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It was a great Test match. Five days of compelling entertainment. But England lost. There is no getting away from it.
Stokes says they are not driven by results and want to entertain instead. I fully understand why he would rather lose after giving himself a chance to win, instead of a bore draw. I also understand there is a bit of psychology going on. Players who are relaxed and not feeling under pressure will play better and that in turn leads to good results.
But publicly saying it is not a results driven team sits a bit uneasily with me. This is elite level sport, not a Sunday pub league. It is very difficult to imagine an Australian captain saying he did not mind losing as long as they enjoyed the game. The press and former Australian players would tear him to shreds.
Having said that, I would not be surprised if England bounce back and win at Lord’s. A few more runs in the second innings and a bit more composure at the end would probably have seen them win at Edgbaston. But the fitness of some of the players is a concern, as is Bairstow behind the stumps.
I don’t take much notice of cricket nowadays – the 1970s was my era and I followed Lancashire and could still name their usual 1970s line-up to this day.
My Dad used to take me to quite a lot of Derbyshire fixtures at Queen’s Park, Chesterfield, and thereabouts too.
However, I massively digress.
Entertainment v results is big in football too – it’s all about getting the win and the 3pts in league games.
In the era of the back pass, I remember seeing Liverpool away to Sheffield United.
Ray Clemence rolls the ball out to Emlyn Hughes, he passes it square to a full back, then back to Hughes then back to Clemance ad infinitim until the home forwards finally press the play and leave gaps in behind.
Liverpool then go and try and nick a 0-1 in the last five minutes but 0-0 will do fine as it was only 2pts for a win back then.
Utterly boring, but not if you’re a rabid Liverpool fan who just wants to win the league.
The casual observer of cricket wants to be entertained – the hardcore cricket fan wants to see a result, the right result.
Playing solely to entertain is an attempt to appeal to those you may never win over anyway, a bit like banning the whip in racing won’t get the antis to grow to like the sport.
As for Bairstow – do you want a great wicket keeper or a wicket keeper who can bat?
Bob Taylor was a far better wicket keeper than Alan Knott back in the day, but Knott’s batting kept Taylor out of the Test side for years.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I think you have to be flexible and adapt to different situations otherwise you get your pants pulled down
When I was a kid father took myself and my two brothers to Hestercombe house. The only other people there were a family of four all roughly the same age as my family. The were Aussies and asks if we wanted to partake in a friendly game of cricket against them.
It was very friendly to start with when father was bowled out first ball. Myself and older brother starting hitting runs and plenty of them. The Aussies and especially the young girl soon started to get rather pissed off. They certainly wanted a result rather than entertainment.
We batted for about an hour or so and decided to leave them high and dry and not bowl to them and cycled back home instead.Charles Darwin to conquer the World
Like all elite sport, it’s a game of fine margins. A dropped catch here, an edge there and it would all be different. If you could jump into Marty McFly’s DeLorean you could replay the last hour or two a hundred times and it wouldn’t be far off 50/50, a tie was not out of the question.
I think some of what Stokes says is mind games. I’m sure when asked what he’d do at 2-1 up in the Fifth Test with the game heading for a draw he claimed he’d go for a result, I don’t believe that for a second.
It was superb theatre from start to finish and it just wasn’t our day yesterday. One of those things, we’ve been on the right end of some thrillers in recent times.
“It was superb theatre from start to finish and it just wasn’t our day yesterday. One of those things, we’ve been on the right end of some thrillers in recent times.”
Fair point. As you say, it is fine margins. They just happened to go against England yesterday. They might go their way at Lord’s.
Stokes has copped a bit of criticism for the declaration. It was bold, maybe even a touch reckless. But it was not why England lost.
The main reasons were not enough runs in the second innings, a few dropped chances and tired bowling at the end.
Fair play to Cummins and Lyon but they were not put under enough pressure. The over when Root went for 14 shifted the momentum back to Australia. I suspected they would win from that point. Broad and Robinson tried hard but they were running on empty by the end.
‘Stokes has copped a bit of criticism for the declaration. It was bold, maybe even a touch reckless. But it was not why England lost.’
I agree, too much has been made of this. Quite aside from the fact that the entire match would have played out differently, we’d probably have seen a draw if you assume everything else would have happened the same as it did, there were enough overs for Australia yesterday but if we’d batted even five more then they’d have started to run out of road.
Another turning point was those two quick wickets we lost in the second innings before the washout, if they had survived we may well have set a better total. That’s the point though, you could point to so many moments that in hindsight swung the game.
Maybe Stokes had a call from Chezza and knew exactly how much rain was going to land
other than that it was a strange declaration on day 1… how many sides have declared on day 1 of a Test Match before? The big thing for me was that Root was still at the cease and not some 9, 10, jack. He could have cracked on in the morning and not wasted much time anyway and may have added another 30 to the totalCharles Darwin to conquer the World
To be fair to Stokes though the tactics will produce results ie more wins than draws
Australia are a strong side so its a case of batting hard without being reckless. Again you don’t see many stumpings on the opening day of a Test match. England had two and nearly moreCharles Darwin to conquer the World
A captain who looks crocked; a vice captain who might have done his shoulder in; an insipid bowling attack; a few dropped chances. And Smith on 85 not out and looking ominous.
It is not going very well really, is it?
Yes, the series promised a lot, and certainly delivered in the first test but it is in serious danger of petering out. 2-0 is an absolute mountain to climb with the Aussies only needing one draw from three matches to retain, although they will probably want a series win here for the first time since 2001. You wouldn’t bet against that currently.
The Aussies ought to make 450+ and the threat of an England batting collapse is never far away. I hope I’m wrong but as you say, the signs aren’t looking good.
I think the defeat at Edgbaston was a real blow. England should have won the game. They restricted some of the best batsmen in the world to a handful of runs – but still lost.
For all the talk of not being results driven, I think England know they blew a huge chance. Smith and co were very unlikely to score so low again.
The bowling was nowhere near good enough yesterday. OK, they beat the bat a few times and the batsmen almost chopped the ball onto their stumps once or twice. But that happens in every innings. There were too many tame half volleys. Anderson and Robinson both had injuries just before the series started and I wonder if they are 100%.
He is not the easiest person to like but Kevin Pitersen was right when he criticised the team yesterday. Fair play to him for speaking his mind rather than not wanting to be too critical in order to stay on good terms with the players. It sounds like a few of them were rattled by his words, which they needed to be.
On the positive side: at least Lancashire beat Surrey yesterday. It was even more enjoyable due to the reaction of the Surrey commentators on the live stream, who sounded thoroughly miserable and made little if any attempt to be impartial.
A series too far for Anderson? He owes English cricket nothing and is in the conversation for our greatest ever players. Particularly with the condensed series that will be over at a time in the year when they are usually just getting going.
Agree about Pietersen, if pundits can’t be critical then what’s the point? Good on him. Dissenting voices are needed in all walks of life.
I have to admit I don’t follow the county game much but I am not too far from Taunton so I must get up there for a day soon, I quite like the idea of sitting in an almost empty stadium on a weekday having a few pints. I can get a day off to do so easily enough.
Anderson may yet find his form but I can see why people are whispering about it being a series tok far.
Tongue bowled quite well yesterday. The ball he got Warner with was a beauty, as was the one before. Even Warner looked like he was saying “Well done, couldn’t do anything about that!”
But England are being hurt by not having enough true pace or a front line spinner. Root has done well but it should not be his role.
I recommend the county game. Tickets are a fraction of the price of Tests and you don’t have to put up with the fancy dress brigade.
Well that was unexpected. There’s work to do but we’ve just about batted ourselves out of trouble. I was only listening but it sounded like a few brainless shots that led to the wickets. This could turn out to be a big day in the context of the match and even the series. We need to build on it tomorrow but I have to say I half expected to be staring defeat in the face about now.
This series seems to get more dramatic with each session. Can Stokes pull it off? If he does, Australia might just regret Bairstow’s dismissal (although I think it was Bairstow’s fault).
Backed England at 5.6 just for the fun of it.
I have to hand it to you, CAS – you’ve got me a bit interested.
I used to be glued to the TV Test coverage all day in the 1970s, but an incident at Headingley in 1978 changed all that.
But I’m now at least visiting the BBC Sport cricket site periodically for the latest!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I haven’t watched a ball so can’t comment too much but
Beat against a 10 man team
thank goodness they are not a results driven teamMakes it even stranger to see Anderson and to a degree Broad playing
after all if the results don’t matter where are all the up and coming young entertainers?Charles Darwin to conquer the World
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