Ashes 2025/6
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@barbarian said in Ashes 2025/6:
And now England refuse to field any of their XI against the PM's XI in Canberra. It's a pink ball D/N game designed as a warm-up for the Brisbane test.
The main team are in Noosa instead. Who needs match practice in Aussie conditions anyway?
Anyone who's purchased tickets for Days 3-5 should be feeling really nervous right about now
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wait, is Brisbane D/N?
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@barbarian said in Ashes 2025/6:
And now England refuse to field any of their XI against the PM's XI in Canberra. It's a pink ball D/N game designed as a warm-up for the Brisbane test.
The main team are in Noosa instead. Who needs match practice in Aussie conditions anyway?
I see the value of rest, the value of getting away from it while doing a bit of practise. But it's like Usman Khawaja playing golf for three days straight before the first test- all good brother, but you'd better play well. Because if you don't you just put a massive target on your back.
Sure if Ussie scored a couple of 30-odds then nobody would have cared, or even known. But he fails, drops a catch and picks up a back injury, so of course people will raise an eyebrow when they hear you played three straight rounds.
The same will be said for England. The stakes are high now. Win and it's all good, but lose and you can bet the knives will be well out and the chariot's wheels will be starting to loosen.
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@barbarian said in Ashes 2025/6:
Yes.
lol okay rub out the middle session every day for the inevitable storm. I was in yesterday's one, it was impressive.
At least for a day game it comes through and only rubs out the last hour of play.
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@barbarian said in Ashes 2025/6:
And now England refuse to field any of their XI against the PM's XI in Canberra. It's a pink ball D/N game designed as a warm-up for the Brisbane test.
The main team are in Noosa instead. Who needs match practice in Aussie conditions anyway?
Who needs rest when you just got pumped in less than 3 days? When your backside is that sore it's probably preferable to be standing up
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@Virgil said in Ashes 2025/6:
Blowers is still alive!!
Yeah I was afraid to ask but this popped up on YouTube so to the fern it was shared.
Incredible ability to be both ridiculously posh and yet ridiculously likeable. I wouldn’t have thought it possible before hearing him.
Still sounds sharp as a ( very posh ) tack
Him, Bill Lawry and grumpy old Ian Chappell are still with us.
They were the international voices of my cricket watching youth, national treasures.
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@barbarian Three of the England squad have been sent to Canberra to play with the Lions but no one who was involved in the Perth side against the PM's XI so your statement is correct. This was always going to be the case apparently.
"The England Men’s Ashes Test squad have released three players – Jacob Bethell, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue – to join the England Lions for their forthcoming two-day fixture against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, starting Saturday, November 29."
Shame for folks in Canberra and for us traditionalists not quite in the spirit of touring, but I understand why the England coaching set up might feel the best place to prepare for Test Two is behind closed doors.
It's going to be a tough ask to level the series against a super confident Australia in Brisbane. As a contest, this one will probably be all over by Christmas.
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@sparky said in Ashes 2025/6:
@barbarian Three of the England squad have been sent to Canberra to play with the Lions but no one who was involved in the Perth side against the PM's XI so your statement is correct. This was always going to be the case apparently.
"The England Men’s Ashes Test squad have released three players – Jacob Bethell, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue – to join the England Lions for their forthcoming two-day fixture against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, starting Saturday, November 29."
Shame for folks in Canberra and for us traditionalists not quite in the spirit of touring, but I understand why the England coaching set up might feel the best place to prepare for Test Two is behind closed doors.
It's going to be a tough ask to level the series against a super confident Australia in Brisbane. As a contest, this one will probably be all over by Christmas.
Not that I'm privvy to any kind of inside knowledge whatsoever but this England team strike me as one who are set in their ways and resistant to change. They seem likely to brush that result off and come out all guns blazing again. This could result in more competitive games if things go their way.
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@MN5 said in Ashes 2025/6:
@sparky said in Ashes 2025/6:
@barbarian Three of the England squad have been sent to Canberra to play with the Lions but no one who was involved in the Perth side against the PM's XI so your statement is correct. This was always going to be the case apparently.
"The England Men’s Ashes Test squad have released three players – Jacob Bethell, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue – to join the England Lions for their forthcoming two-day fixture against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, starting Saturday, November 29."
Shame for folks in Canberra and for us traditionalists not quite in the spirit of touring, but I understand why the England coaching set up might feel the best place to prepare for Test Two is behind closed doors.
It's going to be a tough ask to level the series against a super confident Australia in Brisbane. As a contest, this one will probably be all over by Christmas.
Not that I'm privvy to any kind of inside knowledge whatsoever but this England team strike me as one who are set in their ways and resistant to change. They seem likely to brush that result off and come out all guns blazing again. This could result in more competitive games if things go their way.
"Boys, we've got them right where we want them...."
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I heard Chris Scott (arguable the best modern day AFL coach) make an interesting point on a show once. In a professional environment, monday should look the same no matter what happened on the weekend.
Throwing the plan for the tour out the window after two admittedly disastrous days would be remarkably unprofessional and probably throw a sense of panic in to the players.Now, whether you think a warm up pink ball game should have been part of the original plan (especially given the two teams' respective records in these games) is a different proposition, but i don't really see much wrong with sticking to how they had the tour mapped out.
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I'm not as down on England as others. They are still very talented and these tests are going to be closely fought.
There's a tendency to swing too far after game one of a series. After game one last year Australia was old and washed, India resurgent and the series was teetering on the edge. India didn't win again.
If England come out and it clicks in Brisbane, it's 1-1 and they have the momentum. The Gabbatoir hasn't been that for quite some time, but it would be an enormous mental boost for them. Pink ball tests can be erratic.
I'd still rather be us than them, but I think $6 for England to win the Ashes is still a touch overs.
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I'm not sure if on catch up I caught the highlights or the whole match!. In such low scoring match, it only takes one good innings to decide who wins and who loses and naturally that will be decided in pretty short time. So hats off to Travis Head, a great, match winning knock.
But it was not all one way traffic. Let's not forget that Aus were rolled for the lowest total in the match. For sure it is advantage Aus but I have a feeling England will not be quite so despondent as some of us fans are.
As regards England's (overly) aggressive strategy with the bat (I refuse to use that word), I really think it just needs some fine tuning. In the past we were so negative, timid even. It was like we were playing for a draw from the first ball sometimes, so I welcome the approach and I also welcome the backing for the players that are adopting that approach. You can't say "go out and play" in such and such a manner and then get shitcanned for getting out doing so. So, something of a reset. Yes let's continue to be aggressive but at the right times.
Then maybe we get a contest.
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That's it Cato. It's not that aggression is bad, it's just that being aggressive all the time is just silly.
Take the flurry of wickets in England's second innings that turned the game. In that period, Brook and Root were both dismissed cheaply driving on the up with hard hands at balls going across them. On that pitch, at that time of the game, it was a really poor decision. So you lose your best two bats at a crucial time to just shit decisions.
Shoulder arms, get to the next ball and use your brain. And yeah if it's short, or full then throw the bat at it, which is what Head did in the early part of his innings.
