Yep we have royally fucked it. Two tests in and all hope of an ashes victory has slipped away through mindless batting, inconsistent bowling and god awful fielding.
I cannot see a way in which England get back into this series….unless we win in Adelaide, in which case its 3-2 England and the Aussies can drown their sorrows in the watery piss they pretend is lager.
How can this be achieved? Well it’s a long shot, and it involves us batting, bowling and fielding to a higher standard than we have evidenced we are capable of on this trip. Basically we need to get miraculously better at cricket in the next 48 hours.
In order to pull off this improvement, the lads have headed to the beach for a few days to unwind. Is this a good idea? I think it probably is to be fair, no point thrashing yourselves in the nets and not enjoying a second of the tour. Did this help the Aussie media’s insatiable appetite to rip the shit out of Englands behaviour on this tour? Yes, its provided ample sustenance for them, good to see the guys out there giving back to their hosts so generously.
England have announced the side, with Josh Tongue coming in for Gus Atkinson. Tongue is an interesting pick, he showed in the India series he has a knack for taking wickets, especially cleaning up the tail….but only when he manages to land the ball roughly near the strip.
The big omission is Bashir, whom England have backed for the last few years despite many claiming he was not of test standard…..or even county standard…specifically to get themselves an effective spinner for this tour. I feel bad for Bashir, and I’m not a fan of all the stick he gets, ultimately, he doesn’t pick himself does he?
With Bashir left out the spin department is populated by Will Jacks, who looked fairly well put together with the bat in the last test, and does give the tail some length coming in at 8. It remains to be seen how his bowling will shape up…my fear is it probably wont go all that well.
So with the Team they’ve selected how are they going to win? Score big. The england batting lineup has showed signs of waking on the tour so far, but haven’t been able to pull themselves out of bed in unison. To win this test, I feel we need a statement from our opening pair. If Crawley and Duckett can get us motoring along towards three figures in the opening 25 overs or so, as they have done for the last few years, I think the team can ride that wave and put on some good totals in Adelaide.
Can we do it? Probably not, but there’s a glimmer of hope still sat deep in my soul somewhere, and until it’s mathematically impossible, I will try my best to stay positive.
Going to be all out for 210 in the first dig aren’t we?
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