*Official* Road to the 2010/11 Ashes

[Spark]

Don't know if there's much in it between this side and that of 2005. I do wonder whether the balance of top-class bowling and poor fielding was better than their current setup of high-quality bowling and top-class fielding.

Although when you compare their respective tours to South Africa the class of '05 just seems leagues ahead.

Yeah was talking about the 05 team. Probably one of the best ever sides to have not been the top of the tree at their time.

 

[Shri]

A 5-0 result doesn't seem likely this time around imo.

 

[Spark]

Definitely not but as I said people are being a little bit bandwagonish when it comes to England. A few people need reminding that Australian teams being dire in England is to be expected and generally doesn't say too much about their performance on home decks.

 

[Stapel]

A whitewash needs a special team. A team with the greatest spinner of all time, a top 5 all-time seamer of all time, a top 5 keeper / batsman of all time, completed with one of the the finest opening couples and some other greats might do it. In other words, it happened in 2006/7, but won't most defenitely happen this time around. The idea is quite ridiculous....

Apart from that, I really think England have the better team.

 

[Stapel]

Not the best team in the last five years, but in with the best chance we've had for a while. Our team last time may have been better on paper, but as we all know we turned up a complete shambles. I'm certain we won't be a shambles this time.

Whether this England team is the best in the last 5 years is debatable. Otoh, the Aussies most defenitely have NOT the best team of the last 5 years.

 

[four_or_six]

Yeah was talking about the 05 team. Probably one of the best ever sides to have not been the top of the tree at their time.

Yeah, this team isn't as good as the team was in 05, but unfortunately we never saw that team in Australia. By the time it got to 06/07 Ashes... well, I don't actually recall what happened. But I presume we didn't do that well or I'd remember it.

 

[GIMH]

Tour was cancelled due to unforeseen political concerns IIRC

 

[GotSpin]

Think it will be a fairly even Ashes. No matter how much you talk up the English side you're still playing in our backyard, and we've only lost to South Africa since the Windies in 1995 - Right? - I'm hoping the bookies follow the England bandwagon too

 

[vcs]

Definitely not but as I said people are being a little bit bandwagonish when it comes to England. A few people need reminding that Australian teams being dire in England is to be expected and generally doesn't say too much about their performance on home decks.

Not in my lifetime!

 

[Jayzamann]

It definitely won't be a whitewash, there's no way that the current England team will allow that. It was a special kind of perfect storm that occurred in 06/07.

 

[GotSpin]

It definitely won't be a whitewash, there's no way that the current England team will allow that. It was a special kind of perfect storm that occurred in 06/07.

I don't think Ponting really believes it - Or maybe he does...- But it sounds a lot better than saying we might limp over the line 4-0

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah was talking about the 05 team. Probably one of the best ever sides to have not been the top of the tree at their time.

Only in the sense that the entire team hit a purple patch of form at exactly the same time. There aren't any bowlers in the 05 side you would look back on as world-class performers, but for that 18-month period, four of them most definitely were. Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, Geraint Jones, Vaughan, Trescothick, Strauss- they were all performing at their absolute peak, far above the level they were at for most of their careers.

It was a group of average-to-good players on a serious hot streak, and I don't know if you can apply such a label to them. But I suppose the point is that, at that moment in time, they could have beaten pretty much any side in history.

Still couldn't catch though.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

A 5-0 result doesn't seem likely this time around imo.

Think the same,should be 4-0 to us though as Australia aren't that bad.

 

[superkingdave]

will be having a few all nighters, but still can't see us getting anything out of the series, surprised if we win a test.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Only in the sense that the entire team hit a purple patch of form at exactly the same time. There aren't any bowlers in the 05 side you would look back on as world-class performers, but for that 18-month period, four of them most definitely were. Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, Geraint Jones, Vaughan, Trescothick, Strauss- they were all performing at their absolute peak, far above the level they were at for most of their careers.

It was a group of average-to-good players on a serious hot streak, and I don't know if you can apply such a label to them. But I suppose the point is that, at that moment in time, they could have beaten pretty much any side in history.

Still couldn't catch though.

Can add Pietersen.

 

[wpdavid]

Can add Pietersen.

You could certainly add Simon Jones, as those 18 months were just about his entire test career.

 

[GIMH]

Only in the sense that the entire team hit a purple patch of form at exactly the same time. There aren't any bowlers in the 05 side you would look back on as world-class performers, but for that 18-month period, four of them most definitely were. Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, Geraint Jones, Vaughan, Trescothick, Strauss- they were all performing at their absolute peak, far above the level they were at for most of their careers.

It was a group of average-to-good players on a serious hot streak, and I don't know if you can apply such a label to them. But I suppose the point is that, at that moment in time, they could have beaten pretty much any side in history.

Still couldn't catch though.

Nah, not Strauss, Trescothick or Vaughan. Well, Strauss's hottest period was prior to the Ashes but still falls in that time period, Tresco was fairly consistent for a longer period of time, but Vaughan's peak had passed a couple of years prior

 

[vcs]

Yeah, certainly not Vaughan. And I don't think Geraint Jones was ever all that good, was just at the right place at the right time.

Flintoff's peak also ended with that '05 Ashes series, though he produced one last good performance in India in 2006.

 

[tooextracool]

The side that toured South Africa in 2004 was arguably the best England side of the past decade (With Butcher, Thorpe and Simon Jones). That was essentially their peak and whilst the Ashes were the pinnacle of their accomplishments, the Australian side that they beat performed worse than the South African side that they beat in South Africa only a few months earlier.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

The side that toured South Africa in 2004 was arguably the best England side of the past decade (With Butcher, Thorpe and Simon Jones). That was essentially their peak and whilst the Ashes were the pinnacle of their accomplishments, the Australian side that they beat performed worse than the South African side that they beat in South Africa only a few months earlier.

Still think if S.A. hadn't messed up their team selection at the start of that series the result could have been very different.The side that ended that series was far stronger than the one they picked for the 1st test.