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What an inspired selection Piddle has been
Can only hope like hell this is the final Test he ever plays along with Paine, Harris & Wade and to be honest Langer as coach should follow them out the door as well.

Would love to dream of Aust going deep here and pulling off the shock of the century....even push past 120 overs would be great....just to see Archer and Broad sweat for a bit....understatement in saying a few in that top order are due a decent score....though Smith is also due a failure too....as for last tests BH...if Aust pulls it off no one will be going anywhere soon....get bowled out within 60 overs then your wish may come true mate....

Ouch! 2-29 - I reckon the boys are already thinking about their boarding passes at Heathrow.
I think Marcus Harris will need a long stint in Shield cricket before he wears the Baggy Green again (if ever), while I reckon David Warner's Test days may be over.
Joe Burns must be pencilled in for the first Test of the summer, and whether he's joined by Matt Renshaw will depend on the latter's early Shield form.
Hoping that Steve Smith and Manus Labuschagne - our only shining lights with the bat this series - can put on 300 for the third wicket to give us an outside chance.
Freez, you're right, Smith is due for a failure, but on the flipside he only needs to score 249 for a series aggregate of 1000!

Archie Duda Goal Machine wrote: Ouch! 2-29 - I reckon the boys are already thinking about their boarding passes at Heathrow.
I think Marcus Harris will need a long stint in Shield cricket before he wears the Baggy Green again (if ever), while I reckon David Warner's Test days may be over.
Joe Burns must be pencilled in for the first Test of the summer, and whether he's joined by Matt Renshaw will depend on the latter's early Shield form.
Hoping that Steve Smith and Manus Labuschagne - our only shining lights with the bat this series - can put on 300 for the third wicket to give us an outside chance.
Freez, you're right, Smith is due for a failure, but on the flipside he only needs to score 249 for a series aggregate of 1000!

Well said.. Warner is Broad's bunny. Bowling around the wicket bamboozles him. Also Crowd are in his head.. Huge pressure now on Wade, Paine & Marsh. Also Langer must in in the firing line. Harris looks gone.

I had already put the line through Harris, Khawaja, Wade, Paine & Siddle in Test cricket but starting to think you can add Warner to that list it is probably time to move on from all of them and start again with our batting giving Burns, Renshaw, Pucovski, Head etc first dibs.
A pathetic series from our openers with the embarrassing highest partnership of 18...just pathetic!

bease: all true, and it has occurred in a context where Denley and the Scots man, Burns, have shown a little bit of fight with much sparser test records behind them comparred to some of the Aussies. Just to put it further in perspective, Dyson, whom failled in England like most batsmen from our shores, made a century in 1981.

As I posted before AR take out Smith and England have out batted us in every statistic just appalling stuff and how the hell can Hick keep his job as batting coach?!

And the stumping of Labuschagne before lunch being a big wicket too for the England side. One feels that Wade and Smith will need to have decent scores against their names. Wade has been a tad disappointing with the bat this ashes series but if they can both settle in after lunch, the Aussies are in with a chance.

Well pretty much what was expected...just Wade got the expected ton instead of Smith...no surprises with Laurel and Hardy getting out to Broad early on....lots of starts with only Wade going on....I guess with two mediocre top sixes...who were easy fodder for both opposing bowling attacks...2-2 was gonna be the "correct" scoreline...bar the Smith effect of course....what ever happened to Umpire Wilson?..no doubt a New Years OBE and UK passport is in the post for the fella.

Ashes quick summary:

Warner - Broad's bunny throughout
Harris - can't bat can't catch
Bancroft - can't bat can catch
Uzzie - same old same old
Labuschagne - Ashes revelation
Smith - Bradmanesque like
Head - need more from the fella
Wade -twin tons bookending little else
Marsh - bowling allrounder me thinks
Paine - thank you but no thank you
Cummins - ultimate thoroughbred
Pattinson -time to let the fella loose
Starc -should of played more
Siddle - should of played less
Lyon -if only with the run out and LBW
Hazelwood - found his UK ashes mojo
Neser - bowled up a storm in the nets
Langer-leftie loyalty or stubbornness?

It's been a very long English Summer.5 Ashes tests and the CwC World Cup.
Thankyou Steve Smith.I can't remember a better performance with the bat in any series.Given how fragile our batting is with Spuds like Warner.If Smiths ban was still in place .We could of lost the whole 5 tests.