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well there's the first howler for the day - keeper muffed the run out
not good signs

seen absolutely nothing to suggest anything will change
so many easy runs just handed to England
extremely blessed there's been three poor shots for wickets
they needed to bowl England out
the half track dogshit that this lot just keep dishing up

I guess Bairstow being stranded on 99 was a win for Aust of sorts.....only if you ignore the fact, he belted those 99 runs off  only 80 odd deliveries.

So the Baggy Blue bowling cartel each pick up a 5 for in this series......one would think that shortens the odds of all 3 being picked in the starting 11 for the 5th test.

Just going on pure "cookedness" ( if that is such a word)  all 3 look more then well done....Cummins wont be rested/dropped.... because..... well how does that look resting /dropping your skipper for the series decider. Sadly can see all 3 playing......whilst fresher bodies in Boland and Neser,will be left on the back burner to simmer. 

Next 2 and bit hours will show how much fight is left in that Aust dressing room.....losing a wicket on the cusp of tea was a given.....with over 900 runs scored so far, Aust have no excuses what so ever being no more then 3 down by stumps....but hey Woakes hasnt even had a bowl yet.....

the rot continued right from the get go - two chances boshed inside the first 20 minutes
and some of the poorest bowling and field sets I've seen since the dark days of the mid 80's
the incompetant dickhead that hired McDonald needs to be shown the roughest door along with the idiot
my god what a mess this set up has sunk to
and it is far from just me saying this , it's everywhere now

It's starting to look like 2005.
Wood has been the X factor in tests 3+4.
The Poms are on a roll now
R+P lol
Whats wrong with bowling top of off stump.When your leaking a run a ball

Let’s not forget the forgotten man who’s been struck down by injuries for the last couple of years who totally destroyed the Aussies before that Joffra Archer. Can you imagine him steaming in with Wood at the other end?

Stokes is still on one leg, after two or three overs I often hear pommy commentators say Wood looks exhausted so he must be carrying something. The old saying let’s not go down without a fight just doesn’t apply here when you lose total faith in your bowlers ability to take wickets by sticking everyone on the fence.

Losing Nathan Lyon seems like the turning point in this series and England’s batsmen have developed a taste for Aussie quick bowling in his absence. And I thought it was pretty strange to play this World Series championship decider what was it a week or two before a 5 test Ashes series? In effect the Aussies are playing 6 consecutive test matches. A very big ask and it’s showing, especially away from home.

A couple of observations on Day 3

When the bowlers actually pitched the ball up, they took 5-79 on either side of lunch

When Anderson came in they started bowling short again and Bairstow cut loose.

Warner chopped a ball onto his stumps for the umpteenth time in the series, has any one on the coaching staff tried to do some work with him on his technique or do they leave it all up to the players? ( if the latter, what is the use of having coaches at all)

Wood is shaping as the "Mitchell Johnson 2013 model" of this series. He is scaring the life out of the Australian batsmen.

It is sad to see the decline of Steve Smith happening before our very eyes. He has been a great player and may well make more centuries before he finishes up but the English players and crowd have got into his head and he looks mentally shot whenever he goes out to bat.

England will probably need about 2 -3 hours of dry weather to finish this game off and to the Oval we go for the decider

 

you're right about keeping the ball up - the Dukes takes that well in the UK
but there are a few big Tuskers in that room
Warner is too old he's finished and should have been sacked 2 years ago
Green is softer than butter in fact he's water - someone needs to pull this one aside & harden this fuck up
Starc is just all over the place and couldn't string 6 together even if it was manufactured
Hazelwood has been worked out & hammered
Cummins has been targeted and they've won that
they rely on a 38 yo spinner yet waste 2 or 3 good legspin prospects and now Murphy
Zampa should have been on the tour

Tall order ahead, even with the expected rain delays. Uzzie, Warner and Smith, for senior batsmen, got rolled through poor shot selection. Smith looks like he has had enough and lost the fight TBH, can see this as his last overseas tour and retirement beckoning over  the Aust summer.

No way McDonald is getting the flick, despite his penchant for apparent hand holding, hair rustling and ballad crooning. That WTC, sub continent drought ending series win and SA/WI shellackings, will give him a life line till his contract ends.

However I can see Cummins stepping aside after all this, the vilification isnt worth it and it's quite obvious, captaining at the elite level, is far easier when fielding at slip/ gully or point then from the top of your bowling mark. Cummins is more valuable to Aust cricket, if he only has to worry about his bowling. 

Definitely feel Bailey and Dodemaide should be in the firing line as well....hindsight is a wonderful thing, but geez wouldn't be nice if Johnson or Morris were in the squad to fight fire with fire v the Eng batsmen....nope let's pick two reserve openers, even though Warner was going to be given 5 tests to prove his worth.

Wow did you hear what Hazlewood said in the press conference after play. Generally when players are asked about the weather they give a reply along the lines of "well we can't control the conditions but we will fight hard if there is play out there" . What Hazlewood said was that he hoped there would be significant rain interruptions to save Australias bacon.

Probably an honest comment but a devastating insight into the mindset of this Australian dressing room. They have been playing for a draw from ball one of this test and this has turned them into a defensive passive group that look like they are hating their cricket and just want it to be all over.

All this player power stuff is well and good when the team are dominating weaker opponents but the approach has been found wanting against stronger teams.  What they now need is a strong leader to take control, tell the players a few home truths and demand a better performance because that (and the rain) is the only thing that is going to stop England from being the first team since the Bradman era to come from 2 nil down to win the ashes