The Ashes - 2nd - Test- 04/12/2025 - Brisbane - DAY/NIGHT

[Northstandboy]

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[Foley]

Atherton I believe suggested that the side picked is the right one!
It has been explained that Jacks will get good bounce and the point of the spinner at Brisbane is to speed up the game approaching the new ball ( so the good news us that England are expecting there to be enough overs to reach the new ball!)

 

[holdsteady]

Considering our record at the Gabba, our recent record on tour in Australia, our performance in the first test and the fact it’s a day/night with the pink ball we don’t have much experience with and probably won’t have done much to prepare it’s hard to predict anything other than a loss.

But we must be due a bit of luck over there eventually so hopefully this is the time.

 

[McXal]

I voted England. No logical reason. As mentioned, our record in pink balls games isn’t great. Starc ripped us to shreds without floodlights and a pink ball. Our batting is under huge pressure and shows the most frustrating, stubborn refusal to apply themselves or deviate from Bazball 1.0 even for small passages of play. And it’s the Gabbatoir.

But as above, just feels like surely we’re due some luck at some point. As someone who always sits up through the night and loves an Ashes tour regardless of the result, it does feel like we’re due a win. And the inherent chaos/random luck element of a pink ball/day-night test might just play into our hands. If we lose it’s 2-0, series over so…more in hope than expectation!

 

[tonyw]

Got to love the England cricket fan!

We haven't won any of the past sixteen Tests in Australia.
We have a record of W2 L5 in pink ball Tests, whilst the Aussies are W13 L1, with Mitchell Starc taking 81 wickets under those conditions.
Our batsmen are underprepared, out of form, and stubbornly refusing to adapt their play style for the Australian conditions.....

......and still we are all expecting them to win, just because.

To be fair to Ben Stokes - for as much as I incessantly complain about his captaincy - there's noone who has pulled more rabbits out of more hats than him.

 

[holdsteady]

Got to love the England cricket fan!

We haven't won any of the past sixteen Tests in Australia.
We have a record of W2 L5 in pink ball Tests, whilst the Aussies are W13 L1, with Mitchell Starc taking 81 wickets under those conditions.
Our batsmen are underprepared, out of form, and stubbornly refusing to adapt their play style for the Australian conditions.....

......and still we are all expecting them to win, just because.

To be fair to Ben Stokes - for as much as I incessantly complain about his captaincy - there's noone who has pulled more rabbits out of more hats than him.

So you are saying we are going to lose this one then win the next 3?

 

[Essexyellows]

Live in hope.............. repent at leisure.

C`mon England!!

 

[Canterburyexile]

We are going to lose IMO.

Hope I’m wrong, and happy to be so. But this tour and the way we’ve gone about it has the stench of a drubbing about it.

 

[BicesterU]

Atherton I believe suggested that the side picked is the right one!
It has been explained that Jacks will get good bounce and the point of the spinner at Brisbane is to speed up the game approaching the new ball ( so the good news us that England are expecting there to be enough overs to reach the new ball!)

Only when we're bowling

 

[Mike_H]

One end at the Gabba is the Vulture Street End - I can't see enough of a change in attitude from this England setup and reckon it will be the Aussies scavenging the Poms unfortunately. Hope I'm wrong of course.

 

[ECYellow]

It's hard to look past anything but a convincing home win, probably inside 3 days again if the pink ball does a bit and especially if we lose the toss.

Still, the alarm is set for 4.15am and i will be up in hope more than expectation. C'mon England!

 

[SteMerritt]

Meanwhile elsewhere in the cricket world...

India lost a 20th consecutive toss as KL Rahul's side were put into bat by their opponents.

It takes some sort of special skill to lose 20 coin tosses in a row. I'm sure one of our more scientifically-minded will be able to calculate the chance of that happening...

 

[stokeu]

Odds against = 1,048,575:1

 

[holdsteady]

Did he stick to say heads or did he swap around when he called?

 

[Wallop]

Odds against = 1,048,575:1

True but that’s also the odds against any particular pattern of 20 coin tosses.

 

[ECYellow]

Good toss to win.

Interesting that Aus leave out Lyon in favour for medium quick, Nesser. Meanwhile we’ve picked the part time spinner - both teams won’t have done the right thing come the end of the game!

Barmy army!

 

[McXal]

Sigh. Wouldn’t it be good if we could just go through 20 minutes without giving Starc a sniff.

 

[ECYellow]

FFS

 

[Billyox]

Pointless waking up

 

[McXal]

Feels like it’s Root standing between us and losing the Ashes inside 2 days and one session. This is traumatic viewing!

 

[Blox21]

Dare I say , we won that session

 

[McXal]

Dare I say , we won that session

Don’t say it out loud!

Vital one of these two set batters goes on to get a big score, not the typical Bazball swashbuckling 30-60 odd then walk off patting themselves on the back about strike rates…

 

[holdsteady]

Dare I say , we won that session

With two top order batsmen out for a combined 0 runs after facing 4 balls? Think Australia will be happy enough, but who actually won that session will probably be decided by what Crawley and Root do in the next, as said above a lot looks like it hinges on those two putting scores on.

 

[BicesterU]

Up at 5 and saw we were 50 odd for 2, and thought 'could be worse' then realised Crawley and Root had scored all but half a dozen of those and had a little chuckle to myself.

Just need to be positively patient (or patiently positive?) for a session, and we've set it up nicely.

Although it's impossible to rule out this England side trying to score 160 in this session and then declaring so that we bowl with a new pink ball under the lights.

 

[ECYellow]

70 odds won’t win many tests in Aus…we could do with one of our lads making a big hundred. The pitch doesn’t look to have many demons in it, just need to navigate the wiggling and night time.

Looks to me like a minimum of 325/350 will be needed first dig.

 

[yellowbow]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned already but Englands top 5 have all gone for 0 in this series now. In three innings..

 

[Sutton Yellow]

Ser my alarm early to get up and watch from the second session until work. We're going nicely enough. Put the kettle on and make a cup of tea. Sit down and Crawley immediately gets himself out.

This is what it's like watching the Ashes in Australia.

But we are still in a decent position to push on. Some of the Australian bowling is fairly innocuous.

Just keep tapping it around boys...

 

[Foley]

The pitch looks far more placid than in Perth ( relatively). To the extent that Starc looked to be their only high-quality dangerous bowler.
Generally England have batted pretty well, but could have done with Brooks staying in.
Now as gtd lights come on, how will that affect the ball?
If Lyons was still at his peak, I can't see them not picking him.

 

[Canterburyexile]

Brook pisses me off far more than Crawley ever does.

 

[SteMerritt]

Brook pisses me off far more than Crawley ever does.

His dismissals annoy me as well, but I got pelters for saying it in the summer. Haven't seen this one, only read the CricInfo comment on it so I'll reserve judgement on it for now.