Second Ashes Test. Lord's.

[Pies4shaw]

Against good bowling, he'll probably only average 61.

[K]

Against consistently good bowlers on consistently bowler-friendly decks, he, like the rest of these two sides, would struggle to average over 50.

What boards and curators have done to pitches these past two decades has been madness and caused terrible damage to the game.

[K]

Josh Hazlewood dares England to dish out greentops

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27350955/josh-hazlewood-dares-england-dish-greentops

'In 2015, Hazlewood was part of a squad that toured England with a surfeit of fast men, featuring Mitchell Johnson, Starc and Cummins in addition to himself, following the forced retirement of Ryan Harris. But the bombing raid approach only worked for one of the five Tests at Lord's, as slower, seam-and-swing friendly surfaces did not suit the attack elsewhere, leading finally to a belated recall for Siddle.

... Hazlewood indicated that the bowlers were both content to be used as a flexible squad and confident the right combinations would be found irrespective of what surfaces are prepared at Lord's, Headingley, Old Trafford and The Oval.

"It depends on what the wicket dishes up. If it's a dry wicket that reverse swing might come into play or very flat, then someone like Mitch Starc can come in to play. If it's nice and green and seaming around, then it's myself and Sidds. It just depends on what conditions are, to be honest. They've definitely gone a different way to 2015 and I think that's because of how tight the Tests are, that's why we've got six here, and anyone can do a different job on a different day. It's getting that balance in the attack." '

[K]

Neil Breen is not a fan of Bancroft or his selection:

The curious case of Cameron Bancroft

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/the-curious-case-of-cameron-bancroft-20190808-p52fbm.html

"It’s harder to drop a guy in the “in club”, the provider of ammunition, the buddy of the strong-willed vice-captain. Bancroft had been afforded more chances than his predecessors, Queenslanders Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns.

So, here we are in an Ashes series in England and Bancroft is the chosen one again. Coach Justin Langer loves him, his fellow Sandgroper. He’s made of the right stuff. He’s a great team man.

Bancroft supposedly forced his way into the team off the back of “outstanding” county cricket form and a 90 in the intra-team trial.

He's playing division two county cricket for Durham, who sit fifth on the table. He averages 45 this season, 17th best – in division two.

But, bang, he's straight back in ahead of Marcus Harris (six Tests, average 32.7), Burns (16 Tests, average 40.1) and Renshaw (11 Tests average 33.5).

Bancroft’s record doesn't match up with the opportunities he's been given.

Overall in first class cricket, he averages less than 40 in 90 matches.

In the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, his technique was badly exposed, as it was in his first eight Tests when he played with his bat too far away from his pad. He’s learnt nothing during his ban and rehabilitation.

Bancroft either needs to deliver on his promise, or he's gone after the Lord's Test."

[K]

"... the heat will come on Bancroft if departs cheaply again at Lord’s. Marcus Harris, who played Australia’s previous six Tests and topped the Sheffield Shield runs tally in the summer, is also in the squad. ...

Bancroft’s technique has come under scrutiny from former players but Lehmann believes the 26-year-old can make it work.

“Have a look at Steve Smith’s technique,” he said. “Everyone is different. He’s just got to make the right choices and right decisions. It’s always harder to bat in England with the Dukes ball.

“Smith is a perfect example with technique. You just find a way, don’t you? You only worry about the result.”

While Bancroft needs runs, selectors may be hesitant to change the make-up of the top order unless Australia are beaten in the second Test, according to former captain Mark Taylor.

"I think it will depend on how Australia is going. I think if Bancroft doesn't do well at Lord's, and Australia loses, then he'll be under the microscope for sure," Taylor has told Nine."

(C. Barrett, SMH)

[First Bayliss, now Lehmann, ... It looks like there's now a universal excuse for bad technique. ]

[K]

Bancroft needs to 'clear his mind' and relax, says Australia coach

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/bancroft-needs-to-clear-his-mind-and-relax-says-australia-coach-20190812-p52g3n.html

'“They go ‘I’ve done it now’ and they forget to reset. I’ve spoken to Patto about it and I’ll say the same thing to Cameron Bancroft. He’s come back in and now he’s trying too hard, he’s achieved that goal, he thought it might have taken a lot longer. He just has to reset his goals, clear his mind and just relax a bit.

“Cameron Bancroft is a gun. The fact that he’s dropping them and the fact that I’m saying it here, is that it’s so unusual to see him drop catches. It’s possibly that his mind is not clear at the moment. But I’m sure he’ll be absolutely fine.”'


[I don't know how clearing the mind will help his defective technique, but I guess he can always get lucky like Burns (over 40 plays and misses in one innings).]

[K]

'On the first day of Australia’s pre-match training at Lord’s, the bowling machine was cranked up in the indoor nets in anticipation of facing him while batting coach Graeme Hick appeared to be flinging throwdowns in shorter than usual at Smith...

“He’s a very skilled bowler and a great athlete. But Test cricket is very different to white-ball cricket. Like we’ve talked about a long time, we’ve got to keep wearing them down, and get him back into his second or third and fourth spells.

“... just curious how he’s going to go like you are with all fast bowlers. But he’s a very talented cricketer. It will be interesting to see how he goes.”
...

Speaking on Monday, Archer said: "I’m probably more ready than I’ve ever been. I’ve bowled 50 overs in one game already for Sussex and I’m usually the one bowling the most overs anyway. I think Justin Langer has another thing coming."
...

Whatever the line-up the tourists’ bowling blueprint for success – limiting boundaries – will remain the same. It is one designed to emulate Australia’s groundbreaking series triumph in India 15 years ago.

“The strategy for England, the way they play, is we have to be very disciplined,” Langer said. “I think going back to 2004 in India, we hadn’t beaten [them there] for years ... Gilly was the captain, our strategy was so disciplined. You remember that series and that was the difference in the end.

“Kasper, Gillespie and McGrath were so disciplined. I just think we haven’t won here for 20 years and that’s a good strategy you can learn from the past.” '

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/smith-slayer-archer-has-the-pace-but-tests-very-different-langer-20190812-p52g3e.html


[The article says Archer is "ex-West Indies under-19". If you've already played for the U19s of one nation, I don't know how you can even play for another country. In soccer, it's a huge roadblock, as we know with Cahill.]

[K]

With each day, more baloney about Smith.

e.g. Cherny, The Age: "He's been dubbed "the best since Bradman" and it's hard to argue otherwise. ...

... Smith's average has risen to 62.96 from 65 Tests, leaving him below only Bradman for men with 20 or more Test innings."


It's the batting conditions, stupid.

It's not even easy to correct for this and analyse modern batsmen in historical context, so we now have a split in the history of the game. It's not easy, because the easy way would be e.g. to compare with the scores of everyone else in the same game, but that relies on the others being semi-competent batsmen, which they clearly are not. (How does a side -- and the winning side at that -- fall to 8/122 in those conditions??) As pitches have got flatter and slower, batsmen have become more and more incompetent, because coming through the ranks on these pitches they have not developed proper techniques. (Wade said moving back to Tassie helped his batting, because the Melbourne pitches were so flat you could be as loose as you wanted as a batsman -- not his exact words, but that was the message. The Tassie pitches by modern standards are supposedly bowler-friendly.) The degradation of batting skill has then encouraged administrators and curators to make the pitches even flatter and slower, so the problem has billowed out of control.

[K]

Geoff Boycott, The Telegraph, London:

"Why not try bowling at the stumps with plenty of protection on the on side?

If he misses then leg before and bowled come back into play.

Our seamers have yet to try bowling around the wicket to him. They are quick to go around the wicket to left-handers and in fact prefer that mode of attack, but not to Smith.
...

Yet, when England had to bat all day at Edgbaston to save the match, he is quoted as telling our guys to "play your normal game. Be positive. Keep the intent to score runs".

That last day was about saving the match, not runs. I expected some common-sense guidance from a former player who is now the England batting coach. The advice the players were given was rubbish.

He also said it was important to rotate the strike. Why? What about just staying in and occupying the crease? That would have saved the match.

It makes me angry and, at the same time, sad to hear he is giving our batsmen such advice. It is as if the coaching staff and players have been sucked into believing there is only one way to bat. They say it is the modern way.

Us ex-players are old fashioned and the game has changed. We are out of date. Attack, attack, attack seems to be their idea. Kamikaze style.
...

Thorpe can start by telling our players to play to the situation of the game and bat long periods like Smith.

If England keep batting like lemmings falling over a cliff then we are all in for a dreadful Ashes series."


[I'd like to know what Geoff thinks is "plenty". There are fielding restrictions now.

He's right about the "rubbish", "kamikaze style" modern approach to batting. They are just sloggers, and when they are bundled out for under three figures, they complain about the pitch.]

[K]

A. Gardner, cricinfo, on Root:

'Mark Butcher ... believes that the demands of the job may be affecting Root's ability to consistently produce big scores.

"Even before he was captain, the top order wasn't exactly bulletproof, so he's faced that issue before, of being in early and having to rebuild," Butcher said. "So I think we can say percentage-wise the captaincy seems to have had an adverse effect. He's been doing it for too long for the jury to be out - I'm not entirely sure he's as instinctively good at captaincy as he would like to be, so I think that does take up quite a bit of mental bandwidth that was previously reserved for his batting.

"It takes an enormous amount of concentration to score runs with the consistency that he does. And if part of your brain is taken up with worrying about ten other players and all the other responsibilities you have as captain, you've used up some of your capacity."

The drop is even starker when you consider only Root's home record - an average of 59.11 falling to 45.82, or around 22%. That said, batting in England over recent seasons has been particularly testing - the proud-seamed Dukes ball, improved drainage and floodlights (allowing for play when there might previously have been none) and faulty modern batting techniques have all been identified as reasons; and the summers of 2017, 2018, and 2019 so far, have produced three of the four lowest overall batting averages this decade.'

[K]

Australia poised to give Hazlewood nod over Pattinson

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/australia-poised-to-give-hazlewood-nod-over-pattinson-20190813-p52gt4.html

'The forecast of overcast conditions had Australia poised to tinker with a winning line-up on the eve of the second Test, with Josh Hazlewood strongly tipped to come into the side for James Pattinson at Lord’s.
...

There had been a school of thought that Mitchell Starc ... was being held back for Lord’s because the slope would suit him. However, the left-armer has not appeared to be in the picture...

Rain is forecast for day one of the Lord’s Test and for later in the match as well.

"I think it's pretty dry underneath, which we're probably going to expect for the rest of the summer." '

[K]

[Donny]

Pattinson rested. Hazlewood favoured. Starc in the 12.

[K]

Root (on Smith, via cricinfo):

"It's something you've got to look past. A lot of what he does is try to put you off in a way, trying to make it look extremely different so you have to think way outside the box. You look at his dismissals over a period of time, it's not far away from everyone else's, the movements before and after it might look slightly different.

"You're always looking at different ways how you can try and get someone out. I think maybe one thing that could have done slightly better, me personally as captain, was stick to a plan for a little bit longer, give it a chance to work a little bit more. But he did play well. I think it was 18 times early on in that first innings he played and missed."


[This broadcaster stat about plays and misses is quite new (isn't it??), so I don't know what is a typical number of plays and misses before a batsman nicks one.

Root also talks about the misfortune of losing a bowler. I agree, but he left Woakes unbowled for an eternity in the second innings.]

[K]

Latest odds:

Draw 53%
Oz 25%
England 22%.


How can the draw be favourite? Please someone tell me what the weather forecast is like. If three days of floods are forecast, this might make more sense.


Update: Yeah, it looks like the whole first day could be washed out, with more rain Friday and Saturday.