Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Minecache]

I am confident that England will lose the first match since that target isn't enough against a team like Australia regardless of the weather condition etc. They could wrap this game up before the final session itself.
England's biggest weakness is that they don't have a game-changing spinner like Lyon, Ashwin etc though Ali has been bowling well recently.

Aussie scoring freely now but I still think that the England bowler's final chance will be in the morning session tomorrow. At that time the bowl will be moving and England would need to take 3 or 4 wickets in the morning session. If Australia survives that session, then it will be an easy win and a 1-0 start for the Australians in this Year's Ashes.
On the other hand, getting a lead is always important in an intense series like Ashes and Australia won't be losing grip in this match.

England set a target of 281 runs. But I thought England would give a target of more than 300. A target of 350 would have been easy for England to win the match. But the target of 281 runs is not enough to win.

Australian batsmen are batting very well. They collected 61 runs in the first wicket pair. Warner returned to the dressing room with 36 runs. Usman Khawaja is batting very responsibly in the second innings as well. Australian batsmen are quite experienced. However, the outcome of the match will depend on the performance of the first session tomorrow. Staying at the crease and scoring runs is tough in the first session.

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[n0ne]

I am confident that England will lose the first match since that target isn't enough against a team like Australia regardless of the weather condition etc. They could wrap this game up before the final session itself.
England's biggest weakness is that they don't have a game-changing spinner like Lyon, Ashwin etc though Ali has been bowling well recently.

Aussie scoring freely now but I still think that the England bowler's final chance will be in the morning session tomorrow. At that time the bowl will be moving and England would need to take 3 or 4 wickets in the morning session. If Australia survives that session, then it will be an easy win and a 1-0 start for the Australians in this Year's Ashes.
On the other hand, getting a lead is always important in an intense series like Ashes and Australia won't be losing grip in this match.

England set a target of 281 runs. But I thought England would give a target of more than 300. A target of 350 would have been easy for England to win the match. But the target of 281 runs is not enough to win.

Australian batsmen are batting very well. They collected 61 runs in the first wicket pair. Warner returned to the dressing room with 36 runs. Usman Khawaja is batting very responsibly in the second innings as well. Australian batsmen are quite experienced. However, the outcome of the match will depend on the performance of the first session tomorrow. Staying at the crease and scoring runs is tough in the first session.

Match is getting more interesting as Australia have lost the second wicket. Khawaja as usual does his role, earlier Warner lost his wicket to Robinson and now Labuschagne have lost his wicket to Stuart Board. Both the wickets were caught by Bairstow. We can see the Australia into pressure as the team surely have the plan of ending the day without any wicket fall. Already two wickets fallen and the final day's opening session will have few wickets. Same as the first match id they allow Khawaja to score then this is going to be difficult for England to record its win.

[Litzki1990]

England batted unexpectedly in the second innings. Declared for 393 runs in the first innings, England were all out for just 273 runs in their second innings. It may not have been right for England to declare so quickly in the first innings. Because Joe Root was on the wicket at that moment he might have added several more runs for the team. But England relied on the second innings. Second innings results are usually not good in Test matches. Because it becomes very difficult for the batsmen to bat in the second innings. Australia now need just 203 runs to win. As eight wickets are in Australia's hands so far, it is expected that Australia will win this match.

[MusaPk]

The opening partnership is really good for Australia. The big expectation is from Moeen Ali, and with the 57/0 Australia needs another 224 runs to win the match. This is really an easy reachable target, if England have scored same as the first innings then Australia too might've experienced pressure while chasing. Now the pressure is much on England and now the question arises, whether the early declaration on the first innings will cost England loss the first test match of the Ashes.

England are right back in the game after picking up key wikcets of Warner and Marnus Labuschagne. At the moment England need 197 runs, the danger man Khawaja is still on the crease. England need wikcet of Khawaja as quickly as possible. If Khawaja keep going then Australia will win the game quite easily. 18 more overs still to be bowled and the team who survived these overs will be very much in control of this game.

[Marvell1]

England batted unexpectedly in the second innings. Declared for 393 runs in the first innings, England were all out for just 273 runs in their second innings. It may not have been right for England to declare so quickly in the first innings. Because Joe Root was on the wicket at that moment he might have added several more runs for the team. But England relied on the second innings. Second innings results are usually not good in Test matches. Because it becomes very difficult for the batsmen to bat in the second innings. Australia now need just 203 runs to win. As eight wickets are in Australia's hands so far, it is expected that Australia will win this match.

None of England's batsmen could play a big innings in the second innings. We expected more responsible batting from England's experienced batsmen. Root and Brook collected the maximum 46 runs for England. If Bairstow and Moeen Ali had performed a bit better, England could have easily collected more than 300. However, now the match will depend on the performance of England's bowlers. After losing the wicket of Warner for 61 runs, Australia lost the wicket of Labuschagne for 78 runs. Smith and Usman are batting now. Usman Khawaja scored 141 runs in the first innings. Usman Khawaja is batting very carefully in the second innings as well.

[Iranus]

Usman Khawaja batted well. Played a brilliant innings of 141 runs. I also thought Australia would take a lead of at least 50 runs. But at the end of the innings, they were behind by 7 runs. However, England were not able to start their second innings well. They lost two crucial wickets to Crawley and Duckett for 27 runs. As the match is being delayed due to rain, the chances of the match being drawn are also increasing.

4th day play is in progress and Joe Root is in aggressive mood as he has scored 14 runs on last three balls he has faced. The game is very much dependent on how England will bat today. I think England will try to score 400 runs today and then will let Aussies chase this target. With wet outfield it wont be easy for England to score 400 runs as they are already 2 down. Australia aim will be to bowl out England by 250 since that can be chased quite easily. 

Day 4 of the match has commenced England currently holds a promising lead of 62 runs and Root's unbeaten knock of 22 runs off just 21 balls reflects his T20-like approach adding an exciting dimension to the match. The outcome of the game heavily relies on England batting performance today. It seems England is determined to amass a substantial total of 370 runs allowing the Aussies to chase. But with the wet outfield and two early wickets achieving this target won't be effortless.

England's batsmen are not able to play well. The team was able to give a target of only 281 runs. But now, looking at the condition of the pitch, it seems that Australia can beat this run target as well. Australia lost the first wicket by 61 runs. However, they lost three crucial wickets for 89 runs. Smith got out for just 6 runs. Broad took two wickets and Moeen Ali took one wicket. If England bowlers manage to take the wicket of Usman Khawaja today then I think England will win this match.

[kro55]

Joe Root is batting responsibly. However, England lost the wicket of Ollie Pope earlier in the day. England's collection of 97 runs after losing 3 wickets in 20 overs. England lead by 104 runs. .
Joe Root and Harry Brooks should build a long partnership. If you want to win against Australia, you have to give a target of at least 350 runs. However, the game continues today on the fourth day. If England bats for the full day today, the chances of a draw will increase. And so if England's target is to win, they have to bat carefully, and definitely at a good run rate.

England have lost 2 more wickets this morning and there lead at the moment is 137 runs. Its very clear now that England will play aggressively and will let Australia bat for a last day. Brook is not out on 36(28) along with Stokes who just stepped in. I would say its a bold decision from England to go aggressively against mighty Aussies pace attack. England need to be careful also as they can lose more wickets in rush of scoring runs quickly. The field is wet and will favour bowlers.

Launch break, Eng 155/5
After losing Brook wickets, Bairstow came in and survived a dramatic last over before the lunch break. For England to win, they must play with caution while still being aggressive, aiming for a lead of 250-300 runs. If they don't achieve this target, then Australia are favorites. Both Stokes and Bairstow needed to take more responsibility and score more runs to put England in a better position.

The pitch is not helping the batsmen. A good enough pitch. And the match is also getting competitive. In the second innings, we did not see a good performance from the England players. The team lost all the wickets in just 273 runs. And the Australian batsmen are not playing too well either. At the end of the fourth day, the Australian team managed to collect 107 runs after losing 3 wickets. As Usman Khawaja is still at the crease with 34 runs, it is expected that Australia will play well in the coming days. But if Australia loses Usman's wicket early in the day, they will face a big problem. Because other batsmen except Usman Khawaja are not in good form now.

[Minecache]

✂

Match is getting more interesting as Australia have lost the second wicket. Khawaja as usual does his role, earlier Warner lost his wicket to Robinson and now Labuschagne have lost his wicket to Stuart Board. Both the wickets were caught by Bairstow. We can see the Australia into pressure as the team surely have the plan of ending the day without any wicket fall. Already two wickets fallen and the final day's opening session will have few wickets. Same as the first match id they allow Khawaja to score then this is going to be difficult for England to record its win.

At the end of day four, I still think Australia is in a good position to win. Australia need 174 to win and they have a whole day to get that. They also have seven wickets in hand. I believe that is enough. Unless England gets some quick wickets at the start of the fifth day, I don’t think Australia is going to face too much problems.

Khawaja is still there in the middle for Australia. He is also set. But we all know that start of a new day can actually cause problems for any batsman. I will say that Australia is going to win if there is no rain interruption. But at this moment it seems like 55-45 in favour of Australia.

[Sithara007]

✂
Khawaja is still there in the middle for Australia. He is also set. But we all know that start of a new day can actually cause problems for any batsman. I will say that Australia is going to win if there is no rain interruption. But at this moment it seems like 55-45 in favour of Australia.

Heavy rains are predicted for today at Birmingham, where the Edgbaston stadium is located. And worse still, rains are predicted from 6am onwards, which should mean that there will be a delay in starting 5th day's play. For Australia, Usman Khawaja is still there after crawling up to a 34 from 81 balls and he has Scott Boland for company. The wicket of Steven Smith was very crucial. Without that wicket, Australia would have had a clear advantage. But now the match is more or less even, with both the sides having an almost equal chance of victory.

[LDL]

✂
Khawaja is still there in the middle for Australia. He is also set. But we all know that start of a new day can actually cause problems for any batsman. I will say that Australia is going to win if there is no rain interruption. But at this moment it seems like 55-45 in favour of Australia.

Heavy rains are predicted for today at Birmingham, where the Edgbaston stadium is located. And worse still, rains are predicted from 6am onwards, which should mean that there will be a delay in starting 5th day's play. For Australia, Usman Khawaja is still there after crawling up to a 34 from 81 balls and he has Scott Boland for company. The wicket of Steven Smith was very crucial. Without that wicket, Australia would have had a clear advantage. But now the match is more or less even, with both the sides having an almost equal chance of victory.

If rain interrupts play on the fifth day, it could be ominous for Australia. But if Osman Khawaja can get through a session in a defensive mood on the wicket, it will be possible for Australia to pull off a win. On the other hand, Scott Boland saved himself by batting in a typically defensive mood in the last session of the fourth day. Interestingly, Scott Boland has managed to bat in nine Tests so far and is unbeaten with a maximum of 13* in today's ongoing innings.

[Sithara007]

✂
If rain interrupts play on the fifth day, it could be ominous for Australia. But if Osman Khawaja can get through a session in a defensive mood on the wicket, it will be possible for Australia to pull off a win. On the other hand, Scott Boland saved himself by batting in a typically defensive mood in the last session of the fourth day. Interestingly, Scott Boland has managed to bat in nine Tests so far and is unbeaten with a maximum of 13* in today's ongoing innings.

The decision to send Boland as the night-watchman was a surprise. There was plenty of overs left and the England bowlers were literally breathing fire (especially Stuart Broad). Australia need 174 more runs with 7 wickets in hand. On paper, it may sound a bit easy. Especially given the fact that they have a lot of depth down the order - Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey and Pat Cummins yet to come to bat. On top of that, England is missing a quality spinner for this match and I really doubt whether Moeen Ali has the ability to trouble Australian batsmen.

[onecall123]

Usman Khawaja batted well. Played a brilliant innings of 141 runs. I also thought Australia would take a lead of at least 50 runs. But at the end of the innings, they were behind by 7 runs. However, England were not able to start their second innings well. They lost two crucial wickets to Crawley and Duckett for 27 runs. As the match is being delayed due to rain, the chances of the match being drawn are also increasing.

4th day play is in progress and Joe Root is in aggressive mood as he has scored 14 runs on last three balls he has faced. The game is very much dependent on how England will bat today. I think England will try to score 400 runs today and then will let Aussies chase this target. With wet outfield it wont be easy for England to score 400 runs as they are already 2 down. Australia aim will be to bowl out England by 250 since that can be chased quite easily. 

Day 4 of the match has commenced England currently holds a promising lead of 62 runs and Root's unbeaten knock of 22 runs off just 21 balls reflects his T20-like approach adding an exciting dimension to the match. The outcome of the game heavily relies on England batting performance today. It seems England is determined to amass a substantial total of 370 runs allowing the Aussies to chase. But with the wet outfield and two early wickets achieving this target won't be effortless.

Australia faces a challenging task ahead requiring 170 runs to secure victory with 7 wickets in hand. At the end of Day 4 they displayed resilience scoring 107 runs while losing 3 wickets. Usman Khawaja unbeaten knock of 38 runs provides hope for Australia's batting lineup. The match hangs in the balance and if England bowlers can break through and dismiss Khawaja it may tip the scales in their favor for a potential victory. The final day promises an exciting conclusion as both teams continue to battle for supremacy.

It's going to be an exciting Day 5 for sure! England only needs to take seven more wickets, while Australia needs 174 runs to win the first test match. Once again the battle between Usman Khawaja and the England bowlers is set to bring us another thrilling contest. But, England's fearless approach has given them an advantage for sure. Now it's only a matter of times getting rest of the wickets in morning hours or we'll see if Australian batters to bounce back from that pressure.

[Sithara007]

It's going to be an exciting Day 5 for sure! England only needs to take seven more wickets, while Australia needs 174 runs to win the first test match. Once again the battle between Usman Khawaja and the England bowlers is set to bring us another thrilling contest. But, England's fearless approach has given them an advantage for sure. Now it's only a matter of times getting rest of the wickets in morning hours or we'll see if Australian batters to bounce back from that pressure.

Everyone is predicting a win for Australia, but I have a feeling that England is going to win this match. Stuart Broad was deadly during the afternoon session yesterday, and he was getting good support from James Anderson and Ollie Robinson. The only deficiency in England bowling was the absence of a quality spinner as Moeen Ali was not looking very threating. Australian lower order put up a fight during the first innings, but I don't think that it will happen this time as well. Anyway, my big concern is regarding rain. Let any of these two sides win. But I will be disappointed if the match gets washed out.

[Litzki1990]

England batted unexpectedly in the second innings. Declared for 393 runs in the first innings, England were all out for just 273 runs in their second innings. It may not have been right for England to declare so quickly in the first innings. Because Joe Root was on the wicket at that moment he might have added several more runs for the team. But England relied on the second innings. Second innings results are usually not good in Test matches. Because it becomes very difficult for the batsmen to bat in the second innings. Australia now need just 203 runs to win. As eight wickets are in Australia's hands so far, it is expected that Australia will win this match.

None of England's batsmen could play a big innings in the second innings. We expected more responsible batting from England's experienced batsmen. Root and Brook collected the maximum 46 runs for England. If Bairstow and Moeen Ali had performed a bit better, England could have easily collected more than 300. However, now the match will depend on the performance of England's bowlers. After losing the wicket of Warner for 61 runs, Australia lost the wicket of Labuschagne for 78 runs. Smith and Usman are batting now. Usman Khawaja scored 141 runs in the first innings. Usman Khawaja is batting very carefully in the second innings as well.

At the end of the fourth day's play, Australia managed to accumulate 107 runs for three wickets against England in the second innings. Australia need only 174 runs to win this match. The victory in this match depends a lot on Usman Khawaja's batting as he is unbeaten on 34 runs in the second innings after scoring a great score in the first innings. Although some of Australia's top order batsmen are still not out but Usman Khawaja is set at the wicket. So a team's victory depends a lot on a set batsman. When the fifth and final day's play begins, expect Usman Khawaja to bat responsibly and ensure his team's victory and then leave the field.

[3kpk3]

174 is a small target for the remaining batsmen though England could still win if they triggered a collapse.

Exciting first match which implies that this edition of Ashes will most probably be far better than the previous edition where Australia decimated England. Rain interference should stay minimal throughout this series hopefully.

[Sithara007]

174 is a small target for the remaining batsmen though England could still win if they triggered a collapse.

Exciting first match which implies that this edition of Ashes will most probably be far better than the previous edition where Australia decimated England. Rain interference should stay minimal throughout this series hopefully.

174 is not a small target, given the fact that half of their top-order batsmen are back in pavilion. A couple of quick wickets in the first hour of today's play would swing the momentum towards England in a big way. It is still very much unpredictable. But till now, it is same to say that England has performed better than what was expected from them. Given the fact that Australia just won the WTC final against India, I was actually expecting this to be a one-sided match. The century from Joe Root and support given by Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow enabled them to put up a good fight. And then Stuart Broad has been a revelation with the ball.

[Litzki1990]

174 is a small target for the remaining batsmen though England could still win if they triggered a collapse.

Exciting first match which implies that this edition of Ashes will most probably be far better than the previous edition where Australia decimated England. Rain interference should stay minimal throughout this series hopefully.

As easy as it sounds, the fifth day's play will not be that easy. The wicket on the fifth day is usually very turning and fast which makes it a challenging task for the batsmen to deal with the fast bowlers. England can win this match if they can pick up two wickets early on the fifth day, Australia will be under a lot of pressure. And when a team can be pressured, that team will surely play the wrong game. Since the top three batsmen are already out, if two more are out, there will be two to three recognized batsmen and there will be a lot of pressure on them to win this match.

[LDL]

174 is a small target for the remaining batsmen though England could still win if they triggered a collapse.

Exciting first match which implies that this edition of Ashes will most probably be far better than the previous edition where Australia decimated England. Rain interference should stay minimal throughout this series hopefully.

As easy as it sounds, the fifth day's play will not be that easy. The wicket on the fifth day is usually very turning and fast which makes it a challenging task for the batsmen to deal with the fast bowlers. England can win this match if they can pick up two wickets early on the fifth day, Australia will be under a lot of pressure. And when a team can be pressured, that team will surely play the wrong game. Since the top three batsmen are already out, if two more are out, there will be two to three recognized batsmen and there will be a lot of pressure on them to win this match.

The first session of the fifth day was not played due to rain, collecting 174 runs in the second and third sessions, which could only be predicted when play resumed after the lunch break. It won't be easy for Australia to pull off a win as the pitch was largely out of Australia's control due to the rain. Now the pacer bowlers will get an extra advantage especially as there will be a lot of turning, extra bouncing as soon as the ball hits the wicket, so Australia may face various difficulties while batting.

[JSRAW]

One session is completely washed out so we'll have approx 45-50 overs of the action if there are no rain interruptions.

Remaining 174 runs might not look daunting but again, it won't be an easy task due to overcast conditions. Aussie batters also need to keep up with the run rate and it's tough when you don't have many wickets in the bank. Right now all 4 results are possible (including tie).

Update

It looks like they are considering 67 overs today.

[synchronym]

174 is a small target for the remaining batsmen though England could still win if they triggered a collapse.

Exciting first match which implies that this edition of Ashes will most probably be far better than the previous edition where Australia decimated England. Rain interference should stay minimal throughout this series hopefully.

As easy as it sounds, the fifth day's play will not be that easy. The wicket on the fifth day is usually very turning and fast which makes it a challenging task for the batsmen to deal with the fast bowlers. England can win this match if they can pick up two wickets early on the fifth day, Australia will be under a lot of pressure. And when a team can be pressured, that team will surely play the wrong game. Since the top three batsmen are already out, if two more are out, there will be two to three recognized batsmen and there will be a lot of pressure on them to win this match.

The first session of the fifth day was not played due to rain, collecting 174 runs in the second and third sessions, which could only be predicted when play resumed after the lunch break. It won't be easy for Australia to pull off a win as the pitch was largely out of Australia's control due to the rain. Now the pacer bowlers will get an extra advantage especially as there will be a lot of turning, extra bouncing as soon as the ball hits the wicket, so Australia may face various difficulties while batting.

As the fifth day's play is not due to rain, Australia's target is 174 runs, so expect Australia to bat very soon and hopefully they will be able to play well. If England's bowlers can pick up a couple of early wickets then Australia will be under some pressure. So England should bowl well and field well. If England can use their bowlers well then the game could go in their favor but the equation says that Australia have more chances to win.