Blade Down Under

This fourth test is starting well for the Aussies

Ashes coming home

Charismatic

BBC give a run-down of last nights "events".

Video linky.

Blade Down Under

It's home, beaten them by an innings.

Well done England. What a difference this summer has been for English cricket. Hope we can beat them in the odi series now.

At least the positive for the Aussies is that they won the rugby championship . Congratulations on that note

Charismatic

Tom H

Yeah but that was expected Blade. After all Wayne Barnes refereed that game. We'll still be hearing about his performance and this loss in 2048


But back onto the cricket - it's great to have the ashes home. I don't think any Englander expected this. Even Cook didn't think we'd win. A great achievement


By the way, Gillingham

chocolate cake

Well a cracking and unexpected series win after the hopeless 5-0 defeat just over a year ago, and the none too promising tour to the West Indies.

Even at 1-1 after Lords, it was difficult to foresee the Ashes regained after barely another 5 days play! The bowling in the last two tests has been great, the spell of Broad at Trent Bridge simply amazing.
Still plenty to sort out of with the batting, Root being a different class, Bell's had two good innings out of 7, Cooks been below average after recovering form but contributed, and Moeen's done well at 8.
Lyth as plenty to prove but deserves another chance has there's no obvious other candidates an did get a ton against NZ. Hopefully Bairstow can back up his decent knock at TB in the last test, as he got brute from Johhson at Edgbaston.

The Aussies form bodes well for NZ this coming summer.

On a different note, the footy season under way at the weekend, though sadly my team started with a defeat, but managed to win a League Cup tie overnight on pen shootout, scoring 8 penalties on the night.

Tom H

A fitting end to what has been an excellent ashes series.

The result is right, three tests England were magnificent. Bowled exceptionally, fielded well and got the runs. Stuart Broad and Joe Root were probably our star performers, with excellent captaincy from Cook.

I thought Australia in the second test had the pitch suited for them (cheers Andrew Strauss). The last test at the oval, their bowlers turned up. I think the ashes is going to be to-ing and fro-ing from nation to nation as both sides attack are far better on their home soil and ball usage. Starc is a much better bowler with the Kookaburra ball. Johnson has had another inconsistent England tour - not that i'm complaining.

I thought the send off the English gave Michael Clarke was exceptional. Brad Haddin - take note! Given Clarke wanted our players to have 'broken arms', it was pleasing to see England rise from the silly behaviour of the Aussies in the last ashes. A credit to cricket that was, and a perfect send off for a player that is one of few Aussies to lose more ashes matches than win. Not often do you hear that.

On to the one day series and hopefully we can continue the standard of form we showed to beat New Zealand in both the 20/20 and the 50 over series. It'll be interesting to see how we do against the Aussie attack with our new method of smack the bowlers out of the ground. It'll be nice to have a victory over them to end up with a 5-1-0 record this summer. To not lose a series against either country would be a huge success given the dreadful world cup we had down under. Gives a bit of confidence for the next few years in English cricket.

chocolate cake

To be honest, would definitely have taken any win at the start of the series, but another dreadful performance at the Oval takes the gloss off it for sure. There's been some dreadful cricket overall, not one of the matches went beyond 4 days.

With the exception of Broad's magnificent spell at Trent Bridge and the Aussies skittled out there for 60, not too many other memories other than Root's batting. It seems that whenever he doesn't score, we lose (but for Haddin's drop at Cardiff, he wouldn't have score there)

A win at Oval would have seen us go above the Aussies to no.2 in the test rankings, but that would certainly be false high with unrealistic expectations for the winter series.

Besides Root, other than Cook no other batsman as nailed down a place. Bell's career looks over, Bairstow's probably worth persevering with, but the failures are beginning to tot up. Moeen was third in the English averages despite batting at no. 9 in the last innings! he needs to be moved into the top 6 to see if he's worth a place there, as he's not worth a place on bowling alone. We'll finally see Adil Rashid get a chance in UAE having been carrying drinks all year.

The seam bowling looks more solid, and should do OK in South Africa, probably Anderson's last hurrah. Finn looks to have stepped up, and Broad's had a good series, and his batting looks to be back in the right direction at least, after being a walking wicket for the last 18 months up until this summer. Not sure about Wood, he's not taken many wickets but seems a handy lower order bat, he would though be the one I'd drop in UAE for Rashid.
Stokes seems inked at 6, though not reliable with either bat or ball, but when he does turn up with either it usually goes well on the way to ensuring a win (Lords against NZ, and Edgbaston with ball against the Aussies)

Wicket keeping, Butler's keeping's improved, but he's been horrific with the bat. Keepers need to be averaging mid 30's to mid 40's with the bat, instead he's just above Anderson and Lyth who's chance at the top of the order looks to have gone (madness not to have tried him in the West Indies).

Overall England definitely deserved to win, but at times it seemed to be may the less worse win. Certainly once a team was on top, the other team never had a look in. Here's the averages for it's worth, batsmen Aussies 3 out of top 4, and bowling 4 out of the top 5 wicket takers, overall more runs and more wickets - yep strange series.
Cricket Records | Records | The Ashes, 2015 - England | Batting and bowling averages | ESPN Cricinfo
Cricket Records | Records | The Ashes, 2015 - Australia | Batting and bowling averages | ESPN Cricinfo

The ODIs could go either way, it's good to see Root being rested, as he'll be needed over the winter tests.

However back on topic, I suppose any kind of win after the truly annihilation in Australia last year, and awful World Cup and WI series, not to be sniffed at.

Charismatic

Kiwis still struggling with the stick bit.

Australia playing Ireland tonight I think. Come on Ireland!

Charismatic

Stokes dismissal was a bit harsh in my opinion.

Gordon Barlow

If you watch it in slow motion, though, it was clearly out. He certainly wasn't defending himself.

lardyl

But was he looking at the ball? Sticking your hand or arm out is often an unconscious reaction when balls are flying towards you. What is the spirit of the law?

I'd say it was debateable at the very least and not "clearly" out. But then my umpiring has always been pretty debateable. Official can only call what they see, either on the field or nowadays on their screens.

Calling it "blatantly out" as Smith did is a bit rich coming from the great cricketing nation that pioneered the under-arm approach and are masters of the art of winning whatever it takes.

Charismatic

...and back to Cricket .

So Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia are booked this summer. Dates/times/places: Schedules. Definitely going to see a few of those.

chocolate cake

Yeah, plenty to look forward to, especially the double series against the Aussies.

Strange to be playing Sri Lanka again, they toured here last summer.

Yet I think the Aussies have only toured NZ once in the last 10 years, being two tests in 2010. Two pretty easy wins for the Aussies then, I think it will be much closer this time. NZ have a good chance to win, especially if Boult and Southee are on song.

Charismatic

Jayawardene and Sangakkara will be sadly missed but you should never discount Sri Lanka. They'll beat you with a polite smile on their faces.

Australia probably want to get the measure of their team in part, Smith and Warner are still in there but a lot has changed. Either that or we booked them before the Ashes but would now feel very guilty about uninviting them from visiting .