Second Ashes Test. Lord's.

[What'sinaname]

3 days for Australia to learn how to play against a bouncer.

Let's hope Warner can get to double figures (combined for the two innings)

[Donny]

Head, Labu hang on for a draw.

The second Ashes Test resulted in a draw, with the first ever concussion sub, Marnus Labuschagne (59 from 100 balls) playing a vital innings. He and Travis Head (42* from 90) shared a 75 run 4th. wicket stand. Jofra Archer (3/32) and Jack Leach (3/37) were outstanding for England.

The third Test (August 22-26) will be at Headingley, Leeds.

https://www.facebook.com/AussieCricket-278637879094/

[K]

I'd say England were gifted most of those wickets. Poor technique and poor shot selection all round, with some luck thrown in (e.g. the deflection of the Marnus sweep, though the commentators were not thrilled that Marnus was playing balls outside leg). Watch the Bancroft dismissal and try to work out why he played back to that ball.

Suddenly, Lyon has things to think about, as the England plot to play him off the back foot at all times paid off big time and he conceded 100 runs. The comparison between him and Leach on the last day is unflattering to him. It could have been different for Lyon if Paine had reviewed the LBW not out against Stokes. This miss then induced Paine to go for bad reviews on the final day, which just burnt the reviews.

Paine had a very bad match. His bold decision to bowl first backfired. His keeping was poor. His review decisions were bad. His dismissal on the last day would have been bad enough even without the captaincy.

His opposite number also had a bad match. He responded to his mode of dismissal in the first innings (which has been a problem for him for a few years now) by altering his technique in the second innings, but that just exposed him to a different mode of dismissal. There have been more whispers from the mob, though not from anyone who matters, to take the captaincy away from him. Those fans want to give it to Stokes. After what happened in Bristol, that would be a(nother) tragedy for cricket. It's already a serious misjudgement giving him back the vice-captaincy, though it looks like there's a leadership vacuum in the English camp, as there is in their opponent's. Besides, has Stokes actually captained any side? Being a dangerous hitter doesn't mean you know how to captain a Test team.


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Note: Concussion subs were approved only a month ago ( http://magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1918968#1918968 ). That turned out to be good timing and a good move from the ICC.

[K]

Tim Paine vows to keep hooking as Australia stick to Ashes blueprint

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27415286/tim-paine-vows-keep-hooking-australia-stick-ashes-blueprint

18 Aug.

' "You don't have a lot of time to think. Sometimes you get it wrong," Paine said. "I was thinking about ducking under it, but 150kph can make you do different things. I just didn't hit it where I would have liked to have hit it. I'm not going to overthink it. I'm going to keep playing the way I want to play."
...

"You're always trying to mess around with things. On that wicket, it was very difficult to get underneath the ball, and with two short legs right around the corner, stand up and play it doesn't seem like a great option, and you don't really want to let it hit you," [Root] said. "You're trying to play with their mind and see what different things they want to do. I was trying to keep Head on strike as well at the other end for the spinner to bowl into the rough and it ended up working out quite nicely. We've seen him get out a couple of times, especially against us. I think he might get a few more."
...

"We'll get to Leeds, have a look at the conditions and pick the best team to win the game and take 20 wickets," Paine said. "I think if you look at top-order batting across the two teams it shows you it's probably a pretty difficult place to be batting on either side. Yes, those guys would like more runs. We know how good David is, he's got 7000 Test runs at 50 and Cameron Bancroft I thought in this game looked pretty good, faced a lot of balls … probably would've liked to have scored a few more runs but I thought he acquitted himself pretty well again against some pretty high-quality bowling." '

[K]

I accidentally saw this, published a year before the bouncer dramas of the Second Ashes Test:

Traumatic cricket-related fatalities in Australia: a historical review of media reports

Med J Aust 2018; 208 (6): 261-264. || doi: 10.5694/mja17.00908

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/208/6/traumatic-cricket-related-fatalities-australia-historical-review-media-reports

"174 relevant deaths were identified. The number peaked in the 1930s (33 fatalities), with five deaths in the past 30 years. There were 83 deaths in organised settings, and 91 deaths in informal play (at school, 31; backyard, street or beach cricket, 60). Of the 72 deaths in organised settings for which the activity of the deceased was reported, 45 were batsmen, 11 were fielders, six were wicketkeepers, one a bowler, and three were umpires. Of the 45 batsmen, 26 died of injuries resulting from a blow by a ball to the head, 13 of blows to the chest, three of peritonitis, at least two of vertebral artery dissection, and one of tetanus. None of the five cricket-related deaths over the past 30 years were caused by head injuries."