Macca

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Or the plan was to end up at Pats from the get-go. Player acquisitions happen by hook or by crook. And the Pats often end up getting what they want (or need) You've got to play the long game in a league where parity exists. Nothing surprises me these days Dappa.

Best Bet Strike Rate 16: 3 - 3 - 3 Australian Group Racing Calendar Out of the wash-up from yesterday there were some impressive Stakes winners in 'Dreamforce', 'The Inevitable', & 'Ehhilarates' whilst 'Libertini' found a way to win. All are black-bookers in my opinion. And here are the replays of the other 4 feature races from yesterday. 'Avilius' lacked that finishing burst, 'Nature Strip' over raced, Eduardo had every chance, 'Homesman' very impressive & 'Surprise Baby' raced well first up. They all get another chance.

Maybe I'm just listening at a time when that biased commentary isn't happening. There's probably a few moments but I find the commentary to be fine. And if we're struggling at times we deserve to be called out on that. Our batting for instance has been generally poor apart from Smith & Labuschagne so critical analysis should therefore be forthcoming. From any source. But there again, I'm not so biased where I can't see the realities of where our team sits. As an example ... we may well retain the Ashes but our team is not a great team. And neither are England. The top order with both teams is the worst I've seen (as a collective of both) Root should be batting at no.4 too. He's better suited there but at no.3 he's a lot more vulnerable. Helps us of course. It's been a great contest though ... a bit like 2 average but evenly matched boxers going at each other. With Smith being the major difference. The difference-maker.

Yeah same here Wadda but I vaguely remember listening to the cricket from England in 1968 though. Definitely 1972 like your good self. The Bob Massie 16 wickets was great to listen too as a lad. Those were the days! I'm a real audio person - I can easily paint the picture no matter what the sport. And with tunein radio now available, all sports are available to listen to. Bliss. The BBC are great. Their cricket coverage is superb. They give credit where credit is due and aren't bad losers (although I love listening to Boycott & Vaughan get stuck into England when they stumble)

Not quite Nostrodamus but damn close (383 & 7 overs) Might start up a horoscopes thread. Bit of money to be made apparently. Just tell people what they want to hear. "You'll be coming into a bit of money soon" "How soon?" "Soon"

Or 0 for 2 as the Poms call it. Only rain can save England now (you'd think) Went audio only late and next minute I was woken up by the Joe Root dismissal. Great delivery apparently by Cummins. Smith supreme (again) Only a low chance (10%) of precipitation tonight so the Ashes are there for the taking. But that's what I said going into the final day in the last Test! I also predicted that they'd win the series 3-1 after we blew that test so who am I to judge Wadda! Anyway, I occasionally get 'all' emotional! Gotta own ya own words. Go Aussie! Edit: Will we see a final twist tonight? They can't win but they could save the test with one of their batsman having a 'Faf du Plessis' type innings.

Good point DJ And during that era we had any number of top players who couldn't get into the team (mainly on the batting side of things but a player like Stuart MacGill might have got 500 test wickets if Warne wasn't in front of him) And to win 16 tests in a row (twice) was just incredible. We were blessed with talent for a prolonged period of time.

Well I thought 359 was enough of a lead in the last test but it wasn't. It's very difficult to do any projections in this series. Expect the unexpected is what we can expect. Along the lines of that known unknowns business Wadda.

The mid 70's were outstanding as well. Others can go back further to the Benaud days. Greg Chappell was still the best batsman to watch in my book and played against much better bowling attacks. Smith is incredibly effective but so were Border & Steve Waugh. Ponting was brilliant It's unfair to split the 5 though. They were all great. And then there's Bradman. And Harvey. Victor Trumper? Ponsford?

Interesting comparison ... Mark Taylor scored 839 runs in the 1989 Ashes series in England. 6 Tests it must be said. And Taylor was only in his 2nd year of playing Test cricket.

We need to counter attack here ... how you do that is anyone's guess. But it's no good poking about against this quality bowling.

Barring rain we're going to see a result you'd imagine. Still the equivalent of 5 sessions left with the time made up for the rain delays.

Jeepers that was quick. Don't poke the bear hey? Apart from all that, Head isn't exactly the world's best batsman. Deserved a send-off.

Archer seems a bit sharper tonight. We'll need to keep him out but Broad is bowling really well too.

The series has been quite incredible DJ ... packed full of drama. Just enough in the tracks to help the bowling but the good batsmen can still score centuries anyway. Test cricket is at its best when the bowling is slightly favoured. A century therefore scored by any individual is hard earned and often memorable. I cannot get enough of it.

I'm worried Wadda Most concerned! It's like watching our forward line in action. Except if Smith was in our forward line he'd dominate!

3 - 24! We couldn't, could we? Never fear, Smith is here!

Not far off opening the batting going in after 6.2 overs. Smith is no commodity and he is certainly not expendable!! Once again our 2 best batsmen are at the crease. Quite a meteoric rise for Kid Charlemagne but he's a real fighter.

Well, my focus is primarily for the team to win. Individuals come and go and to be perfectly honest, I often see them as expendable and as commodities. So it's next up and get the runs up so we can declare. Harris, Head & Wade aren't contributing either so it's nothing personal. This is like watching Melbourne play in a GF for me. Nothing short of a win counts.

None of it matters if we win the Ashes Warner will either get another chance or he won't. What is most important is to win this match. Right now, I couldn't care less about Warner's future. There's plenty who can replace him anyway. It's not like footy where the replacements are often as useless as the players making way. 6 batting spots only with numerous candidates vying for 1 spot.

Another zero for Warner. He's at the crossroads now. Confidence is shot. Still, it's all about the team so we need to get about 200 odd in this innings as soon as we can.

... and they get 301. Here's the next possible chapter ... we set them 385 and we bowl 8 overs at them tonight. Edit: Forgot to factor in the time being made up for the rain delays. Regardless, we'll be wanting to score at 4 an over once our batting gets going. And we'll want to have a dash at their batting tonight as well. 1 or 2 wickets being the aim.

Should we open the batting with Smith in our 2nd innings? ha ha! He's seeing it like a beachball anyway and we want another century from Smith just because we want another century yeah? As long as the rain stays away we should be able to force a victory Wadda.

I won early and late ... various types of wins too. Got a double at Morphettville thanks to JJ. I had Dreamforce & Faatinah in exactas and Gator got me a couple of winners as well. Looking forward to watching all the replays and the review shows tomorrow morning ... the Sky app & Racing.com apps both allow one to watch their racing shows either live or on replay.