England v Australia, 4th Test, Old Trafford, 19-23 July, 2023

Decent first day for us, didn’t allow any of the starts to go on, which is key.

600 up for Broad, could he yet end up with more than the today-wicketless Anderson?

Moeen Ali must the England cricketer held to the lowest standards over the past 5-6 years. Has competition from Crawley, but the latter seems to be improving while Moeen walks in from retirement to play tests when Dawson's playing well and Rehan Ahmed is clearly very talented.

only england bowler not to get a wkt was anderson. last test maybe? wish theyd chosen tongue now. if you insert the opp
youd wanna get them out for 250-300.

tricycle wrote:Moeen Ali must the England cricketer held to the lowest standards over the past 5-6 years. Has competition from Crawley, but the latter seems to be improving while Moeen walks in from retirement to play tests when Dawson's playing well and Rehan Ahmed is clearly very talented.

Would either of them be able to handle batting at 3 though? Even Leach might have ended up with that job had he stayed fit…

The last thing we’d have needed is to throw an inexperienced spinner in Kerrigan-style, and Dawson is a sub-Giles journeyman.

“Sub - Giles journeyman” … Mo isn’t that much better than that, is he? The Oval must be his last hurrah, and he will finish with a batting average of around 28 and a bowling average of around 37.

8 down for 300 might otherwise be about par.

But the crap weather apparently ahead makes at least a draw more likely from that position, and Aus then keep the Ashes, whatever the Oval holds.

And second, given that Aus were inserted (no doubt partly on the basis of the weather forecasts) the score looks a good one.

Cummins and Starc will fancy themselves to add another 30-50, at which point the Ashes are pretty much secure.

From an England perspective, the disappointment of the day is surely not Mo's labours, Jonny's edginess, or even Jimmy's failure to score (remember I said about his record at OT?) - those were all selection questions - but Crazyhorse's 1-60 off 16. Spearhead a bit blunt on the day.

There's still time to put some or all of that right. But a "longer" day than Stokes & Co hoped.

I hope Moeen uses his head batting, and, if he again gets out early, it is at least to a good ball, not an average one badly played. So too JB. And JR. And BD. Hmmm - a theme there.

For Australia, though a relatively successful day, with some of their out-of-form batsmen refinding it, the frustration must be five knocks out of eight dismissed between 32 and 51, and nothing higher, which would have put the series out of sight of the Rosbifs.

Maybe their new Number 9 and 10 bats will be their highest scorers!

Lazy batting.

stacked the batting and it still didn't work

Nath wrote:stacked the batting and it still didn't work

never does

should have played Neser (or a spinner)

lardbucket wrote:FFS another umpire’s call. Joel Wilson you are a piece of shit.

lardbucket wrote:and now Bairstow makes an easy catch look hard … but it sticks

lardbucket wrote:he went the wrong way and was very lucky to get back to the ball

Sums up Aus's day. Lots of starts and potentially large stands but a few things didn't go our way.

On another day two close lbws go our way and Jonny's catch goes down, we'd be maybe 5 for 330 at stumps.

Smudge looked set before getting a quick one from Wood, Head and Bison again looked good and capable of big scores, Marnus and Snot worked hard, and Mariah was lazy. It'd be nice if we can scratch up another 30 or so.

And hearty congrats to Sturat on reaching 600 Test wickets. Simply remarkable effort by he and Jimmeh.

lardbucket wrote:“Sub - Giles journeyman” … Mo isn’t that much better than that, is he? The Oval must be his last hurrah, and he will finish with a batting average of around 28 and a bowling average of around 37.

And 200 Test wickets, which only two other English spinners have ever managed.

He has underachieved with the bat given his talent, but partially down to going up and down the order like the proverbial… and as a bowler he’s a wicket-taker as opposed to a holding spinner. By the way I think the King of Spain in his prime, such as it was, would have been useful in this team, but McCullum would never pick someone whose armoury includes bowling a couple of feet outside leg stump to bore out the opposition’s key batsman!

Mo has pretty much confirmed that this is a one-off comeback, it was needs must after Leach’s injury and Stokes’s limited ability to bowl. Rehan could be the future, but the same was said of Ian Salisbury and Chris Schofield once, would have been a ridiculous gamble to throw him into the heat of the Ashes (though if we lose here, he might get Kerriganed at the Oval…) Given the lack of quality options, though, not playing a spinner at home could be a viable option if Root and others can fill a part-time role.

Only for a couple of singles each to Marnus and Bison (51 each), Aus may have been competing to beat these records:

Highest Test Total without a 50:

1. 315 - England v West Indies, Port of Spain, 1985/86 - HS David Gower 47

2. 304 - England v South Africa, Cape Town, 2004/05 - HS Steve Harmison 42

3. 302 - South Africa v New Zealand, Wellington, 1963/64 - HS Peter van der Merwe 44
.
.
.
7. 279 - Australia v England, Birmingham, 2005 - HS Brett Lee 43* (Aus record in this category)

Capn Pat doesn't quite top-score.

Down to Starckers now. Unless Woakes keeps overstepping.

England will lose points for their lazy over ratee

Starc gets the red ink and the early wicket.

Expect Oz over rates to be poor as well. But they can take as much time as they want given the Poms must win and the weather may do Oz a favour.

But do they desrve to lose Mace points as well, for slow over rates - given that the good guys have no alternative, when the pitch, the crease markings and the weather are so heavily doctored, and the umpires so crookedly pro-England?

This here Bazball thing may be a thing, what?

Not like Aussies to slow things down and waste time.

Missing Lyon here at the mo. Until they score another coupla wickets, at leaat

Brook has turned from the New Dexter into the New Boycott ...

PeterCS wrote:Brook has turned from the New Dexter into the New Boycott ...

Keighley KP to Todmorden Tavare?

beamer wrote:

PeterCS wrote:Brook has turned from the New Dexter into the New Boycott ...

Keighley KP to Todmorden Tavare?

Something like that!

Fair play to him to know how to get his head studiously, almost obsessively over the ball and block the hell out of it.

The home team needed one of those.


In truth, he did look to score singles after I jotted the above. He seemed previously to be on 8 for half an hour or more.


Well, with the best part of 2 days supposedly about to be wiped out, this looks like a draw. Unless England can knock another 100 in an hour and a half in the morning (Friday), and somehow get Aussie on the ropes for the rest of the day - thus leaving only about a second innings total of +/-100 to score over the whole weekend, somewhere between downpours, without getting caught by a roaring Australian bowling team on a sticky dog (do those even still exist??).

None of that "win scenario" for England looks anything better than remote.

Australia are mentally and physically cooked