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Jimmy Anderson

Australia were very close with just one wicket left to win but England did a great job blocking as many balls as possible until the very end on Day 5 at 270-9 as both teams settled for a draw at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but how good is Test Cricket when it’s unique, finest and most competitive longest format that creates moments like this one in the history of the game.

England left off from Day 4 at 30-0 with 358 runs left to try & meet the 388 run target where they finally got an opener who stood up against the Australian bowling attack in Zak Crawley, he used his near 2-meter build & read well that translated into some brilliant shots down the ground plus the overcast conditions as an advantage which was key to his fantastic knock today of 77. We also gave a shoutout to Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow once again for their dynamic batting approach in the middle-order having communicated well & cashed in the opposition’s missed catches at the other end with more runs for England, their influence successfully passed onto the tail-enders to make up the remaining time once the middle-order options were gone during the last session and it turned out to be a success by just stay in there & defend.

And Australia would be disappointed not to finish up today with a win as their 150th victory in Test level would have to wait until at least after next weekend in Hobart, Scott Boland once again unstoppable on his 2nd Test match with the ball of 7 wickets in an Ashes Test while skipper Pat Cummins nearly became their hero after he dismissed Jos Buttler and Mark Wood that made way for England tail-enders a while ago. However, they just bottled a couple of catches on the field that cost them untapped wickets and make their way closer towards the finish line, it would’ve been nice if Australia listened to this mantra from commentator Pommie Mbangwa “catches win matches” and manned themselves up to get the job done sooner rather than later.

Australia still leads the five-match 2021-22 Ashes Series 3-0 after Game 4 with the 5th and final one left at Blundstone Arena in Hobart, it will be a Day-Nighter once again like Adelaide earlier on Game 2 from early December as it begins on Friday afternoon.

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Mother Nature may have interrupted for most of today but at least we’ve seen some of the action at the Sydney Cricket Ground where Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, they are on 126-3 right now at stumps after Day 1 but it’s England who took up the early wickets especially at the expense of both of Australia’s openers (David Warner & Marcus Harris) plus Marnus Labuschagne.

Australia did fire off for a start having formed two 50-run partnerships but just pressed the panic button when they were caught behind the keepers’ gloves or the slips & couldn’t have the opportunity to make up big numbers of their own. There’s still time to turn it around though with Steve Smith in there on 6* as well as the returning Usman Khawaja at 5 in place of Travis Head on 4*.

And England credits the wet weather to their strong start with the ball, they read the off-stump well alongside a full length that saw the opposition edged straight into their hands & now they want to get Smith & Khawaja out early + the remaining tail tomorrow then they hope to produce a big total in return if England want to be closer to the box seat which hasn’t happened so far in this Ashes tour even though they already lost another series here 3-0.

#Ashes #Cricket #SydneyCricketGround #Australia #England #MarkWood #StuartBroad #JamesAnderson #DavidWarner #MarcusHarris #MarnusLabuschagne #SteveSmith #UsmanKhawaja #TestCricket

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Unreal stuff from Scott Boland with his maiden 5fer at six wickets for seven runs during England’s 2nd innings spell & did that on test debut at age 32 which is incredible, Australia bowled England all out for 68 in the 3rd innings as they won by an innings and 14 runs that was enough to win the five-match Ashes Series 3-0 as well as retain the famous Urn.

Love the way Boland dismissed Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Mark Wood & Ollie Robinson all done this morning where he bowled a super good line & bounce that punished them under their skin, we can’t forget the moment he got out Haseeb Hameed & clean bowled Jack Leach towards the end of Day 2. Credit to Mitchell Starc who dismissed Ben Stokes that quick for 11 straight from a well-earned rest from last night including Zak Crawley (5) & a first ball LBW to Dawid Malan yesterday afternoon and Cameron Green finished off the game for Australia with a peach clean bowl delivery to James Anderson.

What Australia can do now is win two more games to wrap up 5-0 as their fast bowling arsenal may be modified a bit to accommodate Josh Hazlewood’s return from injury, they should still give Marcus Harris a bit more time as opener before we can fairly judge him to make up a pattern of consistent big scores after his half-ton on 76 yesterday.

Meanwhile, I don’t have a lot of good things to say right now for England when they still have yet to win a game so far in this series as well as no Urn that was taken away by Australia since 2017-18.

We’ll start at the Opening pair who still failed miserably with Hameed out & Jos Buttler promoted up first with Crawley by handing over the gloves to Bairstow, while Chris Woakes should’ve stayed in place of Ollie Robinson which didn’t happen & it’s best if they swapped Stokes & Bairstow in the middle-order at 5 & 6 respectively with the rest okay through Root, Malan, Wood & Anderson.

Although England should give Dom Bess an chance in Leach’s place as spinner since the surface there in Sydney suits these types of bowlers.

Game 3 is done, Happy New Year & can’t wait for the New Year’s Sydney Test.

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Great to see Marcus Harris secure his Test 50 after, but disappointed not to turn into a 100 especially when batting in front of his home crowd after he was caught by Joe Root on 76. Although Australia just overtook England for the lead a while ago, it’s just the middle and tail end who weren’t up to the chase against the England bowlers after they were all out for 267 but it’s still okay when Australia are ahead by 82 runs.

England on the other hand are still blessed to have Jimmy Anderson firing up with the ball, who picked up four wickets including Harris plus two key men off David Warner & Steve Smith which is incredible figures from such a ripe age of 39 while most others retire from the game.

We also want to give a shoutout to skipper Joe Root when he made a couple of decent catches that not cleared up Australia’s Top 6 arsenal ASAP it became a big part of England’s brilliant Day 2 on the field today.

England has a huge chance now to turn it around and build a big total with the bat, while Australia hopes to deliver a few early wickets towards the end of this session ahead of stumps & come back to finish the job on Day 3 tomorrow.

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England did a great job in this opening session on Day 2 at the MCG despite chaos surrounding off the field with COVID tests overnight, Jimmy Anderson fit and firing as always at age 38 who not only caught out Dave Warner (38) from late yesterday afternoon but also made Steve Smith (16) knick that edge straight through the stumps with great read to mix some speed & build this kind of pressure.

Hats off to his supporting seamers from Ollie Robinson & Mark Wood with the early wickets especially when Wood produced that bounce & length, he successfully got rid of the dangerman Marnus Labuschagne for 1, who felt vulnerable in the end as he edged straight to Joe Root at 1st slip.

Australia have been okay when you still have Marcus Harris in the middle at 48 as of lunch, he’s doing great so far hanging in there and should continue that progress if a 50 and 100 on home soil comes to him. But it’s disappointing for most parts when the nightwatchmen gamble didn’t pay off in Nathan Lyon (10) as well as the top-order being blown away so fast for bare single & double digit scores by the fiery English bowling attack.

Score: Australia 131-4 and trails by 54 runs.

Communication is very important where Harris and Head were lucky to escape a direct hit possibility on occasions which reflects Australia’s poor start with the bat in this 1st innings spell, it’s best to play it simple by going back to square one and shave off that run trail first before building a big total going into Day 3. England has to keep that strong start off the ball and finish the damage on Harris & Head before getting the job done on the lower-order as their new-look batting line-up still needs to be tested if they are to win this Test match.

#AUSvENG #JamesAnderson #SteveSmith #MarnusLabuschagne #NathanLyon #MarcusHarris #TravisHead #Australia #England #MCG #Cricket #MarkWood #OllieRobinson #TestCricket

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Well done to Australia on Day 1 at the MCG when they successfully done the damage after tea that ended England’s 1st innings total of 185 as they are on 61-1 at stumps with a 124 run trail behind them ahead of Day 2 tomorrow.

It’s great to see Scott Boland secure his maiden Test wicket in addition to two brilliant catches down at the rope, while Mitchell Starc scared off Bairstow that scooped straight to Cameron Green’s hands at gully before Nathan Lyon completed the remaining England tail-enders of Jack Leach & Ollie Robinson.

Looking at the bat now & it’s nice to see David Warner scoring quickfire runs but disappointed not to continue on 38 when he was caught by Zak Crawley off Jimmy Anderson, Marcus Harris is also making good progress despite having yet to score big in this Ashes Series as he hopes to prove selectors that he deserves to stay by scoring a ton tomorrow in front of his home crowd. And we’ll see what their nightwatchmen Nathan Lyon has something to offer with the bat before the top-order options come in & help Australia produce a big innings total than England.

Meanwhile at the England camp, Jonny Bairstow did his best to stay in there on 35 before he was so vulnerable by Starc that sent him back upstairs. We also saw Ollie Robinson & Jack Leach score some handy runs while it lasted, but England were already in a bad state anyway as they need their bowlers to produce the magic tomorrow like Jimmy Anderson did with Warner not long before stumps.

Getting rid of these dangermen early like Labuschagne, Steve Smith, etc could mean a lifeline for their Top 6 batsmen to rebound in the 2nd innings especially with a few changes at Opening & Middle-Order spots that will be tested once again to handle the Australian bowlers.

#AUSvENG #Ashes #Cricket #Australia #England #MelbourneCricketGround #MarcusHarris #DavidWarner #ScottBoland #NathanLyon #MitchellStarc #JimmyAnderson #JonnyBairstow #OllieRobinson #JackLeach

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It’s been a quiet middle session mightily for England when Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow hung in there to block & score some runs on the board but Stokes couldn’t execute that ramp shot over the rope as he was caught by Nathan Lyon at gully for 25.

The same goes for Joe Root who reached his test 50 after a great spell in the middle but got caught straight away when his head was not in-line & edged it to Alex Carey’s keeping gloves.

And while Australia’s momentum wasn’t the same after lunch, they saw Mitchell Starc & Cameron Green share the two wickets off Root & Stokes respectively before Nathan Lyon became the standout star when he caught Stokes at gully before he made Jos Buttler (3) mis-timed that loft drive to Scott Boland at deep square leg on the last ball of this session.

Score at Tea: England 128-6

All England can do now is gotta keep staying in there & block the good balls out with Bairstow on 21* with Mark Wood to come ahead of Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach & James Anderson while Australia hopes to finish off the England tail end before they can begin batting towards the end of Day 1 today.

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England made four changes to their XI ahead of the third test today at the Melbourne Cricket Ground v Australia.

Happy to see Rory Burns replaced by Zak Crawley after an unfortunate first two tests, it’s not just the mediocre batting numbers but he also paid the price for poor fielding too. Meanwhile, Haseeb Hameed stayed on despite plenty of fans suggesting that he should be joining Burns towards the chop, but at least Hameed scored a couple of okay double-digit scores & deserves to be tested with a different opening partnership of Crawley.

No need to change the top-order pair that worked so well in skipper Joe Root & Dawid Malan as they hope to make up damage to the Aussies, but hopefully the promotion of Ben Stokes at 5 would help England at least deliver them a century or two in order to stay in contention.

Jonny Bairstow in for Ollie Pope at 6, who hopes to be an upgrade to help stretch England’s run chase as Pope may have fired off well in the 1st Test at The Gabba but couldn’t keep it consistent ever since which saw him walk out the door. And let’s hope that Jos Buttler continues where he left off from the 2nd innings in Adelaide last week by hanging in there & blocking out these good balls but he’s also under pressure to improve his catching behind the keeping gloves too.

Ollie Robinson stays at No.8 who continues to shine with the ball and can bat a bit, while Stuart Broad’s return last week in Adelaide didn’t help much for England despite a fantastic 1st innings v Australia’s batting so they got Mark Wood back in his place at 9. Now it’s kinda harsh to pull the plug on Chris Woakes on this one when he too showed some late form with the bat on 44 & should’ve replaced Robinson at 8 but he hasn’t done much with the ball though as England opted for a frontline spinner in Jack Leach & James Anderson retains his spot at No.11.

Both openers are unfortunately gone early just a while ago with Root & Malan up to the task to turn England’s poor start around as they are 35-2.

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Australia continued to pile up more runs on Day 2 where they’ve set up a good batting total in the first innings of 473-9 via declaration not long after tea before they finished their hard day’s of work a bit early due to lightning & rain with the ball at 17-2.

Plenty of good moments that began from Marnus Labuschagne who secured his sixth Test 100 after he was fortunate to escape Jos Buttler’s sloppy catch of his gloves & cashed into runs, although Travis Head & Cameron Green were clean bowled for low scores but it doesn’t mean Australia regressed when Steve Smith batted superbly as stand-in skipper even though he was gutted not to escape the nervous 90s on 93 & we also saw Alex Carey score his 50 on his 2nd Test match.

We also cannot forget Michael Neser & Mitchell Starc, who not only scored quick fire spells in the mid 30s run mark, but they also shared two early wickets with the ball that gave another advantage going into Day 3 tomorrow for Australia & make more damage on England’s best remaining batting card as Neser is settling really well at Test level after waiting his debut for a very long time even though he’s 31 now.

England on the other hand may have caught up with a few wickets on hand with great areas around the stumps including an excellent late spell from James Anderson (2 wickets) not long before tea, however, they continued to leak runs when the fielding continued to flop such as Ollie Pope at the back & Jos Buttler with the hit and miss catches behind the keeping gloves.

But the one player who disappointed everyone so far this Ashes series is Rory Burns having miscommunicated that overthrow for four as well as still being vulnerable to the Australian quicks & not delivering these numbers as required at Test level, nothing to say right now as if he continues that poor start later in this game then it’s time to go by the Melbourne Boxing Day Test.

England need Dawid Malan & Joe Root to rekindle that spark tomorrow which worked so well in their 2nd innings run last week as it’s going to take a lot of time.

#AUSvENG #Ashes #Cricket #MarnusLabuschagne #SteveSmith #AlexCarey #MichaelNeser #MitchellStarc #JamesAnderson #Australia #England

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Written by Josh Winter

Really since the turn of the century, we have seen more and more sportsmen and sportswomen play into later ages. With better healthcare and nutrition, sportspeople are able to take care of their bodies later and later. Darren Stevens is the obvious example of this, having just been a key member of Kent winning the Blast. So it bring up an interesting point, which is whether or not professional cricketers can play into their 40s.

The case for cricketers playing into their 40s has been backed up a lot recently by performances in domestic and international cricket by a variety of players. Darren Stevens is a good example of a player in his 40s, still performing at a high level in domestic cricket. Stevens produced a match winning performance in the blast semi final against Sussex, hitting an impressive 47 off 28 as he got his side up to 168. He backed that performance up with his bowling, getting a big wicket in Sussex batsmen David Wiese. Stevens is quite easily old enough to be the father of a lot of his teammates, starting his county championship career before teammates Zak Crawley and Jordan Cox were born. 

Stevens has never played for England, but he is widely regarded as the greatest English all rounder to never play for his country. Averaging 35 with the bat and 24 with the ball across its career means it’s tough to see why he has never been called up, but Stevens is a great example of age being irrelevant in domestic cricket. There aren’t many examples of players in county cricket playing above 40, with Stevens being the first 45 year old to play county championship cricket since Eddie Hemmings back in 1994. 

Tim Murtagh is another good example, as he is captain of Middlesex at the age of 40. The problem with county championship games is it can be very difficult on the body. Four day matches are tough for players in their 40s, with the potential for whole days to be spent out in the field. Fielding is the main problem, as it can be extremely tiring for players, and the long season is tough for their bodies. County championship teams play around 14 games a year, which can be up to four days long. It is very difficult for players to keep up when their bodies are struggling to cope with the intense workloads.

Something that you will see a lot more often is players in their 40s playing T20 cricket. T20 cricket is a lot less challenging on the body, as these players have a lot less to do. It is why you see players like AB De Villiers, Andre Flintoff and Shane Warne only play T20 cricket at the end of their careers. T20 gives these players a format which is a lot less challenging on their bodies, as games go from being 4 days to 4 hours. At the moment, looking at this years blast, you saw Gareth Batty, Darren Stevens and Ryan ten Doeschate all still performing to a high level in the blast, with Stevens being the only one of still play county championship games. 

The IPL seems to be a place where legends play when they’re still over 40 years old. Australian legends Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne both played in the IPL aged 41. Legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan played in the IPL aged 42, with his last season being in 2014 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The most impressive of any would be Australian spinner Brad Hogg. Hogg played in the IPL with Kolkata in 2016, aged 45. You will often see spinners play to later ages, as shown by Warne, Hogg and Muralitharan all playing in the IPL past 40. Spin bowling is a lot less stressful on the body than fast bowling. We see pace bowlers like Mark Wood throw their bodies into every ball, putting an incredibly large amount of force through their knees and ankles every ball.  Spinners don’t have the same amount of force going through their bodies as they bowl. This means they can continue to bowl at a later age without losing any of what makes them a great bowler. It is one of the reasons why Darren Stevens has taken so many wickets still in his 40s, he never relied on blistering pace to get wickets when he was younger. Therefore he could continue to bowl the same way even when his body started to get slower. This is why you will see spin bowlers continue to play further into their 30s and 40s than pace bowlers.

In International cricket, there are still currently very few players playing into their 40s. Chris Gayle and Mohammad Hafeez are good examples of that currently. Both in the squads for their countries for the t20 world cup later this year, both are still playing to an exceptionally high level. Chris Gayle still possess the power hitting that has made him a monster over his career. Hafeez is still an excellent all rounder and there are a lot of teams worldwide who would love to have the 40 year old in their team. Both are great examples that cricketers can play into their 40s, even in international cricket. The 2019 world cup saw 40 year old Imran Tahir pick up 11 wickets in the tournament for South Africa, including getting England captain Eoin Morgan out. T20 cricket has shown to be a good place for aging cricket stars. International cricket can be good for stars, especially T20.

However, something you see a lot less of is players in their 40s succeeding in test cricket. You can see this in domestic cricket, as the county championship has talented players like Hashim Amla and Alastair Cook succeeding, when they have been out of test cricket for a few years. Amla and Cook are both still playing at a high quality, but they both also are unlikely to be able to play well in test cricket. Test cricket is incredibly tough on the body, with a five match series being really tough on the body. Currently, test cricket does not have anyone playing at the age of 40 or over. Dilruwan Perera and Jimmy Anderson are the closest to 40, both playing test cricket at the grand age of 39. It is an impressive feat, specifically for Anderson, who is still England’s best pace bowler despite his age. Jimmy is truly a phenomenal cricketer, and he has expressed his interest in playing into his 40s. Jimmy wants to be playing in the ashes later this year, and even carry on beyond the series. It is a difficult thing to do, as your body will deteriorate. There is no way Anderson plays all five tests this winter, and he will need the rest he has now before the ashes.

Sadly, the main reason for cricketers struggling to play into their 40s is injury. Injuries become more and more common the older you get, as players bodies just start to age and wear. Injuries have plagued Anderson over the last few years, and it seems unlikely he can make it into his 40s without more injuries. It is why many players avoid the longest form of the game as a whole when they age, because it is incredibly testing on your body. Fast bowlers especially have to be wary of this. Just looking at England’s fast bowling attack, we have seen injuries to Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes just in the last 12 months. Injuries can ruin careers. Sadly, Dale Steyn is a great example of this. Steyn retiring from test cricket two years ago was a big disappointment for cricket faans, but the fast bowler just could not stay healthy. No matter the advancement we see in nutrition and wellness, injuries will still happen. They are tough to avoid and can make it very difficult to still play at a high level into your 40s. There is no way that after his serious injury this year that Jofra Archer will still be able to play in his 40s. It is a lot easier for spinners and batsmen to still succeed during their 40s.

Players like Darren Stevens, Chris Gayle and Jimmy Anderson are showing that you can play at a high level in all different formats, as you begin to hit your 40s and even get into your mid-40s. It will continue to become easier, as treatment and healthcare continues to improve. Hopefully for these players, the intensity of cricket is not increasing more than the improvements in taking care of these players bodies. It gives a lot of hope to amateurs or semi pro players, as they can still take that step into professional career, into their 30s and even early 40s. This trend will likely continue and more and more cricketers will play into their 40s.

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