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Post by Hannibal on Nov 27, 2017 9:11:53 GMT
The abject second half disaster coupled with England's abject capitulation in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane made it a truly depressing weekend for me. Most of the mature posters are now accepting that relegation would appear to be a formality. I tried to find some decent odds for a 5-0 in Australia, but there aren't any. Still we've got the World Cup to look forward to .....oh no!.
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Post by bing on Nov 27, 2017 9:25:56 GMT
Yep - I'm a cricket fan too - so it was all a bit sobering.
In many ways, the first test was very similar to our game at the weekend - the first half of it we competed well and it was pretty even - the second half of it...
Don't think the Aussies are quite as good as people make out as they've got their own problems which we didn't really exploit. What we do need though is to see off the new ball better - and then look to target their bowlers with the old ball.
Back to Chester - I've heard you say a couple of times about relegation being a formality. It's still up for grabs IMO - we are still in touch and therefore have a chance.
I've been generally happier in recent weeks as we have seen a gradual improvement. Saturday was sobering as I felt the players practically gave up at two down and gave nothing for fans to cling on to. I wanted to see them yelling at each other, geeing each other up, trying to get a rallying cry to each other.
Anyway, I'm an optimist, so I'm going for 3-1 to England in the Ashes and mid table for Chester!!
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Post by Hannibal on Nov 27, 2017 12:43:25 GMT
Yep - I'm a cricket fan too - so it was all a bit sobering. In many ways, the first test was very similar to our game at the weekend - the first half of it we competed well and it was pretty even - the second half of it... Don't think the Aussies are quite as good as people make out as they've got their own problems which we didn't really exploit. What we do need though is to see off the new ball better - and then look to target their bowlers with the old ball. Back to Chester - I've heard you say a couple of times about relegation being a formality. It's still up for grabs IMO - we are still in touch and therefore have a chance. I've been generally happier in recent weeks as we have seen a gradual improvement. Saturday was sobering as I felt the players practically gave up at two down and gave nothing for fans to cling on to. I wanted to see them yelling at each other, geeing each other up, trying to get a rallying cry to each other. Anyway, I'm an optimist, so I'm going for 3-1 to England in the Ashes and mid table for Chester!! Thanks for cheering me up, but I disagree that England were in the game. The first day was just about even then Australia took the last 4 with ease. The game against Dagenham was a game of 2 halves, but did we seriously force their GK into making a save in the first half? I can't properly think of a worse defence than this one. Possibly the season we returned to Chester and the newly-constructed Deva Stadium was pretty awful, but that was down to Morrison Shand making as much money out of us as they possibly could. Oh for the defences of Kevin Ratcliffe whose mantra was if you don't concede you can't lose. |
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Post by bing on Nov 27, 2017 12:56:20 GMT
After day 3 I was saying that we should at least get 200 on the board as I believed that would be testing on that track, with the crack down the middle. Steve Smith is a class act, but until that second innings, they had a lot of questions in their batting line-up, so I was hoping for a few early wickets. Then, if we could have got Smith out, the nerves would have been ratcheted up unbearably for their lower order.
That said, they made batting look easy in the second innings - so it shows what I know!
Probably quite an apt parallel for my Chester-supporting career - optimism leading to inevitable disappointment!
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Post by Hannibal on Nov 27, 2017 22:31:59 GMT
Correct ~ I set England the task of restricting Smith to a sub 100 score, a small first innings lead followed by a big innings from Cook. None of those were achieved and the game was effectively lost. When we played there 3 years ago I predicted a whitewash after 2 days play. Similar situation here. The press said we were the worst England team ever to be sent to Oz and they weren't to hot either. The teams are quite evenly matched, except that Smith, who started his career as a spinner who could bat a little, is almost impossible to get out and averages a phenominal 60+
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Post by ivawhopper on Nov 27, 2017 22:48:05 GMT
Problem for me was too many pretty 40s and 50s. 100s win test matches, and that’s what Smith did. That was the difference between a decentish total of 300 and a far more imposing 400 first up.
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Post by spencerwhelanleftpeg on Nov 27, 2017 23:50:59 GMT
We need to ignore their short pitched tactics and stop
Being tempted into playing silly shots and getting out.
They are not miles better than us. They were a complete shambles recently against South Africa.
Ok some good deliveries from Lyon but we need to be disciplined in future tests.
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Post by Hannibal on Nov 28, 2017 7:02:10 GMT
You're right about discipline. They're about as disciplined as our defence.
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Post by Imperial on Nov 28, 2017 8:43:53 GMT
Off-topic no?
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Post by Hannibal on Nov 28, 2017 9:35:29 GMT
Well it started as an analogy of the faults of Chester FC and England cricket team and the general consensus is that they're both so full of cracks there little or no hope. The England team can always go back to beating the West Indies and Bangladesh. Chester don't have that option. Failure to beat Solihull (and we've lost 3 on the bounce to them) will be utterly demoralising.
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Post by Imperial on Nov 28, 2017 10:22:50 GMT
Couldn’t care less about cricket & can’t see beating SM.
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