Australia’s batters have yet another day to forget as the visitors come close to the third Ashes Test with a score of 213-8, still 158 runs short of Australia’s 371-run first innings total, with the home side still holding on for a victory in the series with two games to go.
England’s Ashes hopes are fading after another batter’s fold.
Gameweeks begin on December 26, December 30, January 3 and January 6, with gameweeks beginning on December 26 and December 30. This is the final FPL week before fixture mayhem begins.
Expect rotation, random benchings, and some injury chaos because there is a lot of football to be played in a short amount of time.
Well done, you’ll need them over the next three weeks if you didn’t use up all of your five free Afcon transfers last week!
As if you were playing a Free Hit, the team of the week is chosen based on the current FPL prices to fit within a £100m budget.
Another high-scoring week was capped off by strong performances from Robin Roefs (nine), Bukayo Saka (22 points), Bruno Fernandes (13), Hugo Ekitike (13), and Bruno Fernandes (13).
Given that there isn’t much money to spend on a keeper this week, I’m betting on Leeds keeping a clean sheet against a Palace side that has lost Daniel Munoz and Ismaila Sarr, two of their key creative players.
Jean-Phillipe Mateta, the Palace’s top scorer, has also only one goal in six games.
Bournemouth Marcos Senesi, £4.9 million – Burnley (h)
Senesi earned defensive contribution points (defcon) for the 12th time in 15 games despite conceding four goals against Manchester United.
He gives you a high floor for a game where it’s obvious that you could also get a clean sheet.
Brighton, £4.6 million – Sunderland (h) Jan Paul van Hecke
In seven of his previous ten games (three goals, three clean sheets, one assist, and a defcon performance), Van Hecke has returned at least four points.
With only four goals scored on the road, Sunderland return to the Amex.
Brentford‘s Nathan Collins, £4.9 million – Wolves (a)
Brentford’s defense has scored the most goals conceded (xGC), which is higher than that of Liverpool and better than that of Chelsea and Aston Villa, over the past ten games.
Foden has become a must-have player by putting on 13.75 points per game in his previous four games.
West Ham’s home team is almost as good as it gets, winning just five games in a row.
You can always take a benching at random Pep Roulette but you don’t want to pick Foden.
Bournemouth‘s Antoine Semenyo, £7.5 million – Burnley (h)
This season, Burnley have conceded at least twice in eight games while playing away, totaling 23 goals.
Semenyo has returned to the top of the goalscoring charts after two and a half months since scoring for Manchester United.
If you still own him, he might still be a sell, but this week is a fantastic match-up.
Bournemouth‘s Marcus Tavernier, £5.5 million – Burnley (h)
Although Tavernier was Bournemouth’s star man in their eight-goal thriller against Manchester United on Monday, his potential has been demonstrated by his fundamental data for some time.
Tavernier is Bournemouth’s top performer, but Semenyo is not far behind.
He has the second-most shots, xG, goals, and big chances, surpassing any other Bournemouth midfielder who has created 22 chances.
He’s a fantastic budget option, making up for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Granit Xhaka, at £5.5 million.
Manchester United‘s Bruno Fernandes, $ 9.3 million, Aston Villa (a)
Fernandes ranks among the top midfielders in almost every other creative stat, making him unavoidable even in a difficult match like Villa away from Villa.
Igor Thiago, Brentford, £7.2m – Wolves (a)
Despite having only five points in his previous three games, Thiago has struggled to score.
Don’t let anyone think Wolves can defend themselves after almost taking an advantage of Arsenal.
You’d anticipate Brentford to win at Molineux after conceding 21 goals in eight home games.
Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland (captain) and West Ham‘s (h) salary of $15 million
Captaincy is currently returning to Haaland, and it might stay there.
Even if you went against him last week with Bruno Fernandes or Bukayo Saka, you still won’t regret it, but this gameweek presents an even greater risk.
Liverpool‘s £8.6 million acquisition of Tottenham (a) Hugo Ekitike
Given Tottenham’s recent performances, Ekitike’s form is unremarkable, and all of a sudden, this seems like a great match for him given his current form.
In his previous two games, the Frenchman has scored four goals, and Liverpool is gradually improving.
Fulham’s Antonee Robinson, £4.9 million – Nottingham Forest (h)
Leeds, £4.8 million – Crystal Palace (h) Anton Stach
Sunderland’s Omar Alderete, £4 million-Brighton (a)
Mount Maunganui, day one of the third test, is the fifth test.
New Zealand 334-1: Conway 178*, Latham 137
West Indies: Still playing
As New Zealand won the first day of their third Test series victory over West Indies, Devon Conway and Tom Latham shared New Zealand’s second-highest opening partnership in the game.
The openers scored 323 for the first wicket, bettering only Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis’ 387-run innings in Georgetown against West Indies in 1972.
Conway finished with a 178-run lead, while Latham, the team’s captain, recorded 137 as New Zealand came out on top 334-1.
The partnership, which involved 86.4 overs, is New Zealand’s eighth-highest opening stand of 300 for any wicket. It is also the joint 12th highest opening stand in men’s test cricket.
Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones set a record partnership for New Zealand when they added 467 for the third wicket in Wellington in 1991 when Sri Lanka lost to Sri Lanka.
Conway recorded his sixth Test century while facing 279 balls and hitting 25 fours.
Latham, who had earlier won the toss, was caught by a diving Roston Chase at first slip off Kemar Roach after being dropped by wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach on 104.
Latham now has 15 Test scores and has faced 246 balls, 15 fours, and sixes.
The best experience I’ve had. Conway remarked, “It was a good time out there.”
This morning, we discussed how to bat big, bat well, and give bowlers the chance to bowl in the fourth inning.
It was a challenging morning session, particularly for me. In the first hour, I engaged in self-feir. They did a fantastic job.
The ball softer and the wicket sped up after lunch, which gave me and Tom some good scoring opportunities.
Adelaide Oval, day two of the fifth Ashes Test.
Australia 371: Carey 106, Khawaja 82, Archer 5-53
England 213-8: Stokes 45*, Brook 45, Cummins 3-54
England leads 158 runs.
As a result of more Snicko controversy on the third day of the third Test, England’s hopes for the Ashes are waning.
England fell to 213-8 in faultless batting conditions at the Adelaide Oval in temperatures that reached 41 degrees. They are 158 runs adrift of Australia.
Instead of a collapse, this was a fold in response to relentless Australia bowling.
Only Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope, whose Test career is now in jeopardy, were dismissed as attacking players, and Smith was the subject of the Snicko confusion.
Smith survived and was exposed on the evidence of the technology a day after Australia’s Alex Carey was given a reprieve due to a Snicko error, with players on both sides claiming to no longer believe in the decision-review system (DRS).
However, the controversy surrounding DRS cannot disprove the fact that England could lose this series in as few as ten days of cricket.
England’s reply was tense at 42-3 when the visitors lost three wickets for five runs in 15 balls after Australia advanced to 371 all out thanks to the outstanding Jofra Archer (53-5).
Ben Stokes dug a trench with a painstaking 45 not out of 151 deliveries, while Harry Brook reined in his attacking instincts with 45 from 63 balls. In a 45-minute stand with Archer, who is not out, he found some late support.
However, Australia’s excellence was invincible in England. Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon each took two wickets, while the returning Pat Cummins took three.
This was England’s defining day, with the team now trailing by 2-0 after two games. Australia’s total was not insurmountable despite leaking 45 runs in 8.2 overs at the start.
England had the chance to re-enter the series. Stokes’ defiance alone prevented them from bowling twice throughout the day.
The subpar performance of England pales in comparison to the unsatisfactory nature of the Snicko controversy, which is unremarkable for a series of this magnitude.
Smith was the first to survive when Smith’s helmet, rather than his glove, was discovered to have a Cummins bouncer that ended at first slip. Snicko should be sacked, according to an Australian voice on the field.
An angry Smith was caught behind attempting a wild pull shot in the following Cummins over. Operators of Snicko, BBG Sports, confirmed to the BBC that they thought both decisions were accurate.
If the Bazball era is truly over, then it is symbolic that Stokes spent so much of the day watching his team crumble around him.
Before Stokes arrived, the game might have been deadlocked. Pope’s film at Lyon was foolish and fatal if Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were both destroyed by excellent performances from Cummins and Lyon, respectively.
Pope has not lived up to the faith that his role as third-guess in England has shown. Without a second-innings score, his place in Melbourne’s fourth Test will be in great doubt.
Before he could beat long-term nemesis Cummins for 19, Joe Root fought through the afternoon heat, surviving a catch that fell short of Carey’s.
Brook played sagely until he edged Cameron Green’s second ball, barring a six-yard drive from Boland. Stokes was astonished by Mitchell Starc’s brutal headbutt, despite keeping a watchful eye.
This was confirmation that the home side are far superior to the suggestions that Australia had a team that was beyond its best, or that the first two Test results were the result of errors made by England.
Despite the sweltering heat, Australia’s bowling was flawless, never allowing England to recover. Australia always had another bowler ready to examine English technique, defense, and spirit despite Archer frequently leading the visitors’ attack alone.
Captain Cummins was outstanding despite having suffered a back injury and not bowled a ball since July. He sprung out the irritable Smith after finding movement to take Crawley and Root’s edges.
Although Lyon was omitted from Brisbane’s second Test, he is still at home on this ground. He brought out England’s lack of a front-line spinner, which was exposed by his threat. Lyon’s 564th Test wicket, surpassing Australian great Glenn McGrath, was Pope’s gift, placing him sixth overall.
Starc continued his outstanding series by making 54 balls with the bat and then bowling at electric pace. The fastest day of his Ashes career is an average of 90.7%.
England and Australia are teetering against each other in the third Test, but the Snicko controversy is still unresolved.
England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith twice had to make controversial decisions following Alex Carey’s reprieve on day one due to a technical operator’s error.
He was given not-out for the first one, and he was found to have been caught behind for the second one, which he received for 22.
One Australian player was reportedly heard saying, “This could be anything before the second verdict on Smith was made.”
Another person remarked, “Just review everything.”
Smith eventually left shaking his head, and Ben Stokes, his captain, did little to conceal his shock.
Following England’s review of a caught-behind decision with the Australia wicketkeeper on 72 on Wednesday, Alex Carey was given not out for the second day.
He was not out because the technology’s spike was out of tune with the pictures, which the operator later discovered to be an error.
England won 149-5 in the first incident on day two in the 44th over.
After Smith’s ball was slammed against Usman Khawaja at slip, Australia requested a catch, and the on-field umpire, Nitin Menon, sent the decision to the TV umpire to check whether the ball had carried.
After checking whether the ball had struck Smith’s glove or helmet, TV umpire Chris Gaffaney weighed various replays.
The Snicko technology appeared inconclusive despite the TV appearance that the ball must have hit glove, and Gaffaney determined that Smith had been struck by the ball after passing helmet and not glove.
One Australian was heard saying, “Snicko needs to be sacked,” over the stump microphone, and the hosts’ fielders were clearly upset.
This is outrageous, said Marnus Labuschagne, “Nitin.
Has his glove caught the ball?
Menon was reportedly quoted as saying, “We checked for fair catch because we thought the glove was off, but he claims the helmet.”
In any case, it appeared as though Khawaja was unaware of the ball.
Smith’s dismissal was ultimately caused by the second decision.
Pat Cummins was given a pull shot, but Australia confidently appealed for a thin edge.
Smith appeared to be certain that he had not hit the ball when it was released on the field.
Umpire Menon once more suggested that Gaffaney should check whether the ball had carried and that he was unsure whether it had carried.
Nathan Lyon was reportedly eavesdropping on non-striking batter Ben Stokes as the players gathered to wait for the decision.
After watching an initial replay, Snicko showed a rough spike within a frame of the ball passing Smith’s bat, according to Gaffaney, who claimed there was no obviousness.
On Test Match Special, former England spinner Alex Hartley said, “This is where Snicko needs sacking, as we heard down the stump mic.”
You can just appeal for everything and review it if you have to because everyone knows we don’t trust Snicko right now, so Clearly Australia has gone up and made a loud noise.
There was also debate over whether the TV umpire’s decision was made after the player received a fair catch, as well as player distrust.
The playing conditions of the International Cricket Council, which indicate that the proper procedure was followed, apply to the review system.
The third umpire is required to check for a no-ball and determine whether a batter has hit the ball, according to the article.
Glenn McGrath, a former Australia bowler, said, “I believe the right choice was probably made for both decisions.”
The controversy rages on day two of the third Ashes Test, with England’s Jamie Smith at the center of it after being given not out after review but later released in a different delivery as a result of a contentious Snicko technique.
Third Test of the Ashes, day two