As reported by the Guardian on Monday, head coach Brendon McCullum has booked extra time in the nets ahead of the day-night second Test that starts in Brisbane on 4 December rather than send any first team players to the two-day England Lions match in Canberra this weekend. The first session takes place at Allan Border Field on Saturday morning, before switching to the facilities at the Gabba from Sunday onwards.
Just on twilight the pink ball talks a little bit more and the game goes through massive ebbs and flows, Bartlett said. You see wickets falling in clumps. You've got to stay in it and make the most of that middle session. If the Test wicket is like the one we just played on it will be a really good cricket wicket. We got a result in three days but when you bat well you get rewarded and if you bowl well it's the same.
But instead of letting it come to a juddering halt, the 22 players somehow managed to conjure a fresh acceleration. It is implausible for something as anticipated as this not to produce disappointment, as anyone who follows England knows far too well. Those memories will have flooded miserably back when Zak Crawley nicked the sixth ball of the day to slip.
You know what they say. Never judge a pitch until both teams have batted really badly on it. You know what they say. Over here you bat long, bat hard, bat short, bat soft. You know what they say, the Ashes in Australia is all about a hybrid maverick production with a fan-first identity. Given the brilliance of the basic entertainment on day one in Perth,
Australia captain Steve Smith has confirmed his team for Friday's opening Ashes Test but the announcement was overshadowed by an extraordinary verbal attack on Monty Panesar after the former England spinner suggested Ben Stokes and his touring team should try to upset him by rehashing the infamous sandpaper ball tampering controversy of 2018. Smith insisted the comments didn't really bother me, but only having apparently demonstrated the opposite by raking over Panesar's notoriously miserable appearance on the TV quiz Mastermind in 2019.
Ali Martin A full-blooded Ashes tour both sets of supporters in the stands watching a hard-fought contest after the pandemic proved something of a buzzkill four years ago. Mark Ramprakash Talented, adaptable cricketers beating Australia rather than the reckless bravado chance-your-arm bullshit of Bazball. Barney Ronay Jofra Archer to Steve Smith on a pacy deck. We've waited six years. They say you can't go back. You can. I want to go back. Go back please.
There was no shortage of effort from England and the promise that they would be motivated going into a first Ashes series in 22 years could not be questioned. But there was a critical lack of quality at any stage of the contest, which means Shaun Wane, the head coach, is surely going to have to make changes to try to keep the series alive.
