me out"? he responded with "bloody oath I would". Hypocrisy abounds!