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  • The Australian women's team has won the Ashes with a series of crushing performances.

    For those unaware the women's Ashes involves 3 50 over fixtures, one test and 3 T20s. Points are awarded for each in a weighted manner.

    Australia won all three 50 over fixtures. The Test was drawn, but Australia was on top, with Ellyse Perry scoring yet another test century to go with a 7 for she took in a 50 over game. She now averages close to 80 in Tests & is clearly the best female cricketer in the world. After the Test Australia could not lose the series & had thus retained the Ashes, In the first T20 Australia won, scoring over 200 with captain Meg Lanning making a record 133 not out.

    This sets up a fascinating World Cup in 2021. Australia unexpectedly lost to India in the semi final in 2017 & will be determined to to win. On current form they will go in favourites.

    On Thursday the men's Ashes kicks off. Hopefully a good contest.
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    • Ellyse Perry has become the first player, male or female, to score 1000 runs & take 100 wickets in T20 International cricket. A fine achievement for the best player in the women's game right now.
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      • England Ladies certainly need some work in the nets. The real show starts tomorrow I think? I fancy England to win 3-1, Australia win at Lords.

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        • Steve Smith reminded everyone today that he is the best batsman in Test cricket & one of the best of all time. On a seaming Edgbaston pitch with the English bowlers rampant & Australia staring down a first innings total under 150 he dug in & produced one of the great innings of all time. His 144, more than half the team total of 284, was a combination of incredible patience & judgement in the first half and power hitting in the second. With the top order gone cheaply Smith put on 162 with numbers 10 & 11 to keep Australia's chances in the Test alive.

          It is now over to the bowlers to see if they can put Australia in a good position. A few blokes in the top order will be wanting to make amends in the second innings, so getting England out for under 350 might give us a shot at a win no one would even have been considering at 8/122. However, there is a long way to go and England remain favourites on one of their favourite grounds.
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          • Anderson injured.

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            • For those like myself in a country where you cannot get a live stream of the Ashes on TV; https://www.lmisports.net/england-vs...-1-5-aug-2019/

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              • In the entire history of Test cricket only 4 batsman have passed 140 in both innings of a match. Courtesy of yet another fine century yesterday Steve Smith is now one of them. His return to Test cricket has been nothing short of remarkable. In the first innings he stood alone as the side collapsed around him, saving Australia from likely defeat. In the second he came to the crease with both openers out for single figures & proceeded to put us in a winning position.

                During the last tour of England Smith was out for single figures in his first 4 innings. Since then he has scored 1,100 runs against England at 158. He now averages 60 in England and close to 63 in total. Australia is far from guaranteed a win today, but from 8/122 even a draw will feel close to a win. Meanwhile Smith has quieted the booing and once again sparked comparisons to the greatest of all time.
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                • For a series that started in such a remarkable way the Ashes have become even more fascinating over Tests two & three.

                  Test two at Lords was a rain interrupted draw, but still a dramatic contest. It marked the Test debut of young West Indian born fast bowler Joffra Archer, whose express pace and bounce caused havoc among the Australian team. England batted first after day one was lost to rain and once again struggled, leaving Australia in a solid position coming into day three. Unfortunately overcast weather provided perfect conditions for England's bowlers, and once again it was Steve Smith who provided the only real resistance. He was hit several times by Archer, first on the forearm and then dramatically on the neck, just below the spot where Phil Hughes was fatally hit. He was literally flattened, left the field with his score on 80, but soon returned to hit 3 boundaries before badly misjudging one and being given LBW. Clearly the hit was impacting his judgement by that point. The next day he was hit by delayed concussion and became a part of history as the first player to be given a concussion sub under the new rules.

                  England took a lead into the second innings and once again the top order failed. However, several dropped catches and failures to review decisions cost Australia vital wickets. Led by Ben Stokes England piled on runs on the morning of the final day and then put Australia in. With the benefit of hindsight England was probably too conservative, though not wanting to go two down made this understandable. Australia was quickly in trouble, with salvation coming in the form of Marnus Labuschagne, the South African born all rounder replacing Smith. With modest returns from his first four Tests Labuscagne looked likely to join the ranks of failed Australian middle order batsmen when Archer felled him with a bouncer to the grill when he reached the crease. However, he dug in and all but batted England out of the match with a fighting 59. A late flurry of wickets following his dismissal gave England hope, but time ran out and Australia escaped with a draw.

                  Test cricket has a new star in the form of Joffra Archer. One to watch.
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                  • For a series that started in such a remarkable way the Ashes have become even more fascinating over Tests two & three.

                    Test two at Lords was a rain interrupted draw, but still a dramatic contest. It marked the Test debut of young West Indian born fast bowler Joffra Archer, whose express pace and bounce caused havoc among the Australian team. England batted first after day one was lost to rain and once again struggled, leaving Australia in a solid position coming into day three. Unfortunately overcast weather provided perfect conditions for England's bowlers, and once again it was Steve Smith who provided the only real resistance. He was hit several times by Archer, first on the forearm and then dramatically on the neck, just below the spot where Phil Hughes was fatally hit. He was literally flattened, left the field with his score on 80, but soon returned to hit 3 boundaries before badly misjudging one and being given LBW. Clearly the hit was impacting his judgement by that point. The next day he was hit by delayed concussion and became a part of history as the first player to be given a concussion sub under the new rules.

                    England took a lead into the second innings and once again the top order failed. However, several dropped catches and failures to review decisions cost Australia vital wickets. Led by Ben Stokes England piled on runs on the morning of the final day and then put Australia in. With the benefit of hindsight England was probably too conservative, though not wanting to go two down made this understandable. Australia was quickly in trouble, with salvation coming in the form of Marnus Labuschagne, the South African born all rounder replacing Smith. With modest returns from his first four Tests Labuscagne looked likely to join the ranks of failed Australian middle order batsmen when Archer felled him with a bouncer to the grill when he reached the crease. However, he dug in and all but batted England out of the match with a fighting 59. A late flurry of wickets following his dismissal gave England hope, but time ran out and Australia escaped with a draw.

                    Test cricket has a new star in the form of Joffra Archer. One to watch.
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                    • The third Test at Headingly is only two days in, but already it is a classic.

                      The short gap between the second and third Tests meant that Steve Smith was unable to take his place. Cameron Bancroft was also dropped. Sensing an opportunity England put Australia in to bat and soon had us two down. After a difficult start Warner finally found his touch and made 61, while Labuscagne continued to impress with 74. In a dramatic final session England and Archer ripped through Australia to take 8 wickets for 43, with Archer taking 6. Australia all out for 179, England in a position to level the series.

                      Day two made day one look peaceful. With the sun out & the pitch supposedly flattening Australia reduced England to its lowest Ashes score since 1948 and second lowest in a century. With Hazelwood rampant and Cummins & Pattinson not far behind England was out for 67, with only one batsman reaching double figures. Warner's batting confidence seemed to carry over into the field, where he took a succession of catches, including a great one to dismiss Root for a duck. It was literally a case of blink and miss a wicket. Lyon only bowled a lone over. Over the last session of day one and the first of day two 14 wickets fell.

                      With an unimaginable lead of 115 Australia looked set, but once again the top order failed. Warner's revival was short lived and Khawaja went out with a typically lazy shot. Once again it fell to new boy Labuschagne to hold the innings together. With his third successive fifty he has dragged Australia to a lead of 283 with four wickets in hand and three days to go. Archer has only bowled a handful of overs this innings, with the physical effort of 44 overs at Lords and a big first innings here taking a toll.

                      Given the fragility of Australia's batting there is no guarantee we will get a lead of 300. That should be a winning lead, though the West Indies chased 322 at the same ground only two years ago. If England can get its head in the right space and the pitch finally flattens out they might be able to level the series. If Australia continues to bowl with discipline we will probably take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

                      With Steve Smith likely to return for the next Test & Jimmy Anderson a good chance to return at his home ground both sides will be desperate for the win.
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                      • UK sports minister tells England fans to stop booing Smith

                        Smith's reputation as a cheat precedes his ability as a technical #2 batsman in the world.
                        Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

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                        • Well Ben Stokes... speechless. Having been bowled out for 67 in their first innings England made 362 for 9 in their second inning, Stokes making 135 not out to win the Third Test by one wicket and level the series.

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                          • Originally posted by snapper View Post
                            Well Ben Stokes... speechless. Having been bowled out for 67 in their first innings England made 362 for 9 in their second inning, Stokes making 135 not out to win the Third Test by one wicket and level the series.
                            It was a remarkable effort Snapper. Hard not to think back to Headingly 1981. That Stokes innings was one of the all time greats, and that last wicket partnership of 76 to break the record for an England run chase will be one of the great cricket stories. We had our chances and we blew them, England took their chances and won. Such is sport.

                            While I would have loved to win this test and end the series there, it does make the rest of the series fascinating. England have their tails up and a number of batsmen with runs and time at the crease. They may also get Anderson back. Australia will be deflated, but we still have a top notch bowling attack, may have found a batsman in Labuschagne, and will get the best batsman in the world back. So, the teams remain fairly balanced. If we stay positive this series remains very much alive, if we drop our heads England will win. Game on!
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                            • Once again Steve Smith has marked out his greatness as a batsman. After yet another failure by Australia's openers Smith arrived at the crease at 2/28. At time of writing he is 148 no. with 300 more runs on the board. Australia has gone from a desperate to a strong position.

                              Smith has now scored over 500 runs in just 4 innings since returning to test cricket. That makes him the highest run scorer in tests in 2019! Just think about that. In only 4 innings Smith has outscored people who have played as many as 14. With 5 more tests to play this year against England, Pakistan & NZ Smith may well pass 1000 runs this year in under 10 tests. Smith is now the only player to score 500 runs in 3 successive Ashes series. His current test average is over 64.5. Despite not playing a test in over a year Smith had already snuck past Kohli to take the no.1 spot on the test batting list before this game. By the time Kohli plays another test in October Smith may have once again cemented himself in top spot for the long term.
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                              • While Steve Smith* has quite rightly attracted most of the attention of cricket watchers over the last several days, in many ways the big story has been in Bangladesh. Afghan batsman Rahmat Shah has scored Afghanistan's first ever test century. Captain Asghar Afghan was 88 no. overnight and at 5/271 Afghanistan can put itself into a strong position.

                                The story of the rise of Afghan cricket from refugee camps in Pakistan to test cricket is one of the feelgood stories of world sport. The speed with which Afghanistan has gone from nothing to competing with other (admittedly lesser) test nations is remarkable. I hope they can win this test.

                                *Smith finished with 211, leading Australia to an unlikely 8/496. Smith now has 589 runs for the series.
                                Last edited by Bigfella; 06 Sep 19,, 05:50.
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