Bump for this one.

Does anyone know the English thinking?

Lol. Wait until you see his run up. It's ten to 15 metres. All his pace comes from his front leg bracing. Not run up based at all! He is no Mitch Starc. He has a short run up and stays upright without collapsing.

Then they have Wood to return from injury even if Archer gets injured...

Archer is deadly with the red ball. He has an outswinger and a lot of pace.

I'm not sure he has the stamina or red ball experience? He hasn't bowled for more than 10 overs a day for nearly a year.

As we can see from Starc, white and red ball cricket are different. The bowling star of the World Cup has been dropped from the First Ashes Test.

What is the scenario for England regarding wicketkeeping? 

Jos Buttler kept in the WC and  is now fielding at bat pad, whilst Bairstow is now keeping whilst often fielding in the outer in the WC. 

Hey Fella. Sounds like good times. I enjoy you both. I'll be around on here and GP for the Ashes both. :)

Huge blow. But Archer won't be much easier to face.

Lovely what I thought was an outswinger from Broad beating the outside edge of Smith, but Atherton called it a leg cutter. 

I think  I can bowl a leg cutter, but not an outswinger. 

It seems like Anderson could be injured. 

Great to see you back, Paddles.

Love your input, mate.

Since you were last here, I've caught up with Baggers in Sydney. I made him drink a lot  craft beers he hadn't had before!

Warner never looked comfortable. Bancroft wafted at one he shudda left. Bad start yet again in England. We never start well against the Dukes in overcast Pommie condition so why the hell did Paine opt to bat first.  Surely giving express men Pattinson and Cummins first crack at this deck is the way to go. Now the Pommies have a sniff and first bragging rights.

England desperately try to find 600 to 700 runs a game to win the game. They do this by batting deep. Ali and Woakes will bat 8 and 9. 

Their top order has been a shambles for a long time. Noone really knows what Burns, Roy or Denly are capable of, cos they have played a handful of tests between them, and even less in England itself.

I think the England batting is underestimated. Roy, Butler, Bairstow, Stokes Ali and Woakes are all inconsistent but can win a match off the bat on their day. Only need 1-2 to really stand up and make a big score if Root sticks around to get somewhere

Few comments as I think the teams will be balanced heading into the first test. I am slightly favouring England. 

First off, forget about dreams of either team scoring 500. That may happen in 1 test. This is England. Look at the India and South Africa scores there in the last 2 years. Not a single score of 500. Not one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_cricket_team_in_England_in_2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_cricket_team_in_England_in_2018

The conditions are made for bowlers. Even spinners will come into the series if there are footmarks.

Second, Pattinson is a walk into the Australian team right now for this test. Starc is gone. Unless someone gets injured before the toss, Pattinson is playing and he is a better bowler than Starc - esp in England. But Aus has no allrounders unless they play Marsh. But rumours are Wade will bat 6. So Aus will have to bowl Lyon early in England, and he may get no response. And that new swinging dukes is not being best used. But - footmarks will come into the games later on as they do every year for Moeen Ali. 

Woakes is beyond a flukey batsman. He is a premier allrounder - and has edged out Sam Curran for the spot despite him being player of the year  last year and dominant in series wins over India and in SL. Broad is battling with Archer for the next spot. As England know they need the runs that Woakes and/or Curran provide.

These pitches are going to produce a lot of 200-350 scores. Even with endless big scores from Kohli last year that is all India could obtain. Even if Smith does the same, who else is going to knuckle down and not follow the swing outside off stump? Who else has the hand-eye to put bat on the inswinger coming in again and again?

Woakes will swing it all day. Stokes will get an inswinger going with the old ball. Jimmy will swing it well. And even Broad gets the ball to hoop after pitching a lot - simply cos Dukes and England. And Archer will appear at some point in this series. Curran is an awful skiddy bowler who over pitches a lot, but he makes the Dukes hoop in England while doing so. He's really a pie chucker, that simply bends it like Beckham over there when there's clouds.

In the Indian and SA test series (admittedly TRJ played in the SA series) - the English bowlers gave nothing away. Just nothing. The loosest bowling was Stokes and Curran, and they swere swinging it and taking wickets while getting smashed for 4's.

Even if Aus win this first test, England then bring in Archer, and an injury to Woakes means SCurran comes in. The only players England cannot afford to lose are Root and Anderson. The entire rest of the team is replaceable. Leach is the best spinner in England by a country mile. He's not even in the squad. Wood was their best bowler in the WI, not even in the squad. Foakes was a superstar keeperbatsman and got Jonny Bairstow dropped in 2018, not in the squad. England has no top order batting, but they have depth elsewhere. A complete and utter glut of allrounders and even seamers. And they are used to completely rejinking their team on the regular. They've been doing it for years now.

The really exciting thing about cricket in England, is that it is a shoot out. Every 50 run partnership matters so much. Especially those that occur before the second new ball - this is why Curran and Woakes are so critical to England. So so much. 200 is defensible in the 4th innings. The game is almost always alive and on a knife's edge. Fortunately for Australia, Pattinson and Cummin's batting means the Aus tail at 8 and 9 - isn't that horrid.

I wouldn't be worried about scoring 500. It is not Australian roads. 

Johnny Bairstow probably the most consistent batsman they have, but may run out of partners. 
Moeen Ali is another that hasn't done much in the last 2 years scoring only 2 50 in that time but has a great record in England, but IMO is relying on what he did early in his career for the "great all-rounder"tag. As a bowler his last 2 years have been great, 
Chris Woakes great innings last year against India scoring 138 and along with Bairstow won that particular game for them, but not a lot of other scores, sort of like Cummins. His bowling only 6 times has he taken 5 or more wickets in 27 tests maybe an England specialist bowler.




I can't see England batsmen scoring 500 runs for the test even against the current bowling line up of Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Lyon, the talent in batting is just not there, and they will chase deliveries due to their concentration on limited over format and catches will be hit. it probably explains why they are currently only 4th on the ICC rankings but No 1 in ODI's (they can last 50 overs but can they last 100?). But we are 5th so a close battle, will our batsmen overcome the swing of Anderson? Can't wait to see our side and the Ashes start tonight, bring it on. I'll predict 2-1 series win to Australia.

I'd agree we need a batsman at 6 Wade or Labuchagne with Head at 5. Personally start with Labuchagne, for the first test if fails bring Wade in. Personally my batting line up would be, Warner, Bancroft, Harris, Smith, Khawaja, Head, Paine. If Warner does go cheaply by playing the big shot,as he is known to do, another opener to come in, can't be a bad thing, and you get a good batsman in Harris or Bancroft definitely in the side. But selectors are proven not to be great thinkers.