Howzat - The Cricket Forum

Piss weak by the poms. The ECB are threatening to pull out of the Ashes series as some of their players aren't happy about abiding by Australia's quarantine rules. Remember ECB when only last year our lads toured the UK during the pandemic accepting harsher restrictions that would apply to England's players.

Politics and sport shouldn't be mixed together. It wasn't a good idea in 1936 and it's still not a good idea in 2021. Sport is meant to bring us together, not drive us apart.

Respect for de Kock for refusing to take the knee after all South African players were ordered to do so by their governing body. He stands to pay a heavy price for not being bullied into doing something he doesn't want to. Something that has nothing at all to do with cricket.

As I write he has not publicly given his reason(s) for refusing to take part in a political gesture. Of course he shouldn't have to explain himself to anyone.

It was interesting to see the CSA hypocrisy on full display when in a media release they spoke about the importance of all players taking the knee and then spoke about their support for diversity. As always with the 'progressive' left diversity never extends to thought etc etc etc.

Being effectively told that you have to publicly make a political gesture or you won't be able to work. Hmmm, where have we seen that before I wonder?

CA should let de Kock know that he is welcome in our land though they are as woke as most other organisations so that probably won't happen.

Unfortunately de Kock has caved in to all the pressure that has been piled on top of him by those in mainstream and social media. He is not in as strong a position as J.K Rowling or Dave Chappelle. For not wanting to be ordered to take the knee he risked his international career with question marks over his entire future as a professional cricketer. Even more importantly he stated how his decision to not take the knee had been incredibly stressful for his family and his pregnant wife. I hope those who sought to cancel de Kock for daring to think for himself, who were quick to label him racist for not taking the knee to show support for a racist organisation, are proud of themselves. Well done. You bullied and broke another person for daring to think for themselves. You must feel so proud.

A great start to the first Ashes test with Starc picking up a wicket with the first ball of the match.

Australia bowled very well and skittled the poms for 147. Cummings had a dream start to his career as Aussie captain. I thought he rotated the bowlers very well. His field placings were also on the money.

In reply Australia rode their luck a little at times. I thought Robinson and Wood in particular bowled well though perhaps the English bowlers in general were just a little too short and wide when the ball was really seaming.

A really important innings from Head. I thought the poms might have tested him out more early with a bit of chin music. On day three i thought the poms were pretty passive relying on the Aussies to make mistakes rather than trying to force the issue.

The Aussies ended up making 425. In reply at lunch the poms are 0/23. The new ball as expected is doing a bit but the pitch itself is playing well and batting today is probably going to be as good as it will get. A big chance for the pommy BATSMEN to get a good score and maybe set Australia a target of btw 150-200. There has been the occasional ball that's taken off of a length and one kept down. The fairly high clay content at the Gabba with more sunny days to come should see some cracks opening up late tomorrow so batting on the 5th day could be a bit of a challenge. In short this test is far from decided.

One of the stories of day one was the number of no balls sent down by Stokes. In 5 overs he bowled 14 no balls including 3 in a row before he beat the bats of Warner...with another no ball.

Despite winning by 9 wickets inside of four days i think this will be a very competitive Ashes series. The poms have a lot of depth with their bowling and whilst they have some problems at the top of their order (as do we) they have a decent middle order led by Root who looks set for a big summer.

The night sessions in Adelaide are going to be hugely important. Who you have at the crease and how long they have been at the crease who the lights take over can make a significant difference.

Pleased to see Tassie get an Ashes test.

A good debut for Carey

Despite failing with the bat Green looked pretty promising with the ball. Might we finally have a quality all rounder? Time will tell.

A really tough 24 hrs for Aussie cricket. First we lost the great Rod Marsh, arguably our country's most revered wicket keeper, and then today we lost the legend that was, and is, Shane Warne.