Predictions?

I’ve got Australia winning 3-2. No close tests.
England to lose the first test.

I think Australia 3-1 with one test drawn due to weather.

I’d like to think England could do well but with so many bowlers injured it could be a struggle for them. The batsmen can blow hot or cold, I think a lot will rest on the form of Joe Root and if he can hold it together whilst the fireworks go off all around him.

England 3-2. Can’t see there being any drawn tests unless the weather intervenes.

Australia 3-0 with two rain affected draws.
England have been wonderfully entertaining in the last year but I think this is where the one-dimensionality of Bazball gets found out. It's all very well packing the side with white-ball hitters (whether they're supposed to be opening batters, wicket-keepers or spinners) and there will certainly be runs. But to win a Test match, you need to take 20 wickets and, with Stokes crocked and Ali having been out of red ball cricket for several years, we won't do it. Fun while it lasted, but the party's about to be over.

Was a slightly strange declaration, I get the idea but surely we wanted to amass as many runs as possible.

I also noticed that Ethan Brookes was 12th man, there was another lad with him as well who I didn't recognise, anyone know if he's also one of ours?

'Strange' or stupid, only by tomorrow will we know. England were only ever going to get 4 overs in so why bother to declare. England might have gone into day 2 with 440 on the board and who knows, only 8, maybe 9 down. We have handed the initiative to Australia if they get close or beyond the England total. Stokes is trying to be too clever and I hope I am proved wrong.

I thought that, having won the toss on that pitch and in this weather, 450 was the minimum score to settle for. But tomorrow, I may be proved totally wrong.

Mikkyk wrote:

Was a slightly strange declaration, I get the idea but surely we wanted to amass as many runs as possible.

I also noticed that Ethan Brookes was 12th man, there was another lad with him as well who I didn't recognise, anyone know if he's also one of ours?

Think Garrett and Hamza Sheikh were on duty too.

GerryShedd wrote:

I thought that, having won the toss on that pitch and in this weather, 450 was the minimum score to settle for. But tomorrow, I may be proved totally wrong.
Think in normal pre Bazball mode you'd be right. This England team just think if they don't get that big score first innings they'll get them second innings instead and this being Edgbaston I doubt the pitch will deteriorate much so still all to play for. A lad next to us was wondering if they'd declare but I had to leave after root got his ton and was shocked when I heard they had declared

I guess that Stokes may also have factored in the weather in declaring - my daughter tells me it's raining at Edgbaston right now.

Well, England's bowling looked insipid at times once the early glories had passed. Moeen only turned a few and went for a few but Anderson hardly beat the bat and Robinson looked like a very ordinary choice. Mark Wood must wonder why he wasn't in instead of the samey bowlers that were on show. If Australia get a lead of 100+, we will see if people look differently on Stokes' reckless declaration.

I see that, despite missing four chances yesterday, England are blaming the pitch for not doing better. Stuart Broad says: . “It is a very slow, low surface that zaps the energy out of the ball. It is pretty characterless so far, pretty soulless, but you can only judge a surface towards the end of the match and see how it develops."

I too heard that comment but England did not make Australia play at enough deliveries. The problem is, Stokes wanted a dry and bare surface with no grass. If you ask for that, you cannot complain if the ball does very little. The pitches at Edgbaston are not known for pace so what were the bowlers expecting. This being the case, then England should have no problem getting runs in the 2nd innings should they. If not, it could be a defeat as the rain that was forecast today by all accounts is not coming until later and there might still be enough time left for a result to happen.

It's a poor cricket wicket though. Atherton called it a "pudding pitch" this morning, Dobell was critical of it last night too.

Have to be very careful when commenting on Edgbaston pitches though, people get emotional...

Stokes wanted something flat and flat this indeed is but its also painfully low and slow.

Edgbaston pitches have been like this for a long time now - plenty of CC games in recent years have gone the full distance either with successful big run chases or handshakes at 5pm on the last day. A cursory reading of recent stats would easily prove that and I suspect Ben and Baz are fully aware of that hence the declaration decision on Friday night. I've watched every ball so far and I think it's been a compelling spectacle.

The problem is, pitches at Edgbaston have a 'Reputation' because of that 1995 pitch v West Indies when the game was over before lunch on the 3rd day. That was a dangerous pitch and was 2-paced and ever since then, people who do not know much about anything let alone cricket, see m to think Edgbaston has green pitches and even Mike Brearley on the strength of that Test, then blamed the pitches there for Warwickshire winning championships even though I do not recall him being there under any capacity. If he looked at an attack that had Donald, Small, Munton, Brown, Reeve, Welch, etc, then he might have come to a different conclusion. The Headingley pitch when England beat West Indies in 2 days (2000?) didn't get the same degree of criticism. Whether or not Stokes got any say in this pitch, is debatable as groundsman hate being 'Told' to prepare a pitch of a certain kind. Edgbaston is like Headingley, you look up before tossing and take your chances. The pitches here over the years have been good and when winning the CC in 2021, our pitches were praised as every home game went into the last session of the final day. It might be that because the pitch in this Test hasn't broken up at all (Yet?), that people think it is dull but if you consider that we are not halfway through the game and the 3rd innings has started, it might produce a bit for the bowlers, Rain permitting.

SC_Bear wrote:

Edgbaston pitches have been like this for a long time now - plenty of CC games in recent years have gone the full distance either with successful big run chases or handshakes at 5pm on the last day. A cursory reading of recent stats would easily prove that and I suspect Ben and Baz are fully aware of that hence the declaration decision on Friday night. I've watched every ball so far and I think it's been a compelling spectacle.

Absolutely. Full credit to the quality of the players for producing such a watchable spectacle in spite of the pitch. There hasn't been a bad session yet.

Hopefully this bit of rain and cloud can juice it up.

Is that 4 or 5 chances Bairstow has blown now? Not sure who’s selection has been a bigger bust him or Moeen.

Whilst I agree that the pitch could do with more pace in it, somehow it has produced an extremely interesting match with a good balance between bat and ball. If England had taken their chances, the match would be much more strongly in their favour.
I just hope that the weather tomorrow doesn't spoil an excellent finish.

According to 'The Met Office', there is a 60-90% chance of rain from 6am till lunch and then a 30% chance from 1pm onwards so all those with tickets looking for a classic finish might have to watch a few groundsmen trying to clear water off a pitch. If we only get 50 overs, the odds are on England rather than Australia as the rate will slow too much when they lose wickets on a sweating pitch.