The Ashes

Discuss...

Ashes to ashes,
Dust to dust
If you don't wash your coupé
It will all turn to rust.

Not a bad start from England. Need to get a total over 300 in the first innings I think in order to pressurize the Aussies.

The Aussies have what looks to be a weak team on paper, recalling blowers that have not played test cricket for years.

Blowers? He's retired

DYAC

Minimum 350 I think.....

Very impressed by the way Vince and Stoneman have stuck it out. I can forgive Root for a failure after so much continued form up to date but not sure about Cook - I suppose he will continue to open for the duration of the series but imagine he will hang up his boots before too long. Let's see how his performance in the slips goes.

Yes the Aussies have been too much mouth in the warm-up and if not careful could fall hard if they don't come up to expectations, not a comfortable place with their super-critical fans.

I loved Tuffer's nervous giggle "I'm all goosebumps" at the very first ball of play

Didn't realise it had started yet!

This must be one of the lowest low key advertised series I can remember!

Not seen this anywhere is it just on sky this year?

It's on Radio 4 in the wee small hours...

I'm currently on a train traveling from the gold coast to Brisbane central. It is packed with cricket fans - mostly Aussie of course, a few barmy army too. I wish I was heading to the Gabba today rather than to work

Match seems evenly poised at the moment, looking forward to today's action even though I'll have to settle for listening to the radio coverage.

Evenly poised seems to be the word. Crucial start to play tomorrow. If Australia run through England with an almost new ball, I think England's early good showing will count for nought. If England can get to 350, it could signal a classic series. Game on!

Neil!

R5L Sports extra!`

(Don't think they'll send you any unwanted emails )

Promising start for England this morning, but a bit of a collapse has brought the Aussies back into it. You'd have to bet that 300 isn't going to be enough on this wicket, but it's something to play with. Should be a fascinating afternoon of cricket.

And, of course, it's a lovely warm Spring day here, he says dressed in shorts and T shirt. Hope it's not too hot for our visitors.

Decent start by England's bowlers. Still fancy Australia to take a first innings lead if Smith can keep his wicket intact.
At least it seems like a proper contest.

Nah, they have no tail, and unlike last home series they have no Brad Hadin. I reckon they will be 50 short.

This series is the first I have not been able to watch. Maybe see if BT sport is on a Black Friday deal

Well, that was more or less what I expected. If England can keep their heads (literally!) tomorrow, they could leave Australia chasing an uncomfortable total, even if not an imposing one.
I suspect, however, there will be a collapse and the Aussies will wrap up a comfortable enough victory by lunch on the last day at the latest.
If that is the result, it still won't be a disaster.

Damn. That's a bit more accurate a prediction than I imagined.

Yes, it was the kiss of death indeed Jim.

If the umpires are going to allow four bouncers an over as happened with England's tail I'm very interested in the outcome....a return of bodyline perhaps?

A bit of cloud cover here this morning with a max temperature of 29 predicted. But then the match should be over before it gets too hot with only 56 runs needed for us to win!

A win to Australia with 10 wickets in hand.

One has to be happy with that.

A cricket lesson for England. Effectively, Steve Smith was the difference. England need to learn from his example.

It's great to see that my predictions are as reliable as ever.... reliably rubbish

No sport can match test cricket for suspense or tension. I fully expect England to lose tomorrow, but the fact that they *could* win is brilliant.

But England must *believe* that they can win...someone, somewhere, will break records - why not now?

Invoke the spirit of Headingley!

Meh!

Another good result in Adelaide earlier today with Australia winning by 120 runs!

Was awake at 3.30. By about 3.45 i wished I hadn’t bothered.

I too awoke at 3.05....

What has been learnt then?

Maybe that Stoneman and Malan are worth persevering with but I'm not convinced at all with Vince at any position, let alone the troublesome no.3 slot. Gary Balance has to be a consideration here but he has the baggage of being selected and dropped again a number of times which may play on his mind. Having said that, Marsh seemed to do ok for Australia!

It's astonishing that it's taken till Jimmy Anderson is 35 years old to bag his first 5-for in Australia....

Looks like another great day at the WACA with a double century to Steve Smith and a 300+ partnership with Mitchell Marsh!!

Michael Vaughan echoed Boyc's mantra about needing to plan ahead to develop a bowler of real pace and a first-class spinner.

If Aussies are used to playing 90+mph then our England's mid-80's attack seems like a holiday.

The lack of swing conditions downunder doesn't help England - only that session in the day-nighter at Adelaide worked for them - but we still lost!

Do the balls swing the other way south of the equator?

No, but doesn't the water go down the plughole the other way?

It does. Coriolis says so.

We’re now hoping for plenty of evidence of this tomorrow down the various drains at the WACA...

MRS, looks like it happened with a win to Australia by an innings and 41 runs.

Better at last, though to be fair Aussies are minus a bowler and a half. Still I can imagine one super sigh of relief from one senior player who has at last posted a 3-figure score.

Not having this 'on view' I can only imagine the bustle which Tim Curran appears to be bringing to the attack and the beneficial effect on his team-mates' morale. We're not doing so well in the spin section though and Moeen's talents don't seem well-suited to this environment. I wonder if they'll dabble with Mason Crane for the last test.

192-2 is a promising start though, 300-odd runs tomorrow and we might not have to bat again!

Very promising despite some dodgy umpiring.

Ok, understandably there's not been a lot to crow about as we face one glum day after another from Downunder.

What is senseless though is the complete blind eye apparently turned to the Deputy Commissioner's newspaper advice to the public, and particularly people participating in sporting activities, to seriously consider the wisdom of continuing in record-breaking temperatures - tennis for example has a cut-off point of 40C and by 10 a.m. yesterday that watershed had already been breached.

Now we have an England captain whom the ECB seem to think might bat "later".....have they really NO idea what heatstroke is and its associated recovery time?

Money before owt else

Fitting end to a truly awful England test performance. There are too many players too sure of their places and under-performing game after game.

Anyone see the fantastic Mike Atherton talks to Mike Brierly? Wonderful program giving an insight to the brain of one of sports best captains. One interesting fact was about the Botham ashes, which England won, and how different the side loooked at the end of the series. Now I don't want to go back the the farcical 90s when captains changed game on game but a middle ground would be good. Players need to be looking over their shoulder, this is what Eddie Jones has changed in the England Rugby team. You don't need to make wholesale changes but hose in the team need to know they are only as good as their latest 2-3 games.

I sort of agree, bockers, but that supposes that you have a pool of players that are good enough to make the grade. England, I suspect, don't.

The problem to my eyes is partly this certainty of place, but also that we have a lot of players who are very effective in English conditions.

It is, therefore, something of a shame that overseas tours are played overseas...