Causing trouble about Allardyce again? It's fair to say you weren't his biggest fan. And Jbizzle is right. To this day you seemingly don't understand the long throws heaped physical and physcological pressure on opponents, created further opportunities from set plays, maintained field position, allowed us to box in the opposition, and perhaps most importantly with modern day brain dead footballers, was easy for them to understand and follow and implement. Everyone hated playing us. We need that back one day but it won't be under 1-0 down Gaz. Would you have fancied stopping Samba every time it went out for a throw? I bet the opposition centre halves cursed everytime it was kicked out. I bet opposition managers addressed it when preparing against us and even discussed it pre-match. Your bias against Allardyce always limited your ability when discussing his approach.

Very disappointed with England this last test. Even with winning momentum we showed how fragile we are. Credit to the bowlers, Cook and Root overall.

I hope Ali makes a ton. He's really growing on me as a player.

Totally agree Husky. Proven player in these conditions and a thorn in our side previously. I was glad when he was not selected! Lyth has gone cheaply again (no suprise there really) and so has an out of touch Ian Bell. Have to say I am a tad worried about out batting line up going forward. Pietersen should have come in at the start of this series and that would have taken some pressure off newer players to score as he took the limelight. Agree with ARA and said so after the 3rd test. Ali to move up the order. Cook and Root can stay, Ali up the order. Stokes can stay for his all round game. None of the others have done enough to warrant their continued place in the team and even though we have won the series I would have no hesitation in changing this batting line up around. Bell may survive with thousands of test runs behind him, but Lyth, Ballance, Buttler, Bairstow etc have mental or technical deficiences that won't disappear overnight. Lyth shot selection is terrible, Ballance is way too far back in his crease, Buttler plays away from his pad and Bairstow has a tendency to play across the line to anything fast and straight nipping back in. Ballance and Bairstow also struggled with the short ball. If I was an Aussie I would be very disappointed we have not retained the Ashes against a poor England batting line up, when only needing to draw to retain the series. As an England bowler I would be telling the batters to get their @#/? together. You wont always bowl the opposition out for less than 200 and simply have to score 400+ yourself to stay in and win test matches. Especially in the first innings. Compton may be worth looking at again as defensively he is good against quick bowling with decent technique. Hales scored 180+ yesterday and has also kept himself in the frame.

Im not having that. Which bowler lkikes being battered all over the park and which batter likes being dismissed cheaply? Especially with International careers on the line? Truth is the Aussies have applied themselves better than us when batting. Like we did compared to them in other tests. Our opening stats make very poor reading; 7, 17, 0, 12, 19, 11, 32 and 30. Ouch!

Fully agree. I think the shorter form of the game is reducing concentration spans and changing players techniques. Watching the Aussies give us slip fielding practice has been embarrassing. Lyth - Bairstow - Ballance - Stokes. Not sure any of those are good enough as batsmen. Bell has been ropey and very disappointing. Cook has struggled also after looking really good earlier this year. Root has done well at times but some very low scores have taken the gloss off his performances a tad. Poor batting from both sides. Rubbish at times.

His shot selection is diabolical for an opening bat. Check out our opening partnerships this series. Pathetic. Such a key position, have to say our selection has been badly flawed. If Haddin catches Root in that 2nd test we'd have probably lost this series. Australia have thrown it away with their batting in much the same way wd have tried to do. Should have been much, much closer. I was always taught to protect my castle and not give my wicket away cheaply. Too many players in this series have simply gifted their wickets for it to have been high quality. 3 day test matches tells it's own story.

Palace went up under Holloway and i doubt Millwall had a gargantuan squad and a 30 million overspend. He was always firefighting there. Would I employ Holloway and want to work with him? No chance, way too unpredictable to build something lasting. And a bit gormless for my liking. Meanwhile here, Bowyer has certainly underperformed with the support, facilities, cash, time and players at his disposal. Hardly suprising really with nothing on his CV to show otherwise. A million and one others could also have underperformed just as easily. I've supported change for donkeys now. We conceed for fun, almost as many as we score and it's unprofessional and totally unacceptable. We are still shy a decent right back and don't get me started on the way he has handled the keeper situation. I remain amazed at his reluctance to build from the back. My other concern this time round is unity, sense of purpose and belief within the dressing room. I simply cannot see how it has improved since last season. Once eroded it can be a very slippery slope ahead as a long season unfolds. Can only see the mood at Ewood worsening as well. I said pre-season there were worse teams than us knocking about. But every fixture I see looks daunting! Fancy being scared of Huddersfield! No disrespect to them. All and sundry score against us. Bad times.

Wasn't having a pop . Fully agree. Last time we went to of the world rankings we got tanked 3-0 by Pakistan. They are unbeaten in their adopted home in UAE. Fresh strategy required. The Aussies would try and hurt us physcologically. They finished a few careers beating us 5-0. We've already got rid of Clarke who still averages over 50 as captain. Rogers is retiring let's send him off with as little as possible. The Marsh lads are as good as done for as is Watson. Haddin as well. Need to get after that crap off spinner, Siddle or the other medium pacer as well. Keep the pressure on Neville and really target Smith with everything we've got. There's no room for sentiment and I hope we batter them again. Lyth has to go. I'd bank on four or five lads making at least 20 over 2 innings so it's worth the gamble for me. Tough job opening at International level. Need a good technique and half a brain with shot selection. If it's two foot outside off stump leave it alone!!

Both Ali and Root have bowled spin for England this series and taken wickets. That adds up to two. Call Root a net bowler if you like. Compared to Swan so is Ali. Still taken vital wickets and more importantly in this series both have scored runs when under pressure. The reason we have not picked a specialist spinner this series is they are not good enough. Beat Australia 4-1 and we go 2nd in the rankings. And our best ever home Ashes result. Has to be the target for me. If Haddon catches Root on zero in the first test we would have gone 2-0 down. Small margins at top level sport.

Swann could bowl on anything and was world class. I can't remember an Oval wicket ever being prepared specifically for spin. England have played two spinners all summer. Neither suitable in the traditional sense. Both have taken crucial wickets this series however.

Al is correct. Disgraceful that KP was overlooked. Yes we have got away with it but only just. Lyth, Bell, Stokes and Butler have all struggled at times, Cook has been average and only Root and Ali have performed consistently. Lyth needs dropping due to pathetic shot selection, as Jim says about Butler get your bat and pad together. With wickets, catches and sporadic runs Stokes has contributed and Bell came good in the last test but Lyth needs to go now. You'd play two spinners at the Oval Chaddy? On the hardest, fastest, bounciest pitch in England? Righty o. Can't see it myself.

That sounds like an amazing days cricket. Credit to England. From top to bottom. Chuffed for Broad. Root is a cricketing superstar and one of the best players I've seen in an England shirt. Can only get better.

Working from 7am till 12pm. Just got back. 60 all out! :) ;) And Anderson isnt even playing!!!! :0 Useless Aussies. Come on England - 450 would be nice.

I knew of this. Didn't truly appreciate just how fast Botham scored his runs back then. Him, Viv, Clive, Grennidge etc could do it, matching the scoring rate of today's players even though modern lads have much more practice at it. I think Botham got an 87 ball century at Lords. Brilliant. 120+ catches, 5000+ test runs, 350+ wickets. Stood 2 metres nearer than anyone else at slip. I could go on.The majority had a more measured, older fashioned approach. Tavare, Brearley, Gatting etc. Gooch and Gower more fluent. Google Gower v India. Loved watching him bat. I was a bit like Boycott. Didn't like getting out. Needed to push and run more, keep the board ticking and find the gaps. It's been interesting watching cricket develope the last 30 years or so. The landscape has changed forever. I've learnt a lot. Top game.

Roots good enough to open. Technically and mentally. Might be easier finding a decent number 4 than a quality opener.

Ha ha. You love it as much as me. Can't believe I've only just found the cricket and boxing threads! Can the Scottish guy cause an upset? He's unbeaten as well. His manager wanted him to fight Joshua next year. The fighter said bring it on now.

Very good player Rogers. Do you know his story? First selected years ago, but then kept out by a plethora of world class stars for years. Haydon and Langer were an excellent opening pair. Brought back when they all retired and look how good he is! They had some team with 4 or 5 all time greats all arriving at once. Loved watching Ponting bat for example. Agree in principal with what your saying. Boycott famously scored a double hundred and got dropped for slow scoring!

Can't disagree with any of that. Agree about Groves as well, although he nearly pulled it off 1st time round. Looking forward to Joshua's next two fights. Scottish guy unbeaten in 22 with 10 stoppages. Or maybe 12 can't remember. Then Dillian White. Unbeaten in 15, big hitter, beat Joshua as an amateur.

Your quite right. Good old Eddy indeed. Rose is very limited. Paul Smith's another. 3 world title fights? Crolla? If you only watch sky you dont know half of what's happening. Some good UK fighters few know about.

Boycott was absolutely loving it. He made me laugh loads of times. He is so biased against the Aussies. He says it how it is, like it or not. Commentates now for the bbc radio service. Some of the shots played in the last test would have embarrassed village cricketers. Very poor indeed at that level. I think it's a lack of discipline created through so much one day stuff.

I'd love the variety of a quick left arm over. Think he's got a good chance of playing at Trent Bridge. Tends to do a bit there.Shows how good Anderson is when we bring two in to choose as a replacement. Thankfully he should be fit for the Oval. Worried about Lyth. No good being 20 for 1 all the time. Amd Cooks only averaging 30 this series, although he's over 50 for the year.

I watched Coyle go down three times to the body against a French kid. I knew Campbell would target him there. Cracking fight, wasn't bothered who won. Good result for Rose against a fading Carson. Watched him give Kell Brook a very tough evening and he took Rose out last time. Not sure where Rose has to go on his career. He can't knock anyone out, looks ponderous as he moves up the levels and gets put on his ass too easy for a contender.

Agreed. He's already been on his ass a couple of times from blown up cruiser weights. Still to prove his punch endurance and ability to last 12 rounds. Campbell v Coyle tomorrow. Fancying Campbell, but not writing Coyle off as his last couple of outings have been good. Think Campbell stops him to the body in 6.

Glad it lasted a bit longer to be honest. Good for the ground, crowd and players like Bell with his red inker. What has happened to Test cricket? I think Bell hit five fours in his first 8 deliveries then was dropped at slip. 20 from 8? Wtf. Playing with fire. Some of the shot selection on both sides has been disgraceful. Heads should roll. It's like they've forgotten the need to bat for long periods, take the shine off the ball, tire the bowlers, occupy the crease and build an innings. Lyth and Bairstow out. Ali up the order to 6. Stokes and Butler move down one.