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Test Cricket News, Selecting England’s starting XI for the 5th & Final Ashes Test in Hobart on Friday

by Sports Benches

The England Opening Batsmen slots may be a huge mess and still needs fixing, but Zak Crawley played well during England’s 2nd innings spell on 77 a few days ago in Sydney as he deserves to keep his spot for Hobart and go from there to make up regular numbers like this one. However, Haseeb Hameed is the ultimate disappointment after he was given so many chances through four Test matches down under and was taken down too easily by the Australian bowlers which clearly shows he has to go.

I would have liked to gamble on Jos Buttler in his place by giving the gloves away as he knows how to get off the mark with a few blocks + range of dynamic strikes, but he had to go home over a broken finger. Rory Burns will take over Hameed where he also didn’t do well in the first two Tests, but he did score 34 in England’s 2nd innings at Adelaide Oval just before he was dropped & deserves a recall with Crawley that would hopefully turn out well than the previous opening pairs.

As said earlier, Buttler had to go home over a broken finger that gives Ollie Pope a recall this time in his place as the Wicket Keeper. He made a whopping four catches behind the stumps even though he was a sub fielder for Buttler last week in Sydney, now the runs may still be required but at least Pope will have the other half responsibilities and try to get the Aussies out with his gloves on.

And the rest remains unchanged with David Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes & Jonny Bairstow in the batting department; The same goes with the bowling through Mark Wood, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad and James Anderson plus Stokes included as a fast-bowling all-rounder.

It’s only the final Test to just stick with the full squad England sent out to Australia beforehand, then come back home and look out for not just a couple of opening batsmen but also frontline seamers to back Broad and Anderson up.

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Mark Wood, Jack Leach & sub keeper Ollie Pope starred on Day 4 of the 4th Test for England but Usman Khawaja & Cameron Green extended Australia’s lead tally that sets them 388 runs to win

by Sports Benches

An Unbelievable fightback from Australia on Day 4 when they lost their opening and top-order early before Usman Khawaja turned around with another Test Match 100, Australia declared 265-6 that includes a 387 run lead as England are on 30-0 right now going into Day 5 with 358 more runs to meet the 388 run target & win the 4th Test.

There’s one word to describe Usman Khawaja’s batting spell at the Sydney Cricket Ground and that is outstanding to see with both hundreds made in an Ashes Test, he’s a proper red-ball batsman who knows how to get off the mark alongside a mix of strikes downtown & safe to say that Usman learned a lot while being away from the Australian Test team by returning there as a better player. And hats off to Cameron Green on his 2nd Test 50 (74) since India last year at the same venue, not only he did well to back Usman up but he played some nice shots along the way when he came on at six which shows he’s more than capable of being a long-term all-rounder option alongside some backup as a fast bowler for Australia at Test level.

Meanwhile at the England camp, credit to Mark Wood who not only came off from a brilliant quickfire 39 yesterday in the tail end at 8 but he did a great job removing David Warner & Marnus Labuschagne early with the ball. We also want to give a shoutout to spinner Jack Leach who got out Marcus Harris & clean bowled Steve Smith through the gate at the same time, and hats off to sub keeper Ollie Pope with four catches during Australia’s 2nd innings run.

Although England have let themselves down on occasions while Khawaja & Green extended Australia’s lead run tally, but they’ve got three sessions left to meet the 388 run target with patience, communication and reading to make up the maximum runs is key towards winning. Australia on the other hand only needs 10 wickets to win to finish up the job ASAP tomorrow & go 4-0 up with one Test match left in Hobart beginning on Friday.

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Test Cricket News, Australia continues their red hot start in Day 2 of the 2nd 2021-22 Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval

by Sports Benches

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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Test Cricket News, 2021-22 Ashes 1st Test between Australia & England Day 1 update

by Sports Benches

What a day to kickstart their Ashes campaign at The Gabba in Brisbane for the Aussies on Day 1 where they found a way to knock down England’s tail end up early with four wickets (59-4) in the AM session ahead of lunch, then continued that momentum after they bowled them all out for 147.

Nice early tea break for the home side as Pat Cummins bowled beautifully that earned his five-wicket haul alongside Josh Hazlewood who robbed England’s key players with the bat, but the rain has held back for the rest of the afternoon, so Australia will come out to bat tomorrow during the start of Day 2 & use that time to build a big partnership.

England on the other hand gave themselves a lift after lunch thanks to the middle-order partnership of Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler who each made 30+ runs, the damage was already done, however, when the England top-order were exposed by the opposition fast bowling earlier on before it was too late that gave Buttler & Pope a lot of pressure to survive at least after Day 1 which wasn’t successful.

What England can do now is smash the Australian top-order out early & overtake them for the lead but they only have one dedicated fast bowler in Mark Wood and spinner (Jack Leach) plus two fast bowling all-rounders to that job with no Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson.

We’ll wait and see if this England bowling group is going to surprise us tomorrow on Day 2 but if you look at Australia’s decent batting arsenal then Australia continue to build that strong Day 1 momentum with a huge total before they think about finishing that 1st test match on a high.

#AUSvENG #Ashes #PatCummins #Australia #JoshHazlewood #OlliePope #JosButtler #England #BaggyGreen #BarmyArmy #TheGabba #Cricket #TestCricket

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