The Ashes

[Frank Butcher]

Not sure there is. No room for someone of that ilk in English cricket which is now motivated by money and hence dominated by one day formats. Even Australia don’t have those kind of openers.

Maybe the answer is to accept it, start fairly aggressively with more stubborn resistance in the middle order. Use our one day openers and let them play with some freedom like Warner does. The Roy experiment of a few years ago failed because we tried to make him bat like Tavare - was never going to work.

That would mean no Buttler or Bairstow types in the middle order, but maybe Vince and Lawrence types who are more patient. Stokes can then stop pretending he can play the perfect Test innings in every match and do what he does best at the start of the tail.

So something like Roy, Bairstow, Malan, Root, Lawrence, Vince, Stokes …..

Not my preferred way but in the absence of Test level openers this is what I would try.

 

[Argylegames]

All over before lunch?

 

[greeneagle]

Excellent bowling in the morning and afternoon sessions, particularly Anderson and the other quicks. Day completely undone by a ferocious bowling attack in the last hour or so of play. Test cricket at its best.
Still, with Root and Stokes at the crease hopefully a decent target can be set for the Aussies to chase. Pitch is still giving some assistance to the bowlers so it’s not over until the fat lady sings.

 

[Ottawa Green]

And Stokes goes 46/5

Ben Stokes b Starc 11

 

[Ottawa Green]

60/6

Jonny Bairstow lbw b Boland 5

 

[Ottawa Green]

Game set and Match 61/7

Joe Root c Warner b Boland 28

England trail by 21 runs.

 

[Ottawa Green]

65 for 9

Mark Wood c & b Boland 0

Ollie Robinson c Labuschagne b Boland 0

Boland 6 wickets for 5 runs

 

[Ottawa Green]

And that's it

James Anderson b Green 2

England all out for 68

Australia won by an innings and 14 runs

 

[Knibbsworth]

All out for 68, dearly me!

 

[greeneagle]

Wow, just wow. Scotty Boland…….. 4 overs 1 maiden 7runs six wickets !!!!🏏

 

[Dan Ellard]

This is the worst England team I've ever seen. The last 18 months, involving scraped wins over garbage like the West Indies and Sri Lanka, then pummelled by India, beaten at home by New Zealand, and now this. Sure, we used to get battered by the Aussies in the 1990's, but at least we were getting battered by a brilliant team (Mcgrath, Warne, Ponting, S Waugh, Hayden, Gilchrist) - this Aussie team is good, but no comparison to that lot.

Surely Root has to go as captain, but then, who on earth do we replace him with?! Who based on recent performance is guaranteed a place in the side? I can only think of Root and Anderson (no point giving it to him at the age of 39. Malan and Robinson have had ok series, but aren't exactly proven at test level.

 

[Steve Evans]

i agree joe needs to step down as captain so he can concentrate on being the superb player he is,i can't put a name in the frame.silverwood should also resign along with the coaching entourage and can anybody tell me what a performance directors job is?

 

[greeneagle]

An Australia coach, may well have been Troy Cooley, is rumoured to have said English cricket bureaucracy is a major impediment to the development of players. Excessive one day games obviously don’t help, but it’s all about the money I suppose.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

Silverwood definitely has to go, his reign has been a disaster.
Root is a poor tactical captain but who else is there to captain the team, certainly not Stokes.
How about Morgan, although age is not on his side, however he has revolutionised English white ball cricket.

Throughout 2021 players have been rested in preparation for the Ashes and subsequent Tests lost only to get to Australia and meekly surrender.

A shambles.

 

[deathadder]

An English cricketer's wife rang the MCG to talk to her husband. The person who picked up the phone said 'he's just walked out to bat, would you like him to call you back?' 'No, I'll just hang on' she said.