*Official* Fifth Test at The Oval

[MW1304]

Beaten on debut there

 

[MW1304]

I know it's the last Test but this is quite a long spell given you have two spinners

He's bowled two overs too many tbh.

 

[ajdude]

Debut poll

Who's played the best so far on debut?
[] Milo Kerrigan
[] James Forkers Faulkner
[] Chris Stokes Foakes Woakes

lack of steven "greek god" smith option a concern

 

[Uppercut]

Smith's century shot was ****ing awesome. Nothing like the Gayle-esque launch shot to bring up your first ton.

 

[Ruckus]

the score is a bit weird tbh. implies that England have steamrolled us when that's only been the case in one Test

hmm I've been pretty concerned with the nature of the defeats more than anything though - i.e. choking, collapsing, being repeatedly bailed out by the tail etc. That's why I don't want to get too carried away here yet, because the one factor that I think has been the biggest problem in this series for a lot of our top order batsmen - performing under pressure - is largely null in a 5th test dead rubber.

 

[Spark]

hmm I've been pretty concerned with the nature of the defeats more than anything though - i.e. choking, collapsing, being repeatedly bailed out by the tail etc. That's why I don't want to get too carried away here yet, because the one factor that I think has been the biggest problem in this series for a lot of our top order batsmen - performing under pressure - is largely null in a 5th test dead rubber.

That's mental fragility, basically. And excellent bowling.

 

[NUFAN]

Really good running between the wickets there on debut. Forkers has looked fairly tentative so far.

 

[Riggins]

Debut poll

Who's played the best so far on debut?
[] Milo Kerrigan
[] James Forkers Faulkner
[] Chris Stokes Foakes Woakes

Yeah it's gotta be steve smith. that 'cut shot' ... my god.

 

[Cabinet96]

Odd session really. Pick two frontline spinners and don't bowl either of them for two hours.

 

[Daemon]

Stayed up till tea just to see how Kerrigan would go on his second day.

**** you Cook.

 

[GotSpin]

Good tea break on debut

 

[Spikey]

disappointing stuff from the oval crowd. not treating their new god with the respect he deserves

 

[ajdude]

**** it i'm going to bed. hopefully i wake up to smith hitting 200 runs in the final session

 

[Riggins]

samesies.

 

[Spikey]

Daniel Brettig ‏@danbrettig 1m
In this 2012 piece, Chris Rogers wrote why he thought Smith was progressing best among young Aust batsmen Chris Rogers: Is Australian batting at an ebb? | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo … #ashes

completely forgot about that article.

 

[Spark]

Odd session really. Pick two frontline spinners and don't bowl either of them for two hours.

Plus, with a newish ball and such good swing bowling conditions, you'd really have hoped to get more than one specialist bat...

 

[Ruckus]

That's mental fragility, basically. And excellent bowling.

yeah it is mostly mental fragility imo (some obv technical issues notwithstanding). You mentioned that this must be the first time in ages two of our top order batsmen other than Clarke have tonned up...well given the context of this match, I can't say I think it's entirely a coincidence it happened now. In any case though, it's still good for players like Watson and Smith to get the 100 monkey of their back before the Aus series.

 

[Uppercut]

And when Uppercut says this, you know it's true.

Haha yeah. Although I just checked and there's actually been a bit more of a differential again recently. Team records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[NUFAN]

disappointing stuff from the oval crowd. not treating their new god with the respect he deserves

They are not a very knowledgeable crowd, I mean ffs they let Cabinet in.

 

[andyc]

Yeah it's gotta be steve smith. that 'cut shot' ... my god.