4th. Ashes Test. Manchester.

[Pies4shaw]

So, who will be named POTUS? Lyon or Stokes?

[K]

They are shaking hands with the umpires.

Paine hugs Smith. Starc hugs Hazlewood.

Root, Stokes, Bairstow are the first English players out.

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Aussies have won it

[K]

[K]

Healy and Paine are talking. Tim is looking much more svelte than Ian.

They are talking about Marnus. His legspin is very respectable, I reckon.

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

Now speaking with Marnus...

He says he worked with Warne, coming in wide to bowl into the rough.

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

Taylor: "I can't say enough about Tim Paine today."

He refers to how graciously Paine spoke to TV after the devastating loss in the third Test, and says he deserves the praise now.

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Glad they wrapped it up I guess there wasn’t many overs left either

[Pies4shaw]

[K]

You mean Stevrat Kohlsmith, =2.

[K]

Geoffrey Boycott, Telegraph, London:

"Joe Root is such a likeable lad, a quality batsman and nobody wants to hurt or humiliate him but I am afraid he lacks any feel for captaincy.
...

Captaincy is a gift. It comes naturally to some and you cannot learn it from a book.
...

For example, in the second innings, Jofra Archer bowled fast and Stuart Broad with great skill and intensity to have Australia wobbling on 4-63. The atmosphere was electric, with the crowd urging England on to bowl them out cheaply.

But, after tea, Joe opened the bowling with Craig Overton and Jack Leach and his field settings beggared belief. People were spread out and you could tell England were hoping they would take wickets while trying to save runs. Suddenly, England were hedging their bets, making sure they would not lose the Test. All the intensity and aggression dissipated.
...

The only moment when Smith seemed ill at ease was when Leach was turning the ball away from him with a fielder at silly point. When Leach got Smith out caught at slip he had overstepped the line. Muppet."


[But there is no suitable replacement for Root.]

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Aussies get the urn retain the urn well done

[Donny]

[K]

Well, if next time the captains are Smith and Stokes, I think it will be a bad look for the game. It's a question of how much and to what extent off-field (for BS) history should affect such decisions. Warne was effectively banned from captaincy for life for the "crime" of being foolishly caught in a tabloid sting --- which is totally harmless compared with what happened in Bristol.

Has Stokes ever captained anything?

[K]

Michael Vaughan, The Telegraph, London:

Root must do better, but he is the man to take England forward

"It sometimes takes captains a long time to understand how to go about things and develop that tactical nous and instinct. Root is going in the right direction.
...

Somehow, Root needs to work out a way to give himself more of a break and keep his energy for batting.

I would suggest him going into a room and writing down what he has done well, what not so well and what he can improve on, just to get a little bit more understanding of the processes that he needs to go through."

[K]

Smith's technique change against the bouncer was already spoken about by Athers and Ponting
( http://magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1930756#1930756 ),
but if you want to strain to hear bad audio of Sachin saying the same thing, watch here:

https://twitter.com/sachin_rt/status/1174566259003781120

[K]