The unhealthy obsession with the Ashes

[Burgey]

What was susu-precumbrain-fidel banned for this time?

 

[Redbacks]

We're all dreaming of a repeat to 2005, except at a slightly lower standard and a different winner this time

 

[Jono]

Good example of people playing the poster, and not the topic here.

He made a good point, and Sambit Bal's article is right on the spot. Unbelievable hypocrisy by England. Strauss' comments are a joke.

The Ashes obsession, along with mediocre cricket players of course, isn't helping England one bit. Their results over the last 4 years proves that.

 

[four_or_six]

Good example of people playing the poster, and not the topic here.

He made a good point, and Sambit Bal's article is right on the spot. Unbelievable hypocrisy by England. Strauss' comments are a joke.

The Ashes obsession, along with mediocre cricket players of course, isn't helping England one bit. Their results over the last 4 years proves that.

It's true, of course. But it seems like poor jounalism by Sambit Bal, I actually had to double check the date because I thought I'd read that article before ages ago. And had a conversation about it on CW.

 

[Steulen]

It's true, of course. But it seems like poor jounalism by Sambit Bal, I actually had to double check the date because I thought I'd read that article before ages ago. And had a conversation about it on CW.

Yep, I clearly recall ranting about England's Ashes obsession a loooong time ago on here, and I think a Sambit Bal piece was the starting point then as well.

On our friend Fidel, was he really a Precam duplicate? This was his nice and sensible other self then?

 

[Uppercut]

Sambit Bal's article is right on the spot. Unbelievable hypocrisy by England. Strauss' comments are a joke.

The Ashes obsession, along with mediocre cricket players of course, isn't helping England one bit. Their results over the last 4 years proves that.

That's true, yeah. There already is a thread about it where i had a good rant about how they're being ****ing *****.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Good example of people playing the poster, and not the topic here.

He made a good point, and Sambit Bal's article is right on the spot. Unbelievable hypocrisy by England. Strauss' comments are a joke.

The Ashes obsession, along with mediocre cricket players of course, isn't helping England one bit. Their results over the last 4 years proves that.

The latter is a far bigger factor than the former, IMHO.

Before 2005 we'd won something like 5 series on the bounce and we were no less Ashes-obsessed than now. The major difference is we somehow managed to put a decent XI (well X, really, Bell was preferred to Thorpey, after all ) on the park, which injuries, retirements, loss of form and mental breakdowns have subsequently decimated. & it was obvious even from the fifth test when we replaced a quick with a batsman that our back-up options weren't that flash.

 

[SJS]

They may be obsessed with it but why is it "unhealthy" ?

 

[Evermind]

Viva La Revolución!

Baby.

 

[Steulen]

They may be obsessed with it but why is it "unhealthy" ?

Because it makes them lose Series they should win?

That's a bit harsh perhaps, so let me elaborate. Every single time England play a Test match, regardless of the opposition, both the team itself, commentators, newspapers and fans (notable here on CW as well) put that Test into an Ashes perspective. "If we don't resolve our #3 conundrum, how can we win the Ashes?", and similar things like that, said during the first of a four-match series against West Indies, for instance.

To me, this implies that England are not trying to beat the current opposition but are always building towards the Ashes. "We don't know who to play at #3 but we'll try a few things out for now because we're not playing Australia".

 

[Jono]

^ Bingo

 

[BoyBrumby]

They may be obsessed with it but why is it "unhealthy" ?

Not that I necessarily agree, but I imagine the perception is that England's focus being so trained onto recapturing the little urn it has become to the detriment of their performance in other test series.

Of course the reverse could equally be true; the focus on the impending Ashes series could be a filip for performances in preceding series, with players determined to grab a squad/team spot through their performances in these other tests & series.

 

[SJS]

Because it makes them lose Series they should win?

That's a bit harsh perhaps, so let me elaborate. Every single time England play a Test match, regardless of the opposition, both the team itself, commentators, newspapers and fans (notable here on CW as well) put that Test into an Ashes perspective. "If we don't resolve our #3 conundrum, how can we win the Ashes?", and similar things like that, said during the first of a four-match series against West Indies, for instance.

To me, this implies that England are not trying to beat the current opposition but are always building towards the Ashes. "We don't know who to play at #3 but we'll try a few things out for now because we're not playing Australia".

Its sily to even think that they are not trying. Their team is in bad shape. They have changed skieppers three times in a year. They know they are in trouble - and that has nothing to do with beating Australia for that is still a distant dream.

England are in trouble for they do not beat any team (I do not consider Bangladesh a test side) or looking like thay can beat any side with any degree of certainty. This cant feel right. The players have their careers, their reputations and their self respects at stake. It is silly (sorry for repeating the word but I am doing so to hold myself from using a stronger one) to assume that they do not try.

Why cant we just accept that English cricket is in bad shape. They need lot of things happening to get it right. They need a stronger captain (who will be given a longer run), they need to be strong enough to tell themselves that players like Harmison are completely worthless and every year that goes with Harmison still playing for England (even if it is not every game) is a year lost in building a new attack, and above all they need a better pool to chose from.

When Bopara got that hundred I was in England and discussing the game with my brother's English neighbour. My comment to him on Bopara was that it is unfortunate for England that he got that hundred (not a convincing one in my book) because now they are going to play him for years to come.

England are just not good enough and are led by weak leaders.

 

[SJS]

Not that I necessarily agree, but I imagine the perception is that England's focus being so trained onto recapturing the little urn it has become to the detriment of their performance in other test series.

Of course the reverse could equally be true; the focus on the impending Ashes series could be a filip for performances in preceding series, with players determined to grab a squad/team spot through their performances in these other tests & series.

You know Dale, the criticism that should be leveled at England (or anyone who talks of Ashes being "the contest" ) is that stop finding ridiculous excuses for your miserable performances.

To believe this talk about the Ashes is to do exactly what is intended, overlook their inherent weaknesses.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Test teams look ahead all the time. It's the press who relate everything back to the Ashes, and I don't really think it makes that much of a difference. Playing devil's advocate, it could help put a time frame on when issues need to be sorted out by, a target for when they need a settled team.

Outside of that, pretty much agree with SJS.

 

[BoyBrumby]

You know Dale, the criticism that should be leveled at England (or anyone who talks of Ashes being "the contest" ) is that stop finding ridiculous excuses for your miserable performances.

To believe this talk about the Ashes is to do exactly what is intended, overlook their inherent weaknesses.

I'd agree pretty much completely. I don't really believe that our focus being on the Ashes is what has lead us to defeat, followed by defeat followed by impending defeat, it's that our previous success was built on foundations of sand, as I alluded to before.

I think the simple truth is our current ranking (sixth in tests, if memory serves) is a pretty accurate gauge of where we are.

Aside from the admirable Pietersen, I can't imagine too many other test nations ranked above us casting envious eyes towards our XI for the 5th test just finished.

 

[Jono]

Its sily to even think that they are not trying. Their team is in bad shape. They have changed skieppers three times in a year. They know they are in trouble - and that has nothing to do with beating Australia for that is still a distant dream.

England are in trouble for they do not beat any team (I do not consider Bangladesh a test side) or looking like thay can beat any side with any degree of certainty. This cant feel right. The players have their careers, their reputations and their self respects at stake. It is silly (sorry for repeating the word but I am doing so to hold myself from using a stronger one) to assume that they do not try.

Why cant we just accept that English cricket is in bad shape. They need lot of things happening to get it right. They need a stronger captain (who will be given a longer run), they need to be strong enough to tell themselves that players like Harmison are completely worthless and every year that goes with Harmison still playing for England (even if it is not every game) is a year lost in building a new attack, and above all they need a better pool to chose from.

When Bopara got that hundred I was in England and discussing the game with my brother's English neighbour. My comment to him on Bopara was that it is unfortunate for England that he got that hundred (not a convincing one in my book) because now they are going to play him for years to come.

England are just not good enough and are led by weak leaders.

England can be ordinary, whilst at the same time doing no favours by always going on about The Ashes.

They're not mutually exclusive.

 

[cowboysfan]

hasnt it been true like forever?.if england want to concentrate on winning one Ashes series in a decade at th neglect of other cricket endeavours then who are we to complain?.best of luck is all i can say.

 

[GIMH]

Test teams look ahead all the time. It's the press who relate everything back to the Ashes, and I don't really think it makes that much of a difference. Playing devil's advocate, it could help put a time frame on when issues need to be sorted out by, a target for when they need a settled team.

Outside of that, pretty much agree with SJS.

This is pretty much what I think. And I don't think that the Ashes being our focus has ever really cost us any series, aside maybe from being too complacent after winning the Ashes in Pakistan, which was really more a case of ego, and of course some excellent cricket from Pakistan

 

[Xuhaib]

This is pretty much what I think. And I don't think that the Ashes being our focus has ever really cost us any series, aside maybe from being too complacent after winning the Ashes in Pakistan, which was really more a case of ego, and of course some excellent cricket from Pakistan

Agreed that was the best cricket I have seen Pakistan play in this decade. I don't think England got complacent its just that they were caught out by an in form Pakistan side.