TOPIC:

ArkRoyal wrote: well done Australia.

gtr: any chance England might bat Bairstow in the top four?
anch: handscombe at five could be vulnerable for the Perth test

He looks solid in the middle order Ark.Wouldnt move Bairstow ATM.Sir Ian Both recons Stokes will be available for Adelaide next Friday.If the Police drop the charges the ECB won't suspend him..Eng has lost all the big moments in the last 4 sessions..It looks like if Cooke fails there under extreme pressure.

Ark did you hear about what Stewart Broad done last time he was in Australia. He played a few Big Bash games for one of the Sydney teams.
Between matches he was sightseeing on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.With his wife and young child in a pram.He grabbed someone trying to jump off the bridge.Held the person down till the Police arrived.Assume there is CCTV cameras all over the bridge.Not. Sure if it's old news I only heard ysrda.

Looks like the ECB are investigating John Bairstow for head butting Cameron Bancroft at the OBH 3 weeks ago, probably the reason why Bairstow was constantly sledged while batting today.

I was surprised how quickly England unravelled today after being ultra competitive on Days 1 - 3. All it really needed was for one of Ali, Root or Bairstow to convert their score into a century and Australia would have had a 250 chase which would have been a lot trickier.When push came to shove maybe the Aussies had more self belief on a ground that has been their fortress for the past 30 years.

One would like to think knocking off these remaining 50 odd runs will be a walk in the park....sadly it wouldn't be Aust without a stagger somewhere...LOL....great to see Warner and Bancroft kick off their partnership with a century test stand....hopefully a few more to come.

Starc does what he does best....wickets in a clutter.....seems to of been a nice spread across the board of wicket takers....now for the batsmen to follow suit sharing the load....can't rely on the skipper all the time, amazing to see some of those Root field placements trying to frustrate Smith and his scoring....great disciplined knock....he has come such a long way in the last 4-5 years batting wise....

anchorman wrote: Paines stumping of Ali was super glovemanship.His insistance of revuing the Broad catch was also great knowledge of the game.
One mistake and I am sure that all would be forgiven now.

Paine has not cemented his spot through one regulation stumping, and what a controversial one it was. I thought the review was inconclusive, it didn't clearly show any of his foot behind the line so therefore the batsman Ali was rightly given out I reckon.

Great to see Bancroft and Warner take Aust through for a 10 wicket win....confidence booster or what.....obviously no changes will be made but hey if Aust could rest one of their fast boys and play Adeliade oval specialist in Sayers and still win would surely be Eng death knell....won't happen but geez that would be a confidence killer for the touring side.

Obviously the bowlers sharing the load and wickets helped rolled Eng twice pretty cheaply....Smith obviously kept Aust in the game with his unbeaten 100....good to see Marsh, Bancroft and Warner contribute when required.....pressure on Handscomb and Kawhaja to deliver in Adeliade....

Would think there is a great deal more pressure on Usman, the selectors would have an easy out on the ability to play off spin.
They were a little harsh on Renshaw and if they discarded Handscomb they could (note the could) be seen as unforgiving to players who delivered in a trying period last summer.

anchorman wrote:

Tiger of old wrote:

anchorman wrote: Paines stumping of Ali was super glovemanship.His insistance of revuing the Broad catch was also great knowledge of the game.
One mistake and I am sure that all would be forgiven now.

Paine has not cemented his spot through one regulation stumping, and what a controversial one it was. I thought the review was inconclusive, it didn't clearly show any of his foot behind the line so therefore the batsman Ali was rightly given out I reckon.

Surely you are TTP!!!! Inconclusive!!!! Didn't clearly show his foot behind the line!!!! So how can it be inconclusive?
Out seven days a week and on Sunday as well.
Regulation stumping!!!! you really are TTP.Listen to the experts and what they are saying.
Nobody has said he has cemented his place, but gee he looked better than the other two candidates.
Sour grapes TOO.

For what its worth I'm of the view it was inconculsive, which would mean benefit of the doubt goes to the batsman.
I'm no expert though, Michael Clarke had the same opinion though. Is he an expert? Or are the commentators with a differing view to him the experts? This is me just shows doubt and when there is doubt who is it supposed to be in favour of?
Was a sharp bit of work by Paine and far from regulation, that does't mean it was actually out.
Judging by most online and media commentary there aren't too many in the batting line up who are assured of their spots.
That is as much a players problem as it is a selectors problem, because just maybe the selectors are contributing to this.

That head butting stuff was just a storm in a tea cup, confirmed by both parties. However I did enjoy watching Cameron Bancroft explaining the incident to the media pack. It was very funny and a refreshing change from the usual sanitised cliche ridden press conferences given by players. Goodness me, a player honestly decribing what actually happened without any spin! What is the world coming to?. I thought Steve Smith ( who was sitting next to Bancroft )was going to choke , he was laughing so much.