England's declaration

[ankitj]

May be we will soon find out Bazball is not some revolutionary new approach to test cricket but just random **** from people who don't properly respect test cricket that is yet to get exposed. This declaration, like the one against NZ earlier, makes no sense.

 

[ankitj]

What do people think of this?

 

[Son Of Coco]

What do people think of this?

View attachment 36098

I think he is about to get bowled.

 

[GIMH]

You can’t always get away against decent sides by simply playing mind games.

Even if it were due to weather, this is a first game in 5 test series ffs. It’s not like your side is tailing by 1-2 and this is the last game, so that you have to win it in order to level the series. I would take my chance with rain and continue batting without any pressure of enforcing the result.

If you have an obvious advantage, why would you willingly give it up? It was a silly decision regardless of the final outcome.

This is a completely different mentality though.

We first saw the reality of how Stokes wanted to win at all costs when we played NZ at Trent Bridge, 1-0 up with a game to go, the only we would likely lose would be playing hard at the target and risking wickets - but that was also the only way we would win, and win we did.

Now you could argue the declaration here doesn’t increase our chances of winning, that’s a different argument. But securing the draw is never on the agenda for Stokes.

 

[ankitj]

I think he is about to get bowled.

I know. But how weird.

 

[Adders]

I know. But how weird.

Clearly the work of people that don't properly respect test cricket.

 

[Burgey]

Clearly the work of people who were desperate for a wicket, which is fair enough given the pitch and the state of the game then.

Cummins didn’t help Usman in the latter part of that partnership. Not surprising as a tail ender he doesn’t rotate the strike very well, but he seemed to have almost all of it for about half an hour there.

 

[ankitj]

Now you could argue the declaration here doesn’t increase our chances of winning, that’s a different argument.

Yeah declaration in 3rd innings is generally a good way to push for a result. Declaring in first innings at under 400 when no time has been lost due to weather until that point in time is quite ... unusual.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah declaration in 3rd innings is generally a good way to push for a result. Declaring in first innings at under 400 when no time has been lost due to weather until that point in time is quite ... unusual.

Agree and believe me I was as stunned as anyone when it happened. But we did know by then that time would be lost to weather.

 

[Zinzan]

I'm all for the aggressive new English approach but that declaration was plain stupid for me against Australia. They could have added another 30 runs or so which could turn out to be crucial.

 

[GIMH]

Clearly the work of people who were desperate for a wicket, which is fair enough given the pitch and the state of the game then.

Cummins didn’t help Usman in the latter part of that partnership. Not surprising as a tail ender he doesn’t rotate the strike very well, but he seemed to have almost all of it for about half an hour there.

Yeah I drove up to my old man’s and had TMS on, just after they last went off and the stats for Khawaja’s run scoring after Carey went were so much lower than prior to. A bit naive from a generally good captain to not manage that situation a bit better?

 

[Burgey]

He's been way out of form for ages with the bat tbh, and I don't know that strike rotation has ever really been his strong suit anyway. He and Khawaja should probably have knocked back some singles towards the end of the over, but then again if they did that and didn't get a lead they'd have been crucified for not taking every available run.

 

[Prince EWS]

L M A O
M
A
O

lmao.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Now that we know the result of the match, I voted worst in test history.

 

[ataraxia]

Genius. The game might have been drawn otherwise. You know what's worse than a loss? Yes, a draw. We can't have that. Quietly brilliant.

 

[Chrish]

Don’t care about the result but would be hilarious if this game ends up costing England whole series..

 

[Prince EWS]

Don’t care about the result but would be hilarious if this game ends up costing England whole series..

Or if they lose 5-0 with five first innings declarations.

 

[Athlai]

Bazball'd

 

[straw man]

Having seen the match result, I have now voted 'genius'.

 

[Line and Length]

The declaration, while risky in hindsight, wasn't the biggest factor contributing to the result.Missed chances by Bairstow was the major difference between the sides.