England Australia Ashes 2019

[apu nahasapeemapetilon]

If Australia somehow manage to get lead to pass 350, then Eng will be completely out of the game considering the way ball is doing for Broad and 5th day yet to come. The pitch is playing a lot of tricks now.

[Ah dinnae ken]

Smith is taking the piss

Love it

[davidge]

Earlier declaration than I expected.

Just a matter of if England can bat through to a draw now.

Not optimistic.

[jollygumpster]

Smith out for 82, his powers are clearly on the wane.

A paltry 383 to win. 

[apu nahasapeemapetilon]

What! Australia have declared. Not sure what promopted the sudden decision but there it is England need 383.

[jollygumpster]

Fat lady clearing her throat. 

[Ah dinnae ken]

2 for 0 or 0 for 2

[jollygumpster]

0 for 2 and Jason Roy walks in 

[Ah dinnae ken]

I have a feeling I'll be in bed before 4am tomorrow

[rope-a-dope]

I don't think lightning will strike twice, ala the third test..I fear our goose is cooked. I got a ticket for the first day at the oval...could be a wooden spoon game, I guess it'll be nice to at least draw the series...so still that to play for. 

[deano4598]

8 English wickets to get, bring on day five and hope that happens before lunch as the TV reception here on Fraser Island goes tits up about then every night.

[Ah dinnae ken]

35 minutes ago, deano4598 said:

8 English wickets to get, bring on day five and hope that happens before lunch as the TV reception here on Fraser Island goes tits up about then every night.

Deano I stream it on nine Gem. You need to do free rego

[deano4598]

1 hour ago, froddo said:

Deano I stream it on nine Gem. You need to do free rego

Unfortunately about the time the TV reception goes tits up, so does the mobile coverage.

[talung66]

Steve smith to the rescue again with no century but taking the test way  this time only 2 results can happen for sure with the draw only  to weather. 

Smith has now five centuries from his last six tests against England and averages 65.37 in the Ashes, also second only to Bradman among Australian cricketers.

with smith lowest score of 76

[Ah dinnae ken]

There is some hyperbole & pom bashing in this article but putting that aside there is an undeniable truth to the premise of it, the greatness of the Messiah ( my sobriquet for the great one)

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/england-blown-to-smithereens-20190908-p52p2f.html

Smith. That is all.

You could characterise an eventful day at Old Trafford on Saturday in a dozen different ways, but you would always come back to one name. You could try to encapsulate the Ashes series and invariably you would have to settle for the same plain moniker.

On Saturday morning, Mitchell Starc bowled the new-ball spell Australia had crossed their fingers he might bowl when they speculated on him for this Test. Full, fast, well-aimed and swinging, it brought the wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes and guaranteed Australia a big first innings lead.

Stokes was beaten by a ball that straightened down the line and was caught at second slip by, well, Smith. Old Trafford went mute. Stokes had worked an instant miracle at Headingley, but the impossible always takes time.

Stokes tried to rally England at the start of Australia's second innings with a football-style address, which was all very well except Smith. A dicky shoulder meant it was touch and go whether or not he bowled himself. Smith made it a moot point.

If there is a pattern in this syncopated series, the way it keeps superseding itself. What seems crucial in one session becomes incidental in the next, and then passe. Heroic exploits have a half-life of a session, a day, a week at best, eh Ben Stokes?

This very day, Starc's morning new-ball burst was usurped by Stuart Broad's for England in Australia's second innings, then by two Pat Cummins balls in the first over of England's second innings in the twilight. The second, Joe Root's first, castled him and has already been christened as the Root ball. It was Smith who dubbed it.

Australia's batting order is a state of turmoil.  You might say even that is down to Smith, if that's not too, ahem, rough on him. Broad and Jofra Archer momentarily re-ignited the contest, reducing Australia to 4/40 the second time around and David Warner to a grimacing shambles. Broad has not only Warner's number, but his bank account details and his passwords too.

Australia did the only thing it could; it took a Smith. For a while, wary orthodoxy reigned. Against bowlers and ball live as a grenade, Smith said he felt "vulnerable", perhaps the way Donald Trump sometimes feels humble. It was that sort of pitch, said Smith, hard to get in on, and then hard to get out. He would know.  After a while, with a game to move along, he switched to that other game. Call it Smithet.

Five runs he didn't score best exemplify it. Noticing Smith flit across his crease, leg to off, Broad fired the ball down leg, but so astray that it went through leg slip to the boundary. Two deep-set fieldsmen could not reach it. All the likeliest bowling in this match has been aimed at the stumps, but now even Broad forgot.

Archer bowled speedily enough, but the way Smith handled him was not so much playing with fire as toying with it. Once, Archer set him on his backside. While there, he practised an upper cut. It's his motto: never let a chance go by.

He made 82 and he and Matthew Wade added 105 to put the match beyond England's reach. In the circumstances, Wade's energetic 34 was a great innings. The circumstances were Smith.

The pitch, a new-ball minefield, became a bowling green, after an application of Smith. Root, instead of putting something back to the Australians, spent the afternoon running around shutting gates after bolted horses. He's a good man, but perhaps also a broken man. He's been thoroughly Smithed.

This is not meant to be flippant. This was a fourth-day pitch, with the usual vagaries. The other 12 wickets to fall on the day realised 134 runs between them. None gave their wickets away in the pursuit of a higher objective, as Smith did. They were grimly intent on survival. Eight were bowled or lbw, but not Smith. Seam bowlers reigned supreme, first, middle and last, but not over Smith.

England's time-wasting in the last two hours of Australia's second innings was cynical, and should have been indictable. Now that Jack Leach has free glasses for life, someone should donate the English better shoelaces. Same old England, always ... but why stoop to their level? Let's just Smith instead. Quickly enough, the karma bus ran over Root.

For the second time in two days, Smith had engineered England's disintegration. With 382 weighing on their backs, Rory Burns popped the second ball of the innings to cover and Root, glued to the crease, missed the third. Until now, he had averaged 100 on this ground. Now he wished only for it to open up.

For Cummins, this balanced the scales from the previous evening, when he bowled an heroic but wicket-less spell. Now he got this just desserts. He got his Smith.

Smith is the constant, in the match, in the series, in understandings and appreciations of it. Even in his absence he was a presence. At Lord's, his proxy and protege emerged. At Headingley, his non-appearance was glaring. Restored here, he has restored Australia. If Sunday takes its anticipated course, Australia will retain the Ashes in England with a one-man batting line-up. That's with a nod to Marnus Labuschagne, but he hasn't yet won a Test match. Smith keeps winning series wholesale.

Smith. QED. Ends.

[deano4598]

Smith for PM

[apu nahasapeemapetilon]

Will England try to chase this target if this session goes well?

[davidge]

8 minutes ago, apu nahasapeemapetilon said:

Will England try to chase this target if this session goes well?

Just try and bat normally until tea (if they get that far) then reassess. Very long final session.

[mikeyboy]

59 minutes ago, davidge said:

Just try and bat normally until tea (if they get that far) then reassess. Very long final session.

 

4 down at Lunch ,  long road ahead ,  Pat Cummins getting his reward , outstanding this match .

Mikeyboy

[apu nahasapeemapetilon]

Expecting an epic innings from Jos Buttler as a birthday treat for England fans!!

[apu nahasapeemapetilon]

Why they have not taken TEA?? is this an extended session??

[Ah dinnae ken]

Making up overs for the rain. I can't believe how negative the field settings have been. No way were England going to do a Stokes this time

[davidge]

Think there are 36 overs left so a long way to go. New ball could be significant. Australia, obviously, strong favourites.

[Ah dinnae ken]

Such a fuss over such a small thing

[jollygumpster]

aus retain the ashes, no complaints from me, we are pretty poor. 

england selectors, management and captain all clueless.