3rd Ashes Test - Australia v England - MCG

[RammyClaret61]

Almost an even session till then.

[RammyClaret61]

Looks like some have gone to bed.......

Wish I could go to bed. But it’s only lunchtime and I’m sat in the bloody ground. Oh well. Time for a very expensive weak beer.

[thedoge]

I'll give it a bit longer,Starc's back should be interesting

[Quickenthetempo]

England been very watchful apart from Root.

The ball hasn't done as much as expected so I'm glad we are batting now, as conditions look to being more batter friendly.

[grapidianclaret]

We will win this test match.
Merry christmas.

[Quickenthetempo]

Root gives his wicket away again after making 50.

[Gunfury]

Don't panic Root's going to score a ton so he says, personally I'd rather guys did their talking on the field than in the media, if he fails in Melbourne now he's going to be left with egg on his face following his comments.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59764695

He was half right….pointless waft outside off stump

[The Enclosure]

Stokes gone

[The Enclosure]

115-5

[The Enclosure]

The same old story
It's been told much too much before
The same old story
But it's worth telling just once more

[Taffy on the wing]

OOF!.......Stokes is horribly out of form......were all done.

Ray Illingworth would switch off now too!......We have no Grit!

[The Enclosure]

128-5 at tea.

[Petersa]

128-6 at tea. If Buttler plays for England again after that shot I give up

[Lord_Bob]

This is hard to watch. The only saving grace, and I am not sure it is one, is that it is only 8:45pm here and so I haven't stayed up half the night watching this. Problem is, I will have to watch the rest of it.

Time for a complete re-think. I'd start with Foakes - has to play next summer.

We have no spinner, so what about Crane? Parkinson?

Need Stone and Archer fit as Broad and Jimmy, sadly, are long in the tooth.

I have no clue where to find someone to solve the top order issue. Crawley I think might make it, was on a hiding to nothing today given his lack of preparation. Hameed, sorry, not going to be the answer. He was so far back in his crease he was almost stepping on his stumps. Burns will have to come back I suppose.

What a cluster. But we are leading the world at The Hundred, so all is not lost.

[RVclaret]

Just rubbish

[RammyClaret61]

Just getting home now. I’ll be honest. I’ve enjoyed being at the cricket. But like watching Burnley 4th Div days, great day out, shame about the football.

England just can’t bat. Then we don’t open the bowling with the fastest man on the field. And when we do, into the blood wind.

One positive. Cheat Warner is out. 61-1 at stumps.

[RVclaret]

Is this the worst England team to ever tour Australia? Certainly in my lifetime.

[Newcastleclaret93]

Is this the worst England team to ever tour Australia? Certainly in my lifetime.

I certainly think it’s up there

[kentonclaret]

The one crumb of comfort I can draw is that I didn't take out a subscription to BT Sport so that I could watch the Ashes.

[Andreshotboots]

The amount of players who just give catching practice to the Australians is staggering.

To me this comes from weak management and leadership. Silverwood has nobody else to blame as he makes the selections and is solely responsible along with the captain.

Root needs to step down after this series, and Silverwood to be fired. We need a hard new coach who doesn’t accept second best, even if that means another international coach. We need somebody who’s going to get stuck into the ECB and not allow test cricket to be the 4th priority behind the 3 white ball formats, easier said than done I know!!

I think some of our players don’t rate Silverwood and almost feel like they’re above him, and that is sort of backed up by some of the absolute give away dismissals we’ve been watching.

[Shappie]

Just getting home now. I’ll be honest. I’ve enjoyed being at the cricket. But like watching Burnley 4th Div days, great day out, shame about the football.

England just can’t bat. Then we don’t open the bowling with the fastest man on the field. And when we do, into the blood wind.

One positive. Cheat Warner is out. 61-1 at stumps.

What was the atmosphere like mate?

[Colburn_Claret]

It’s not shame - we are just not good enough

It's application CT, they may be better than us, but you can put up a fight, show a bit of grit. The Clarets do it most weeks in the Prem. When lessons never get learnt, and you start off like rabbits in front of a headlight it's shameful.

[jrgbfc]

After this series Buttler should be told to concentrate on the white ball stuff. He's been given umpteen chances, his batting isn't good enough to justify leaving out your best wicket keeper (Foakes).

[RammyClaret61]

What was the atmosphere like mate?

To be honest it was quite quiet. Very small contingent of Barmy Army, although they made an effort later in the afternoon.

The Aussies seemed just intent on getting as drunk as possible, trying to start Mexican waves and basically being dicks.

The crowd was sparse at start of play 20,000 maybe. Built up to whatever they gave as the crowd. I don’t know what, but I’d say about 50,000.

It’s the first sports event I’ve been to in almost a year. Really enjoyed being there. There were 4 clarets I know of there who I met.

But unless it gets interesting, that’s me done for this test.

[KRBFC]

Nobody cares about this old fashioned stuff, this isn't cricket just a boring test of patience.

Limited overs is the future, about time they left this test cricket in the past, nobody cares to watch it.

[CleggHall]

Sadly you are right KR, in which case how do we go about abandoning test cricket?

[TheFamilyCat]

This is hard to watch. The only saving grace, and I am not sure it is one, is that it is only 8:45pm here and so I haven't stayed up half the night watching this. Problem is, I will have to watch the rest of it.

Time for a complete re-think. I'd start with Foakes - has to play next summer.

We have no spinner, so what about Crane? Parkinson?

Need Stone and Archer fit as Broad and Jimmy, sadly, are long in the tooth.

I have no clue where to find someone to solve the top order issue. Crawley I think might make it, was on a hiding to nothing today given his lack of preparation. Hameed, sorry, not going to be the answer. He was so far back in his crease he was almost stepping on his stumps. Burns will have to come back I suppose.

What a cluster. But we are leading the world at The Hundred, so all is not lost.

I wouldn't be surprised if Archer never plays test cricket again.

[SalisburyClaret]

White ball is fun but a bit like watching 5 a side. Test cricket shows where the real skill is

[Roosterbooster]

Nobody cares about this old fashioned stuff, this isn't cricket just a boring test of patience.

Limited overs is the future, about time they left this test cricket in the past, nobody cares to watch it.

I refuse to accept this

Although I dare say you might be right about numbers of people caring to watch it. Such a shame. A good test match is a joy to watch. By the time I retire and have time to do such things regularly I may no longer have much of an opportunity

[Roosterbooster]

Is this the worst England team to ever tour Australia? Certainly in my lifetime.

Probably the weakest batting lineup
The bowlers aren't the worst by a long shot

[ecc]

I suppose today's "Big Bash" cricket reflects the "30 second patience limit" of the modern era.

[bodge]

The main problem is the openers, you can't continually expose your middle order to the swinging ball, crasher Hameed has never been good enough and Burns, Crawley et al aren't much better.

Buttler and Bairstow whilst clearly talented players don't have the required patience.

[tiger76]

He was half right….pointless waft outside off stump

Bairstow, Root & Stokes all got starts, and then contrived to get themselves out, when at least one of them should have made a ton.

Not an easy pitch to bat on, but not a minefield either, and certainly not a 185 AO track that's for sure.

England's 5th innings of the series, and we've failed to reach 200 on 3 occasions, and barely passed that mark on the other 2 efforts, mainly due to Malan & Root putting on a couple of decent partnerships.

Guaranteed the Aussies will rack up 350-400 tomorrow, then roll England over yet again for a low total.

TBH this series is now becoming boring as it's so one-sided it's not enjoyable.

The one plus was Jimmy took a wicket late in the day, but that's small beer after what happened in the rest of the day.

[tiger76]

I refuse to accept this

Although I dare say you might be right about numbers of people caring to watch it. Such a shame. A good test match is a joy to watch. By the time I retire and have time to do such things regularly I may no longer have much of an opportunity

Great test matches can attract crowds, India's tour of Australia last winter illustrated that, brilliant cricket from both sides, and the series was in doubt right until the final overs.

[Buxtonclaret]

Probably the weakest batting lineup
The bowlers aren't the worst by a long shot

Athers had a pretty poor side to captain, more than once!

[Vino blanco]

I’ve been watching England play test cricket for 65 years, and I will repeat what I have been saying for the last three years: Root apart this is the worst test batting line up ever to play for England, also Root needs to consider his position as captain.

[tiger76]

Athers had a pretty poor side to captain, more than once!

True! but even in the 90's facing an almighty impressive Australian team, we usually managed to win or at least draw a test throughout the series.

This present mob doesn't look capable of even making the Aussies break sweat, and this is a decent Australian side, but not on the level of their 1990's team by a long chalk.

[KRBFC]

Great test matches can attract crowds, India's tour of Australia last winter illustrated that, brilliant cricket from both sides, and the series was in doubt right until the final overs.

generation by generation, test cricket is cared about less and less. Quite telling Sky Sports gave the ashes to BT without much resistance while continuing to broadcast Big Bash games.

[RVclaret]

generation by generation, test cricket is cared about less and less. Quite telling Sky Sports gave the ashes to BT without much resistance while continuing to broadcast Big Bash games.

See your point but then why are India, NZ and Australia still very good at test cricket too?

[jrgbfc]

True! but even in the 90's facing an almighty impressive Australian team, we usually managed to win or at least draw a test throughout the series.

This present mob doesn't look capable of even making the Aussies break sweat, and this is a decent Australian side, but not on the level of their 1990's team by a long chalk.

South Africa and the West Indies were really strong in the 90s as well. I think the overall standard of test cricket was definitely better back then.

[KRBFC]

See your point but then why are India, NZ and Australia still very good at test cricket too?

India can still draw a crowd tbf and the cricket interest in NZ will always be there. I'm not sure two countries is enough to carry the candle for test cricket viewing figures though.

[tiger76]

South Africa and the West Indies were really strong in the 90s as well. I think the overall standard of test cricket was definitely better back then.

I can't disagree with that, Sri Lanka were also a force back then, sadly test cricket now takes a back seat to the white ball formats.

[KRBFC]

I can't disagree with that, Sri Lanka were also a force back then, sadly test cricket now takes a back seat to the white ball formats.

How do you possibly beat the sheer thrill, suspense, twist and turns, back and forth, excitement of the England NZ 50 over final in test cricket?

I think the limited overs format requires considerably more skill too, every ball really does matter.

[tiger76]

How do you possibly beat the sheer thrill, suspense, twist and turns, back and forth, excitement of the England NZ 50 over final in test cricket?

I think the limited overs format requires considerably more skill too, every ball really does matter.

It requires skill of course, but the real true test of a batsman for me is scoring runs in all conditions and against different types of attacks. plus battling through difficult periods when the bowlers will be on top. then cashing in when conditions ease and the bowling tires.

Regarding test cricket not matching one day stuff, I'll raise you Headingley 81, Trent Bridge 05, and Headingley 19 as just 3 tests which will live long in the memory of cricketing fans.

[Buxtonclaret]

True! but even in the 90's facing an almighty impressive Australian team, we usually managed to win or at least draw a test throughout the series.

This present mob doesn't look capable of even making the Aussies break sweat, and this is a decent Australian side, but not on the level of their 1990's team by a long chalk.

The Aussies took Test cricket to a whole new level in the 90s.
About as high a standard of cricket you'd ever imagine.
Occasionally India could give them a game.
The West Indies bowlers sometimes worried them.

[tiger76]

The Aussies took Test cricket to a whole new level in the 90s.
About as high a standard of cricket you'd ever imagine.
Occasionally India could give them a game.
The West Indies bowlers sometimes worried them.

That 1990's Aussie side is arguably the strongest ever in test history, and it wasn't just the XI that started it was their incredible strength in depth when regulars were missing for whatever reason.

If the 90's Aussie team played the present team I'd be plumping for the 90's team to win more often than not, this current Aussie side is decent enough especially at home, but they aren't the supermen England are making them look, and they have 2 debutant bowlers featuring in this series, yet still they romped to victory in the first 2 tests, and look likely to romp to victory in Melbourne as well.

[joey13]

How do you possibly beat the sheer thrill, suspense, twist and turns, back and forth, excitement of the England NZ 50 over final in test cricket?

I think the limited overs format requires considerably more skill too, every ball really does matter.

Obviously forgotten this
https://www.skysports.com/amp/cricket/n ... ashes-epic

[RVclaret]

Obviously forgotten this
https://www.skysports.com/amp/cricket/n ... ashes-epic

This was incredible as was the Ben Stokes one last time round.

[Shappie]

To be honest it was quite quiet. Very small contingent of Barmy Army, although they made an effort later in the afternoon.

The Aussies seemed just intent on getting as drunk as possible, trying to start Mexican waves and basically being dicks.

The crowd was sparse at start of play 20,000 maybe. Built up to whatever they gave as the crowd. I don’t know what, but I’d say about 50,000.

It’s the first sports event I’ve been to in almost a year. Really enjoyed being there. There were 4 clarets I know of there who I met.

But unless it gets interesting, that’s me done for this test.

Sounds a bit of a disappointment.

I assume you can tickets easily enough if you want them?

Never done it (so far) but I’d love to watch England play cricket abroad

[Milltown1882]

The fact extras is our 3rd highest run scorer in 2021 makes this whole year just laughable at this stage.