Cricket

[D1511]

If an opening batsman doesn't know Starc can swing it both ways (and bowl a wobble seamer) then he shouldn't be there.

Pleased for Bethell though, who batted properly and showed supposedly more experienced players how to bat on an Australian wicket. To think the brainless Pope was keeping him out the side tells you all you need to know about Key, McCullum and Stokes' selection policies. Nice to see his old boy in tears of joy and pride as he reached his ton as well, lovely moment that.

I was hearing tonight on the radio that he came from Barbados to Rugby school on a sports scholarship, and one of his references was from Sir Garfield Sobers, no less!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Day 5 ... Bethell and Potts are still together after the first 40 minutes of the morning session with England now 328-8 from 84 overs, Bethell now 154 not out.

Extras now 30...what were the 5 penalty ones?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Jan 2026 ==

84.2 overs ... Bethell c Carey b Starc 154

88.2 overs ... Tongue c Labuschagne b Starc 6

 

[Mikey C]

Extras now 30...what were the 5 penalty ones?

Carey (for once) fumbled the ball, and it hit a helmet on the ground behind him. That's automatically 5 extras.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Australia (2nd innings)... 161-5 from 31.2 overs. Australia win by 5 wickets.
62-1
71-2
92-3
119-4
121-5

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Bethell will be a player for England.

 

[Peeled Apples]

Bethell will be a player for England.

One of the few positives to come out of this mess.

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

One of the few positives to come out of this mess.

There's even less positives now

Harry Brook was involved in an incident at a nightclub in Wellington the night before the game over there.

 

[75A]

To be fair, one of the key things an opener has to do is leave the ball if he doesn't have to play it. Indeed that's something Duckett has been criticised for.

Starc has been regularly pushing the ball across right handers, looking for the nick.

But he left a ball that would have hit the top of the stump/bail.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

What once was an Ashes series to look forward to in days long-gone by is now just another cricket series in which England have fared poorly over recent years.

 

[DelW]

The Australian Big Bash (T20) knockout stages start tomorrow, involving the top four teams in the table (of eight).

But it seems curious to me that the first match is 1st place vs 2nd place, and the second is 3rd place vs 4th place, which seems to imply that finishing third may be more advantageous than finishing top. Does anyone know why they don't follow what I have always thought of as the norm, where p1 plays p4 and p2 plays p3?

 

[SuspectUsual]

The Australian Big Bash (T20) knockout stages start tomorrow, involving the top four teams in the table (of eight).

But it seems curious to me that the first match is 1st place vs 2nd place, and the second is 3rd place vs 4th place, which seems to imply that finishing third may be more advantageous than finishing top. Does anyone know why they don't follow what I have always thought of as the norm, where p1 plays p4 and p2 plays p3?

The winner of 1v2 goes directly to the final.

The loser awaits the winner of 3v4 and gets a second chance at qualifying

The loser of 3v4 is out immediately

 

[DelW]

The winner of 1v2 goes directly to the final.

The loser awaits the winner of 3v4 and gets a second chance at qualifying

The loser of 3v4 is out immediately

Thanks, that makes more sense than my assumption! I'd thought that the 'extra' match must be a third-place play-off.

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

The Australian Big Bash (T20) knockout stages start tomorrow, involving the top four teams in the table (of eight).

But it seems curious to me that the first match is 1st place vs 2nd place, and the second is 3rd place vs 4th place, which seems to imply that finishing third may be more advantageous than finishing top. Does anyone know why they don't follow what I have always thought of as the norm, where p1 plays p4 and p2 plays p3?

The Qualifier is 1v2 with the winner advancing straight to the final. Loser plays in The Challenger.
The Knockout is 3v4 with the winner advancing to The Challenger and the loser goes home.
Winner of The Challenger advances to The Final.

 

[DelW]

The Qualifier is 1v2 with the winner advancing straight to the final. Loser plays in The Challenger.
The Knockout is 3v4 with the winner advancing to The Challenger and the loser goes home.
Winner of The Challenger advances to The Final.

Thanks, the terminology takes a bit of getting used to for those of us brought up in the simpler days of quarter finals and semi finals

 

[75A]

1st ODI match, in Colombo.
Sri Lanka won toss and are batting, they are 0-12 after 2 overs.

 

[SuspectUsual]

1st T20 match, in Colombo.
Sri Lanka won toss and are batting, they are 0-12 after 2 overs.

I'd forgotten all about that. I assume its more of the dreadful TNT coverage on telly?

 

[75A]

It certainly is and it hasn't improved since Oz.
Shows how dopey I am, it's a One Day International not anT20.
0-26 off 5.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The Sri Lanka opening pair put 50 for the first wicket, before Curran dismissed Nissanka. After 12 overs, Sri Lanka are 51-1.

 

[jfollows]

I'd forgotten all about that. I assume its more of the dreadful TNT coverage on telly?

And shouty Talk Sport 2 on the radio.

 

[Peeled Apples]

1st ODI match, in Colombo.
Sri Lanka won toss and are batting, they are 0-12 after 2 overs.

I'd forgotten that this was happening!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Rashid has dismissed both Mishare and de Silva. Sri Lanka now 98-3 after 22 overs.

UPDATE

Aslanka dismissed by Ahmed. Sri Lanka now 156-4 after 34 overs.

 

[Mikey C]

The coverage is fine for an inconsequential white ball series. The commentators are all out there, and include Gower and Harmison.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sri Lanka are 197-4 after 41 overs.

UPDATE

After 50 overs, Sri Lanka were 271-6

Kusal Mendis batting at number 3 scored 93 not out with 11 x4

Wellalange batting at number 8 scored 25 from 12 balls with 1 x 6 and 3 x 4 and made hay of the 50th over.

 

[Furryanimal]

Those of us who get TNT sports via Discovery+ have access to the ad free International Feed.
That would have been nice during the Ashes.
Hope that continues through the series.

 

[75A]

Jamie Overton's last over went for 23 giving him 0-66 off 9.
England need to score @ under the psychological 6 an over so let's see.
Crawley & Duckett open with Root 3 and Bethell 4

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jan 2026 ==

Those of us who get TNT sports via Discovery+ have access to the ad free International Feed.
That would have been nice during the Ashes.
Hope that continues through the series.

Thanks for this info, I've just switched over.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jan 2026 ==

Jamie Overton's last over went for 23 giving him 0-66 off 9.
England need to score @ under the psychological 6 an over so let's see.
Crawley & Duckett open with Root 3 and Bethell 4

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jan 2026 ==


Thanks for this info, I've just switched over.

So it goes on, Crawley out caught behind for 6 in the third over, waving at a ball outside his off stump. England 1-13

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Root 3 and Bethell 4

For an awful moment, I thought those were their score contributions...

 

[Haywain]

At the halfway mark, England are 110-1 with Root and Duckett both on 50.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

After 28 overs, England are 130-2. Duckett just dismissed.

UPDATE

After 37 overs, both Root and Brook have been dimissed and England with 13 overs left are only 157-4.

UPDATE

After 41 overs, another couple of wickets have fallen since my last update. England are now 169-6 and in a position of needing another 103 runs from the last 9 overs.

 

[Mikey C]

Those of us who get TNT sports via Discovery+ have access to the ad free International Feed.
That would have been nice during the Ashes.
Hope that continues through the series.

I had wondered about that, as I was watching (as I always watch TNT) via Discovery +, and had noticed the lack of adverts.

If someone had watched on a regular TNT channel, would they have got adverts?

 

[Falcon1200]

Jamie Overton's last over went for 23

And England lost by 19 runs......