[Closed] The Ashes

Originally posted by jbpatzer
looooooooooooooooool

The natural order of things is restored! ♠_biggrin:

It's only taken 128 years. 0.o

Originally posted by jbpatzer
looooooooooooooooool

The natural order of things is restored! ♠_biggrin:

restored. lol. australia have dominated u guys forever. u were never on top for u to be back on top.

btw jb, i love your blog, its so awesome.

yesterday wasd the most one sided day of cricket i have ever seen in my 19 years on this earth.

this test match is worth having insomnia for. England to win inside 3.5 days and won't have to bat twice.

Ashes basically retained, now have to win series for full bragging rights!

Originally posted by Laggsy

Originally posted by jbpatzer
looooooooooooooooool

The natural order of things is restored! ♠_biggrin:

restored. lol. australia have dominated u guys forever. u were never on top for u to be back on top.

btw jb, i love your blog, its so awesome.

yesterday wasd the most one sided day of cricket i have ever seen in my 19 years on this earth.

When I was at an impressionable age, and either watching or playing cricket in most of my spare time (about 1977-1987), the natural order of things was England >> Australia. And I'm glad you like my blog.

Just LOL

HOO-Rah!!

Still ruthlessness needed, win the series 3-1!!! No "pride saving" 2-2, no playing easy becasue it's been retained!

Aside from Perth (sans day 1) and a couple of days at Brisbane England have been all over the Aussies like a rash this series and we should close it out now.

Originally posted by Boomer2k10
Still ruthlessness needed, win the series 3-1!!! No "pride saving" 2-2, no playing easy becasue it's been retained!

This is the real test of the England side. In the past I would expect an England side with a considerable edge getting complacent in a dead match (at least from the perspective of the real purpose of the series anyway). Whether they perform at the same level again (whatever the result) will show just how good this England side is.

BTW IMO Hussey is a freak, Hughsey is LOL, Ponting has had this coming since becoming skipper (great batsman, rubbish/petulant skipper).

Originally posted by Waiboy

Originally posted by Boomer2k10
Still ruthlessness needed, win the series 3-1!!! No "pride saving" 2-2, no playing easy becasue it's been retained!

This is the real test of the England side. In the past I would expect an England side with a considerable edge getting complacent in a dead match (at least from the perspective of the real purpose of the series anyway). Whether they perform at the same level again (whatever the result) will show just how good this England side is.

BTW IMO Hussey is a freak, Hughsey is LOL, Ponting has had this coming since becoming skipper (great batsman, rubbish/petulant skipper).

To be honest I think this Series has bascially been a team vs a group of individuals. If you look on an individual stats basis Australia and England are 2 very well matched sides however one is highly prepared, stickiing to plans, backing each other up, taking on responsibility when one fails (i.e. Tremlett and Bresnan coming in from Broad and Finn) etc and the other is a group of guys playing for their individual place, in some cases their careers, and if you look back on the 4 tests so far the bits the Aussies have shone in have mainly been individual bursts (Siddle's Hat-Trick, Johnson actually remembering how to bowl fast and agressive good swing bowling in Perth, Hussey being a total freak of nature with the bat) whereas England's high's have mainly been team related with the bowling working as a unit, every batsman apart form Collingwood has scored runs and Prior's even kept well....aside from that fumble yesterday off Clarke.

I honestly thought England were lucky to win the 2009 Ashes, we got out of jail at Cardiff and again later in the Series and basically won the 2 matches where Australia fell over and I expected the Aussies to be even stronger on their own turf this time. England haven't won there since I've been watching cricket (First Ashes I watched First 3 Aussies (Taylor/Boon/Slater) scored tons at Trent Bridge and Mark Waugh got bowled on 99 which apparently cost someone who'd bet on the Top 4 Aussies getting hundreds a lot of money) and to be fair despite the media confidence I didn't expect us to win this time, I thought it would be close but I thought the Aussies would beat us 2/3-1. I'm actually in a bit of shock of how Aussie cricket has gone into disarray like this overnight.

Yes the Aussie lost a lot of very good players since 2005 (Greatest series ever btw, genuinely the 2 best sides in the World, just magnificent) but in a way most of England's talismans from that series are gone too. Flintoff's Gone, Vaughan's Gone, the Entire Bowling Unit has gone (Hoggard, Harmison and Jones....I REALLY feel bad for Jones, what a talent he was, career completely destroyed through injury...at least he had those 2004-5 moments though) but England managed to replace their heroes and build a team and it looks like the Aussies are all trying to be Warne/Waugh etc but aren't good enough to do it and forgot about the team concept.

We'll see though, last test should be interesting. I think on balance England deserve to win this series and 2-2 would be very lenient on the Aussies but now it's time to find out if we can be ruthless.

Nice post Boomer!

To stop being quite so flippant for a moment... ahem.

I really think that the top seven batting line up of both sides is, in theory, fairly closely matched. The Aussies are struggling to replace Langer (and tbh have struck paydirt with Watson who's only real downside seems to be a weakness between 50-60 and in the 90s... and no, I don't really call that a downside) and they've struggled with various of their other top bats slipping in and out of form. It wasn't so long ago Hussey was on the verge of being dropped. On the other hand three or four of the England bats are performing magnificently every innings, with good support. There is a significant form gap between the two batting lineups.

On the bowling front, I haven't gone through all the tests for the year, but I'm going to guess the England attack is much more settled than the Australian one. Australia have been struggling to bowl sides out for a while now, AFAIK England haven't had the same issues, especially with Graeme Swann bowling so well ("Swann, Swann will tear them apart, again". Oh that Barmy Army), and Jimmy Anderson's resurgence.

The other key factors IMO are:

i. Ricky Ponting has always struggled as a Captain. I've been staggered time and again by his decisions. In the past though he's had the firepower to hide just how bad the calls were, which is no longer the case. Having said this I think he has improved as a captain, but we're talking improvement from a pretty low base.

ii. Andy Flower. Just a magnificent example of an uncompromising, tough as nails cricketer being able to bring that quality to the coaching role. I have a massive amount of time for this guy and have no doubt he is having a significant impact on the attitude and performance of the side.

As it stands, there is a vast gulf between these two sides, and it stems primarily from the respective bowling attacks. Just look at the series bowling stats.

3-1 to England and it's not even close. Swann to dominate on a turning Sydney wicket.

BTW I'm claiming Jimmy Anderson's and Andrew Strauss's meteoric rise/return over the last couple of years to stints spent playing in New Zealand.

I don't think the batting orders have been equally matched at all. Australia's top order has been terrible with Hughes, Ponting and Clarke being completely retarded. The moment Ponting has to face the new ball he has got no idea what to do. He has always been liek this but when we had Hayden and Langer opening he always came to teh craese with teh score at 50-60 (or thereabouts). We have a severe lack of opening batsmen in Australia atm which is quite disappointing. I think ill put my hand up for teh Sydney Test lol. I could do a better job then Hughesy. haha.

The England top order have dominated our bowling. There is now talk of ploayign Hauritz so that he can dismiss Cook and Strauss. How sad is that, having to call on a spinner to dismiss openers. Its embarressing that ideas liek this are being thrown around.

I see scrap teh entire team except for haddin, watson and hussey and start a new team from tehre. give hussey the captaincy and we will see what happens.

Anyway im going out for lunch.
Catchyas

Laggsy for a double ton!

I can understand a dissatisfaction with the likes of Ponting and Clarke, and the poorer opening stands are definitely having an impact, but I think their overall records suggest they're just having a lean trott rather than only being fit to play in the NZ top order.

IMO They'll never give Hussey the captaincy after Australia got whitewashed under his stewardship in an ODI series in NZ. Harsh IMO, because NZ chased down a couple of mammoth totals in that series (of course, they also won one by ten wickets). I suspect they feel Hussey outwardly lacks the required bloody mindedness. When he speaks it's never with the usual Australian (I'll call it) supreme confidence.

Originally posted by Laggsy
I don't think the batting orders have been equally matched at all. Australia's top order has been terrible with Hughes, Ponting and Clarke being completely retarded. The moment Ponting has to face the new ball he has got no idea what to do. He has always been liek this but when we had Hayden and Langer opening he always came to teh craese with teh score at 50-60 (or thereabouts). We have a severe lack of opening batsmen in Australia atm which is quite disappointing. I think ill put my hand up for teh Sydney Test lol. I could do a better job then Hughesy. haha.

The England top order have dominated our bowling. There is now talk of ploayign Hauritz so that he can dismiss Cook and Strauss. How sad is that, having to call on a spinner to dismiss openers. Its embarressing that ideas liek this are being thrown around.

I see scrap teh entire team except for haddin, watson and hussey and start a new team from tehre. give hussey the captaincy and we will see what happens.

Anyway im going out for lunch.
Catchyas

Happy New Year ♦

And let's hope we crush you in Sydney ♦

One thing I'll say

I thought the English press were vindictive when we lost....yowsers!!

The Aussie press are carving the team up like a roast.

I thought Peter Siddle has bowled exceptionally. Australia are missing a quality spinner. Hauritz should have been played and Ponting should have made way for Khawaja sooner. It was the performance of the aussie bowlers in Perth(ie Johnson decided to show up) that prolonged Pontings dropping. Hussey is leading the team for my eyes but long term Clarke is the natural successor.

England have great depth in their bowling and a solid top order so there isn't too much to fix. I would think about dropping Collingwood, moving everyone else up one spot and bring Monty Panesar into the mix for the final test. Two spinners will be a real handful I think!

Great write up Boomer, twas a solid read.

I think I'm perhaps a little more sympathetic to the Aussies loss of McGrath and Warne though. However long they have to rebuild it's hard to imagine that they'll ever find players with this kind of class and consistency any time soon. Then with the likes of Hayden, Langer and Gilchrist (who all averaged over 45!) also missing, I can see why the transition is proving to be so hard.

I hope England are back in focussed mode, I want them to see out the series clinically and let the scoreline reflect how much better we are than this Aussie
side !

I can't compete with Boomer when it comes to serious analysis, so I'd just like to say that the English cricket team is really very, very good, and the Australian cricket team is really very, very shit. Here endeth my career in sports journalism.

Originally posted by nibbana
I think I'm perhaps a little more sympathetic to the Aussies loss of McGrath and Warne though. However long they have to rebuild it's hard to imagine that they'll ever find players with this kind of class and consistency any time soon. Then with the likes of Hayden, Langer and Gilchrist (who all averaged over 45!) also missing, I can see why the transition is proving to be so hard.

Am I the only one grinning as I read this through?

Gratz England! Easy game. ♠_thumbsup:

Originally posted by Waiboy

Originally posted by nibbana
I think I'm perhaps a little more sympathetic to the Aussies loss of McGrath and Warne though. However long they have to rebuild it's hard to imagine that they'll ever find players with this kind of class and consistency any time soon. Then with the likes of Hayden, Langer and Gilchrist (who all averaged over 45!) also missing, I can see why the transition is proving to be so hard.

Am I the only one grinning as I read this through?

Gratz England! Easy game. ♠_thumbsup:

Yes.... ♦

Well done England ♦

And well done to laggsy for starting this thread, even if we did whup your skinny little ass!!! ♠_biggrin:

SHIP IT!!

Ashes Coming Home!!

Enjoy this one if you're an England fan or player, I don't think it gets any better than this.

Originally posted by Boomer2k10
SHIP IT!!

Ashes Coming Home!!

Enjoy this one if you're an England fan or player, I don't think it gets any better than this.

Hard to believe there are many England players reading this, but anyway.