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the other elephant I should have mentioned is that Australia's heirachy are shit scared of those small irregular English boundaries - the field sets are just science fiction 

England got it right in selection for this test with Wood and Woakes playing major parts in their victory. It will be interesting to see if they persist with Bairstow as wicketkeeper or if they bring Foakes in. Robinson will probably go out for Anderson as someone else said.

Australia will be pondering changes to their bowling. A lot will depend on the pitch but unless it is a raging turner I think they would probably be better bringing in another seamer to share the workload around. Hazlewood will come back probably for Boland but Neser may be in the frame as well. No point in playing Murphy if he is only going to bowl 10 overs in the match. Green will come back if fit which will be tough on Marsh. Everyone knows that Warner is shot mentally but I wonder if any of the selectors have the guts to stand up and say lets try someone else. Cricket is a team sport and the needs of the team should always come over and above the feelings of any particular individual.

This is a fascinating series because the teams are so evenly matched, there are star players in both teams who often carry their teams on their backs. Both teams tend to have bad sessions where they throw away promising positions due to questionable tactics.  Momentum has shifted to and fro  in all the games. 

From Australias point of view they are 2- 1 up and they want to finish off the series at Old Trafford so what they do selection wise in the next week will determine whether they can achieve this goal

Yes, it is one of those times where you can blame the bowlers for the loss, Duckett being the only player to get a good ball. Someone should teach Crawley to play on the back foot.

Would be nice if we can catch a break and win a toss. England have won all three so far and had a massive advantage of getting the best of the conditions, even when it rained, they were in the box seat when play resumed. The real game changer is losing Lyon, the Goat would have been the difference in this test and would have been in the remaining 2. The brain dead bowling tactics and field placings are hard to figure out. Even my bride was asking why there weren't more slips, gully etc, the only way we would win is by taking wickets, the runs were never the issue, so what does Carbon Cummins do? place most on the boundary to prevent boundaries, then bowl short which allowed the batters to hit 6's over their heads .... really???

Senior Seagull wrote:

The brain dead bowling tactics and field placings are hard to figure out. 

Have to agree. We gave them a sniff with equally dumb tactics in the second test and then gifted them free runs in the third with U12s type constant changing of fielding positions and some incredibly dumb bowling to Stokes in the first innings. 

We could just as easily be 0-3 down in this series, that's how tight it has been. The lower order collapse in the first innings cost us any chance of putting the boot to the throat of the pommy sooks.  

Don't appoint fast bowlers as captain, you can never get the ball out of their hands, they hate bowling slow bowlers and they haven't got a fkn clue how to set a field and bowl to it. What was Ronald doing while all this shite was going on??? Checking out Waze for the quickest way back to the hotel????

Just heard a press conference of Cummins in which he said that Murphy would be playing at Old Trafford and would bowl more overs than he had at Headingly. So it looks like Hazlewood for Boland will be the only change to the front line attack. He didnt give a view on Marsh V Green, but interestingly he was non committal when asked if Warner would play in the 4th test.

So maybe they will drop him on the basis of his issues with Broad. If they do this you can guarantee he will be back in the team for both the World Cup and the Australian Test summer so he can retire as planned after the Sydney Test. His test average in Australia is around 60 and while I think he has outstayed his welcome, he has been a good enough player over the years to deserve the chance to go out on his own terms.  If Australia want to beat England though it is important that they have a better start to their innings than they have had to reduce the pressure on the middle order. 

Assuming the weather is OK in England there will almost certainly be 2 more results in this series and Australia will be desperate to take the sting out of the series at Old Trafford rather going to the Oval at 2- 2 . If this happens the whole country will be cheering on the Poms. They missed a great opportunity to finish it all yesterday and they must grab any chance they get from now on by being brave and not over defensive.

I think they will make a couple of changes. First one i see is Murphy makes way for Green, He bats 6, Marsh 7 and Carey 8. That strengthens the batting. I think they then rely on Head, Sapre bus change and Smith for spinning overs if they need to bowl them. Last time (2019) we play at Manchester Lyon only got two wickets and i think the poms realise to get 20 wickets themselves they need something in the wicket. 

I think Warner is done but I think the selectors will give him 1 more chance. I just can't see Harris making too many more as he hasn't had a hit in the middle for months in a real game (though nor did Marsh.) Warner is definitely better than Harris in the field, however if Warner is dropped and they play Marsh he could easily slip into first slip but its a risk changing the slips cordon, that's the one area we have been all over England.

I also agree, it's time we won a toss. Its interesting reading or almost bordering on arrogance - the Pommy papers are all claiming England will win 3-2. They were lucky as we have said some dumb captaincy and a couple of brain fades with the bat cost us 100 runs in the last test. Change that result and we are 3-0 up.

where is the Australian counter-attack that is our DNA ???
apart from Head & Marsh there's been little well actually none
it would only be Bailey & McDonald who would select Warner for Broad's home ground Test
I know what Lance Morris could do to few England chins right now - where exactly is he George Bailey you fecken clown?

Don't think there is any chance of Warner being selected to play at Broad's home ground, no tests scheduled at Trent Bridge this series.

Whilst I agree Warner needs to go, he won't, because he is currently averaging 23 this series. Langer and the selectors had no probs sticking with Warner when he averaged 9 last series, unfortunately a precedent has been set, one which Warner is comfortably meeting and more. Cheers JL et al.

Be great to have a Spencer Johnson or Lance Morris in the squad, to fight fire with fire.....but isn't Morris injured? That's why he couldnt take up that county stint pre Ashes and not selected in the touring squad.

Neser is off playing county cricket, hopefully with the intention to give him some actual match practice instead of net practice. What's the bet he pulls a hammy?

Interesting to read Marsh thinks there is no room for him and Green in the same 11.....christ I'd be picking Marsh, Green.... and Neser for Old Trafford. Anderson is 40 odd, Broad on his 4th test at 37, Wood is a fantastic express bowler, but injury prone....Aust needs to bat deep and keep those 3 out on the park for 140 + overs....see how effective they are then.

As for the short ball tactic to the tail, Aust needs to revisit that, can't believe McDonald and Cummins are that tyrannical to enforce such a tactic, Thought the problem was, those two were too friendly to enforce anything on the playing group. Surely it must be a team collective agreement to enforce that strategy...not working that is for sure.



 

Marsh must play ahead of Green if it comes to that.