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The Ashes - 3rd - Test- 16/12/2025 - Adelaide Oval

Whoi will win the 3rd test?

  • Australia

    Votes: 17 68.0%

  • Draw

    Votes: 1 4.0%

  • England

    Votes: 7 28.0%
  • Total voters
    25
  • Poll closed .
Watching this should count as community service.

The inevitable batting collapse is less fun to watch than Rowetball.
 
It is genuinely insane that we've been in Australia more than five weeks now, and (despite looking extraordinarily undercooked, and unfamiliar with Aussie conditions) we've played a total of nine days of cricket.......three of which were a gentle warmup against our own 'B' team.

It's a shambles.

With one of the best bowlers in world cricket coming back for Adelaide, it will be a miracle if we don't lose this one (that being said.....miracles are kind of Stokes' thing)
 
tonyw said:
It is genuinely insane that we've been in Australia more than five weeks now, and (despite looking extraordinarily undercooked, and unfamiliar with Aussie conditions) we've played a total of nine days of cricket.......three of which were a gentle warmup against our own 'B' team.

It's a shambles.

With one of the best bowlers in world cricket coming back for Adelaide, it will be a miracle if we don't lose this one (that being said.....miracles are kind of Stokes' thing)
Click to expand...

There’s always the “win the next two to get everyone’s hopes up, get in a great position in the final test and the fail” possibility.

I can’t see it happening, I have a feeling we will have lost before we play Charlton, but don’t totally discount being disappointed in a different fashion.
 
The backing of Bashir seems to be recognised as a mistake ( Jacks ahead of him on spinning wicket?)
No change to the batting lineup.
Tongue the only change- fair enough change.
We need to bat far far better.
 
Foley said:
The backing of Bashir seems to be recognised as a mistake ( Jacks ahead of him on spinning wicket?)
No change to the batting lineup.
Tongue the only change- fair enough change.
We need to bat far far better.
Click to expand...

I mean we can't really change the batting lineup, can we? The only other batsman we have in the squad is Bethell and he is so undercooked in first class cricket this calendar year, he's basically raw!

We should have picked an 18 man squad with another batter and Rehan Ahmed.
On the basis of the past twelve months, Ahmed is a better first class batsman than Jacks, and a better bowler. He would fit nicely at #8 in Adelaide.....
 
tonyw said:
I mean we can't really change the batting lineup, can we? The only other batsman we have in the squad is Bethell and he is so undercooked in first class cricket this calendar year, he's basically raw!

We should have picked an 18 man squad with another batter and Rehan Ahmed.
On the basis of the past twelve months, Ahmed is a better first class batsman than Jacks, and a better bowler. He would fit nicely at #8 in Adelaide.....
Click to expand...
Some have suggested Jacks moving up the order. I saw one pundit suggesting that Pope replaces Smith as WK and bats lower down the order.
Agree totally that we should have had another batsman in the squad. Hopefully Pope shows that the right team was picked and that Jacks higher up the order or Bethall were not gambles worth taking.
 
Struggling to get excited for this after the first two were so incredibly one sided. I love the ashes, but it just feels like this England management haven’t given us the best chance to be successful this time.

It’s sad, but I wonder if the best outcome is a 5-0 humbling, as it will force the hand of the ECB to rip up the cosy club that has been created in this side.

The time for postmortem’s will be after the inevitable series defeat, but there are players in this country that deserve an opportunity, regardless of their golf handicap! I mean, to take one reserve batsman on a 5 match (7 week) tour is ridiculous, but for that man to be a guy who doesn’t hardly play any first class cricket is beyond a joke.

Defeat inside 3.5 days is my prediction. Crawley out nicking off and Brook caught in the deep.
 
ECYellow said:
Struggling to get excited for this after the first two were so incredibly one sided. I love the ashes, but it just feels like this England management haven’t given us the best chance to be successful this time.

It’s sad, but I wonder if the best outcome is a 5-0 humbling, as it will force the hand of the ECB to rip up the cosy club that has been created in this side.

The time for postmortem’s will be after the inevitable series defeat, but there are players in this country that deserve an opportunity, regardless of their golf handicap! I mean, to take one reserve batsman on a 5 match (7 week) tour is ridiculous, but for that man to be a guy who doesn’t hardly play any first class cricket is beyond a joke.

Defeat inside 3.5 days is my prediction. Crawley out nicking off and Brook caught in the deep.
Click to expand...
Agree that it is difficult to be optimistic, but if we did win ( and we are capable of pulling a rabbit out of the hat), what a boost for the series.
I will get up early hoping for a win!
 
Foley said:
Agree that it is difficult to be optimistic, but if we did win ( and we are capable of pulling a rabbit out of the hat), what a boost for the series.
I will get up early hoping for a win!
Click to expand...

Would be the greatest sporting comeback ever if we were to bring the ashes home from here, we are 0/2/15 in our last 17 tests there and very rarely win 3 tests in a row, hardly ever against the better teams and certainly not there, pretty certain it would be unprecedented.

So while even a win would seem to little to late, I might allow myself a hopeful "its coming home" if we do, have a strong feeling I won't be though and that I will be getting up to go to Charlton to see we have already lost the series 3-0.
 
Given that so far England have managed to get on top and then throw it away in one match, and then been second best in all areas of the game the next, Australia have their best bowler back and our lot haven't played any any cricket since the last time out - I can see nothing but another chastening defeat. I really hope I am wrong - but in another way (and I am not proud of thinking this) a complete and total Ashes cock-up would surely see the end of this way of playing and that would be a good thing IMO, given that it simply does not consistently work against the better teams.
 
If Cummins hits the ground running and the ball spins for Lyons then we are probably getting taken to pieces, there bowling attack on paper looks formidable whereas ours very much doesn't. Need both steel and luck to even be competitive.
 
Our son went to day 3 in Brisbane - he had a great time even though the day didn't go England's way. Friends are going out with the Barmy Army for the last 2 Tests, 9 days in each of Melbourne and Sydney. They have tickets for all days but I reckon they will be doing more sight-seeing than planned. Hope I'm wrong.
 
ZeroTheHero said:
Given that so far England have managed to get on top and then throw it away in one match, and then been second best in all areas of the game the next, Australia have their best bowler back and our lot haven't played any any cricket since the last time out - I can see nothing but another chastening defeat. I really hope I am wrong - but in another way (and I am not proud of thinking this) a complete and total Ashes cock-up would surely see the end of this way of playing and that would be a good thing IMO, given that it simply does not consistently work against the better teams.
Click to expand...

I can't bring myself to wish for Ashes defeat - when it's four years until the next one Down Under, and there's a limited number in a lifetime, they're too valuable to waste.

But I do think the second best outcome to a miraculous 3-2 turnaround is an utter 5-0 humiliation. Something so bad that it forces the ECB to reassess, consign Bazball to the skip and make sure that we never go into another series as half-cocked and underprepared as we did this one.


Mike_H said:
Our son went to day 3 in Brisbane - he had a great time even though the day didn't go England's way. Friends are going out with the Barmy Army for the last 2 Tests, 9 days in each of Melbourne and Sydney. They have tickets for all days but I reckon they will be doing more sight-seeing than planned. Hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

In 07/08, I went to a day at Perth, two days at Melbourne, two days at Sydney and a one dayer in Brisbane.
We lost all of them - mostly to an absolute hammering - but they were all still absolutely brilliant fun, as was the sight-seeing in between. I think it's tough not to have a good time on holiday in Australia.
 
Feels a bad toss to lose that one….
 
Yeah we’ve hardly flown out of the blocks have we. Ominous stuff…

EDIT - Archer strikes seconds after I hit submit. If I’d have known I wielded that kind of power I’d have commented more in the first two tests…
 
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