For those without visual coverage, SEN radio are covering the t20 S/F later on (1.00am)

Unbelievable effort in T20 semi final by Jeremy Howe's cousin !!

What a break!!!

Paine gone from captaincy!

Not up to it as a captain, keeper or batsman.

Pick  Pierson, Inglis, Wade or Carey as keeper/batsman..... all  better at both the latter skills.

I suppose Cummins as skipper( but i'd go back to Smith....controversial, I know).

This is a lucky break for  our  Ashes chances. Drop Paine and forget  him,

I came across the name Harry De Mattia a few years ago in the context of a discussion on young football prospects in the southern suburban region. He was described to me as an absolute gun footballer. I’m not sure if he’s made the choice of cricket over football yet but yesterday, at age 16 he made his debut in Premier District Cricket for the Melbourne seconds and scored an unbeaten ton. Say no more.

i reckon Paine's presence in the Test team would be an undesirable  distraction.

(not to mention his proven lack of ability)

Most of us have got an idea about how we'll perform in the Ashes (our strength is our bowling whilst at the same time having a heavy reliance on Smith, Labuschagne & Warner with the bat.  We'll need at least 1 other batsman to really stand up if we're to do well 

As for England's chances ... not playing in Perth is a bonus for them and the pink ball test in Adelaide will suit their seamers

If their top 3 (possibly Burns, Crawley & Malan) can put together 100-120 then that can set things up for their strong middle order (Root, Stokes, Bairstow, Buttler & Woakes) 

I reckon it will be a keenly contested series with Australia having a slight edge at home ... we should retain the Ashes but it won't be easy

Lots of rain predicted for Brisbane and a draw there would suit England and not suit us.  The 2nd test is in Adelaide under lights

On 12/2/2021 at 10:16 PM, Macca said:

Most of us have got an idea about how we'll perform in the Ashes (our strength is our bowling whilst at the same time having a heavy reliance on Smith, Labuschagne & Warner with the bat.  We'll need at least 1 other batsman to really stand up if we're to do well 

As for England's chances ... not playing in Perth is a bonus for them and the pink ball test in Adelaide will suit their seamers

If their top 3 (possibly Burns, Crawley & Malan) can put together 100-120 then that can set things up for their strong middle order (Root, Stokes, Bairstow, Buttler & Woakes) 

I reckon it will be a keenly contested series with Australia having a slight edge at home ... we should retain the Ashes but it won't be easy

Lots of rain predicted for Brisbane and a draw there would suit England and not suit us.  The 2nd test is in Adelaide under lights

Fair comment that. I really question Englands top order and their bowling. However Adelaide may suit them with the ball. I also question our batting. The unit and Labuschagne speak for themselves but Warner ? It is a real shame about Pucovski and there are question marks permanently over Harris.

3 minutes ago, dl4e said:

Fair comment that. I really question Englands top order and their bowling. However Adelaide may suit them with the ball. I also question our batting. The unit and Labuschagne speak for themselves but Warner ? It is a real shame about Pucovski and there are question marks permanently over Harris.

We'll need one of Harris, Head/Khawaha, Green or Carey to have a big series with the bat ... either that or have 2 of the 4 do reasonably well

The other question is when we do we rotate our quicks and if that includes Cummins?  Hoping to see Jhye Richardson debut soon enough

And I reckon England will have already earmarked which matches Anderson & Broad will play in

And as previously stated, England's top order isn't strong but if they get runs in any given test, they'll be right in the contest

 

Well we are well placed after the days play but will have to back it up witht the bat. I found the poms having both Anderson and Broad out a bit strange. I think Warner may be happy about Broad. A great start for captain Cummins.

Close to a 200 hundred lead. Should not lose from here. Warner was fairly lucky today but there will be questions over Harris and Green.  Locally Harris has been inconsistent with the bat and Green right out of form. Hope they keep their spots though.

Great innings from Head.

A convincing win in the end. Hope the team stays the same. Good to see Green get a couple of wickets. Hope Harris will do something with the bat next test.

Since Day 1 of this Ashes series I’ve wanted to show my son Rory Burns’ weird-arzze batting stance with the dominant left eye thing he’s got going on. But the bugger’s never at the crease long enough. 😆

Soooo happy for Michael Neser. He has worked tirelessly for this opportunity so it was wonderful to watch his (BBL-ish) innings last night. And a wicket, to boot. 
💛 💚 

LOL typical Melbourne weather at it again. The match hasn't  even started and there’s a rain delay. 

On 12/2/2021 at 9:16 PM, Macca said:

Most of us have got an idea about how we'll perform in the Ashes (our strength is our bowling whilst at the same time having a heavy reliance on Smith, Labuschagne & Warner with the bat.  We'll need at least 1 other batsman to really stand up if we're to do well 

As for England's chances ... not playing in Perth is a bonus for them and the pink ball test in Adelaide will suit their seamers

If their top 3 (possibly Burns, Crawley & Malan) can put together 100-120 then that can set things up for their strong middle order (Root, Stokes, Bairstow, Buttler & Woakes) 

I reckon it will be a keenly contested series with Australia having a slight edge at home ... we should retain the Ashes but it won't be easy

Lots of rain predicted for Brisbane and a draw there would suit England and not suit us.  The 2nd test is in Adelaide under lights

Huh??

Does anyone know if Scottie Boland  is any relation to our Glen Boland( no. 45 in 1983/4)?

Scott is Glen's nephew.

Turned the cricket off for half an hour and England lose 9 wickets!

Any Australian cricket fan should be pretty happy with that series. We played four Tests from January 2020 to December 2021. England, in that period, played 21. We had our incumbent captain dismissed in the weeks prior to the series, then had one of our best bowlers injured in the first Test, then our current captain Covid-ed out of the second Test, then our series best batsman Covid-ed out of the fourth Test. Despite all that, somehow, we were clearly more prepared and more settled than they were.

Cam Green seems something special, as does Scotty Boland, but our 2022 Test cricket schedule is mainly three tours of the sub-continent, so poor old Boland probably won't be getting much game time as you'd expect a second spinner to be in his spot. Hopefully he's in the touring squads and gets some game time if we're resting/rotating Starc and Hazlewood.

It was great to beat the old enemy yet again, but it really was a case of which bowling line up was better and clearly the English have systemic issues now in producing test class batsmen.  I still can't believe Burns and Pope have played as many tests as they have.  (Pope apparently averages close to 100 in county cricket - which I find staggering)  I think Joe Root is a good bloke, but gee his captaincy left a lot to be desired in terms of tactics, aggression and selection.  Anyhoo I'm not looking a 4-0-1 shellacking in the mouth so to speak. 

It probably won't matter for a little while yet, but can someone please teach the top order how to play short-pitched bowling.  As Blewett said - the issue as demonstrated by Travis Head is you can't be half and half about it.  Either have  a decent crack like Nathan Lyon or leave it alone a la Steve Waugh.   It didn't cost us against the Poms, but expect other teams to follow the lead of Neil Wagner and start peppering balls at the ribs.

On 1/16/2022 at 10:22 PM, Demonstone said:

Scott is Glen's nephew.

Thanks,DS.

How the hell did you know that?

I wonder if Scott goes for the Dees.

Does that make Glen an indigenous Demon?

Shame on you, Cricket Australia! 😠

Watch JL get snapped up by the poms, then watch out! 

On 2/5/2022 at 6:18 PM, WalkingCivilWar said:

Shame on you, Cricket Australia! 😠

Watch JL get snapped up by the poms, then watch out! 

I'm struggling to remember another coach* parting ways after so much immediate success (t20 World Cup & Ashes) And both wins were comprehensive

Too old school and too intense seems to be the issue but we're still in the dark on the reasoning

He'll get another position (if he pursues coaching) but where he might end up is anyone's guess. 

I view Justin as being thoroughly professional and I'm not sure he misses much

It's still a bit of a head scratcher, all the same, WCW

 

*Apart from Norm Smith although he was reinstated a week later (damage was done of course)

 

Edited February 6, 20223 yr by Macca

2 hours ago, Macca said:

I'm struggling to remember another coach parting ways after so much immediate success (t20 World Cup & Ashes) And both wins were comprehensive

Too old school and too intense seems to be the issue but we're still in the dark on the reasoning

He'll get another position (if he pursues coaching) but where he might end up is anyone's guess. 

I view Justin as being thoroughly professional and I'm not sure he misses much

It's still a bit of a head scratcher, all the same, WCW

 

Sure is. I think a clash of personalities may have figured in the outcome. Pat Cummins (for one) was not prepared to publicly back him. 
I can’t help but compare it to how our last coach went out (I was never a fan of Lehmann anyways) and thinking it’s a crying shame. 

13 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Sure is. I think a clash of personalities may have figured in the outcome. Pat Cummins (for one) was not prepared to publicly back him. 
I can’t help but compare it to how our last coach went out (I was never a fan of Lehmann anyways) and thinking it’s a crying shame. 

Traditionally cricket has been a lot different to most sports especially when it comes to who calls the shots on the field ... for a long time the captain had nearly all the say including being a selector on overseas tours. 

For instance, the batting order was part of the captains role but that might have changed

The captain would still be the main man (in my view) so Cummins might prefer to take more of a neutral view on the coach.  And that's fair enough too

To me it's all about respect rather than like or love.  Helps if the coach was a top player too.  Footy coaches are viewed the same way by the public & players as well

Of course Langer was a top player but the talk & innuendo around his coaching style was front & centre and wasn't going anywhere

But our history with coaches and their departure hasn't been first rate ... Lehmann, Arthur, Buchanan, Simpson etc were all questionable departures.  And it can happen to the captains as well ... Lawry, Hughes, Paine etc

Just my opinion from afar though, WCW

We the public don't often get the nitty gritty information

And the interim coach seems to be a bit of a laid-back quietly spoken type (Andrew McDonald)

The decision by CA to only offer a short term extension (6 months) is obviously not just based on winning

 

26 minutes ago, Macca said:

Traditionally cricket has been a lot different to most sports especially when it comes to who calls the shots on the field ... for a long time the captain had nearly all the say including being a selector on overseas tours. 

For instance, the batting order was part of the captains role but that might have changed

The captain would still be the main man (in my view) so Cummins might prefer to take more of a neutral view on the coach.  And that's fair enough too

To me it's all about respect rather than like or love.  Helps if the coach was a top player too.  Footy coaches are viewed the same way by the public & players as well

Of course Langer was a top player but the talk & innuendo around his coaching style was front & centre and wasn't going anywhere

But our history with coaches and their departure hasn't been first rate ... Lehmann, Arthur, Buchanan, Simpson etc were all questionable departures.  And it can happen to the captains as well ... Lawry, Hughes, Paine etc

Just my opinion from afar though, WCW

We the public don't often get the nitty gritty information

And the interim coach seems to be a bit of a laid-back quietly spoken type (Andrew McDonald)

The decision by CA to only offer a short term extension (6 months) is obviously not just based on winning

 

Well explained! Thank you for the different view. I guess I knee-jerked when I heard they’d offered him (an insulting) six months extension. I’m also still smarting over the whole Tim Paine situation. I know he was maligned by many, but I was a huge fan. Considering the circumstances under which he was (without warning) given the captaincy, I think he performed very well in that capacity. I mean, in the blink of an eye the top three (coach, captain and v/captain) effectively fall off the face of the Earth and Tim was thrown in the deep end. Even before the cheating I actually never liked Steve Smith, either. Maybe it’s because I was a big fan of Pup and it makes sense to not warm to his replacement, especially when he’s been replaced by a player I don’t like.  And Warner… I can’t stand him. Never liked him, and especially dislike him more since the embarrassing scandal they put Aus through. 
Whoa, what a rant! I feel much better now having expressed that, though. 😁