There are a lot of positives going forwards to Adelaide..#Ashes2017

There are a lot of positives going forwards to Adelaide..#Ashes2017

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Was it the  omission of Ben Stokes ? Or was it just poor shot selection and average bowling made weak by a side strain to Jimmy Anderson and cut finger to Moeen Ali? In the end we were well beaten by 10 wickets personally I feel there is a lot of room for improvement, we found ourselves in excellent positions twice having been 250/4 then collapsed to 302 all out and then on the third day having the Australians 209/7 and they finished with a 26 run lead, the positives for me are Stoneman who reminds me a little to Jonathon Trott, he came into the side unknown except to Leicestershire and was so solid, Stoneman is of the same ilk.

It’s taken a while to find a replacement for Andrew Strauss, 5 years to be exact, so I was delighted for him. I personally thought James Vince would have been out of his depth playing away in the Ashes if it wasn’t for a brilliant run out by N.Lyon he could of made a century, and then that would have given a completely different feel to the game, it would have breathed confidence into the batsman but instead we succumb to our middle order collapse we have not seen in a while, but maybe that might have something to do with omission of Mr Stokes, D. Malan played with guts and determination, if it wasn’t for him, Stoneman, and Vince we would of had a very low score, when traditionally you win the toss at the Gabba you bat first and big, 302 should have been at least 450 on a pitch which the seamers did not really frighten us it was just bad shot selection, you can’t give your wicket away and expect to win test matches, you must make Australia work hard for your wicket, for example not giving catching practice to third man (Alastair Cook) he knows he has done that I’m sure he’ll be better in Adelaide, we had eight players getting in and not going on to make a score, somebody must go on and make a century.

Nor can you bowl with two injuries, I think Jake Ball is one I think might miss out at Adelaide possibly for Overton, it would be nice if Mark Wood came into the squad for Perth having bowled in the nets and a game for the lions in Queensland will hopefully prove he’s fitness. The sledging from the Australians following Bairstow Bancroft headbutt story which broke yesterday added to the problems too.

I would like to thank all you guys for coming to Brisbane, it ceases to amaze me so many friendships are made and I for one look forward to making many more in the months ahead. There is limited availability on the remaining tours including the one days so give Richard a call for more info.

All the Best

Gary