| Cheers to Lucan 13:32 - Jun 21 with 1075 views | bluelagos |
Used his ticket for the cricket yesterday. Long old day, left at 7 and not home til gone 11pm and that was with some cheeky queue jump jumping on the bike, traffic was mental after the match, especially as 99% of fans had stayed to the end.
Cricket wise, roller coaster day, genuinely thought we'd win when the 8th wicket went but we never seemed to turn the screw as I hoped.
Fair dos to the Aussies, especially Cummins.
Last day prices much more realistic than day 1 (£25 Vs £100+) crowd was defo up for it, the bars so well staffed and many making full use of their offerings.
My cricket knowledge is patchy at best,.but did seem the Aussies were there for the taking. But we seem to be making a few questionable calls. Stokes can barely bowl. A wicket keeper whose keeping costs us missed chances, a spinner with an injured finger and questionable decisions from a captain.
You could probably get away with a couple of those but collectively they take their toll, suppose there are areas to improve so all not lost. But we need to improve quickly or we'll soon be chasing a losing series.
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| Cheers to Lucan on 13:57 - Jun 21 with 978 views | ITFC_Forever |
As we know, sport can be won or lost on fine margins, and in the First Test we were on the wrong end of too many of them.
For all the Aussie hype about their bowling attack, it wasn't really an issue, albeit they did have a handy knack of taking a wicket or two at just the right moment to stop us getting away from them.
The more concerning issue was our bowling and fielding. Ali isn't match fit (and that finger problem isn't going to go away), Stokes isn't match fit enough to bowl and Anderson had a quiet game.
Add to that Bairstow missed chances behind the stumps, we then ended up on the wrong end of a result, no matter how exciting a game it was.
And well done Lucan for sharing the tickets on here. |  |
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| Cheers to Lucan on 14:17 - Jun 21 with 903 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
| Cheers to Lucan on 13:57 - Jun 21 by ITFC_Forever |
As we know, sport can be won or lost on fine margins, and in the First Test we were on the wrong end of too many of them.
For all the Aussie hype about their bowling attack, it wasn't really an issue, albeit they did have a handy knack of taking a wicket or two at just the right moment to stop us getting away from them.
The more concerning issue was our bowling and fielding. Ali isn't match fit (and that finger problem isn't going to go away), Stokes isn't match fit enough to bowl and Anderson had a quiet game.
Add to that Bairstow missed chances behind the stumps, we then ended up on the wrong end of a result, no matter how exciting a game it was.
And well done Lucan for sharing the tickets on here. |
Anderson didn't just have a quiet game, he didn't bowl when Australia were 8 down and the new ball was available.
I wouldn't be surprised if he announces his retirement. Something wasn't right.
Robinson wasn't 100%- his pace was down.
Broad was absolutely running on fumes by the end.
Stokes is an injury breakdown waiting to happen.
We lost because we didn't have a fourth seamer. Either Woakes (local knowledge) or Wood (genuine pace) would have helped.
We didn't lose because of the 1st Innings declaration: the time left at the end with England still needing 2 Aussie wickets to win shows that that was a solid decision, although had we not declared we probably would have got a draw.
England often lose the fFist Test of a series. We have recovered before and can do again. But will Stokes be fit for 5 matches in 6 weeks? Doubtful! |  | | |
| Cheers to Lucan on 15:20 - Jun 21 with 814 views | Herbivore |
| Cheers to Lucan on 14:17 - Jun 21 by ArnoldMoorhen |
Anderson didn't just have a quiet game, he didn't bowl when Australia were 8 down and the new ball was available.
I wouldn't be surprised if he announces his retirement. Something wasn't right.
Robinson wasn't 100%- his pace was down.
Broad was absolutely running on fumes by the end.
Stokes is an injury breakdown waiting to happen.
We lost because we didn't have a fourth seamer. Either Woakes (local knowledge) or Wood (genuine pace) would have helped.
We didn't lose because of the 1st Innings declaration: the time left at the end with England still needing 2 Aussie wickets to win shows that that was a solid decision, although had we not declared we probably would have got a draw.
England often lose the fFist Test of a series. We have recovered before and can do again. But will Stokes be fit for 5 matches in 6 weeks? Doubtful! |
If Stokes wasn't captain, I genuinely think we'd be having second thoughts over playing him. If he can't bowl then he's in the side purely for his batting and he's not been scoring enough runs of late. A fantastic cricketer and not remotely suggesting we should drop him, but the need to pick him is leaving us unbalanced. Your all rounder has to be able to give you a decent number of overs. |  |
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| Cheers to Lucan on 15:54 - Jun 21 with 735 views | Radlett_blue |
| Cheers to Lucan on 15:20 - Jun 21 by Herbivore |
If Stokes wasn't captain, I genuinely think we'd be having second thoughts over playing him. If he can't bowl then he's in the side purely for his batting and he's not been scoring enough runs of late. A fantastic cricketer and not remotely suggesting we should drop him, but the need to pick him is leaving us unbalanced. Your all rounder has to be able to give you a decent number of overs. |
Indeed, the inability of Stokes to bowl more than a few overs has seriously damaged the balance of the side. His knee problem isn't going away & I was amazed when he became England Test captain as I thought he would have much more chance of an extended career playing T20 & maybe some ODIs.
The bowling then becomes the biggest issue. Asking a 36 y o Broad & 40 y o Anderson to carry a 3 man seam attack is foolish in the extreme. Wood isn't capable of playing 5 Tests in quick succession but I'm not sure Lord's is his pitch either. Woakes has an excellent record at Lord's & he should come in, plus maybe Potts.
Bairstow demonstrated again that he isn't a Test keeper & he's there to strengthen the batting. |  |
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