Second Ashes Test. Lord's.

[Donny]

From an AC.net member, in the UK: "we doubt there will be any play today. Very wet in the UK south"

[K]

Four days is plenty of time for a result, but will another two days get washed out?

But I wonder whether a rained out game is good for Oz.

Overcast conditions, with Woakes a Lord's specialist...

[Donny]

A rained-out draw would mean the Aussies only have to win 1 of the last 3 Tests, to retain the Ashes.

[K]

Or draw them all! (That'd need more biblical floods.)

The Oval is supposed to be the most "foreign" (from the English perspective) pitch, which should make it more Oz-friendly.


And a washout here would prevent the typical post-win bust:

http://magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1925723#1925723

[K]

Look at the Lord's lunch menu:

https://twitter.com/HomeOfCricket/status/1161599357906575360

Do you think (I'm assuming I'm a player here) they'd let me choose more than one second course?

[K]

The commentators are dissecting Bancroft.

Taylor & Healy don't sound impressed by his technique (though I'm assuming Taylor's unheard comments based on what the others said).

Healy talks about him "planting his front foot" and "spinning out". That's not how I'd want my batting technique to be described.

------------------------------------------------

And all of Gilchrist, B. Lee & KP hate the numbers on players' shirts.

To me, they are incredibly ugly for a start. They say it's supposed to help spectators work out who is who in the field, but Healy doesn't think spectators can even see the numbers.

[K]

Day 1 washed out... No coin toss yet.

cricinfo tells us it's now a 4-day Test, meaning the follow on is 150.
I did not know that!

[K]

M. Knox, Fairfax:

"The shortening of this match provides a timely test of Mark Taylor’s theory that the five-day Test is headed for history’s scrapheap. Is it going to be a better form of entertainment when compressed into four days? Are the teams going to press more aggressively for a result? (Can either of these batting orders last through four days anyway?) We’re about to find out.

There was talk of a toss, but the umpires postponed it. Certainly it would have been a travesty if the toss had taken place, for whoever won it might have been seriously disadvantaged.
...

Josh Hazlewood is definitely replacing James Pattinson, a move that was heavily hinted but not confirmed earlier in the week.

Langer said the selection was horses-for-courses, with Hazlewood’s record on the ground being rewarded. Hazlewood played a Test match here in 2015, and took five wickets for 88 in two innings. Based on that, you could as easily pick Mitchell Marsh (three wickets for 31, plus 39 runs with the bat), or even the trim and young-looking Mitchell Johnson (six wickets for 80). Or Glenn McGrath, who is also here (dozens of wickets for not many)."

[K]

Latest odds:

Draw 47%
Oz 26%
England 26%.


The draw is still favourite, but no longer over a win by either side. The punters are not behaving consistently. A whole day has been washed out! Why should the draw become less likely?

[K]

Josh Hazlewood's economy leaves Mitchell Starc on the periphery...

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27386243/josh-hazlewood-economy-leaves-mitchell-starc-periphery-lords

'Starc's expensive first spell in the tour game, bowling four overs at a cost of 27 albeit with one wicket, provided a reminder of the regular boundary release balls he is always in danger of bowling in England, while Hazlewood's far more economical effort (4-2-2-2) in the same passage of play late on day one offered all the evidence the tour selectors required to choose him once it became clear that Pattinson still had some residual stiffness from his Edgbaston efforts.
...

The Pattinson example may be part of a wider evolution of fast bowler management in Australia, coinciding as it does with the appointment of two new Cricket Australia team performance chiefs in Ben Oliver (national teams) and Drew Ginn (high performance). Their predecessor Pat Howard helped advance the conversation on how to manage fast bowlers in the face of plenty of criticism, and a deep Ashes squad of six pacemen capable of being rotated according to fitness and match conditions is part of his legacy.

"It's the first time in however long I've been coaching that we've actually had the luxury of having six high class fast bowlers fit up and running," Langer said. "We're lucky to have the situation to be able to do that but it doesn't happen very often. That's the truth, and maybe that's why a number of bowlers break down over time, because you've got to keep pushing and pushing and pushing, particularly in series, particularly with the schedules as they are now." '

[K]

All this talk about how to get Steve Smith out...

His last home & away series against S. Africa, he did very poorly. It's only 12 innings, of course, but that does include one not out to bump up his average. In those 6 Tests, his average is a measly 32.18.

Modes of dismissal:

LBW Maharaj (SLA)
caught behind Rabada
caught behind Rabada
run out
caught behind Abbott
caught off Maharaj (SLA)
LBW Elgar (SLA)
LBW Rabada
caught behind Maharaj (SLA)
caught off Morkel
caught off Morkel


Before seeing the modes of dismissal, I was going to guess (from it being S. Africa) that meant it's the usual way to get batsmen out: seam and swing movement, LBW and caught behind. That's sort of true, but I now believe the claims about weakness against left-arm orthodox spin. I guess the Oz camp had me fooled for a while, talking about it just being Herath on subcontinental pitches that allegedly "turned square". I mean, look: Maharaj and Elgar in Oz & S. Africa.


Maybe Lyon and others batting with Smith need to shield him from Leach.

[Donny]

Paine won the toss and elected to bowl.

Big call, but good on him.

[Donny]

England 1 Rory Burns, 2 Jason Roy, 3 Joe Root (capt), 4 Joe Denly, 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Jack Leach

Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Cameron Bancroft, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Matthew Wade, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon

[Donny]

Pat Cummins to open.

[K]

Roy caught behind off Hazlewood.

Perfect start.

England 1/0.