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There was a great little interview with Darren Lehmann on TMS in the final interval and while he is very much not my favourite person in cricket he was very sensible on England. Almost sounded like a job application tbh.
(My big idea is that tour matches v 1st class sides would not only make for more competitive tours but could be a boost for 1st class cricket in each country. You could include the "lesser" test sides in it e.g. sides touring England could play a test v Ireland with the Dukes ball and sides touring SA could have one v Zimbabwe. Maybe Zim could be incorporated into the Aus tours as well, as nearest thing to an Ireland for Australia? Or maybe play Afghanistan in Aus?)
Not actually true. In 2023 Ashes Aus didn't play any County matches. Don't recall India doing any in 2025 either, though they did have a couple of matches vs England Lions.
Don't think anyone plays any serious tour matches in the sub-continent either, which is another place where the conditions are very different
In living memory Aus used to play more tour games - Alistair Cook first came to my notice when he got a century vs Aus for Essex in 2005
They did (in 2023) however have several players go into English county sides in the Championship (Steve Smith had three games for Sussex) which England don't seem to do.
Whatever, it's well recognised that the tour matches in 2010-11 were a big part of the only successful England tour of Aus in decades, that they were a step up from previous tours even then. So, naturally, England have never done anything like it again. Go figure.
Root's a phenomenon and I don't know anyone else, ever, any team, who can accumulate so quickly without boundaries - I don't think you can expect other players to be like that (or have Jimmy's ability to make the ball talk, or McGrath's consistency).
IMO the pure joy of Bazball is (was) that it was carefree - the players were free to express themselves and so did amazing things.
This isn't carefree, it's careless.
It's neither gloriously exciting nor dependably solid, it's just poor. I don't mind Brooks batting like Brooks instead of like Root, but there's no excuse for failure to learn and adapt. The Aussies batted poorly in their first innings at Perth - a day later they batted completely differently (and better). England are making the same cock-ups in the 4th innings of these Ashes as they did in the 1st one - still not adapting to the way the pitches behave.
Preparation has been non-existent and catching has been unprofessional.
Personally, I want blood. One of the great revolutions in English cricket was when Flower and Strauss took over from Moores and KP and ended the culture of failure. One of the first things they did was drop Ian Bell for serial failure. He came back a better player (as did Root after being dropped for the last match of the 13-14 Ashes.) I think Pope and Brook would both get a valuable lesson if dropped (sadly there's only one Bethell to come in).
McCullum is a different sort of man to Flower (more Alec Stock than Alex Ferguson) but I think a bit of the latter is long overdue and if he can't do it he should go too.
Honest to God I checked before I decided to post that but by the time I'd finished googling and failing to find if the bloody story was true you'd snuck in there.
(Once heard a radio programme about a Canadian woman who in the 30s became famous for allegedly being the illegitimate daughter of an exiled French duke called, I'm pretty sure, Henry, and who died in London in the 70s in poverty after, I think, several stays in mental hospitals. Instantly made me wonder of she was the inspiration for the Duch of the Terrace who says she's Henry's kid.)
Uncle Fred is probably my favourite Wodehouse too, though I have a soft spot for some of his earlier books where little hints of realism creep in.
I've just worked out that I first encountered Wodehouse and Milligan's war memoirs 50 odd years ago, Hitchkikers' Guide a couple of years later, and Pratchett about 40 years ago. Fortunately Wodehouse and Pratchett wrote so much that although they both dropped off towards the end I can keep reading them even though I know the jokes just for the comfort of going into their worlds.
Last guy I came across that made me laugh until it hurts (some years ago now) was Robert Rankin (trigger warning: Brentford references) but I'm not sure they will bear a second reading.
I really like Kolli, he seemed a bright spark in a very dark time when he first came through. I also think a mistake was made in not playing him alongside Kone when Burrell was rested/unavailable.
But with Chair coming back to fitness, Poku getting the same way, and not many other injury problems opportunities for Kolli are going to be limited and a loan I think is the way to go (so long as its to the right club.)
My memory was that he wasn't a fan but his son wanted to go to football and he thought it better for the lad to go to a "proper" club rather than a Premiership side.
Might all be bollocks but if true it's pretty sound thinking IMO.
I've no time for the bloke's politics, but it's possible for people you disagree with to still be decent fathers.
Our tendency to go on long losing (and occasionally winning) streaks makes me nervous after every defeat and I hate international breaks precisely because they break up our rhythm when we're playing well, so after Millwall I'm just bloody glad to get an away win.
Throw in the continued goal-scoring ability of our 1st choice strikers, Madsen looking like an all-round championship midfield lynchpin, and Chair's ability to make the team tick and there's bags of potential for us.
Clean sheet for Nardi and a slightly makeshift defence also positives for me.
Really want to see much better from Varane, Dembele, maybe Smyth (cutting him a bit of slack in recognition of past service) but that's partly because there's evidence they've got it in them. A fit Poku would be lovely too.
Not a match to tell the grandkids about but lots of signs we're on the right track IMO. Starting to get excited about this team, and I bloody wasn't in August.
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