As the Beeb says, the conditions favour putting the Aussies in immediately, given the cloudy conditions, so it seems daft England continuing to bat.
Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White
It's more than just daft, it's just absolutely stupid!
Given the potential for storms Monday (one hefty storm could deposit enough surface water on a hard outfield to wreck half the day) we absolutely categorically should have put them in for an hour last night. A tricky session where you'd have backed us to take a wicket or two against tired players who've been in the field for two days, but no. The record run chase clearly not enough for Cook. He wants to add another 100+ runs on top for no reason whatsoever, or is he putting personal milestones (Root) in front of the team goal? If so he needs his head seeing to.
Batting on this morning in cloudy, muggy conditions, with the lead we have and the forecast for sun this afternoon is stupid. Just stupid.
Originally Posted by: Matty H
Yip we definitley made a James Hunt of that !!!
Originally Posted by: future_is_orange
Hindsight makes that irrelevant.
Point remains. There was no need to bat on like that.
As it turns out if we had completely forfeited our second innings we'd have still won. That's what a drubbing it was.
Originally Posted by: Matty H
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The reality is that England didn't need 180 overs to bowl out Australia and therefore batting on this morning wasn't an issue in terms of controlling the outcome. That's all that matters, isn't it?
In Test cricket you don't leave the door ajar for the opposition, however remote the risk.
On to the 3rd Test. My guess is that England will go with the same 12. None of the batsmen will be dropped and talk of Root not being an Opener is off the table for the rest of the series at least. They will persevere with Peterson too.
I wonder what the Aussies will do with their batting? That's a more interesting issue - does Hughes survive or do they bring in Warner? I thought their bowling was just about OK.
Originally Posted by: SEMerc