England off to a good start on a dead pitch.

That last over looked more like Cummins' recent bowling on the subcontinent! After  he bowled Stoneman he clocked 145 kph and  up to 148kph. 144.9 kph equals 90 miles per hour.  At this pace and with Cummins' usual accuracy, batsmen have to play a lot of balls at uncomfortable speeds.

Have to say I've been impressed by Vince and Stoneman's shot selection, thus far.

Vince getting run out is a massive error, might turn the test match. 
Root is obviously the key.

And as I write this Root is out.
Australia on top.

England's bad run rate really cost them, I'll take 4/196.

Lyon's bowling was sensational. He was instrumental in keeping that score to 4/196 today.

Late in the day apart from Moen Ali, who is also a finger spinner, the other  Poms desperately didn't want to face him. Lyon took no wickets, but constantly beat the bat and was very unlucky.

 He kept the Poms under constant pressure. There was a difficult leg side chance Paine missed where he was blinded, but gee this guy's bowling has improved!

I know you aren't in Australia ATM, Grazor, but it would be good to hear a spinner like you analyse his improvement. Lyon seems to be getting loop, and drift, imparts  topspin and side spin off the pitch. Lyon said he needed to learn to back spin it more in subcontinental conditions. 

Lyon is accurate too and can bowl long spells. ATM in conditions all over the world he is arguably Australia's best bowler, and, unequivocally the most durable. Being a spinner he  doesn't expend much energy. He can bowl long spells as a stock bowler and doubles as a strike bowler too.

Cummins at times displayed the fire of India and Bangladesh, but generally he was down on pace by about 5kph. His pace dropped late in the day.

In the subcontinent Cummins took quite a few wickets from nasty balls, just short of a length rearing off the pitches devoid of much bounce over there. ATM he isn't the same bowler he was a few months ago. He was hitting the pitch very hard.

 Cummins could have been able to bowl less overs on  on the subcontinent. This is because Lyon, O'Keefe, Agar and Maxwell bowled so many overs he could bowl a few short spells of 3 or 4 over bursts.

Hazelwood also lost pace from the 140s fairly quickly after the new ball. Starc maintained his pace better late in the day, but bowls too many loose balls, as well as  his superb difficult to play balls.

l think we need a bowling all rounder to back them up.  Marsh has done it well, like Watson a few years back, but Marsh's batting has been a failure. Cartwright's bowling looks military medium and innocuous.

To date I haven't seen Scott Stoinis bowl.  

I'm not sure how potent Maxwell's off spin is in Australia. At one stage Smith was a frontline leg spinner, but he claims his body isn't up to it. Warner can bowl a few leg breaks.

I feel a bit sorry for Vince. He batted well. The Gabba looked packed too.

There is some rubbish appearing in the Murdoch press this morning. Because these journos haven't played pro cricket they write rubbish.

One claimed Cummins was great yesterday. By his subcontinental standards he isn't bowling with the same venom.

Lyon was brilliant, but because he didn't  take wickets his performance  isn't  analysed as to what he is doing technically to have improved so much.

Then there is no end of rubbish written about Paine missing a virtually impossible catch on the leg side. Nothing written about his excellent keeping, encouragement of teammates and leadership behind the stumps the rest of the time.

Then they quote the few former players making sensational comments. Former players like Peter Roebuck, Bill O'Reilly and Geoff Lawson need to be writing in the media. Although the  latter had it in for Ricky Ponting for the last 10 years of his career.

Good to read Jason  Gillespie in the The Guardian provide some informed insight into The Ashes.


Another good article is Mitch Johnson analysing Mitch Starc in The Age.

Great first session, England all out for 302 on a batting paradise.

It was a  very good session for Australia. Lyon got a few deserved wickets.

 I loved the ferocious, short pitched barrage frorn Cummins and Starc at each end bowling thunderbolts at Anderson and Broad.  Two of the least gracious players of the English team by far. I enjoyed them suffering some serious heat from some Aussie intimidatory short pitched bowling. Short pitched balls at over 140 kph plus are nasty, which both delivered plenty of. One of Cummins's well directed  short pitched deliveries  was over 146kph. I've never seen Anderson in particular look so ruffled and scared.

lets hope its a batting paradise

why on earth was renshaw and maxwell dropped

I sometimes dont feel like supporting australia the way the selectors handle things

it must affect the spirit of the team

and dropping wade is understandable

but why not have neville?

Paine combines Wade's leadership (although Paine is considered a far better character) and Nevill's keeping skill in one player.

Amongst the educated cricket fraternity in Tasmania, Paine is considered  an outstanding keeper. He was only dropped from a malfunctioning Tasmanian side, because he was struggling  with his batting. Hence, all of  Dunk, McDermott and Doran can keep for Tasmania. I strongly believe in selecting the best keeper, regardless of batting.

When Paine filled in for Haddin as the Aussie Test keeper, he impressed all on and off the field as a Test cricketer and was mooted as a future captain. Just like Voges and Rogers provided stability, experience and leadership a few years ago, players like Warner, and possibly Lyon, although experienced, are particularly  in the former's case, unsuitable for leadership roles.

Paine has captained Tasmania well. He probably acts as the unofficial vice- captain for the Aussie team already and has played a lot of 20/20 for Australia in recent times. Smith also struggles to hide his emotions - a poor leadership quality. Ricky Ponting contends Paine is the best keeper in the country.

people speak down on nevilles batting but he's got an average of 39! He's worth inclusion just on his batting!

Before this game, Paine had a Test average of 35!

Renshaw played a good defensive innings against Tasmania a few weeks ago in the Shield on a pitch doing a bit. 

His defence looked good, but he struggled to play attacking shots. I thought he should've been retained in the Aussie team too. Border considers he is out of form.




Maxwell failed to fire in the early Shield games too. I suppose his spin bowling is not  considered as  good a back up option on Aussie pitches as subcontinental ones. ATM Australia desperately needs another bowler to back up the speed current bowlers. Only Lyon can bowl long spells.

Blewett, the Waughs, Watson and Mitch Marsh have all provided this role effectively in the last decades. Faulkner is currently injured and has lost a bit of pace. Nevertheless, he bowls long spells for Tasmania when fit.

Another former Tassie all rounder who only played one Test and who would currently be handy for his stamina and economical action in bowling fast medium, is Shaun Young, for the current Test team if he was playing. We need to keep the workload off Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood. From seeing Cummins bowl on the  subcontinent  recently, he is still is down on the express pace  and fire from over there. If he recaptures that form, he is the best fast bowler we have.

Has anyone else seen Stoinis bowl?

England are bowling some really good stuff here. All the bowlers are right on the money.

I'm surprised at the quality of the English attack in much hotter conditions than they are used to. Anderson has got plenty out of the pitch, as has Broad. All of Ball, Woakes and Broad have bowled balls 140 - 142kph. The torrid, short pitched bowling from Cummins and Starc directed at Broad and Anderson seems to have fired them up!

Moan Ali is bowling far better than I thought he would too. Is Usman's career  at the crossroads because of his inability to play spin at Test level? We need him to sort it out - soon.

marsh struggling a lot with timing

wonder if the pitch is a bit two paced

You could be right. None of the players have said it though from what I've heard and read.

Pretty interesting two days of cricket.

Neither side has a great batting lineup, so I’m not surprised to see both teams struggling to crack 300. England are going to rely heavily on Cook and Root, and Australia will lean on Smith and Warner.

This could be a series where the bowlers dominate. Both teams have a pretty strong bowling attack, especially in the fast bowling department. Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins, Anderson and Broad are all quality.

So far he pitch looks good, although a bit slower than the typical gabba pitch.

 Lyon may be the top bowler for either side at this point in time - in conditions at home and away. Apparently, he may have taken more wickets and outperformed Ravi Ashwin in the last 12 months.

 Former leg spinning great, Stuart MacGill, is describing Lyon as the best spinner in the world at this point in time. With Ashwin, Shah,  the Indian who bowls in sunglasses, and  a couple of the Bangladesh and Sri Lankan spinners, this is high praise.

maxwell with a timely double hundred


shaun marsh repaying the faith so far thankfully

no played gets more faith

Maxwell has been a better batter at test level, from what we saw in India. Marsh's footwork looks too slow for test cricket, even though he may get away with it in the Shield more often.

In Australian conditions, Marsh is probably the better back up bowler. I'm not sure if Maxwell can bowl tightly enough? On the  subcontinent  he had more more assistance from the wickets. A back up bowler is needed soon, so the pace trio can bowl less overs.

australia with their noses just slightly in front here for the first time in a long time

26 run lead is only 24 behind par imo (given we bat last)

2 early wickets though puts us ahead for the first time

Australia had the better of that day. Steve Smith batted beautifully - it was a real Allan Border-like innings. Held back his natural attacking instincts and got the hundred.

Cook looks all at sea. England need him to find some form.

Smith complained about England's negative tactics to restrict his scoring.

Broad claims  the game plan is working well!

  I have to take my hat off to Broad aged 31, and Anderson in particular at age 35, firing up after receiving a brutal short pitched barrage from the Aussies when batting. They bowled superbly.

That big wicket of Joe Root means Australia are now favourites in this one. England really needed him to score a hundred.

Root got out the same way in both innings - lbw to the inswinger from Hazelwood. Might be a technical weakness there.

England are going to need Bairstow and Ali to get a move on or this could be over today.

I'm very happy Tim Paine is in the side. Classic case of stats needing to be looked at through the prism of context. Imo, he's probably the best gloveman in the country (who has been held back by awful injuries). His batting is also technically very good (notwithstanding a slightly unorthodox trigger movement).

Yes, Matthew Wade has more runs. But he tends to struggle against line and length bowling and movement. Tim Paine's technique and temperament are better than this. The question is not always- who has the better average in the Shield? The question is who better suited to facing Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Tim Paine.  Although good case to be made for Peter Nevill.

Around 1999-2000, England took the right approach. They realised that stats don't always tell the full story and can be misleading. They recognised there were some in the County Championship who had great stats but were still displaying the characteristics which were a worry for Test level. The reality is that you can get away with technical/temperament flaws in domestic cricket which just get found at Test level. So, instead, the ECB realised that some other England cricketers without the stats but the technique and temperament to suggest they would do better at Test level. This also culminated in their 2005 Ashes victory.

Matthew Renshaw not opening is justifiable. He hasn't been in form and Cam Bancroft has been. Age is irrelevant. It's all about taking each Test match as it comes. Renshaw will do great things for Australia. There's nothing wrong with going back to the Sheffield Shield to score runs and come back.

Having said that, I wouldn't have left him out of the First XI. I'd have had him there for his batting and left Shaun Marsh out. Shaun Marsh has lovely technique (defensive stroke, pull shot, cut shot, drives). But he's just not mentally tough enough and I still don't think he has turned the corner. If he does, then great, have Shaun in the First XI.

It's great that he had a good first innings. But I worry it will make him undroppable for a while.

Renshaw has succeeded at a higher level than Bancroft.

The technical issue you posted in the analysis from  Vaughan and Clarke may mean Bancroft is going to struggle in Test cricket on the offside unless he sorts it out. 

Yes but this was Bancroft's Test debut. Everybody has to start somewhere. Frankly, there's not a huge amount between the two. They both have the right idea, they're both skilled and probably technically good enough to become very solid Test batsmen (with a bit of tweaking here and there). It was simply a case of Cam Bancroft being in top form and Matt Renshaw not being in such good form. There's no shame in Renshaw going back to the Shield and scoring runs and then getting another go.



It could do. It's definitely something which can be exploited at Test level. And not just for offside shots. Any defensive shot when there's lateral movement, he'll be that bit more susceptible. Having said that it's not as if Cam Bancroft is defensively weak. His footwork is decent enough. As far as I know, that squaring up thing is the only flaw.

Hopefully his batting coaches help him work on it. I'm no expert but I'd imagine it's more than possible for him to get his toes facing point for those defensive shots. Once he does that, everything else should fall into place. And he'll still have the option of getting into position to play the ball to the leg side.

He should play in the County Championship in the Australian winter, if possible.

The form issue may be significant ATM.

 From watching both batters at Bellerive, even a few weeks ago with Renshaw out of form, he looks to  have  a better defence on a wicket doing a bit.

Fantastic stumping from Tim Paine. Massive wicket

Agree.

Grazor, if you are reading this, you should've seen Paine keep today. He was outstanding!



The Tasmanian Shield selectors have made some very enigmatic decisions  of late.

1.  Dropping Paine from the Shield because he was out of form  with the bat. IMO you select the best keeper. The keeper who the Australian selectors think is the best keeper in the country ( has more leadership,  offers more encouragement to teammates and berates them for mistakes more than Nevill does) wasn't even selected for his  state Shield team.

2. The other one was dropping Jon Wells. In 7 knocks a few season ago, he made 5 scores of over 40 out of the first seven innings. He was the second highest scoring batter after Ed Cowan, but was more consistent. Then the selectors dropped him and told him he would never play for Tasmania again - publicising this in the local media. Wells then went to West Aus and has scored centuries for them! He has dominated grade cricket in Hobart too.

australia bowl england out with their noses in front

not sure how hard this wicket is but chasing 200 is pretty even but 170 is difficult on a fifth day wicket and we will bat on a fifth day wicket


lyon against left handers manage to pitch on leg and go across the batsman stumps. If you get the ball turning toward off after landing on leg you will pick up wickets very regularly. 

Still a good pitch, no excuses not to get 170

I think at stumps Australia are something like 0 - 114.

I didn't  see Ali face Lyon in the second innings, but he has looked like the only English batsman who has been comfortable against the Aussie finger spinner.

I think Lyon has approximately 51 wickets from 8 Tests played in 2017. The only bowlers  who have taken more wickets from other test playing nations, have played more tests for barely any more wickets.

there are 3 eyelines a spinner will cross with the ideal stock ball

first you want to flight it above the eyeline 
then you want the drift to go across the body (from off to leg)
then you want the turn to go across the body again (from leg to off)

if you cross the eyeline three times in a delivery its very difficult for the batsmen

I've learnt something new.

Michael Clarke and Michael Vaughan with some interesting insight in the technique of Cameron Bancroft.

Looks very strong on the leg-side. But, when he plays the ball straight or on the off side, he's getting too squared up which means he'll probably have a tendency to get caught behind.

It's less flawed to be more side on for those blocks and drives through cover. His back shoulder comes around too much and the toes of his back foot end up facing mid-off. You're less susceptible to certain dismissals if they're facing point. It makes for much safer defensive strokes and cover drives.

Interesting.

I thought they should have persisted with Renshaw after seeing him bat for Queensland in the Shield a  few weeks ago against a Tassie attack on a pitch doing a bit. His defence looked very good against a probing, accurate attack.

Bancroft has made some big scores at Bellerive on pitches with little movement off the seam in the Shield.

I think Bancroft has shown to be a better scorer than Renshaw while also having that strong defensive temperament. I'd love for Renshaw to replace Khawaja though, i feel our top order could really do with someone like Renshaw who places a high value on his wicket. It'd avoid collapses which we are prone to doing.

I think you are right about Bancroft being a better shot maker, City Sam.

Given Warner's attacking capabilities, I like the idea of a sound defensive player being the other opener.

australia now in a dominant position. Amazingly it seems that the pitch is getting easier rather than harder

And we win the first test by 10 wickets, we really showed a lot of good character in that match. Couple times we looked in a poor position but played very well to turn it around. All the selections were justified but for me the jury is still out for Khawaja, Paine and Marsh.

As for England, they need to find another option after Broad and Anderson quickly or we will win this series 5-0

Not sure why the jury is still out for Paine? The leg side stumping he missed was a very difficult chance. The batter's body blocks the line of sight  for the keeper in these leg side stumping actions from them standing up to the stumps to spinners.

Paine's slick stumping changed the course of the match. This guy is Australia's best keeper since Ian Healy.

Cameron Bancroft copped two full blooded shots that hit him on the ankle on the full, and in the neck on the full. He wasn't criticised for failing to grasp these very difficult chances. Only David Boon and Roger Harper might've caught them on a good day at bat pad.

Because our lower order is incredibly weak, we need a keeper who can bat aswell as keep and Paine has not shown he can do the former.

I'm of the other opinion in terms of keepers.  Pick the best keeper first. If he  s/he can bat it is a bonus.

Even though his batting record isn't that good, before this Test, Paine's Test average was 35.

Chances missed can be critical to the outcome of a Test. Paine's stumping in Brisbane created a  wicket they was barely there for the taking. Only exceptional keepers make those sorts of stumpings.

If Paine can average anywhere near 35 i'd be very happy, but i don't think we have the batting strength to be able to carry a keeper who goes out for 20 or less every inning (Wade). Obviously that is unlikely for Paine but he is yet to convince me with the bat, that said i wouldn't dare drop him this ashes series as we aren't exactly full of options.

The flip side is that stumping and referal for the caught behind are worth more runs than most keepers would score in any test. It's not exactly like he is a nobody with the bat either, he's a viable opener in short form cricket for australia.

If Stokes gets  out here soon, it will provide a lift for the Poms in bowling and batting. I thought Broad and Anderson were past it when I saw them bowl in England recently. They were impressive in Brisbane. So were Stoneman and Vince as batsmen. Australia still relies too heavily on Warner and Smith to make runs. I'm dreading some more long innings from Cook too.