brilliant win by England against Pakistan. superb attacking batting then great bowling and an inspired declaration …McCullum and Stokes have found a formula to get people interested again … long may it continue … who would believe that Jimmy is 40
now thatis what i call a test match
This England team is in the middle of changing Test Cricket forever…..
Aren’t they feckin` good?
Ben Stokes? Inspirational, brave and a rather good cricketer.
I wasn’t sure about the whole “Bazball revolution” thing at first, but am now utterly convinced and converted.
Someone asked me earlier whether the media would have slaughtered Stokes if England had lost, but I don’t think so. I think this team are changing the mindset and people will now accept that it is ok to lose a match in trying to win it.
This was a brilliant performance, the result forced by the sheer will of England’s bowlers and the character of Stokes’s captaincy. I still think some edges need to be knocked off the whole project- it isn’t, for instance, compulsory that Stokes hits one of his first five balls into the nearest river, and I’m not sure about the reversion to bodyline-type tactics at the drop of a hat – but this test team is creating a brand of cricket that is fabulous to watch. Next Summer’s Ashes should be a blast.
I’m interested to hear the thoughts of our antipodean posse. Junior?
Australia currently has the richest vein of fast bowlers we’ve ever had. You could roll out any one of our top seven or so picks and you wouldn’t know the difference in terms of quality. In this respect we are bulletproof.
However Nathan Lyon is still our only option as a spinner any injury to him would cause chaos.
The batting is thin with no clear replacements in the offing. The main bright spot is Steve Smith has adjusted his technique and has gone from “Statistically one of the all-time greats.” To “One of the all-time greats.”
We are playing the Windies currently and they do not lack for fast bowlers themselves but when Steve is batting they seem to be bowling in slow motion to him as he has so much time to place the ball wherever he wants.
He and Marnus alone could win the Ashes for us. I have no real faith in the rest of them though.
England’s hopes rest on getting those two out cheaply often enough to win the series as our bowling is, as previously stated, red hot.
I watched almost every ball of the Windies test. Smith and Marnus obviously anchor everything, but I think you’re having a disaster if every single one of Head, Khawaja and Warner flunk it. Throw in Green, and maybe Carey, and on a good day you’re deep into the order.
This seems odd, given what they just did, but the bowling seems a little…I dunno – keep putting it *there* and something will happen. Green needs to be used more. He was the one bowler who looked like he actually scared the shit out of the Windies by offering something unexpected. The others are obviously very very good bowlers, but in their way a little predictable. Cam Green’s yer man, I reckon. For such a nice fella, he’s got a mean streak.
Cummins is in the league of McGrath and Lillee. Your point is really about Hazlewood I think ( good ave though). Starc’s job is to take 1-2 early wickets and help with the tail.
The Australian team certainly has bowling depth. My only slight caveat is that despite this depth on two occasions last year they could not bowl India out to win – so no comparison really with the Mark Taylor/Steve Waugh attack because while Hazlewood is very very good he is not Glenn McGrath. Cummins is the best bowler by quite a way. I’ll be interested to see how Michael Neser goes if he ever gets a real shot; he’s a terrific cricketer all round and I’d be happy to see him edge Josh out which I think is on the cards. Be interesting to see if Scott Boland gets a crack – likely to after last year. The bolter is Lance Morris who is very quick and Australian teams often like to have a real quick; the obsession with Brett Lee twenty years ago still rankles with me.
As for the batting, Travis Head has locked up 5 and we are waiting for Cam Green to come of age this year with the bat and for Alex Carey also fulfill his great ability. That is likely to happen. The biggest issue for the batting is David Warner who is not likely to succeed against England in England. His failures in 2019 undoubtedly have dimmed his reputation; nearly every great player fades and has a struggle from which they return but after that struggle they are scarred a little and Warner’s failure was precipitous. As I say, it happens to everyone; England were stunned in 2010-11 to suddenly find Ponting vulnerable and Clarke couldn’t get meaningful runs in 2015. I think its fair to say that Australia would certainly have won in 2019 if Warner had made any positive contribution and his failures placed so much pressure on the others that it kept England quite buoyed. But Labuschagne , Smith and Khawaja ( in career best form and looking like a great) have plenty of runs in them. Australia could use another spinner for sure but Lyon has plenty left in the tank too it seems.
I was watching this amazing test match streamed live on YouTube on the Pakistan Cricket Official channel. It’s the standard official TV coverage, with David Gower, Nasser Hussain, Sarfraz Nawaz, etc.
I suspect that this will not be available for streaming in the UK, but for any Afterword cricket fans who live outside the UK, the service is absolutely brilliant.
https://www.youtube.com/@PakistanCricketOfficial
I’m in the UK and managed to get the highlights using that link @duco01, wished I’ve have known earlier not that I blame you. Thanks for making me aware.
I’m glad to hear that you managed to see the highlights via the Pakistan Cricket link, Baron.
When the second test in Multan starts on Friday, it’ll be interesting to see whether the live streaming is available in the UK as well.
Glorious win. It made me think back to those days not so long ago when I would be shouting at the radio when England were batting: “Declare. Declare”. And still they would bat on and on. Had Atherton, Stewart or even Root been captain in this game it would have ended in a draw. As Stokes commented in his post-match interview: “What is sport for if it’s not exciting?”
There were at least three cricketing records broken during that match: the highest score in a single day by one team in a Test; the highest number of total runs scored in a match since Tests became five-day affairs; and the fastest scoring rate of any team batting twice in Test history. And the England cricketers were all sick the day before the game started – with their top wicket keeper unavailable. There were seven tons hit. What a game.
A far cry from Lords last year when England decided not to chase 273 in 75 overs v. New Zealand.
Bizarre at the time, in this light it appears even more so.