Do England have a good enough team to win the Ashes next year ?

[Laurrz]

Interesting to see if Hilfenhaus manages to regain his form from two seasons ago also. Can imagine him causing his fair share of trouble in England if he did.

god i wish...but he's a fair bit behind the pecking order now

loving our pace depth atm, Noffers Bolly Tait and Hilfy (Siddle in the future xD)

 

[GotSpin]

Nope.

 

[GIMH]

Yes, of course we do, duh

Noone thought we had a chance at this point in 04 either tbh (I wasn't at CW at the time, but in real life that was consensus). Get the batting to click, the attack we could potentially field could well be better than the Aussies if Simon Jones continues his rehabilitation and Andrew Flintoff gets fit. These are big ifs though; those two were key to us winning the Ashes last time and the Aussies are a little weaker than they were, so, yeah, in all honesty I feel we have a chance if we get some luck on the injury front.

 

[sanga1337]

Yes, of course we do, duh

Noone thought we had a chance at this point in 04 either tbh (I wasn't at CW at the time, but in real life that was consensus). Get the batting to click, the attack we could potentially field could well be better than the Aussies if Simon Jones continues his rehabilitation and Andrew Flintoff gets fit. These are big ifs though; those two were key to us winning the Ashes last time and the Aussies are a little weaker than they were, so, yeah, in all honesty I feel we have a chance if we get some luck on the injury front.

I think Richie Benaud believed England had a decent chance.

 

[The Masterplan]

...I'd say England are in need of a tearaway fast bowler, like me.. but if I'm not available, I'd say get Simon Jones or Saj Mahmood back in the team... or James Kirtley (how fast can he chuck it these days?)...

Or.. actually, just get Caddy back in the team!

 

[Jonty Lathwal]

only if right people strike at right time.....

a thousand time tough to repeat 2005......

 

[GIMH]

The thought of Saj Mahmood playing in a second Ashes...ouch

He's doing a decent job for Lancs, let's keep him there

 

[Jakester1288]

There bowling is lacking. They need Freddie back, he is there hopes imo.

 

[Richard]

Do England have a good enough team to win the Ashes next year ?

It depends. If you mean "as of the XI that has played the last 5 Tests" - highly unlikely. If Flintoff and, maybe, Simon Jones can\have shaken-off their injury woes, then yes, certainly (though of course whether it will do is another matter).

 

[Richard]

Jaques has a pretty handy record in England doesn't he? Should be right at home there, Hussey also and Hodge as well if he plays.

Handy doesn't really describe it; more like brilliant. But then, hasn't he mostly played in 2nd Div for Yorks? Even then, I just have images of him being a real nicker to 2nd slip against Sidebottom's hooping out-swingers.

Either way, I still reckon whoever bats best will win. The Aussies with the edge here.

Jaques has played for all sorts of teams (Northants, Worcs and Yorks to name the three I know fo' sho') in all sorts of divisions, and done pretty uniformly superbly. Yes, this was all between 2003 and 2006 when the ball wasn't really swinging much, but even so.

I certainly have high hopes of Sidebottom (and Hoggard\Anderson) repeatedly nicking-off and smashing stumps of Hayden, if of course he makes it that far (which I do so hope he does) but Jaques has always been a batsman I've liked the look of, and I don't see him being unduly troubled by the swing, certainly no more than for instance Katich and Clarke were in 2005.

 

[four_or_six]

Absolutely we do. We will need to have some form on our sides, but I think our bench strength looks a lot better now. We have a number of match-winners so it all comes down to those players performing.

Also, imagine Brett Lee gets injured. Or Hayden doesn't manage to keep his fitness long enough to survive until this tour. Then things look so different.

 

[Richard]

Also, XXX mints have now been banned, which means England won't get any reverse swing (which they haven't got since 05 anyways).

Not true in so many respects. Mints (XXX or Trebor or anything else) haven't been banned, nor are able to be, nor will ever be able to be, as to attempt to regulate what cricketers eat would be absurd in so many ways; England, and everyone else, can and will get reverse-swing without sucking mints, though it (along with a few other clever tricks most fielders are up to the use of) will obviously help a bit; and England have managed to get reverse-swing plenty since 2005/06, though obviously with no Jones at any point and no Flintoff for much of the time, the bext exponents have not been in the side so it's obviously been nowhere near as deadly. Because a ball in the right condition to reverse-swing is no use if the bowlers don't possess the skill.

 

[Richard]

...I'd say England are in need of a tearaway fast bowler, like me.. but if I'm not available, I'd say get Simon Jones or Saj Mahmood back in the team... or James Kirtley (how fast can he chuck it these days?)...

Or.. actually, just get Caddy back in the team!

Sadly Caddick's injury problems this year pretty much rule him out. Kirtley was never all that quick, nor probably ever any more of a chucker than Shoaib Akhtar was. Fastest I've ever seen Kirtley bowl was 91mph, and that was about 6 years ago, and that's an absolute quickest.

The idea of Mahmood playing against Australia is cringeworthy, of course, but I'd say Jones has a pretty good chance if things continue as they've gone so far this season.

 

[steds]

Yes, of course we do, duh

Noone thought we had a chance at this point in 04 either tbh (I wasn't at CW at the time, but in real life that was consensus).

At least in 04 we knew what our best side was (Jones/Anderson aside). That was a start.

 

[sledger]

My answer to the question posed by this thread is a resounding no, I doubt we will be whitewashed, but win the series is a hell of a long shot tbh, in fact i'm doubtful that we will beat SA this summer tbh.

 

[The Masterplan]

Sadly Caddick's injury problems this year pretty much rule him out. Kirtley was never all that quick, nor probably ever any more of a chucker than Shoaib Akhtar was. Fastest I've ever seen Kirtley bowl was 91mph, and that was about 6 years ago, and that's an absolute quickest.

The idea of Mahmood playing against Australia is cringeworthy, of course, but I'd say Jones has a pretty good chance if things continue as they've gone so far this season.

I was joking..

 

[Richard]

At least in 04 we knew what our best side was (Jones/Anderson aside). That was a start.

Let's have a luke...

After a couple of games in summer 2004, we were fairly well settled on:
Trescothick (in the best period of his career)
Strauss (new to Test cricket)
Butcher (tenuous place which he'd lose through injury then preference to Key, then both would lose-out to Bell)
Vaughan (finally shifted out of the opening slot only because someone else had taken it by complete chance)
Thorpe (soon to be hounded-out of the side despite being clearly the best batsman in 2003, 2003/04 and 2004)
Flintoff (too high at six and only just about to start bowling well)
G Jones (good for his first few games, but mostly shocking thereafter)
Giles (good on a rare turner, no use on a commonplace non-turner, but almost always picked regardless anyway)
Hoggard (just becoming a decent middle-of-the-road Test bowler)
Harmison (about to finish his only decent spell in his Test career, of a whole 7 matches)
S Jones (soon to be a key player in the 2005, but still far from certain of his place ahead of Anderson currently and still getting injured and being replaced by Saggers)

Now we have...

Strauss (back into top form it seems)
Cook (looking worryingly out-of-nick but still no-one's getting all that concerned)
Vaughan (pretty firmly established but still hasn't batted in one position for more than 5 months since 2005)
Pietersen (pretty much a slighly less concerning read of Cook)
Bell (far worse than Cook)
Collingwood (never really looked a particularly good Test batsman anyway but now having place looked-at)
Ambrose (decent-ish start to Test career and no more)
Sidebottom (established and firmly so)
Anderson (looking more established by the game but still far from convincing)
MSP (bit better than Giles but still not someone who's going to offer much under the majority of circumstances)
Broad (very tenuous)

The biggest "if" of course, is Flintoff. Until he returns, we're always hanging in air. And with Simon Jones all of a sudden looking like a Test return is not OOTQ after all, there's another ingredient to add to the pot. Hoggard still far from out of the picture either, though I'm very much reminded of Caddick in 2003 with him right now, when at first it only seemed a matter of time until he returned, but it still hasn't happened 6 years later.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

To hell with Flintoff's batting. Bat him at eleven if you have to, he's your best bowler of the last decade. Let that side of his game deteriorate if it's going to hamper his fitness or mentality at the bowling crease.

 

[Richard]

The only thing that's going to hamper his bowling is his left-ankle. Batting won't make any impact on that. While Flintoff would currently have a fairly irrefutable case for Test selection if his batting was comparable to Chris Martin's, saying "to hell with his batting" doesn't really make much sense. Why would you sacrifice a potentially useful asset? I'd much prefer have Flintoff continue to work with his batting (as long as he also tried to sort the action problems that have caused his ankle issues) than simply go in and have a swing every innings. Flintoff is never going to be a Test-class batsman for mine, but he certainly can be an excellent number-eight (yes, I think Ambrose is better than him), a very excellent one in fact.

Batting and trying to bat like a batsman isn't going to make his ankle any worse.

 

[Manee]

England have a thin chance of winning due to Australia's reliance on Clark and Lee with the ball. If one of them or both becomes injured, then Australia's bench strength will really be tested.