The Ashes Tour of Australia 2025/26

I'd like to think that statistic will change

Carey has confirmed he hit the ball and should have been out when he had scored 72. BBG who operate the "snicko" technology have admitted it was operator error and the operator had selected the stump mike from the bowlers end so the sound did not match the pictures that were shown. Blooming scandalous.

England's cunning plan seems to have worked, we've some how managed to drag Australia down to our below average level.
The Aussies have done a remarkable job of doing an impression of England's batting by gifting the majority of their wickets. On this benign pitch they should be no worse than 3 or 4 down.
Archer looked Test class & led the attack well, Stokes was workmanlike. Carse as I had feared does not bowl in the right style to be considered a new ball bowler far too inconsistent, but his battling spirit is to be admired. Tongue was promising & provided a key breakthrough.
The muddled selection decision has only highlighted the need for a genuine spinner, there was a little bit of turn & that will increase. Jacks doesn't bowl enough to maintain any accuracy to bowl in the first innings of a match. He has burgled 2 wickets. The cupboard is pretty bare, it looks like the Bashir experiment has failed/backfired, it was always doomed imho. The likelihood was that a front-line spinner would only play in a maximum of 3 out of the 5 Tests. Dawson didn't impress enough in the summer after limited opportunity. The only trusted option would be Jack Leach.
England took some great catches, unfortunately Brook shelled one before Khawaja got into his stride which proved costly. Another key moment was an appeal for a caught behind were all 11 England players were confident he was out, Carey looked guilty & later admitted he'd nicked it, but importantly the on-field umpire gave it not out. Not for the first time the DRS technology failed. The system they are using is not fit for purpose which is a joke in a series of such magnitude.
Regardless of how many Australia finally post, parity will not be enough for England. I would suggest a lead of 120-170 should be a minimum requirement. Lyon should be causing problem in the 4th innings.
I just can't imagine Australia bowling with the same ill-discipline that we got from England.

It's not often that a batsman admits he nicked a ball

The technical term I’d use is he admitted he’d cheated - but then he does have form for doing stuff against England.

(20-11-2025 20:03 )Snooks Wrote:  I think the key really will be first innings runs. If England can make good first innings totals in this series they give themselves a better chance. First Test is always important.
Get out of Perth having not lost and get out of the Gabba without losing as well then maybe I might allow myself to dare to dream.........
Possibly

Well there we go.
Not enough first innings runs in either match and too many self inflicted dismissals. The first innings in Adelaide is last chance saloon for England in this series. This series path of being 2-0 down after two matches is all too familiar . The England batsmen simply must apply themselves better. Play each ball on it's merits and play the situation of the game. If they fail to do that yet again I'm sorry but my patience will have totally run out.
Get it right or else .

Have to hope we don't let that Carey incident distract us when batting or bowling.

I do agree the England batsmen ned to apply themselves when batting, but have to say from what most people are saying, the pitch is looking like a good one to score runs on. Not only that I wonder if not using Bashir will eventually backfire for us - if Lyon does well.

After admitting that the DRS technology has been found to have inaccuracies, England have now been give the review back that they lost, which is no consolation when you consider the runs that Carey has added & the partnerships that he was involved in.

A slightly different approach, but a similar outcome the gulf between the 2 bowling attacks is huge. England had a poor day all round. They started the day with ill disciplined bowling, allowing easy runs, they didn't looked switched on. By comparison Australia where ruthless in their line & lengths, the addition of Cummins & Lyon kept the pressure on, both with little or no cricket, they looked like they'd never been away. There was even room for Starc to have a slightly off day, maybe a little tiredness which is excusable.
Less bad shots, more great bowling. The long batting line-up hasn't made a scrap of difference, Jacks at 8 didn't come off, forgot to mention that our part time spinner bowled the most overs in our attack yesterday which can't be right.
How much longer do they back Pope. A Test average of under 35, all other first class cricket he averages just under 60.

^ It's not as though they don't have batting options.