SHA Small Heath Alliance

Nor me, the comment about the nets was funny

They aren't going to get any fitter no matter what they do at that stage, so the idea they should be up running around with the S&C guy is a nonsense really. Duckett for example looked fried in the Hundred.

I guess the issue is that all of the things they have tried from a mental perspective in terms of preparing for a long campaign in Australia has made them look brittle and/or arrogant and foolish.

I think there’s an element of brittleness to them, the Australians always seem to be fairly robust, and confident. Heads recently lost his dad and turned into Sunil Gavaskar. They’ve also had injuries to big players and adapted

I have no issue at all with the downtime, they’re human and need a switch off

It's a convenient dead cat

Have a song lads, a beautiful song.

[open.spotify.com]

Archer out. Pope dropped. Atkinson and Bethel in.

Time to move on from Archer and Wood I think. Just can’t rely on ‘em.

🏂⛄️🤶🎄🇨🇽

Archer is worth persisting with, this is his first injury all year, and he was arguably our best player over the first 3 games. Plus, side strains happen all the time to bowlers, this isn't a recurrence of his elbow issues

Wood I agree with. He's been great fun to watch, but his body isn't able to handle the pace he bowls at anymore

This is terrific. All I'd add is he's right about cricketers in England only coming from 2 regions of the country nowadays whereas they used to come from multiple socio economic more urban groups. Also the 1980s England put plenty of attention into West Indies series and to a lesser extent the Pakistan series which I think Jarrod because he hadn't got to blighty until the late 90s overlooks

Fat Buddha OBE

I’d drop Pope and put Bethel in for the last two tests. The series has gone so may as well put him in now, with a bit less pressure. It used to be said that Australia are not much cop when it comes to dead rubbers. If that’s true, it could be a useful proving ground for him

Came across this somehow today. Fat Buddha to be added to the England selectors?