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One of the biggest differences has been the fielding efforts - Oz has murdered the England team and even the field placements too
But their batting is near on second or third grade in comparison - our tail in this match wagged enough to set challenging lead for example
But even so I didn't see today at all , I thought they'd show a bit of spine 
how wrong can you be !

You'd think the pommy coach is on the way out as I saw somewhere he's the sole selector for this tour plus I think they've only won one test out of the last 12...please correct me if I'm wrong on that BH. Root and Anderson are world class, Malan has a red hot crack as does Wood. Stokes disappointing but should rebound and the rest you can raffle including Buttler who is way too inconsistent with his keeping. On to Sydney where Boland could very well miss out for Hazlewood or even Swepson such is the depth of Australia's bowling stocks at the moment with Richardson and Neser also set to miss. Australia's top 7 looks set for the rest of the series after this test with just some tweaking to our bowlers.

Looks like a 06/07 five -0 whitewash again.. England are beaten on and off the field.The last hour of day 2 ended the seriers.And England collapsed like a house of cards.
Stuart Broad dropped for Melbourne..Beat the bat at least 30 times in Adelaide.Bowled lucklessly like Anderson and Robinson did.The Preparation for this series with no hitouts Vs state sides,was a disaster for England.That could of produced Roots maiden Aussie century in Au.
The players didn't want to tour.They care less about COVID over there.If 100,000 get the virus each day.And around 300 die doesn't worry them to much.
Joe Clarke and Kyle Mills are in great BBL form.And England have approached there BBL sides about possible international call ups.Just send the players home that don't want to be here.

The pitch was an absolute disgrace. Certainly below the standard you would expect for a test match. No batsman from either side looked comfortable at any stage and the guys who made runs rode their luck. Harris played and missed over 20 times during his brave innings and was also nearly caught or stumped on a number of other occasions. Boland has been an honest trundler at shield level for many years and he always bowls well at the MCG but for him to get 6 - 7 in his first test is ridiculous and an indication that this was not a genuine contest between bat and ball. Certainly England failed to show the discipline and technique to survive on the pitch that Australias batsmen did yesterday. You could argue that they had pretty much thrown in the towel today. The lead of 82 was worth a lot more than it usually would on a decent pitch.  The MCC have deprived themselves of another 2 days of 30000 crowds due to this test match finishing so quickly

mikeh wrote:

The pitch was an absolute disgrace. Certainly below the standard you would expect for a test match. No batsman from either side looked comfortable at any stage and the guys who made runs rode their luck. Harris played and missed over 20 times during his brave innings and was also nearly caught or stumped on a number of other occasions. Boland has been an honest trundler at shield level for many years and he always bowls well at the MCG but for him to get 6 - 7 in his first test is ridiculous and an indication that this was not a genuine contest between bat and ball. Certainly England failed to show the discipline and technique to survive on the pitch that Australias batsmen did yesterday. You could argue that they had pretty much thrown in the towel today. The lead of 82 was worth a lot more than it usually would on a decent pitch.  The MCC have deprived themselves of another 2 days of 30000 crowds due to this test match finishing so quickly

But Mike that reputable figure Shane Warne tells us each and every year that the Boxing Day Test at the MCG will get 100,000 each day and the weather will be 30+ every day and the pitch is the best in the world etc etc........... 

Of interest to WAFL fans if not already discussed, is that Scott Boland is Matt Boland’s cousin? He who won the Simpson medal in the 2015 GF kicking 7 for Subi 

mikeh wrote:

The pitch was an absolute disgrace. Certainly below the standard you would expect for a test match. No batsman from either side looked comfortable at any stage and the guys who made runs rode their luck. Harris played and missed over 20 times during his brave innings and was also nearly caught or stumped on a number of other occasions. Boland has been an honest trundler at shield level for many years and he always bowls well at the MCG but for him to get 6 - 7 in his first test is ridiculous and an indication that this was not a genuine contest between bat and ball. Certainly England failed to show the discipline and technique to survive on the pitch that Australias batsmen did yesterday. You could argue that they had pretty much thrown in the towel today. The lead of 82 was worth a lot more than it usually would on a decent pitch.  The MCC have deprived themselves of another 2 days of 30000 crowds due to this test match finishing so quickly

Mike, I think batsmen are so used to "roads" these days that they struggle when confronted with a wicket that's doing a bit.
It's a shame the game lasted less than seven sessions but it's better than a draw where both sides score 500-plus in their first innings. 
Full credit to Marcus Harris, who deserved some luck after falling victim to a couple of freak Jos Buttler catches in Adelaide.
Harris scores 76 and we lead by 82, a deficit I thought England would erase with ease.
However, I'm "guilty as charged" of drastically overestimating the To and Froms' extremely modest batting ability.
Truth be known, you take out Joe Root and they'd have to be the worst batting line-up to tour this country in my lifetime.
England has produced dour batsmen of the ilk of Trevor Bailey, Ken Barrington, John Edrich (these first three deceased), Geoff Boycott and Chris Tavare - blokes who'd bore the pants off both their opponents and the fans - but these days they only have players with an appetite for white-ball cricket.
Personally, I rate Scott Boland as a bit more than an "honest trundler", but I suspect he'll join a list that includes Bob Massie, Jason Krejza, Tony Dodemaide, Rod Hogg and Peter Taylor, whose best Test figures came in their debut game.
 

Outside of the 1986/87 and 2010/11 Summers Australia have pretty much completely dominated England on our turf in my cricket following lifetime Arch.

1979/80- AUS won 3-0 (3 Test Series but no Ashes)
1982/83- AUS won 2-1 (2 draws) England's only win was at the MCG after a great last wicket partnership by Border & Thomson almost got us home.
1986/87- ENG won 2-1 (2 draws)
1987/88- Draw (Bicentennial Test)
1990/91- AUS won 3-0 (2 draws)
1994/95- AUS won 3-1 (1 draw)
1998/99- AUS won 3-1 (1 draw)
2002/03- AUS won 4-1 (1 draw)
2006/07- AUS won 5-0
2010/11- ENG won 3-1 (1 draw)
2013/14- AUS won 5-0
2017/18- AUS won 4-0 (1 draw)
2021/22- AUS lead 3-0 (after 3 Tests)

AUS- 37 Test wins
ENG- 9 Test wins
Drawn- 12

*1979/80 Series and the 1988 Bicentennial Test were not part of Ashes Series.
 

Great stats, Beas.
I'm estimating that I have a decade on you in the "Age Stakes", so I can add:
1970/71- ENG won 2-0 (4 draws, ignoring the 3rd Test that was washed out without a ball being bowled)
1974/75- AUS won 4-1 (1 draw)
1976/77- AUS won 1-0 (this was the Centenary Test)
1978/79- ENG won 5-1 
Of course, the Australian side of the late 1970s was decimated by World Series Cricket, but the 1978-79 England team would've been a pretty good outfit in any era.
Combining these stats with yours gives:
AUS- 43 Test wins
ENG- 17 Test wins
Drawn- 17
A late addition to the England stonewallers' list: Colin Cowdrey (I admired his courage as a 42-year-old facing Jeff Thomson)
 

Archie Duda Goal Machine wrote:

mikeh wrote:

The pitch was an absolute disgrace. Certainly below the standard you would expect for a test match. No batsman from either side looked comfortable at any stage and the guys who made runs rode their luck. Harris played and missed over 20 times during his brave innings and was also nearly caught or stumped on a number of other occasions. Boland has been an honest trundler at shield level for many years and he always bowls well at the MCG but for him to get 6 - 7 in his first test is ridiculous and an indication that this was not a genuine contest between bat and ball. Certainly England failed to show the discipline and technique to survive on the pitch that Australias batsmen did yesterday. You could argue that they had pretty much thrown in the towel today. The lead of 82 was worth a lot more than it usually would on a decent pitch.  The MCC have deprived themselves of another 2 days of 30000 crowds due to this test match finishing so quickly

Mike, I think batsmen are so used to "roads" these days that they struggle when confronted with a wicket that's doing a bit.
It's a shame the game lasted less than seven sessions but it's better than a draw where both sides score 500-plus in their first innings. 
Full credit to Marcus Harris, who deserved some luck after falling victim to a couple of freak Jos Buttler catches in Adelaide.
Harris scores 76 and we lead by 82, a deficit I thought England would erase with ease.
However, I'm "guilty as charged" of drastically overestimating the To and Froms' extremely modest batting ability.
Truth be known, you take out Joe Root and they'd have to be the worst batting line-up to tour this country in my lifetime.
England has produced dour batsmen of the ilk of Trevor Bailey, Ken Barrington, John Edrich (these first three deceased), Geoff Boycott and Chris Tavare - blokes who'd bore the pants off both their opponents and the fans - but these days they only have players with an appetite for white-ball cricket.
Personally, I rate Scott Boland as a bit more than an "honest trundler", but I suspect he'll join a list that includes Bob Massie, Jason Krejza, Tony Dodemaide, Rod Hogg and Peter Taylor, whose best Test figures came in their debut game.



 

Certainly see where you are coming from ADGM, this test was certainly more compelling to watch than the bore fest Cook double century game 4 years ago. I still think there is a happy medium though where a pitch can offer all players a chance over a 5 day period, so seamers can get wickets on a green pitch on day 1, it flattens out a bit on days 2 and 3, giving batsmen a chance to score big if they are good enough then spin starts coming into it on days 4 and 5 making a result very much a possibility. This Melbourne pitch was very hard for batsmen to survive on days 2 and 3 because of the inconsistent bounce. You would not have felt 'in' as a batsman at any stage of your innings. That certainly makes for an exciting contest but also a quick one!  

As far as England are concerned, I think they need to look at their domestic set up because their summers are now dominated by 20/20 cricket and this new 100 competition whereas the County Championship has been relegated in status. This is happening in Australia as well with the BBL taking over the midsummer domestic action but I read somewhere that many of the English test players have hardly played any domestic first class cricket over the past 12 months whereas the Australians who were not involved in the T20 World Cup were able to play in several Sheffield Shield games prior to the Ashes series. Marcus Harris also played a season of county cricket in England.  I think this does make a difference when you are playing long form cricket more regularly