Page 32 • The Ashes 2019 • Non-Gaming • Sport • Eurogamer.net

Mola_Ram 15 Sep 2019 19:34:33 26,187 posts
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Graxlar_v3 wrote:
All out for 67 and then win... if a team is all out for 67 you would expect a 5-600 run deficit.

Like, i have said this before but the difference between the two sides was Smith.

Well yeah, his contribution was huge, and missing him for a game and a half probably tilted the result. I dare say that a contribution from him in game 3, would have resulted in a target that even an arsey miracle couldn't have reached.

But what happened, happened. So, if we say that the rain delay probably denied you one win, then the Smith concussion denied us 1.5 wins.

Mola_Ram 15 Sep 2019 19:35:19 26,187 posts
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(in case it's not obvious, I'm mostly taking the piss at this point)

lordofthedunce 15 Sep 2019 19:40:09 775 posts
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Cricket won

Deleted user 15 September 2019 20:11:55

Test cricket is still best cricket and I am super pissed off with the ECB trying to foister the 100 on us to the point that they are drafting England’s test team into the pointless matches.

eleven63 15 Sep 2019 20:19:10 3,052 posts
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A draw is a draw. We were out played, and as for Smith, another planet!

dsmx 15 Sep 2019 20:22:46 8,640 posts
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@eleven63 I disagree on outplayed. Outplayed by Steve Smith maybe, without him Australia would of lost every match.

Edited by dsmx at 20:22:59 15-09-2019

Deleted user 15 September 2019 20:29:13

Mola_Ram wrote:
(in case it's not obvious, I'm mostly taking the piss at this point)

We have 2 1/2 years before you beat us 5-0. Taking the piss at 2-2 is understood

Mola_Ram 16 Sep 2019 03:03:03 26,187 posts
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dsmx wrote:
@eleven63 I disagree on outplayed. Outplayed by Steve Smith maybe, without him Australia would of lost every match.

...really? You really think England would have won 5-0 if it weren't for Smith? I agree that he was a major difference between the teams, but you only barely won the game in which he didn't participate.

Mola_Ram 16 Sep 2019 03:30:39 26,187 posts
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At any rate, it's a bit of a silly thing to be talking about. 20 years ago England could have said "oh but we would have won if Australia didn't have Waugh, Warne, Ponting, McGrath, Gilchrist". Today, Australia could say "oh but England wouldn't have won x and y without Ben Stokes". And then England could say "BUT WE DIDN'T HAVE ANDERSON EITHERRRR", Australia could counter with "THE GUY IS A 38-YEAR-OLD FAST BOWLER OF COURSE HE'S GOING TO GET INJURED, YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANYONE TO REPLACE HIM WITH", and so on.

All those statements are probably true, but also kind of obvious. Winning cricket teams usually have world-class players, and if you take them out - surprise! - the team is weakened. Australia has far fewer Gods of Cricket now, sure, but its success isn't completely invalidated because it still has one god remaining. My own pissing and moaning aside, England's success shouldn't be negated either just because Stokes went all 20/20 and pulled a win out of his bottom.

Anyway, Smith had almost nothing to do with our bowling attack. Cummins in particular did really well (he's the ICC #1-ranked Test bowler, in case people didn't realise), as did Hazlewood and Starc.

Edited by Mola_Ram at 07:32:34 16-09-2019

Deleted user 16 September 2019 11:27:13

Interesting chart on BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49702573

Smith & Smith 2 (neither of which played all 5 tests) are 1 & 4 in most runs made respectively.
Only other Australian to make top 8 was Wade, Who scored 70% of his runs in 2 innings.

I would say the Aussie Batsman were as bad as the English (barring the superhuman Smith)

Mola_Ram 16 Sep 2019 11:29:36 26,187 posts
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Warner was the real weird one. He's always been prone to getting out stupidly, but he's never been *this* bad. At least, not consistently.

Deleted user 16 September 2019 11:33:57

To only score 95 with 61 coming from one innings, it was certainly odd. I enjoyed it

but then if it was anyone but Warner they would have been dropped.

Deleted user 16 September 2019 11:36:04

Still I am hoping both teams take stuff away from what was actually a really fun series and focus more on test cricket going forward.

@mola how are you feeling about Paine as captain this morning? I know there is talk of Root not being good enough but I don’t think Paine was much better.

Mola_Ram 16 Sep 2019 11:42:25 26,187 posts
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I think he was fine, aside from obvious mistakes (like wasting reviews).

But even if I were more critical, the question is: who replaces him? Some of the commentariat have gotten all enthusiastic about Smith coming back to captain, but I don't think he deserves that. At least not yet.

Edited by Mola_Ram at 11:43:33 16-09-2019

Deleted user 16 September 2019 11:58:25

I don't think Smith should be allowed back as Captain to be honest, I appreciate he has paid his due and he has learnt from his mistake, but there is a difference between being allowed back in the side and being given the honour of Captaining the side. But then, I wouldn't be adverse to Stokes being captain one day so what do i know.

Mola_Ram 16 Sep 2019 12:05:07 26,187 posts
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I personally would be against it, because his was the kind of leadership failure you can't really come back from. But we'll see.

The Ashes 2019 • Page 32