Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[romero121]

Which team is having the upper hand for the Ashes series? I was thinking that it would be a cakewalk for England, but given the fact that some of their players are injured, they may not be able to field their best side. And at the same time, some of the Australian players, who were not in great form earlier (Warner, Cummins.etc) seems to have recovered by now. It is going to be an evenly contested series between two of the big 3 teams, and the Australian players are always at their best during the Ashes.

It doesn't matter if Australia plays good or bad in a certain match for the tournament they are always really serious about the ashes series. If you see the Australians play the ashes you will know that it means a lot to them. I personally love to see ashes because for me this is the biggest rivalry after probably India vs Pakistan. But if we talk about only test matches, ashes is by far the biggest rivalry ever. I have always supported Australia in ashes because they always seemed to have a flair about them and their play style. And probably another reason was Australia have always had some superstars like Glenn McGrath and Share Warne and Ponting etc. But this time I think  England is going to win the ashes series regardless of their injury problems. Because England seems to be a complete team to me right now.

The previous Ashes ended in a draw, and the same gives way for more expectation on the 2021-2022 series. The past team can't be compared with the present team. Those are legendary players who kept the Australia team as if like a strong palace which can't be destroyed that easy. Things changed little by little, and recently they regained good form. Something in between happened and once again the team went down. As in the above quote England looks complete, but Australia hasn't got perfect squad. Often players gets swapped which itself not a good sign of being strong.

[1715317712]

1715317712

[1715317712]

1715317712

[1715317712]

1715317712

[1715317712]

1715317712

[1715317712]

1715317712

[JSRAW]

~snip~

Even with the home advantage, I would say that England are slightly ahead at this point. Australian players (especially Steve Smith) have performed poorly in 2020-21. The bowlers have performed even worse. They used to be dependent on Mitchell Starc, but he has been out of form for ages. Hazlewood is economical, but not lethal. The other bowlers such as Richardson and Pattinson doesn't have enough experience to take on the England batsmen. For England, Joe Root is in top form. The bowlers are also in good shape, especially Anderson, Woakes, Robinson and Broad.

Have to agree with @TheGreatPython. English batting line up performed badly in the recent time, we have seen this in the last 2 Test series against kiwis and Indians. Couple of times they got knocked out under 60 overs when chasing and lost the game and odds were favoring the draw or to some extent their win when game started at the 5th day.

English bowlers are excellent but no one can rule out Aussie batters. Smith-Marnus duo is almost invincible. Other batters are also doing well in the current Sheffield season, couple of batters are scoring double ton for fun and becoming meme locally. Not counting Warner yet because of his form but he's destructive opener when playing in Australia, he's called home-track bully for a reason.

[galambo]

The previous Ashes ended in a draw, and the same gives way for more expectation on the 2021-2022 series. The past team can't be compared with the present team. Those are legendary players who kept the Australia team as if like a strong palace which can't be destroyed that easy. Things changed little by little, and recently they regained good form. Something in between happened and once again the team went down. As in the above quote England looks complete, but Australia hasn't got perfect squad. Often players gets swapped which itself not a good sign of being strong.

Compared to 2013/14 Ashes where Australia won 5/0, this time England time is strong enough to give aussies a tough time. I do agree that Aussies are a little bit weak when compared with mighty England. It is also confirmed that Ben will be there in Ashes. But as far as betting odds are concerned they are still favouring Australia.  https://bettingsite.com.au/cricket/ashes/#odds

[Sithara007]

~snip~
English bowlers are excellent but no one can rule out Aussie batters. Smith-Marnus duo is almost invincible. Other batters are also doing well in the current Sheffield season, couple of batters are scoring double ton for fun and becoming meme locally. Not counting Warner yet because of his form but he's destructive opener when playing in Australia, he's called home-track bully for a reason.

Almost forgot about Marnus Labuschagne. With Warner and Smith being out of form, he needs to step up if Australia wants to prevent a complete whitewash by England. And from what I can see, he is in good form for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield competition. And a few months back, he performed in an exceptional manner for Glamorgan as well. During the last Ashes series, Smith and Marnus scored the vast majority of the runs for Australia. This time the poor form of Smith should be a concern for them.

[JSRAW]

^^ Don't look at Smith's limited overs form much. He scored fair amount of runs against us in the last tour and scored shit load amount of runs in the last Ashes series. He is capable of switching into his god-mode in the test cricket out of nowhere. Warner's confidence looks bad but he's also champion batsman at home when playing tests. Apart from Marnus, other players like Travis head, Green and more or less outcast member (because of Smith-Marnus's form) Usman Khawaja are in excellent form.

[savetheFORUM]

^^ Don't look at Smith's limited overs form much. He scored fair amount of runs against us in the last tour and scored shit load amount of runs in the last Ashes series. He is capable of switching into his god-mode in the test cricket out of nowhere. Warner's confidence looks bad but he's also champion batsman at home when playing tests. Apart from Marnus, other players like Travis head, Green and more or less outcast member (because of Smith-Marnus's form) Usman Khawaja are in excellent form.

Currently, both teams facing some big dilemma with their batting, but Australian are much better with some good and quality batsmen and home advantage is also having big factor for them England is really crap in batting because at home they some better in Australia it has never been easy for them and their all batting line up just Root is not enough for having good performance in all series we already watch in series against INDIA Stokes is out of cricket for some time which is also big factor but biggest issue is their best domestic cricket system is not giving them any quality batsman in long time now it's time for think about this and have some better ideas about improving quality.

[7788bitcoin]

^^ Don't look at Smith's limited overs form much. He scored fair amount of runs against us in the last tour and scored shit load amount of runs in the last Ashes series. He is capable of switching into his god-mode in the test cricket out of nowhere. Warner's confidence looks bad but he's also champion batsman at home when playing tests. Apart from Marnus, other players like Travis head, Green and more or less outcast member (because of Smith-Marnus's form) Usman Khawaja are in excellent form.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith are in good form but Usman Khawaja is not even in the team but Australia has some young talents especially Cameron Green and they are yet to announce the team for the Ashes, England already announced their squad and Ben Stokes is returning after a gap and they have a really strong team and hopefully it will be a good series.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

Aussie camp already dreaming about 5-0. They are not wrong either, we just have to look at English last 3 tours when visiting Aussie's shore. They were humiliated every time and whitewashed by Aussie side.

^^ Don't look at Smith's limited overs form much. He scored fair amount of runs against us in the last tour and scored shit load amount of runs in the last Ashes series. He is capable of switching into his god-mode in the test cricket out of nowhere. Warner's confidence looks bad but he's also champion batsman at home when playing tests. Apart from Marnus, other players like Travis head, Green and more or less outcast member (because of Smith-Marnus's form) Usman Khawaja are in excellent form.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith are in good form but Usman Khawaja is not even in the team but Australia has some young talents especially Cameron Green and they are yet to announce the team for the Ashes, England already announced their squad and Ben Stokes is returning after a gap and they have a really strong team and hopefully it will be a good series.

Yes, Usman Khawaja not in the team but not because of his. Reason is he's no3 -no4 batsman and these spots are occupied by Marnus and Smith. But you never know if selectors might pick Usman for No 5 spot because so far he's their top run scorer in recent Sheffield season.

[S A KHAIR]

^^ Don't look at Smith's limited overs form much. He scored fair amount of runs against us in the last tour and scored shit load amount of runs in the last Ashes series. He is capable of switching into his god-mode in the test cricket out of nowhere. Warner's confidence looks bad but he's also champion batsman at home when playing tests. Apart from Marnus, other players like Travis head, Green and more or less outcast member (because of Smith-Marnus's form) Usman Khawaja are in excellent form.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith are in good form but Usman Khawaja is not even in the team but Australia has some young talents especially Cameron Green and they are yet to announce the team for the Ashes, England already announced their squad and Ben Stokes is returning after a gap and they have a really strong team and hopefully it will be a good series.

I am so excited about the ashes series and I think this time England has some advantages over Australia because almost all of the England players are in form and they have some world-class players who can turn the match on its head by themselves especially ben strokes who are returning to the England squad. I think Australia might have some serious problems this time.

[Sithara007]

Yes, Usman Khawaja not in the team but not because of his. Reason is he's no3 -no4 batsman and these spots are occupied by Marnus and Smith. But you never know if selectors might pick Usman for No 5 spot because so far he's their top run scorer in recent Sheffield season.

Khawaja will suit more in the middle order, as the top-4 is sort of permanent (Warner, Harris/Bancroft, Smith, Labuschagne). The options they have right now are mostly useless. Khawaja is someone who can build a big partnership with either Labuschagne or Smith. Cameroon Green is another exciting prospect for Australia. He was disappointing against India (especially with the ball), but the management needs to provide more chances to these young players rather than sticking with useless oldies such as Head, Paine and Wade.

[Juggy777]

^^ Don't look at Smith's limited overs form much. He scored fair amount of runs against us in the last tour and scored shit load amount of runs in the last Ashes series. He is capable of switching into his god-mode in the test cricket out of nowhere. Warner's confidence looks bad but he's also champion batsman at home when playing tests. Apart from Marnus, other players like Travis head, Green and more or less outcast member (because of Smith-Marnus's form) Usman Khawaja are in excellent form.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith are in good form but Usman Khawaja is not even in the team but Australia has some young talents especially Cameron Green and they are yet to announce the team for the Ashes, England already announced their squad and Ben Stokes is returning after a gap and they have a really strong team and hopefully it will be a good series.

I am so excited about the ashes series and I think this time England has some advantages over Australia because almost all of the England players are in form and they have some world-class players who can turn the match on its head by themselves especially ben strokes who are returning to the England squad. I think Australia might have some serious problems this time.

I too feel that England have a far more stable squad I’m comparison to Australia, but at the end of the day Australia will only need one or two strong player’s to step up and change the game’s momentum for them eg Smith.

Also lot of attention seems to be on Stokes, but I feel that he’ll handle it well and maybe he’ll be the key player who’ll help England beat Australia.

[JSRAW]

I am so excited about the ashes series and I think this time England has some advantages over Australia because almost all of the England players are in form and they have some world-class players who can turn the match on its head by themselves especially ben strokes who are returning to the England squad. I think Australia might have some serious problems this time.

I too feel that England have a far more stable squad I’m comparison to Australia, but at the end of the day Australia will only need one or two strong player’s to step up and change the game’s momentum for them eg Smith.

Also lot of attention seems to be on Stokes, but I feel that he’ll handle it well and maybe he’ll be the key player who’ll help England beat Australia.

I think you and S A KHAIR mixing T-20 and Test Format form.

If you leave Joe Root out from the discussion then not a single English batsmen, i mean literally you can't find single batsmen who can anchor the inning or make a ton for the English team. That's their story since 1-2 years. Yeah 1-2 individual players might score odd hundred here n there but that's about it.

I had very high hopes from Buttler, Bairstow but they completely failed to impress anyone in Red ball cricket despite playing 50+ tests match. Buttler is about to retire from Test cricket anyway.

English Opening prospect Rory Burn, Sibley and Haseeb Hameed are top notch performer in County circuit but their international average is about 33-ish. Hameed is new guy but you don't expect these sort of averages from your openers.

One new middle order batter is Daniel Lawrence, although his numbers doesn't make good case for him but he's considered a most complete batsman in current English squad after Joe Root. All his runs comes when odds were against the batsmen. I really hope he gets the long rope along with Ollie Pope because they are future of English Team.

Yes, Usman Khawaja not in the team but not because of his. Reason is he's no3 -no4 batsman and these spots are occupied by Marnus and Smith. But you never know if selectors might pick Usman for No 5 spot because so far he's their top run scorer in recent Sheffield season.

Khawaja will suit more in the middle order, as the top-4 is sort of permanent (Warner, Harris/Bancroft, Smith, Labuschagne). The options they have right now are mostly useless. Khawaja is someone who can build a big partnership with either Labuschagne or Smith. Cameroon Green is another exciting prospect for Australia. He was disappointing against India (especially with the ball), but the management needs to provide more chances to these young players rather than sticking with useless oldies such as Head, Paine and Wade.

Bancroft chances are slim due to his recent form. They could also try Khawaja at opening slot, he could dig at one end and Warner could do his job from the other end, but yeah Khawaja is more suitable for middle order.

[S A KHAIR]

I am so excited about the ashes series and I think this time England has some advantages over Australia because almost all of the England players are in form and they have some world-class players who can turn the match on its head by themselves especially ben strokes who are returning to the England squad. I think Australia might have some serious problems this time.

I too feel that England have a far more stable squad I’m comparison to Australia, but at the end of the day Australia will only need one or two strong player’s to step up and change the game’s momentum for them eg Smith.
Also lot of attention seems to be on Stokes, but I feel that he’ll handle it well and maybe he’ll be the key player who’ll help England beat Australia.

snip
If you leave Joe Root out from the discussion then not a single English batsmen, i mean literally you can't find single batsmen who can anchor the inning or make a ton for the English team. That's their story since 1-2 years. Yeah 1-2 individual players might score odd hundred here n there but that's about it.
I had very high hopes from Buttler, Bairstow but they completely failed to impress anyone in Red ball cricket despite playing 50+ tests match. Buttler is about to retire from Test cricket anyway.
English Opening prospect Rory Burn, Sibley and Haseeb Hameed are top notch performer in County circuit but their international average is about 33-ish. Hameed is new guy but you don't expect these sort of averages from your openers.
One new middle order batter is Daniel Lawrence, although his numbers doesn't make good case for him but he's considered a most complete batsman in current English squad after Joe Root. All his runs comes when odds were against the batsmen. I really hope he gets the long rope along with Ollie Pope because they are future of English Team.

Joe is a great player no doubt. But if England wants to win all the players need to contribute to the scoreboard because with only Joe Root scoring and the others failing to the task doesn't have the cause of England. From the new players, I don't know what to expect but I hope they can come to the rescue when their team needs them.

And Australia needs to play really well if they want to beat England. I think Warner and Smith can get going then it will be really a big problem for England and Pat  Cummins needs to take a big responsibility off the bowling department. Because he needs to get Joe Root out as he has done this before and Joe Root seems to be a little prone to be off-balance when deliveries are coming in.

[Sithara007]

Bancroft chances are slim due to his recent form. They could also try Khawaja at opening slot, he could dig at one end and Warner could do his job from the other end, but yeah Khawaja is more suitable for middle order.

Australia is known for rotating their players. So I guess it is possible that Bancroft may get an opportunity. But if they are looking towards the future, then there are younger players who deserve that spot. And as you mentioned, Khawaja can open with Warner as well. But Warner was in pathetic form during the last Ashes, and I am not sure whether Australia can count on him. His poor form was neutralized to an extent by Smith and Labuschagne, but this time it needs to be seen how the things work out for them. 

[JSRAW]

Bancroft chances are slim due to his recent form. They could also try Khawaja at opening slot, he could dig at one end and Warner could do his job from the other end, but yeah Khawaja is more suitable for middle order.

Australia is known for rotating their players. So I guess it is possible that Bancroft may get an opportunity. But if they are looking towards the future, then there are younger players who deserve that spot. And as you mentioned, Khawaja can open with Warner as well. But Warner was in pathetic form during the last Ashes, and I am not sure whether Australia can count on him. His poor form was neutralized to an extent by Smith and Labuschagne, but this time it needs to be seen how the things work out for them.  

Australia is not fan of rotation policy when playing against India and England in Test cricket. Yeah they do rotate their player in limited overs cricket similar to India but not in the tests. Only England is only cricketing nation, which follow rotation policy very seriously but i doubt if they are also going to change anything in the ashes because their test cricket is all about the ashes.

Bancroft might come as back up option. They have one promising opener Will Pucovski, he's young too but he always struggle with injuries. I believe Warner would be their first choice for 1st opener for at least 2 games, then for 2nd opener they could play their usual dumb charades with Wade, Burn or Pucovski (if he's fit).

[darewaller]

Australia is known for rotating their players. So I guess it is possible that Bancroft may get an opportunity. But if they are looking towards the future, then there are younger players who deserve that spot. And as you mentioned, Khawaja can open with Warner as well. But Warner was in pathetic form during the last Ashes, and I am not sure whether Australia can count on him. His poor form was neutralized to an extent by Smith and Labuschagne, but this time it needs to be seen how the things work out for them. 

Right now, situation is not good for Australia with their rotation policy giving chance to Bancroft or Khawaja they need to bring some better youngster from Sheffield Shield trophy because they have some good number of players those are performing better in this league, and they can do much better than these guys.

But, Khawaja already on top with good runs may be included even his record is not good in international games Warner spot is fixed but still some good need from him for having more faith from selectors he started some better in T20 world cup right now, but surely it's not going to count for the Ashes series. Mathew Wade probably may retain his test spot due to his wicket keeping options along with Tim Paine.

[Sithara007]

Australia is not fan of rotation policy when playing against India and England in Test cricket. Yeah they do rotate their player in limited overs cricket similar to India but not in the tests. Only England is only cricketing nation, which follow rotation policy very seriously but i doubt if they are also going to change anything in the ashes because their test cricket is all about the ashes.

Bancroft might come as back up option. They have one promising opener Will Pucovski, he's young too but he always struggle with injuries. I believe Warner would be their first choice for 1st opener for at least 2 games, then for 2nd opener they could play their usual dumb charades with Wade, Burn or Pucovski (if he's fit).

I remember the last Ashes series and players like Wade and Paine had almost zero contribution to the batting. I don't know why the selectors are sticking with these players. Will Pucovski may be volatile and injury prone, but at least in his case he is a future prospect. So I would prefer him, instead of all those players who are facing mid-life crisis right now. Last month he suffered from a concussion during one of the Sheffield Shield matches, and from what I have heard he is yet to recover 100%.

[JSRAW]

Australia is not fan of rotation policy when playing against India and England in Test cricket. Yeah they do rotate their player in limited overs cricket similar to India but not in the tests. Only England is only cricketing nation, which follow rotation policy very seriously but i doubt if they are also going to change anything in the ashes because their test cricket is all about the ashes.

Bancroft might come as back up option. They have one promising opener Will Pucovski, he's young too but he always struggle with injuries. I believe Warner would be their first choice for 1st opener for at least 2 games, then for 2nd opener they could play their usual dumb charades with Wade, Burn or Pucovski (if he's fit).

I remember the last Ashes series and players like Wade and Paine had almost zero contribution to the batting. I don't know why the selectors are sticking with these players. Will Pucovski may be volatile and injury prone, but at least in his case he is a future prospect. So I would prefer him, instead of all those players who are facing mid-life crisis right now. Last month he suffered from a concussion during one of the Sheffield Shield matches, and from what I have heard he is yet to recover 100%.

If i look at last 3 year trajectory of Australian cricket then i would say new crop of batters (Bowling is good) are not good enough for the test format, only Pucovski and Green are promising young guys but they still have to prove them selves in the international arena. May be that's a reason selectors keep going back to Wade, Burn, Marsh etc. On Paine, yeah he's batting credentials are not impressive but he did lead the team when they were struggling with the Sand_Pager_Saga. It wasn't easy task, considering the backlash they received in their own backyard. He did fairly good job at start but messed up badly in last Ashes series where Ben Stoke and Jack leach won the game for the England and to make things worse he failed against India at SCG and Gabba royally.

[JSRAW]

Good news for Pakistan cricket. Australia is about to visit Pakistan in next year for bilateral series, kinda surprising that they didn't visit there since 1999. 2008-2021 period was understandable but what happened during 1998-2007? Anyway hope they don't cancel this tour at the last minute. They do have a habit of pulling out at the last minute, South Africans still very pissed at them.

Australia to tour Pakistan for full series in March 2022

[GbitG]

Good news for Pakistan cricket. Australia is about to visit Pakistan in next year for bilateral series, kinda surprising that they didn't visit there since 1999. 2008-2021 period was understandable but what happened during 1998-2007? Anyway hope they don't cancel this tour at the last minute. They do have a habit of pulling out at the last minute, South Africans still very pissed at them.

Australia to tour Pakistan for full series in March 2022

As Usual just announcement but nothing is sure because we have very long 4 months many things can be changed in this period they are not reliable peoples but still good news from coward peoples. Now after world cup first assignment is Bangladesh vs Pakistan which is 100% confirmed from both boards hopefully now after very long time Pakistan will be able to have some good number of test matches at home and abroad.
Another news around here Tomorrow, English Cricket Board Chief Executive is also coming to Pakistan for restoring relationship between these two cricket playing nations.