Ken

Warner has done it England. He has looked hesitant in this series but that's because he has tried to be more conservative due to the lack of experience in the batting lineup. He'll open things up in the next two matches. Observe it. Renshaw hasn't featured in this series. The Marsh brothers whacked you around and got confidence from it. Payne had a long stint out of the side to work on his batting and he has delivered. Your projections on what may happen in English conditions at this point in time are null and void. We did hammer you. Looking like a whitewash again.

We have the ability to get 20 wickets in England now. We just need our batsmen (other than Warner and Smith) to contribute. That is a work in progress. I don't think Anderson will be there and if he is he is on the wrong side of 30 and wrapped in cotton wool. You may need to stick with Cook and Broad if there aren't alternatives putting up their hands.

And Broad? He has genuinely looked uninterested in this series. It is an end of a good era for you now, decisions need to be made as to where you go from here over the next four or five. Your touring 'rookies' have been good, but there are serious questions on those who have been the backbone for a decade. Not a position of power given the lack of solutions.

We are looking good now though. It is a young side collectively with plenty of improvement in it given the inexperience. We are building. We go to South Africa next with confidence. We will get better over the next three years, we haven't peaked yet.

Not trying to make a mountain over a molehill here but this could be a whacking that could affect England long term. Not sure how Root will recover after this series, the added responsibility of captaincy must way on his mind while trying to find form with the bat, and there are calls for Broad and Cook to retire which isn't out of line. Anderson is 35 and won't be around for the next Ashes series. You need desperately to find some new blood when it is all said and done - a period of regeneration.

ok, maybe not.

A wet wicket and rain is saving your lot here. Root and Bayliss pressing hard on the game not continuing. This series could still be alive yet.

It is why I thought talk of comparing him to Bradman was a bit of overreach and premature. Personally I feel that Ponting had been the best batsman Australia has produced in my time watching the game, purely based on statistics and technique, but Smith has gone past him now, he has scored centuries and double everywhere in the world. Keeping in mind he is still only 28 as well and has quite a number of years where he will be at the peak of his powers still, he has achieved a lot but there is more to come you'd expect.

Master Blaster. Hard to argue with that, his playing style of course was much better than AB's. I guess I was more coming from the POV that Border began his career when Australian cricket was in the doldrums and he retired just as we had entered a golden era. His legacy was immense.

Smith the best since Bradman tbf. I always had the greatest of admiration, in a long list, for Allan Border. Averaged 50 in an era of monsters that he had to face and on some dodgy wickets too - Marshall, Ambrose, Holding, Garner, Hadlee, Willis, Botham... I've probably forgotten a few there.

He is better than Root, twice as much in my opinion. I don't believe that was ever in question tbh. His only real adversary was Kohli, which can be debatable.

Best in the world now but comparing to Bradman? What is with comparing to those no longer with us and considered the best? How do you score that?

Never! My knee knackered friend.

Staveley has all the cards.

I said this a month ago, whether we stay up or don't affects the price. Hope Staveley doesn't budge. Fuck Ashley, the fat retail cunt.

I see commentators in England comparing Steve Smith with Don Bradman. Steve Smith is the best batsman in the world but comparing him to Bradman? The best is yet to come from him. Better to focus on your own.

Those that have toured here before capitulate the quickest. Mental scars don't go away. That is why the likes of Stoneman, Malan and Overton are holding there own at times. The others apart from Bairstow just give in. Rain may play a part tomorrow. That is your only hope.

I think I would have. Obviously though I'm tucked away in bed while the majority of the proceedings occur on your patch. I watch a lot while it is on here of course so I can form many, many opinions. And tbf I have given praise where it has been deserved for your lot here, but there hasn't been all that much to be complimentary about. Aside from that it has been so pleasurable watching the mental disintegration of Broad and Anderson today, almost as much as watching Steve Smith's Lara-esque innings which has contributed to that mental and physical drain.

You're a good sport. I've said this before, I hate the boxing day test to be meaningless.

You don't have the bowlers, pace and spin combined, to take 20 wickets. Does the weather man predict an England win then? Your lower order have been labelled cowardly today by some. One series at a time man. Banter on the field that Root, Bairstow, Anderson and Broad have copped.

There is no collapse in us at all. You boasted about an exciting tail, batting wise with your lot before the series started but they are afraid and incapable to finding solutions to the problems our bowlers are throwing at them. Our middle order was the concern for me before this series started but they have held up well. And our tail wags. Cummins is good for 40-50 runs every time. Paine is solid. They are far superior to your lot. There isn't one single facet of the game where your lot might have an advantage over ours and that includes banter as well.

Fine margins? Your batsmen look genuinely scared facing our bowling attack. 6/35 if you need reminding on a flat wicket. You did well to get 400 odd in the first innings but you won't get anywhere near that in the second given the deterioration of the pitch and the cracks which provide extra worries for your batsmen. You are fighting to get a draw here.

What are you doing up btw? Are you doing an all-nighter?

Cracks opening up on the pitch already and it is only day 2. There may be a result in this game after all. Before this started I expected multiple declarations in the game.

Yes and no tbh. We dominated from 1989 until 2002-03 so that is an argument that the status of play should remain. What you acheived afterwards is a reflection of that as well. Test match cricket is test match cricket. Do you propose something different?