3rd Test England V Australia - Headingley

Possible return of Jimmy Anderson as well.

I'm not sure on Jimmy. Is he definitely injury free and who does he replace in the bowling attack? By this I mean, apart from Broad, Woakes and Archer can bat and we already have relied on the tail in this series. They won't drop, rightly, Leach so who does Jimmy replace?
 
I'm not sure on Jimmy. Is he definitely injury free and who does he replace in the bowling attack? By this I mean, apart from Broad, Woakes and Archer can bat and we already have relied on the tail in this series. They won't drop, rightly, Leach so who does Jimmy replace?
If fit, and that's a big if, then Woakes. Much better bowler.
 
Don't think I can add anything on Stokes that hasn't already been said. All time great innings by an incredible player who has a habit of showing up when his country needs him most.

The funny thing is I had more faith in Leach blocking out than I would've done had that been Jason Roy coming out to bat at no.11 with 70 odd needed to win. A pretty mad statement considering one is our opening batsman and the other a no.11 averaging just over 4 in the county champ this season!
 
If fit, and that's a big if, then Woakes. Much better bowler.

But then an already weak batting line up is weakened further. Purely on bowling, Anderson is clearly better but Woakes has taken some key wickets in this series. But in terms of batting and fielding Woakes adds more. It is a tricky one.
 
I loved Leach stopping, slowly, carefully cleaning his glasses each time he was preparing to face a ball. It heaped pressure on the bowler. Nice way to convert weakness into power.
 
To be fair, a lot of the comments in the Sydney Morning Herald (posted earlier) were pretty gracious, writing about the fact that test cricket gained from that game. Of course, there were the typical whingers, but surprisingly few. I was pretty impressed. The sports commentator (Greg Baum) wrote an excellent piece about the game, titled: "We can all die happy now - cricket doesn't get any better than this" and it's well worth a read (re-posting the link): https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricke...get-any-better-than-this-20190826-p52knk.html

What a lovely piece of journalism. As someone on the BBC News pointed out that evening, sports journalists really come into their own after performances like that.

I also liked the point made that each game so far has been defined by one player - Smith, Archer and now Stokes. Who’s next lads? Put your hand up.
 
What a lovely piece of journalism. As someone on the BBC News pointed out that evening, sports journalists really come into their own after performances like that.

I also liked the point made that each game so far has been defined by one player - Smith, Archer and now Stokes. Who’s next lads? Put your hand up.
Labuschagne has done well for Australia since replacing Smith. I didn’t know much about him but apparently he came in after some good performances in county cricket over here? There must be SOME English players coming through that can make the natural step up into the national side? Maybe the next stand out player is someone who hasn’t even been mentioned yet? Getting the team right for the next text is essential now, will the selectors be brave or will they duck the issue and name an unchanged side?
 
But then an already weak batting line up is weakened further. Purely on bowling, Anderson is clearly better but Woakes has taken some key wickets in this series. But in terms of batting and fielding Woakes adds more. It is a tricky one.
For me, bowlers bowl, batters bat. If you want to strengthen the batting, drop Buttler and bring in Pope. But that's another discussion...
 
Labuschagne has done well for Australia since replacing Smith. I didn’t know much about him but apparently he came in after some good performances in county cricket over here? There must be SOME English players coming through that can make the natural step up into the national side? Maybe the next stand out player is someone who hasn’t even been mentioned yet? Getting the team right for the next text is essential now, will the selectors be brave or will they duck the issue and name an unchanged side?

Labuschagne has had a great summer with Glamorgan. 10 matches with five fifties and five centuries and an average in excess of 60. Can we not send our players over to play state cricket in Australia ahead of the next Ashes?!

The issue with England is that there is more to batting than stoically getting runs. You have to have mental fortitude to stick out a long innings. The other problem is that those who sit near the top of the pile of the county championship scoring charts are the same names and faces that have tried and failed before - Ballance, Lyth, Stoneman, Malan etc. There are others who are much touted such as Sibley, Hain and Crawley who will be considered in the future I would hope. Finding out whether they have the mental fight to take their game to the Aussies is quite a challenge though.

A side with Labuschagne and Smith in it next match will be formidable.
 
The TMS post-match podcast is worth a listen https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07lm89f
It will very intriguing to see how individual players from each side respond in the next test.
Australia will presumably bring Smith (and maybe Starc- surely) in. They will be far stronger.
England maybe Anderson.
Stokes has been phenomenal but England are pretty lucky to be level in the series.
Hopefully the last Test has psychology damaged Cummins, Lyon Hazelwood for the remaining 2 Tests.
 
Don't suppose anyone has found a reply of the last innings anywhere online? I'd love for my boy to watch it (it finished at 23:30 here, so he was long abed). All he's been able to watch is highlights, and they just don't capture the drama.
 
Don't suppose anyone has found a reply of the last innings anywhere online? I'd love for my boy to watch it (it finished at 23:30 here, so he was long abed). All he's been able to watch is highlights, and they just don't capture the drama.
best I can find is 7 mins ..included is a bit of chat ....

 
Sky over here were doing a final day reprise today, so something significant may drop after or become available online after.

There is this monstrosity available
 
Thanks gb - I’ll look out after the sky thing. Yeah, I saw the guerilla cricket video and was hopeful until I actually start watching ...
 
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