Prediction- who will do what in the Ashes?

[Furball]

Monk will look rather stupid as the series progresses.

 

[adub]

I'll go out on a limb and predict this will be Hughe's coming of age. Top run scorer for the series with a couple of big tons and 3 or 4 50s. Steve Waugh circa 89 like series.

 

[morgieb]

Monk will look rather stupid as the series progresses.

Remember when Australia were favourites in 2005 and 2009?

 

[Adders]

Monk will look rather stupid as the series progresses.

Not wishing to be rude but I'd say that's already started. Predicting every Aussie player to shine and most making match wining performances and then predicting an England series win........doesn't make much sense.

 

[South]

One of Bird or Starc will fail
Ed Cowan will play a bit better, but still mediocre cricket. 37 Average for the series.
Neither Clarke or Cook will be the best batsmen of the series, with averages of around 45.
Harris will play 3 Tests
Faulkner wont play
Swann and Lyon will have a mix bag of results but neither achieving anything notable
Compton will get demolished and sent packing.. Bairstow comes in and doesn't fix anything
Bell plays a solid series due to his experience
Pietersen will start off slow but have a solid finish
Warner wont perform
Trott and Hughes both perform
Finn gets 20+ wickets

 

[Furball]

Remember when Australia were favourites in 2005 and 2009?

No, I remember Australia losing though.

 

[uvelocity]

remember when the poms hadn't beaten us at lords for 400 years? good times.

 

[Adders]

.
Neither Clarke or Cook will be the best batsmen of the series, with averages of around 45.

This is going to be one of the intriguing battles of the series IMO.

Seen a few posters saying that nether will really perform and I personally think that is highly unlikely. Both by far the best batsmen in their sides and I reckon the odds on both having crap series would be slim.....question is, which of them will really stamp their mark.

Gotta be said, a lot more riding on Clarke performing for the Aussies.....if he does go off the boil and have a s#$t series you lot are screwed big time.

 

[Jono]

If people are saying neither will perform (are they?) they're saying it just to be different. The odds on both not performing over 5 tests is incredibly low.

 

[uvelocity]

i'm thinking people are regarding non performance by those two as just solid rather than herculean

 

[Burgey]

This is going to be one of the intriguing battles of the series IMO.

Seen a few posters saying that nether will really perform and I personally think that is highly unlikely. Both by far the best batsmen in their sides and I reckon the odds on both having crap series would be slim.....question is, which of them will really stamp their mark.

Gotta be said, a lot more riding on Clarke performing for the Aussies.....if he does go off the boil and have a s#$t series you lot are screwed big time.

Yeah, England sans Pietersen have by far the more consistent top six. Trott has been so good the past 12 months, and blokes like Root and Taylor have really established themselves alongside the great Ian Bell who has long been regarded as an exceptional performer against good bowling in pressure situations.

 

[uvelocity]

let me tell you adders would have spud bell's babies if possible

 

[Adders]

Trott has been so good the past 12 months, and blokes like Root and Taylor have really established themselves alongside the great Ian Bell who has long been regarded as an exceptional performer against good bowling in pressure situations.

Do I detect a note of sarcasm here??

The facts speak for themselves mate.Asides from Clarke Australia don't have a single other batsmen ranked in the top 30.....England have 4.

In one of the tests in NZ Cook went out for 17 and we still posted a score of 465, when was the last time the Aussies posted a decent total without a big effort from Clarke??

I'd say be careful belittling players of Trott and Bells class fella, may not have had the best of 12 months either of them, but they are both better than any batsmen save for Clarke that the Aussies have.

 

[Burgey]

Do I detect a note of sarcasm here??

The facts speak for themselves mate.Asides from Clarke Australia don't have a single other batsmen ranked in the top 30.....England have 4.

In one of the tests in NZ Cook went out for 17 and we still posted a score of 465, when was the last time the Aussies posted a decent total without a big effort from Clarke??

I'd say be careful belittling players of Trott and Bells class fella, may not have had the best of 12 months either of them, but they are both better than any batsmen save for Clarke that the Aussies have.

Bell has no class. I'd say he's the most over rated player in world cricket, but really, no one who knows anything about cricket rates him at all.

 

[Burgey]

That moniker probably belongs to Swann, who can bowl decently when conditions suit, but really is a whole pile of nothing on anything but a dust bowl.

 

[Burgey]

I mean, really. Ian Bell is the Dean Jones of this era, without the range of stroke or the ability. Scores his runs mostly in dead rubbers on flat decks against dis-spirited attacks. He's not worth a squirt of piss.

 

[Burgey]

The measure of when your team is having a really **** bowling day is when Ian Bell scores runs against them. He takes mediocrity to a new level, and blokes just blow a load over him because he looks elegant playing a cover drive. He's the soft as play dough ffs.

 

[Jono]

Yeah but what do you think of Ian Bell though?

 

[Burgey]

Well I really don't think he's as good as these Pommies think he is, just because they think he's an "elegant" player. I can strike a perfectly elegant pose as the ball passes between bat and pad and cartwheels my off stump too.

He's a putz.

 

[Burgey]

Look, I'm sure he's a perfectly nice bloke and all (for a Pom, which doesn't say a great deal) but he's such a meh player.