The Ashes start to get interesting

The second test was always going to be a draw given the rain however it proved very interesting as the late Mr Spock might have said.
Archer was a revelation. Full marks to Alex Tudor who forecast this when he mentioned Arher was a better red ball bowler that white ball.. On a flattish pitch.
He is much quicker than anyone else bowling ( Starc could be as quick but mysteriously has not been selected). Archer proved a revelation because his bouncer gets up quick and is dangerous. No Aussie batsman liked his pace once he got to full throttle and smith in particular found his feet and brain wanting to do different things. In each case of Archer hitting batsmen they did not pick up the short ball until it was on them.
Smith in the all important batsman for us. He looked a mere mortal facing Archer. the question is how will he react when he is fit to bat again. He certainly looked punch drunk when he shouldered arms to a ball on middle stump to Woakes. Why oh why was he allowed to come back. That was stupidity plus.
Khawaja looks all out of sorts facing Archer as well.
If Smith cannot play on Thursday then we look very weak in the batting.

The Poms now look much more impressive.
 I have previously said I could not see how they could take 20 Aussie wickets. I am still somewhat not confident they can. Archer was dynamic but Root is not a captain and handled him badly by bowling much too much. Woakes is bowling far too short a line too much thus negating the swing. Broad is willing but not the bowler of the past ( although he was faster than Archer in the second innings until Archer took Warner's wicket.) Stokes is still not bowling as well as  he can but the spinning department has improved.
If the other bowlers keep it tight and Archer unleashes his pace they could easily win BUT they have to be tight.
On the other hand if smith does not play the Poms should win. Our batting is very weak and poor from a technical point of view.

From a bowler's point of view will Cummins bounce as much as he has in the past knowing Archer is quicker and better?

Whoopsy.
 I forgot to talk about the pommy's batting woes. clearly Roy is not a test batsman. Denley always looks god but fails to deliver. Root is not the batsman of yore. Buttler at present does not lloklike a test batsman. ( Can some-one tell me why Buttler keeps in limited over cricket but Bairstow does in test cricket?). Their tail end looks good to help but they need their batsmen to start looking like batsman.