Because it absolves players of any responsibility.

You can forget about Archer he hasn't played a test in 2.5 years and probably won't be playing many more going forward. All the other's you have named are batsmen so is it only the batting side of the game that you think is work in progress? Because with the age of the England's bowling attacking it is hard to see any of them progressing greatly.

How can you call a team that have a bowling attacking made up of 41, 37, 36, 34 & 33 year olds work in progress. One of those in Broad is already retiring, Moeen will most likely re-retire, Anderson's time is all but up, Wood at 33 won't have many years left with his injury record and Woakes might have a few years left but can't bowl overseas.

It's evolved over this series until yesterday evening when they were too lax and left the door slightly ajar for Australia when it really should have been slammed shut with them chasing over 400. Going into the series England had gotten massively carried away by their own hype and those first two matches were a big reality check.

On Pakistan England have toured Pakistan 9 times for test series winning 3, losing 3 & drawing 3. Although they have won 2 of their last 3 tours there. Broad will be remembered more fondly than Anderson despite being an inferior bowler when at their peaks. English cricketers are best remembered by their performances in Ashes series and Broad has been a phenomenal competitor in Ashes cricket whereas Anderson's record is poor, criminally poor really for someone as good as him.

I know Anderson has a poor record against Australia especially in England but his performances this series are beyond poor. It would have been best for all concerned if he had like Alastair Cook a few years ago retired with grace and dignity and was given the send of at The Oval that his career deserved. He's not going to be a threat in India in the winter and next summer with what should be two routine home series we need to be looking at blooding bowlers for the next Ashes series not playing a 41-42 year old.

Test crowds in India are poor despite them over the last decade being the best team in the format. Crowds in Australia outside of Ashes test's and the boxing day test are rarely close to sell outs. The only country that sells out test cricket is England and that has nothing to do with the way England are playing, in 2021 despite winning just one test all summer grounds were packed. International cricket as a whole not just test cricket is in trouble with the rise of franchise leagues and with the BCCI, ECB and CA continuing to widen the financial gap between themselves and other nations. No it's not it's down to the team to bowl them there is absolutely no reason why sides should not be bowling 90 overs in 6 1/2 hours play.

The sad fact is that outside of England and for certain matches in Australia far too few of the public are paying any prices to watch test cricket. Just look at the crowds for the ongoing tests in Trinidad and Colombo.

There is a difference between it being light and it being light enough to play cricket. I certainly wouldn't want to be facing say Mark Wood with the red ball in hand at 20:30. They are given an extra half an hour in the day to get the overs in that they can't do that is poor on their part. England's overrate yesterday given they bowled predominantly spin and knew they weren't going to get a huge amount of playing time was dreadful. The taking of lunch was as much for the ground staff to get everything ready as anything. That is just part and parcel of cricket rain has saved England in the past think back to Cardiff in 2013. It saved us in Sydney from another whitewash on our last tour down under.

Stokes on the BBC saying that 'there are bigger things for us than winning the Ashes'. I can only assume that is the New Zealander in him coming out as there is nothing bigger for the England cricket team than winning the Ashes and come the first ball in Brisbane in 2025 it will be over 10 years since England last won an Ashes series, Is that looking awful new hotel at least going to be painted red? At the very least they could make it blend in with other awful looking hotel and the point. Ground's like The Oval, Lords, Edgbaston have modernised but still look and feel like cricket grounds. Old Trafford when you visit feels more like a corporate hospitality venue where they also just happen to play cricket.

Defiant or deluded?

This series has shown that Anderson's time is up I only hope he sees that and get's given the appropriate send of at The Oval. I can't even imagine Jofra Archer being fit let alone what he may have done in this series. I personally don't see him having much of a test career. He seems more interested in being a white ball mercenary.

I'm not sure there's much future in the bowling attack that played in this test.

A tale of two declarations from Stokes (or rather lack of in one case). At Edgbaston he declared far too early and gave Australia the initiative in the early on in the series. Then in this test he batted on too long for Bairstow to get his hundred and allow them to justify his selection but in the end his selection has not been justified as his performance behind the stumps has had a huge bearing on this series..

They deservedly got themselves ahead 2-0 up early and that has made sure that they retained the urn. If you go 2-0 down as England did then you are always going to be a hostage to circumstances.

The biggest loser of time is overrates. England's overrate yesterday as it has been all series was unacceptable and so has Australia's for that matter. 26 overs lost due to slow overrates in the first 3 days of this test and that is with the additional half an hour as well.

At least we won't have this problem in the next Ashes Series over here with 3 tests being held in the glorious south.

He actually (unintentionally) makes the case for him not keeping wicket.

In that case bat Root at 5 that him even more he averages over 68 batting there.

But batting Moeen at 3 doesn't suit him. Moeen averages 13.14 batting at 3 whereas Root averages 39.67, so it clearly suits Root more than Moeen. But I'd bat Stokes at 3 he is perfectly suited to bat there and given how little he has bowled of late he is being wasted down at 6.

Not picking Woakes at Lords could end up being a series defining mistake.

But 3 it is not Moeen's best position he averages 13 batting at 3 that is more than half his career average. If Stokes isn't going to be bowling much he should bat at 3 he's got the technique & temperament to bat there. And the Aussie's would hate to see it as they are clueless as to how to bowl at him. A great turnout at Taunton yesterday incredible to see how the crowds have grown over the years in the Women's game, when I think back to the crowds we had at Taunton when hosting the entire group stage of the 2009 Women's T20 World Cup. England got a lot closer to Australia than I thought they would this series (although I don't think you can understate how big the absence of Meg Lanning was) the big difference in the end was fielding Australia are a gun fielding side whereas England resemble more a club cricket team especially when it comes to catching. If England catch better they most likely win the test and the ODI at Southampton. I think the format is perfect for the women's game & has improved the Women's Ashes as a competition immeasurably. It's only right that the test match the purest form of the game holds the most weight. Although I do think that they were right to lower it from 6 to 4 points as they did after the 13/14 series as that weighted it slightly too much in favour of the test.

Forget Foakes, forget Bairstow. The future of English wicket keeping is James Rew, a very special talent.

Is Buttler still contracted for red ball cricket? If he's played 20 red ball games in his 10 seasons there I'd be surprised.

Another year of Southern dominance in the blast for the second time in 3 seasons its an all south finals day. At this rate they are going to have give the Southern group an extra place in the quarter finals.