The Aussies always seem to be able to come up with someone, whereas England have to search across South Africa, New Zealand and the Caribbean, to find players. I bet there are great players in Oldham and Barnsley who go under the radar, but the rigid structures of English cricket don’t allow them to come to the fore.
I really hope they sort it out, because I love test cricket, and it needs a healthy rivalry between England and Australia to survive.
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It’s great, isn’t it?
They’ve touted Bashir as their “number one” spinner for a couple of years, with this tour in mind, yet he doesn’t get a chance. Then they play an all-rounder, Jacks, who gets a few runs but doesn’t bowl so well and is ignored in favour of yet another player to actually bowl some spin.
So…yeah…
Three years planning and ‘preparation’ for this?
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Australia’s first class system is better than England’s for a multitude of reasons, and with Rob Key in position County Cricket is essential irrelevant now. He’d rather pick players based on a social media clip or depending on how friendly he is with their fathers.
Australia is a better equipped breeding ground for talent, there will be always be a better pipeline from grade to state to international cricket than what exists over here.
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Stokes off the field injured in just his second over. The wheels will well and truly be coming off soon.
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I can’t watch. It’s too brutal.
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I just re read my post. Maybe in future I check after posting so it is grammatically correct….was fucking around with edit and it went pear shaped…anyway I think you got the gist.
I’m predicting an interesting day 5 and yes it will get there.
Only if Australia decide to bat until tea.
Right then… 120 all out?
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The Australian structure is far superior. Not just the selection but the creation of players right from age 6.
For example, I coach two of my boys in an u10 club side and the quality of cricket is high. We play 20 over per side matches with a 142g kookaburra ball and 7-9 players per side. Players at that age are looking to swing the ball and bowling fairly consistently in the right areas. Batsmen have mostly developed some shots (pull shots mainly) and also many have technically solid defenses. Some of the catching and fielding is also impressive and catches are taken more than dropped.
Well left Zak, absolutely useless.
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Ok, let Bethell get his ton, then I don’t care.
Clutch Carey forcing a review when slug wasn’t even convinced. It was fucking tight to being umps call as well.
Bethell has batted beautifully. Let’s see if he loses his head here and throws his wicket.
EDIT: fucking idiot (Jacks) thinking he’ll get past gullybot.
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My last prediction of the series:
Khawaja to open and hit the winning run.
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Brilliant innings by Bethell, barely looked troubled throughout. Played every ball on its merits and at no stage looked panicked, unlike some of the morons who came in behind him.
Makes you think what could have been if they picked him at the start of the series instead of the hapless Pope.
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And Bethell actually played test cricket shots.
https://www.reuters.com/sports/cricket/vaughan-says-time-england-move-failed-bazball-2026-01-07/
Per Vaughn:
the first innings 160 from Root and Bethell’s second innings ton, both built on a solid, orthodox approach to batting, offered a clear guide to the way forward for the team.
“That’s the tempo of test match batting, you just play the ball on the merit,” he added."
The focus, the former England skipper argued, needed to be on identifying and developing talented players with solid techniques and more conventional approaches to batting.
With Root 35 and Stokes 34, a change of generation is on the horizon and while Harry Brook brings extraordinary attacking flair, Vaughan thinks England need a core of solid batsmen.
“They’re going to need more Joe-style players than Harry Brooks,” he said.
“Harry Brook’s a freak, he plays the game in a way that not many can play. My concern for a while in English cricket is that they’ve been looking for more Harrys and not enough Joes. They’ve got to look for a few more Joes. Proper players.”
That is some good news, although I imagine he still has a long way to go in his recovery, but the worst of it has passed
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The worse thing is that it actually NEEDS to be said at all. That somehow it has been less than obvious to too many for too long.
Apart from the outstanding performances by Starc, Head and Carey (and Smith to an extent), the other Australian players have generally shown application and cricketing nous, applying the basic principles and waiting for England to fall down once again.
Yes, it’s encouraging to see Bethell play such an orthodox sort of innings but it’s too little too late as we’ve seen far too often from England in Australia.
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I heard the commentators talk about how the selectors effectively left Bethell in the wilderness for an entire summer, using him as 12th man, refusing to play him then giving him an ultimatum when he wanted to go back and get domestic runs. That setup is fucking shit.
I do agree with how they used him this series though. This has been the one true batter friendly wicket all summer, so it’s the perfect environment to get him into the team.
I think back to how we introduced Konstas and the baptism of fire with Bumrah and wished we could have held him off a little for a better opportunity.
Congratulations to Australia. Without any doubt the better team won, and by a margin that reflects the way the series went.
They are a superior team and they outplayed England in all aspects of the game. Given their injury woes and the potential of the English team, it could have been closer, but some truly abysmal decision making by players and coaches denied the public a competitive series.
Australia keep on producing excellent players and they are in a good position for the future. England need to learn some harsh lessons and I just don’t think they will.
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