Duquesne Whistle

Calls that England should have bowled are off the mark. The blueprint for success in Australia is usually the same. Win the toss, bat, fight your way through the difficult first session keeping wickets, not giving a toss if you score at 2 round per over. Then, make hay in the mid afternoon and evening sessions as the bowlers begin to toil under the heat. Day 2, often the best batting day, when the track speeds up but also flattens out, pile the runs on. 'twas ever thus. England just weren't good enough to survive and put pressure on. Not a huge surprise given they had no warm up but we know they are prone to a collapse even when playing regularly. The only saving grace in this series is that Australia have a lot of question marks over them. Sadly, England may not be good enough to expose those flaws. There's time to recover, but a laughably predictable first day.

We need to arrest this momentum flow. Declare now and get the Aussies in. That would be a proper statement.

Anyone have the foresight to back Leach for 1st innings top scorer? Burns 6th duck in a calendar year. The most in the entire history of test cricket...

Absolute garbage ball. Should have been dispatched. Last thing we need to do is give a previously struggling Starc some confidence.

Called it. Robinson will be key. He has to bowl well and has the ability to do so. Nice toss to win but can we take advantage... I'm more worried about our batting than Broad not playing.

Yeah, I've suffered like most. However, I stayed awake for a lot of 2010/11. Oh how glorious that was. Until we are 3-0 down, it's matchsticks forcing my eyes open for me.

Are you sleeping with my ex Mrs?

For those who like their leaders to be confident... Joe Root, 'avoiding defeat in the first test would be a brilliant start to the series' Sadly, it's very realistic. I know what he means and I agree 100%, but he'd have Churchill turning in his grave with that one.

Not really. Australia have two World class batsmen in Smith and Labuschagne. I'm expecting the South African to score more than Smith in this series. On Aussie pitches, their batsmen are better and their bowlers, their starting XI will be stronger overall. It will require more than just Root to have a good series with the bat, someone else must score heavily if we're to win any tests I reckon. One of Malan, Pope or Buttler must stand up and be counted. If there is to be 2 day/nighters now, that will help.

It's far more important to have Anderson for the day nighter at Adelaide. This may well be precautionary, as it starts 3 days after the first test ends. I can see England possibly springing a surprise and going with Wood, Robinson and Woakes in this one, with no Broad or Anderson. Leach was possibly set to play, but the weather forecast doesn't particularly suit a spinner and they may go with the 4 faster bowlers and include Broad for that reason. Wood has a bit to prove. Can his body stand up to the rigours of hard pitches and little rest between tests. Stokes simply can't be expected to bowl much at all.

Zidane I've heard it all now.

Forget injuries for a moment, 27 conceded in 15, I'd expect a manager to do better than that playing 4 strikers in defence if he's given time. Otherwise, what's he being paid for. Rodgers has had time and it's not getting any better.

We were much the better team in the first half. Much improved first half performance. What the hell went on in the dressing room at half time? Totally under the cosh from the restart. Get the ball to Barnes more.

There was. Luke Thomas was on Mings. Maybe teams identify our smallest zonal defender and put big lads on them... So easy for the opposition.

Lookman has been a day late and a dollar short all half. Thankfully, Barnes is making up for it on the other wing.

Half time/Full time prediction, or are you going for 8-2?

Eight Indian test batsmen walked out in that 2nd innings and only one didn't score a six, though Saha did hit a couple of fours. I'd be surprised if that's ever happened in a 5 day test before.

It's the main issue in what he's said, for sure. It's what he might actually think that bothers me a little more. There's no self reflection in there at all. I don't expect any manager to sit and say it's all his fault, because it never is, but he does seem adept at shifting responsibility. Hopefully, in private, he's much more honest with himself, otherwise, we're likely to continue going backwards. Fingers crossed.

Whilst there's some truth in that, he's an 'elite' manager paid an 'elite' wage to sort that shit out and not be talking about it nearly 3 years down the line. If the problem pre-dates him, why isn't it fixed, or at least improved. Whilst there's some truth in that, there's times when it is important to get a spark from the manager at half time. Continually repeat the message by all means, but also be able to react to match situations as they are happening. If we're getting over-run for 20 minutes or more, as we have been at times, change something to impact that. .This is where I agree with some of his comments. I think we have shown resilience to eek out results whilst simultaneously conceding a barrowload. Our points total is pretty good when compared with performances. He does lose it a bit at the end of this paragraph, unless he's referring to one specific match though. We have finished strongly on occasions, but that's because we've had no choice or the oppo (as in the Arsenal match) took the sting out of matches they were leading.

On their pitches, Cummins and Hazlewood have the edge over our bowlers. Starc too, if he's bowling well, which he isn't at the moment, thankfully. Add to that a rejuvenated Warner, with Labuschange and Smith in the middle order and they have more Ingredients for victory than England. Whichever way you cut this up, it's difficult to see England edging it. Both teams have some bit part test players though, so nothing is guaranteed. One hope for me is that Starc remains wayward and Hazlewood doesn't start well and loses confidence, which he can be prone to doing. If JH has his radar in, we could be in trouble quickly. Brilliant bowler when he's on it.

Losing Torres and Mendy has improved his squad.

I agree with what you've said there, 100%. The carnage at the final was an utterly predictable finale to the tournament. Whilst the squad weren't good enough to win it, they gave the supporters a run all the way to the last match only for another off field embarrassment on an international scale by England supporters. I wouldn't hold your breath though.

The Kiwis had to hit a wall at some point. Seems like it's now. Losing Williamson's steady influence and batting won't have helped. Wonderful achievement by Patel. To do it for an away team in India just rubber stamps how special it is.

Shocking first 45 and a real disappointment that previous mistakes continue to be repeated. Happy to get a point in the end and a better 2nd half. We still look unconvincing and our defending is unbelievably tinpot at times. On to the next one I guess.