England v Australia - THE ASHES

[toffeejack]

I think England were slightly better bowling wise from the beginning in my opinion, there's something about Wood that I like and he will improve, a lot of Simon Jones about him, Anderson is simply world class and Broad can be, he was this game, hopefully he stays there. For Australia, Johnson is breaking down slowely and offers no movement with the ball and their quality bowlers are now out.

I think Australia's batting is better however and would be very surprised at a repeat performance.

beat me too it. he has the resemblance of jones in 2005, the unsung hero as 3rd seamer as you will

 

[toffeejack]

Warner wouldn't, Langer and Hayden were the classiest opening pair of the decade. Johnson was a backup back then for Kasprovic, I'd take Johnson over him now though. I'd take Smith over Damien Martyn, other than that, no body. In saying that, in the current team I'd only swap Anderson for Hoggard, both teams are poor in comparison to that series, the best test series I've ever seen.

cook would be in ahead of one of strauss or tresco - probably strauss. buttler's not there yet as a test player but i reckon he's more talented than g.jones and i f*cking hated giles so he's coming out for moeen even though moeen's not even a front line spinner. he's got a better record, class batsman and actually takes wickets. giles just did naff all really although that 05 aussie team would probably murder ali as well mind.

root displaces bell of 05.

i'd have starc over kasper and johnson, for the aussies. both teams are absolutely nowhere near those teams though - but that's the way test cricket is these days - not of a great standard.

 

[toffeejack]

mitchell johnson 'dug in' didnt he! 70 odd at number 8 ...

just threw his bat at a load, was hardly a dug out 70.

 

[Frank Gallagher]

just threw his bat at a load, was hardly a dug out 70.

He still got 70 late on, anyway you can get 70 runs batting down the order is digging in... regardless of the shot you play.

Highest aussie scorerer on the day too!

 

[toffeejack]

Siddle is steady enough and a tireless worker but not the threat of old and Cummins has very little first class experience. The Aussies are looking rather wobbly.

they need someone in there just to keep it tight. england were scoring at 4 runs an over at will regardless of their position. they were 40/3 and joe root comes in and scores nearly a run a ball 130 on the 1st day. that shouldn't happen. clarke had nobody to turn too, they were all the same, all bowling that rare wicket taking delivery in amongst loads of juicy half volleys and wide deliveries. no wonder the game was over in 4 days - i was not impressed with the aussies' bowling whatsoever - it must be said.

 

[toffeejack]

I love England having Ali in the team but would love it even more if he batted at 5 and became a supporting spinner to a front-line spinner. I'm worried that Ali will be wasted at 8 if the tail don't try to bat with him...I'm looking at Broad here.

he should be ahead of buttler, no excuses, he's a better batsman. buttler's done a good job in that position and has rescued a few positions lately, but ali is a better batsman, he's more of a batsman than a bowler, they seem to have forgotten that. buttler's the better player to smack a quick 50 off 30 balls with 9, 10 and 11 and ali is the better player to build a 100+ partnership with a no.4 or 5.

 

[toffeejack]

He still got 70 late on, anyway you can get 70 runs batting down the order is digging in... regardless of the shot you play.

Highest aussie scorerer on the day too!

imo digging in is knuckling down and grinding out an innings. he was just wafting at part-timer root with an old ball and england were happy because they knew he'd eventually give his wicket away which he did. all opinions i suppose.

 

[Bilko]

think England will struggle quite badly,4-0 defeat,actually might put a bet on that one, odds would be decent I reckon

nothing you lids can tell me about cricket..................

 

[PITA]

Test match cricket is very strange these days. Teams tend to give up if the job looks too much or history is against any kind of target. The amount of 2nd innings collapses seems ridiculous to me .The modern cricketer's mentality is some what different now.

If it was easy to score 400 plus in the final innings then it would have happened many times over the years. Test cricket has been around for a long time so not sure that your reference to 'these days' is valid.

 

[PITA]

If Harris had been able to play more he'd go down as one of the all time greats in my opinion, 4th best average of all time I believe? (After a certain amount of games or overs bowled). A real shame, actually a decent guy who doesn't engage in the sledging and gets on with the job.

Agreed.

 

[PITA]

An alltime great Aus side just past its peak and an all time great England team coming into its peak ... what a series.

The aussies miss a true leader like ponting. As much as I dislike him he was a great leader.

Wiz, you are one of my favourite posters on here. What's with the Ponting dislike? He was a fantastic batsman and, as we are now seeing, a good bloke. He was just an Aussie doing his best for his team.

 

[PITA]

We never perform that well at Lords, Hazelwood to get wickets, Clarke to score his Lords ton, that's how I'm seeing it at a very early stage without looking at the wicket (which is always boring at Lords) and the weather forecast.

The loss of Starc will be massive for them though if he can't recover.

I thought you were a New Zealander?

 

[Elong]

I thought you were a New Zealander?

Depends who's winning lol

I was born in the UK, moved here in my teens.

 

[PITA]

Where's Aldo?

Or maybe more pertinent

Where's kithnou?

 

[PITA]

interesting interview with broad there - seems to have more of a cricket brain than seems evident on the pitch. @[B]Elong[/B] called it - won the game there today.

You do yourself a disservice,sir.

was so glad to see him not bowl short today. think root will get a partnershup breaker wicket somewhere along the line. got ticket to the last day so not sure how i want tomorrow to end.