Dr Bandon Decker
@bandondecker.com
Former astronomer (ex-tronomer) who mostly posts about baseball, cricket, and some other sport. Trying to be better about writing about statistics and doing good science with them.
It's frustrating that England are doing this in a dead rubber and there's no guarantee they won't bat like they did at Perth. But it is nice to bowl the Aussies out cheaply on Christmas, brings back happy memories of 2010. #Ashes
December 26, 2025 at 3:57 AM
It's frustrating that England are doing this in a dead rubber and there's no guarantee they won't bat like they did at Perth. But it is nice to bowl the Aussies out cheaply on Christmas, brings back happy memories of 2010. #Ashes
I'm not sure that wasn't a no-ball. He looked like he was /exactly/ on the line, rather than behind it. Well, that kind of makes up for the Snicko bullshit. #Ashes
December 26, 2025 at 3:49 AM
I'm not sure that wasn't a no-ball. He looked like he was /exactly/ on the line, rather than behind it. Well, that kind of makes up for the Snicko bullshit. #Ashes
This isn't the best Christmas gift---it can't be in a dead rubber---but it is making for a fine way to finish off Christmas Day! #Ashes
December 26, 2025 at 2:44 AM
This isn't the best Christmas gift---it can't be in a dead rubber---but it is making for a fine way to finish off Christmas Day! #Ashes
This has been a fantastic morning; it is always great to see Smith out early! The pitch has something in it; I don't think it's as lively as the Aussies are making it look, but definitely the right call at the toss. We'd be all out by now if we'd batted. #Ashes
December 26, 2025 at 1:14 AM
This has been a fantastic morning; it is always great to see Smith out early! The pitch has something in it; I don't think it's as lively as the Aussies are making it look, but definitely the right call at the toss. We'd be all out by now if we'd batted. #Ashes
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die when he was shot in a botched operation set up by Karla to see how far Control had got in his search for the mole.
December 25, 2025 at 2:48 PM
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die when he was shot in a botched operation set up by Karla to see how far Control had got in his search for the mole.
Reposted by Dr Bandon Decker
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, uttered “I am become death, destroyer of worlds.”
December 25, 2025 at 2:44 PM
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, uttered “I am become death, destroyer of worlds.”
Reposted by Dr Bandon Decker
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, was present at the end of the universe, having witnessed every black hole evaporate and every proton decay. Even so, Death would not come.
December 24, 2025 at 1:32 AM
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, was present at the end of the universe, having witnessed every black hole evaporate and every proton decay. Even so, Death would not come.
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die because he was rescued by his friend from Betelgeuse who hitched a ride on a Vogon constructor ship when the earth was demolished.
December 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die because he was rescued by his friend from Betelgeuse who hitched a ride on a Vogon constructor ship when the earth was demolished.
Orion getting his Christmas breakfast. Blurry because he was so excited he wouldn't stay still. #OrionTheHunterOfRattleMice
December 25, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Orion getting his Christmas breakfast. Blurry because he was so excited he wouldn't stay still. #OrionTheHunterOfRattleMice
The biggest problem is developing talent for the Test side. Dan Norcross described England's selection as 'vibes-based' the other day and it really is the perfect description. Everything recently has been based on a notion of raw talent, but Test cricket demands refinement.
December 21, 2025 at 4:17 AM
The biggest problem is developing talent for the Test side. Dan Norcross described England's selection as 'vibes-based' the other day and it really is the perfect description. Everything recently has been based on a notion of raw talent, but Test cricket demands refinement.
So there might be some hope still for this England management, but there still is a lot of work to do to actually develop reliable batting technique. #Ashes
December 21, 2025 at 4:10 AM
So there might be some hope still for this England management, but there still is a lot of work to do to actually develop reliable batting technique. #Ashes
Ten minutes after I complained about McCullum's lack of intellectual honestly with assessing failures, he honestly assessed his an England's failures live on the BBC. I can only assume be reads my posts. #Ashes
December 21, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Ten minutes after I complained about McCullum's lack of intellectual honestly with assessing failures, he honestly assessed his an England's failures live on the BBC. I can only assume be reads my posts. #Ashes
This post-match interview is actually an improvement. This self-assessment from McCullum would have been better before we had lost the series, but it is an improvement. #Ashes
December 21, 2025 at 3:59 AM
This post-match interview is actually an improvement. This self-assessment from McCullum would have been better before we had lost the series, but it is an improvement. #Ashes
Hopefully after this we can try to address the deeper problems with the England team. Unfortunately I think England are actually farther from being competitive than they appear. Bazball was a blunt-force approach to paper over those deeper problems, but they haven't been addressed and Bazball failed
December 21, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Hopefully after this we can try to address the deeper problems with the England team. Unfortunately I think England are actually farther from being competitive than they appear. Bazball was a blunt-force approach to paper over those deeper problems, but they haven't been addressed and Bazball failed
The closest thing we've had to an actual admission of failure was the fact that the approach was different this Test. But even then they pretended it wasn't different and it hasn't fixed the fact that this philosophy doesn't do the fundamentals well enough. #Ashes
December 21, 2025 at 3:49 AM
The closest thing we've had to an actual admission of failure was the fact that the approach was different this Test. But even then they pretended it wasn't different and it hasn't fixed the fact that this philosophy doesn't do the fundamentals well enough. #Ashes
I actually don't think the idea of 'Bazball' was necessarily a bad one, and I don't have any problems with trying a new approach in the context of where England were when McCullum was hired. But part of trying something new is honestly assessing the outcome, and adjusting as-necessary. #Ashes
December 21, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I actually don't think the idea of 'Bazball' was necessarily a bad one, and I don't have any problems with trying a new approach in the context of where England were when McCullum was hired. But part of trying something new is honestly assessing the outcome, and adjusting as-necessary. #Ashes
It's not acceptable. The decisions may have been defensible, but they haven't worked. If McCullum and Stokes are going just stubbornly pretend it's fine they have to go. Without looking at what has failed, at what needs to be tweaked or discarded we aren't going to win future series either. #Ashes
December 21, 2025 at 3:46 AM
It's not acceptable. The decisions may have been defensible, but they haven't worked. If McCullum and Stokes are going just stubbornly pretend it's fine they have to go. Without looking at what has failed, at what needs to be tweaked or discarded we aren't going to win future series either. #Ashes
Part of the problem is McCullum in particular is at least outwardly insisting there was no failure. Maybe that changes now, but outwardly, all we heard after the first two defeats was nonsense about being 'over-prepared' and 'has-beens' and 'weak men'. #Ashes
December 21, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Part of the problem is McCullum in particular is at least outwardly insisting there was no failure. Maybe that changes now, but outwardly, all we heard after the first two defeats was nonsense about being 'over-prepared' and 'has-beens' and 'weak men'. #Ashes
And then after the series, there needs to be a review. I'm not fond in general of the approach of building everything around #Ashes tours, but given that Rob Key, McCullum, and Stokes have pretty explicitly been building to this tour over the last few years, it's fair to judge them on this failure.
December 21, 2025 at 3:44 AM
And then after the series, there needs to be a review. I'm not fond in general of the approach of building everything around #Ashes tours, but given that Rob Key, McCullum, and Stokes have pretty explicitly been building to this tour over the last few years, it's fair to judge them on this failure.