Print

[WalkingWicket37]

Couple of interesting articles that seem to have slipped under the radar:

Police likely to make Ben Stokes assault incident decision this week

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2017/11/18/police-likely-make-ben-stokes-assault-incident-decision-week/

Ben Stokes investigation nears conclusion after England all-rounder  gives final statement to police

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2017/11/20/ben-stokesinvestigation-nears-conclusion-england-all-rounder/

[Seniorplayer]

Just to add The expectations are Stokes will be available for the third test.
He also has to face the ECB disciplinary commitee

[Manormanic]

I don't think anything will happen to him - there is not enough evidence for police charge and any tests he misses will be enough for the retrospective ban for bringing hte ECB into disrepute.

[Seniorplayer]

Agree  should  have  written Ben needs to be cleared by the  disciplinary commitee

[Big Mac]

Don't need him, Moeen and Woakes will have torn the Aussies apart before Stokes can get on the plane.

[Seniorplayer]

Don't need him, Moeen and Woakes will have torn the Aussies apart before Stokes can get on the plane.

Hope your right bring on Wednesday night.

[LateBloomer]

Just watched Stokes training session on his Instagram page. Unless he's expecting a barrage of short balls in County Durham in the near future I would say he knows he will be travelling to Australia soon

[Calzehbhoy]

Just watched Stokes training session on his Instagram page. Unless he's expecting a barrage of short balls in County Durham in the near future I would say he knows he will be travelling to Australia soon

I thought that! Seems to be a hell of a lot of short ball prep going on in the vids

[ppccopener]

Well...couple of days to go and Nathan Lyon has lost his marbles in the press

The problem with huge predictions and boastful claims is cricket has a habit of biting you in the bottom.
Faced with opponents who want to win as much as you do I don't expect England to give up any games without a real fight.

I think the Aussies are putting pressure on themselves they simply don't need.

Apart from a frank exchange be of views with Steve Waugh, Curtley Ambrose never said anything to anyone on the filed or off it.

And the great Richards always let his bat do the talking .

If England are level or even ahead halfway thru this series I don't think the Aussie players will be able to rely on the support of their fans, or their press!

[Biggie Smalls]

Well...couple of days to go and Nathan Lyon has lost his marbles in the press

The problem with huge predictions and boastful claims is cricket has a habit of biting you in the bottom.
Faced with opponents who want to win as much as you do I don't expect England to give up any games without a real fight.

I think the Aussies are putting pressure on themselves they simply don't need.

Apart from a frank exchange be of views with Steve Waugh, Curtley Ambrose never said anything to anyone on the filed or off it.

And the great Richards always let his bat do the talking .

If England are level or even ahead halfway thru this series I don't think the Aussie players will be able to rely on the support of their fans, or their press!

Regarding Lyon talking to the media/loosing his marbles - i thought what he said about hazlewood was a bit over exaggerated but the rest was basically just reliving the experience of the previous home ashes series .
Chances are that the english batsmen will be put under similar stress to last time out here . They may well respond differently , but seeing that the names on the batting sheet are less impressive than last time -if it could happen then , then it's not so outlandish to think something similar could happen this time .

[Biggie Smalls]

Just watched Stokes training session on his Instagram page. Unless he's expecting a barrage of short balls in County Durham in the near future I would say he knows he will be travelling to Australia soon

Hope to see him out here soon . He will be exciting to watch . It will be great theatre .

Seeing all these english batsmen preparing for short pitch bowling , using ramps etc , is impressive and definitely good practice for what will await them . But i can't help thinking 'i dont see anyone practicing playing 150kmph reverse swinging yorkers'. They are going to face a fair bit of that too and it will take more wickets than the bouncers will .

[ppccopener]

Regarding Lyon talking to the media/loosing his marbles - i thought what he said about hazlewood was a bit over exaggerated but the rest was basically just reliving the experience of the previous home ashes series .
Chances are that the english batsmen will be put under similar stress to last time out here . They may well respond differently , but seeing that the names on the batting sheet are less impressive than last time -if it could happen then , then it's not so outlandish to think something similar could happen this time .

Johnson was on fire last time And for a series he got it absolutely right, the angle and the pace did us and the wheels did fall off that tour, it's no good denying that never happened.
Hazlewood,Starc and Cummins are good bowlers, no doubt. But this is not Thompson and Lille from the 70's batsmen play pace at lot better than they used too...a load of protective equipment helps 

I just think this whole build up has been underestimating England , neither side is a great test team, just to good ones.

If England can hang in here in the early part of the tour it could well be close.

[rickjames]

WACA comes calling

Lyon's comments are bordering on pathetic. Not sure I understand why he's taking shots at a bloke who's been retired for 2 years, won 3 Ashes series and had a test average of 40 batting #7 as a keeper/batsman

[edge]

Regarding Lyon talking to the media/loosing his marbles - i thought what he said about hazlewood was a bit over exaggerated but the rest was basically just reliving the experience of the previous home ashes series .
Chances are that the english batsmen will be put under similar stress to last time out here . They may well respond differently , but seeing that the names on the batting sheet are less impressive than last time -if it could happen then , then it's not so outlandish to think something similar could happen this time .

Snore, the Australians have been talking a lot of nonsense about this kind of thing, 'opening the scars' and all this. I'm sure Trott/KP/Bell/Prior would be terribly worried about it, if they were playing... Looking forward to seeing Pat Cummins get overexcited and try to bounce Cook out, Australian back injury specialists are warming up the scanners already!

[HellomynameisJ]

The article came across as pretty tongue in cheek to me, its no mystery what the Aussie plan of attack is, just reinforcing that hostile mentality to remind them that careers can be made or destroyed in these series. Seems like a bit of tactical banter, get the slow bowler to ruffle some feathers in the media, fire the batsmen up to go after him and try make a point and be made a fool of in doing so. Youre kidding yourself if you think that at this point players are being allowed to put things into the media that the team, coaching staff and press departments dont want to be said. Let the games begin!