Welcome back. Back to work and I'm inundated with things to complete with not enough time. I know, I'll put that off and write another blog entry...
Plenty of things to talk about as we approach Wednesday's start to the all important Fourth Test. Given draws have been taken out of the equation because of Bazball, it seems that whoever wins the "Tussle at Trafford" - just a working title, will win the Ashes for 2023.
One of the main things to address is the Aussie top order. Given the top 4 (minus Uzzie) have only 1 ton and 1 fifty between them in the last 18 innings, it is not the usual consistent performance we've become accustomed to.
The new boss of Cricket Australia, former NSW Premier, Mike Baird, has a solution. He's going to open the batting in place of The Pool Cleaner. In the spirit of like for like, Mr. Baird is a lefty, but if we're serious about minimising Draco Malfoy's impact of bowling great areas from around the wicket, perhaps we need a right hander joining Uzzie. We do love our leftie openers though. Tubby, Langer, Haydos, Davey, Uzzie. Do selectors need to consider playing someone out of position? Does The Bison come up the order after his Headingley hundred? I suggest not - but he should still play in this test, even at the expense of Green. Travis "The Man" Head has opened before. However, it doesn't solve our righty deficiency. Does Marnus go up one spot? He's already coming in by the 3rd over anyway. Perhaps, but his such a weird unit, it could completely unhinge him and then nothing has been achieved. My feeling is that D. Warner will be listed as Uzzie's partner for Manchester.
While we're talking Khawaja, he has achieved something that only two other cricketers (Bradman and Warne) have achieved... Paul Kelly has written a song about him -
link. Paul's soulful tones ring out in this 3 minute homage to Australia's best batter this series.
It also seems we have an abundance of bowlers. So much so, Postman Pat chooses not to use some of them. Again, Mr. Baird has a response to that...
While, there has been a lot of talk about leaving out Dan Murphy, selectors have to remember, no one beats Dan Murphy -
not even a recession! This is the home of Jim Laker's 10 fa. 10 wickets in the second innings for 53 runs off 51.2 overs. Amazing.
But it was almost 70 years ago.
He's going to replace Barrel Boland and come on from the Jimmy Anderson end. I'm not sure Marnus and Travis are enough to replace the demands of spinner across two innings, though it was sort of done in the second test, but under duress.
Do England have to change anything? Most would say no, they won the last test - don't be stupid! Okay but how about this:
England have been sloppy in the field, and your keeper is the drummer in that band. Imagine what the series could have been if Weasley's stats were the same as AC's across the categories. There is a 78% chance that the score could very well be 3-0 England, but as I've said in previous posts, 87% of all statistics are made up. Do you go with Foulkes (let's call him Fawkes, just to keep the Harry Potter theme going)? Do you lose runs? Yes, probably. But you probably don't have to chase as many...
But maybe it's not that simple. If you look at the stats, pre and during Bazball, there is some explanation for the selections made by England:
And to finish (just before my Aussie & England Team predictions), someone much better at writing (but with a great name) has summed up why we've seen so many bouncers in Tests 2 and 3. Enjoy.
England - will probably go in unchanged, unless Bracelet is still injured, then Jimmy Anderson will come in and bowl from his end at Old Trafford.
Australia will go in making two changes. I think Barrel will make way for Hazelnuts, and Green will come in at the expense of Dan Murphy, leaving the Spin Trio (we've never had so many options - it's like an under 14's team where every can bowl a bit and bat a bit) of Smudge, Travis and The Conductor to do the tweaking.
With everything to play play, I cannot wait until Wednesday.
JT
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