A.R.S.E.

Well, I have to say, that was pretty epic having had some sleep. Even though the Aussies fucked it completely.

Test cricket, jesus it can deliver at times.

Turned it off just after lunch! Should have stayed up.. Crazy finish.. Tim Paine has to be in the hot seat right?

nutty wrote:Turned it off just after lunch! Should have stayed up.. Crazy finish.. Tim Paine has to be in the hot seat right?

Well it was very poor captaincy, and that DRS burn when it was going down leg was stupid to the extreme.

I still think it boiled down to a few things.

Poor bowling, especially with the new ball.

Poor umpiring. Really, that LBW was fucking plum!

Poor captaincy.

And the big one. Stokes' innings was something I havent seen before. 2 off 57 balls. Then once Bairstow came in he accelerated. And fucking kept accelerating. I think he is a c**t of a bloke, but what a cricketer.

Went to bed at lunch too, but really by that point I thought we'd well and truly lost the initiative and I knew the poms had it.

Actually having just read up on Stokes innings I'm damn annoyed I didn't stay up and watch it now. Sounds breathtaking.

Jamo wrote:Actually having just read up on Stokes innings I'm damn annoyed I didn't stay up and watch it now. Sounds breathtaking.

I've not seen many like that. The guy is a fucking prick, but boy he can play cricket.

Christ he's a mess to look at. But fuck it works!

Warner..... Jesus, I don't hide my dislike of the bloke, but he is better than this. Something wrong there.

I would leave him out of the next test. Not in form and the hostile crowd seem to be getting to him.

Should never have come back in.

Fuck him off and leave him out for good.

Harsh.... But I cannot disagree.

Yeah I do feel the same but I'm trying to be nice

I think he does, even in this form, add a certain and much needed degree of toughness to the team. Just more quietly than previously.

Welcome to test cricket Joffrey!

So they knock Smith out for a test and then he makes a double hundred

Smith has the best average in an Ashes series now. 147.25 v's Bradman 139.4

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... ype=trophy

English work colleague today.

"norbs, you have 1 guy, take Smith away and you guys dont win a thing".

Deadly silence when i responded "Ben Stokes".

Amazing how many of the better English teams have been built around that one golden balls all rounder - Greig, Botham, Flintoff, Stokes.

+ Only two of them are English

Though there's a rumour that Steve Smith is actually a refugee from The Planet Krikkit. Pretty sure he's dinky die.

I need this to stop. I am dying from sleep dep.

Ashes coming back.

Me too mate.... Living dead right now.

Fuck it was gripping, nothing beats Test Cricket.

I've only been watching the highlights which could be biasing my view a bit but I don't recall seeing so many clean bowled angling so far off the seam.

Has been a good series. Someone has had to really stand up and win it for the their teams. Relieved we won as went to bed worried this was going to be a draw when Bairstow/Buttler batted out the middle session.

Sarsippius wrote:I've only been watching the highlights which could be biasing my view a bit but I don't recall seeing so many clean bowled angling so far off the seam.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id ... lia-attack

A really good article there DB that explains the how and why it is happening.

Warner fails yet again!!!

I'm starting to get the impression that Steve Smith is actually batshit insane, the way he carries on at the crease is borderline inhuman. Almost like he's got a miniature cattle prod up his arse. I can understand why it really pisses off the opposition and it would annoy the Umpires too.

I struggle to watch him bat, effective as he is there's zero class there.

I'm really not convinced Warner hit that, the snicko noise seemed out of sync with the ball/bat.