Macca

I wasn't sure that it was out as I thought it might have been sliding down leg. Might have just clipped the front pad too which could have straightened the ball up. Not sure that ball tracking picked that up or whether ball tracking is accurate anyway. Pretty images but I'm not sold. Anyway, you take the good with the bad and we threw the game away beforehand with poor bowling, average fielding and questionable captaincy. The last umpiring decision was less than 5% of it but will become the focus. To me it is negligible and it all evens itself out anyway Wadda. Given how the rulings are dealt with you have to expect a couple of poor umpiring adjudications anyway. Umpires are going to make errors. We can replace umpires but the next person in line will be no better. It will be more of the same. I see what everyone else sees. But as previously stated, the howlers still exist because we've now turned it into a game of reviews. There should at least be an over ruling party that can review decisions. So if a batsman is out (or not out) we should be able to arrive at the correct decision The whole thing really is quite amateurish. We don't actually need umpires in cricket anymore so the quicker we move to the technological age the better. Or go back to just umpires making the decisions. At the moment we're stuck in the middle and the controversy rages on. But most people just hate umpires if we're being honest so the above won't make any sense to them. Besides which, the decisions often are in your favour which most fail to acknowledge. They just see red and that's it.

To me it's like the Demons losing a GF by a point to Collingwood after leading by 6 goals at 3/4 time. But I'm a test cricket tragic ... only the retention of the Ashes will ease the pain. And I'm not confident now. Stokes, Root, Archer, Broad and Anderson (if available) need to be curtailed. And their team will be brim full of confidence now. On the other hand we will be licking our wounds. The 10 day break before the 4th Test might help though. And I reckon Starc needs to play if only for variation. There was a sameness to our pace attack in this last test.

He'll stay on ... not many other choices anyway. His bowlers bowled the wrong lines and lengths whilst the fielding was below par too. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. And we'll either bounce back well or maybe not England on the other hand will come at us looking for the kill. The momentum is with them on their home soil. I'm not confident at Old Trafford but we might do well at the Oval. It's my belief that whoever wins the next test wins the Ashes. Us by default and if they go 2-1 up the track at the Oval might end producing a draw ?

As for the last LBW umpiring decision. Murphy's Law. Because of the review system and the same presence of howlers because of the review system, human error is a factor. And the only way to get rid of the howler is to fix the system. Blaming and/or sacking an umpire only presents an opportunity for the next umpire to make the same type of error You want error free umpiring in cricket, you won't get it. Unless the system is fixed. Anyway, we lost the game because of numerous errors of judgement that fell on our own shoulders.

Stokes kicked our butts. There was no luck involved as he played a controlled, brilliant innings. And we had no answers. Credit to him. Kudos. All things considered, his innings was one of the best I've seen. As for the Australians, we had our chances and we blew it. Bowled and fielded poorly. The LBW review by Paine & Cummins will haunt the team. An insane decision. You might think of doing it if you had another review up your sleeve. Amateur hour. The Lyon fumble ... these things happen but we lost the match in other areas. None of it umpire related. We choked.

I thought Leach batted quite well. At least he didn't panic like our sorry lot In fact, Leach looked quite calm whilst Paine looked clueless, our bowlers were delivering pies and our fielding and field placements went to the pack. Bowling half volleys to Stokes is never going to work. His tempo batting destroyed our bowlers. The post mortems won't be kind. I won't be calming down in a hurry either. 1981 is still a bitter memory. If we can somehow retain the Ashes I'll have to eat my words but I reckon we're gone

I reckon we're gone. I was thinking they were going to win the last 2 tests anyway We needed to win this one and we choked and we blew it.

We are cooked Wadda That was a choke of monumental proportions and we won't recover. Hope I'm wrong but the Poms will take advantage now. 3-1 to them.

The umpiring has nothing to do with it. Nothing We blew it and there are no excuses

I do Paine panicked

It's bad enough watching our football team continually choke in front of goal and now the cricket team follow suit. Lose from an unloseable position. We won't recover from this ... Archer will tear us a new one. 3-1 to the Poms. 70+ for the last wicket. We bowled poorly and we bowled pies.

We are gone A long road back from this loss.

That was the greatest choke ever. How do you lose from that position? Why review an LBW when the ball is a foot outside off? Cummins & Paine panicked. And Lyon? Massive Epic fail Credit to England and Stokes was sensational. But we gave it to them. Stokes bullied us and we had no answers. Paine's field placings were all over the place.

So often 1 wicket brings another wicket ... and the bookies know all that of course. Lyon will probably stay on at one end you'd reckon. Run out!

I don't want the series to stay alive so my care factor for us winning this match is through the roof! To be honest If we don't win this test match I will be filthy. The cat, walls & tv aren't safe!

If we win, the last 2 Tests become dead rubbers but if they win, it's game on. But you'd imagine that we'd be shattered if we do lose after bowling them out for 67 in their first innings. I couldn't see us losing after that happened but here we are with England now favoured to win the match. It will be advantage England if they win especially with Archer at their disposal. What a great sport though Wadda? The drama that test cricket provides is 2nd to none. The ebb and flow of the 5 day game is amazing.

Fair enough too. They have fought gallantly. Still reckon that if the Aussies get a wicket soon then the pendulum can swing the other way. Butler & Woakes can bat but Broad, Archer & Leach aren't great. Their strength before the series started was identified as their late middle order but that included Moeen Ali (replaced by Leach who bats at no.11) I still favour the Aussies to win but only just.

Did the Poms replace the wicket at lunchtime yesterday? One of those drop-in types (road) that the Aussie curators specialise in? These 2 (Stokes & Bairstow) look super comfortable. Advantage England.

Their best chance is to counter-attack with these 2 at the crease. And of course if we bowl well to counter, the wickets should come. Or at least 1 wicket and that's all we need - 1 wicket to keep changing the balance.

That was the wicket ... not sure why Root played across the line to Lyon though. Loss of concentration?

As for the technical aspect ... the wicket did lose it's venom after lunch yesterday as I forecast it might do. I was just throwing it out there though. Didn't think I'd get it right! But just prior to lunch Archer was getting variable bounce and a few flew off the pitch in startling fashion. But he is a special talent. The new ball will tell the tale. Or if we pick up a wicket just prior to taking the new ball.

Most people I know are expecting an Aussie victory tonight. But there again, not many of them are Demon fans. Nearly all are former cricketers though with a rich knowledge of the game. I never really expect the footy team to win or to win anything. So there is no carry over to any other sport and I don't let the MFC affect my life (at all) Supporter syndrome is confined to the MFC only with me. But I see it all like a realist would anyway so it's not really MFCSS anyway. The data means more to me. But because of the Test side's incredible success rate over the same time period (50+ years) I often expect the cricket side to win. And we've won 5 world cups in the 50 over version as well as being such a dominent team in Test cricket. We're not a great team right now but if we unearth 2 or 3 A grade batsmen in the near future, we soon will be. England aren't a great team either. If the Poms win tonight I will give them great credit rather than pay out on the Aussies. There are always doubts but I like playing the percentages. With the footy team, the percentages tell us that you can't win with a team that lacks real talent. It's always about talent ... the coaching is often overrated. So Justin Langer as a coach is only as good as the players he works with. Same deal for footy.

I'm sticking to my call of 270 max. They have to survive the 2nd new ball and if they can do that they then have to handle Lyon throughout. At some stage they have to try and score runs too. Even just losing 1 wicket exposes a new batsman up against a bowling unit which knows how to take advantage. Totals such as the one they're chasing are rarely reached. But usually the side batting last would be dealing with a well-worn 5th day wicket. If they achieve the total it will be one of the greatest comebacks in Test cricket history (after being dismissed for 67 in their first innings) And kudos to them if they do so.

That is a stunning development. I'd half expect him to be back in 12 months if he can get his body & mind right. He's only 30 and 12 months off will allow enough time for his injuries to heal which in turn should help with to get his mind clear. The other thing about Luck is that he lives eats and breathes all things NFL. I wish him all the best and hope he returns

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