England Cricket Team Thread

[Diamond Dog]

So England to win the series?

I think so.

The Aussies selectors are on some serious Class A Drugs.

[WG Kaspar]

Australia will win but not as handily as last time England were down under.

[Penk!]

Yeah, I think Australia will win but they like England seem to be struggling to fill a few places.

Really looking forward to it getting going now. The time difference means I won’t mind too much when the kids wake up early as I can watch or listen to the games at breakfast!

And finally... I wish Warner would shut up. There’s being combative and there’s being an unedifying tool.

[Jumper K]

I'm cautiously optimistic. The announced team looks balanced and with Ball fit we have a good chance. If we take wickets early.
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jake Ball, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Dawid Malan, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

[borofan]

Australia will win if they can keep the seamers on the field. Starc and Cummins are excellent bowlers, but both are notoriously fragile. As Pattinson and Coulter-Nile are currently crocked, they don't have any backup of remotely equivalent quality.

Both batting lineups are flaky. I suspect much will rest on Root, Cook, Smith and Warner.

[joels344]

I'm favoring England in this series, but not having Ben Stokes makes me slightly concerned.

[Penk!]

Well played Stoneman and Vince this morning/afternoon. Hoping Root et al can use their efforts as a platform. If Australia have to spend five sessions in the field it won’t help their quicks’ rickety bodies...

[KeithPratt]

Got to be happy with debutants getting fifties, but Lyon already looks like the dangerman.

Still, I think England can get 350 and have a go at this Aussie lot.

[borofan]

Not a typical Gabba pitch, much more English in character. Apparently the weather has been unusually wet and cool in Brisbane recently, which probably accounts for it. Excellent digin by Stoneman, and finally Vince shows what he is capable of. Even first day.

Off to BTSport website at 7 for the promised free highlights.

[andymacandy]

I think that the first 2 hours tomorrow is critical to the series.Winning at the Gabba is so much part of the Aussie DNA that for England to get a decent result will really shake them, and getting to 350 will lift England hugely. England are weaker without Stokes, but this Aussie side really isn't all that, particularly in the batting.Anderson and Broad have bowled there, not with great results, but they have some experience.

As an aside,why have we not heard anything about Stokes case? It was weeks ago-does it really take that long?

[WG Kaspar]

Actually Broad was pretty good last time around at Brisbane, but he's been so off form this summer you have to wonder whether he's up to it, although he's the only one of the English bowlers that if he gets into a groove he is unplayable.

[andymacandy]

Actually Broad was pretty good last time around at Brisbane, but he's been so off form this summer you have to wonder whether he's up to it, although he's the only one of the English bowlers that if he gets into a groove he is unplayable.

I think a bit of experience with the Kookaburra is important. I like Woakes a lot, and the skinny on Ball is that he has what it takes, but it has to be Anderson & Broad that challenge the Aussies.And if Lyon can get traction on that pitch on Day 1, then Moeen Ali will do too.

[mentalist (slight return)]

I can understand England grinding out their innings due to their late order counterattacking strength (Mooen, Bairstow, Stokes when available). But they still should have knocked it about a bit more yesterday I reckon. I'm hoping the Lion (aka GOAT) will clean up England.

[Penk!]

Well it was the counterattacking late order that let England down in the end... I might be sounding a bit broken record but people keep building up Bairstow as a star player and key name for England, while in reality his form this year has been a concern: he averages just 30 in 2017 and it’s eighteen months/five series since his last century.

I’d say Lyon is the difference at the moment. A good spinner is the one thing the Aussies have that England don’t. Moeen has one good game a series but is too often a liability with the ball.

[Diamond Dog]

We bowled well earlier... I think we probably just have the upper hand and as long as we get a decent second innings score, I think Australia chasing (maybe) 250 + could be problematic for them.

[borofan]

Off to BTSport website at 7 for the promised free highlights.

All 8 (EIGHT) fucking minutes of them...

[Penk!]

Off to BTSport website at 7 for the promised free highlights.

All 8 (EIGHT) fucking minutes of them...

At least you have something. I can neither watch it nor listen: TMS aren’t running their usual available-abroad Youtube stream. I would have to watch it on an illegal stream were I the kind of person who knew where to find one...

I mean, who the hell does own the rights to broadcast cricket in Sweden at 7am? Can I have them if I send Cricket Australia a cheque for a fiver?

[mentalist (slight return)]

I'll take that back about England's slow run rate. It's clearly a bit of a pudding of a pitch. Why we are presenting England with a pitch that favours them more than us, who knows? Maybe it was the damp Brisbane weather in the lead-up. Good to see us putting many overs into AnderBroad. Smith batted like this in India recently, scored loads of gritty patient wearing down runs, setting an example of how he wants Australia to play.

[Penk!]

As far as I can tell it doesn’t help England that much either: it offers little movement but is too slow to help the batsmen much either. A bit of a rubbish pitch all told yet it’s given us an absorbing, even contest here.

England’s reliance on Anderson/Broad already obvious, likewise Australia’s on Smith. Now either Cook and Root will step up and bat Australia out of the game, or England will flop to 167 all out and give it away.

[Penk!]

... the latter option, then.