DonnieAndMooie wrote:
It's been a brilliant series, and I'm sure the final test will still be entertaining despite not being the decider we deserve. I hope (although it may be hard right now) people can look beyond Australia retaining the urn and see what this series has achieved. It's another step forward for this extremely talented England team, and it's got people who had no prior interest in cricket absolutely hooked. The future of test cricket is certainly safe for now.
As for the issue with the weather, it is a part of cricket. It's part of the tactical thinking to plan ahead for the game, so I can see that side of it. However I am frustrated like everyone else when a situation like the one we've seen today occurs. It has to be said, 30 overs in 2 days is extremely rare, but a problem nonetheless. There's no easy solution but I would suggest a simple place to start would be to bowl the maximum overs in each session regardless of how long it takes. This would also stop over rates dropping and teams slowing the game down constantly to play for draws. I can't get my head around stopping games at 6:30 when there's loads of over left to be played and the light is clearly fine. On a similar note, I'd also like to see some kind of clock brought in to limit the time between each ball. I'm a big fan of tennis and the impact of a serve clock between points has improved the pace of the game massively and made it far better to watch. If there's nothing to stop teams taking their time bowling, then they'll continue to do it.
Anyway, as others have said, this series isn't over. We still have a chance to draw this - and I've got every confidence we will.
Very good post, save for the potential issue of bad light affecting the bowling of the full complement of overs.