Worst of the whitewashes?

[GIMH]

There's a generation gap where the selectors tended to drop underperforming players a lot rather than stick with them and hope they improve. What should we make of Carberry, Compton, Robson and Lyth's England careers, and Root's brief time spent opening? I don't know that there were any big "mistakes" in there, generally there was some logic behind each of those decisions (Root opening perhaps excepted). But it's also true that players tend to get better the more test cricket they play, and that's five years of experience that England have completely wasted. There was maybe a time to say "these openers are all pretty ****e, let's just pick a young one with a good attitude, play him for a few years and see if he can learn to not be ****e". Which is sort of where Bell, Cook and Broad came from, all of those guys went through hate-figure spells before coming good.

This is a good overall post but Cook was comfortably established in the team by the time he had a real slump.

 

[Gob]

No contest here if i was an English fan (thank **** i'm not)

2006 Aust side was balls. Langer,Hayden,Ponting,Martyn,Hussey,Clarke,Gilchrist,Warne,Lee,Clark,McGrath yeah you aren't beating that. Ponting was batting with the cheat code on

Even though i didnt see them play, 13/14 side must be quite similar to the Aust teams in the mid 70s i think. Both had astute captains (I Chappell/Clarke), One great batsman each (G Chappell/Clarke),some exciting batsmen (Walters,Hughes/Smith,Warner),one great fast bowler (Lillee/Harris), one mad quick (Thompson/Johnson), work horse (Walker,Siddle) and some complete spuds like Bailey.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Yeah 06/07 was nowhere near as bad for England. Australia lost the 2005 Ashes because England played inspired cricket and it came at a time when Gillespie and Kasprowicz were suddenly not good enough any more and McGrath got injured. It was still a very good Australian team, and strengthened by the next summer because of the additions of Hussey and Stuart Clark, Ponting was in incredible form etc. By comparison the 13/14 team was far worse and England should have been competitive. Plus the English performance in 13/14 was just way worse, not a single established batsman averaged over 30 or scored a century, they used like 20 players, looked genuinely afraid of Johnson at times etc. Was an incredibly poor performance.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Both equal for different reasons. 06/07 came and went barely 18 months after the euphoria of 05 so we didn't have long enough to bask in it, and it put a dampener on it. 13/14 was the most pitifully embarrassing surrender by any sports team that has ever represented England.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

13/14 miles worse.

06/07 was horrible for lots of reasons (the Jones injury, sticking with Giles etc etc, wrong captain) but it was a damn good team seeking vengeance.

But 13/14 should never have happened. Coming in I thought we'd lose 13/14 as it was more even than the scoreline suggested in England 6 months before but the complete breakdown of the side and the way it was handled was just an embarrassment.

Some of it started with the crap way they treated Compo in the summer IMO.

 

[GIMH]

Both equal for different reasons. 06/07 came and went barely 18 months after the euphoria of 05 so we didn't have long enough to bask in it, and it put a dampener on it. 13/14 was the most pitifully embarrassing surrender by any sports team that has ever represented England.

That's the worst thing about 06-07 for me and what made it harder to take.

 

[Gnske]

Whichever one Watson scored a ton in

 

[morgieb]

Whichever one Watson scored a ton in

Watson didn't even play in one of them

 

[wpdavid]

Just adding my agreement to what everyone has said about 2013/14 being far, far worse than 2006/07.
I suppose one crumb of consolation about 2006/07, apart from knowing we'd been thrashed by a team largely made up of ATGs, was that we knew half of them were about to retire, so I honestly didn't see that sort of thing happening again in the near future. So much for that of course, but it's how I felt.

I was pondering a different but related question the other day so I'll ask it here.
What's worse? Going down 5-0 or being pickpocketed at the final hurdle, as at The Oval in 2009? I appreciate the Aus fans have no experience of 0-5, so maybe 2010/11 vs 2009?

 

[Cabinet96]

Never lost a close Ashes series so I can't say but I'd imagine it's much, much better. At least getting pipped at the final hurdle you maintain an interest in the series for it's entirety, and in the case of Aus 09 they played a lot of good cricket and dominated in terms of centuries etc.

 

[GIMH]

Who cares about playing good cricket and scoring more tons if you lose?

 

[Cabinet96]

Me.

 

[wpdavid]

And from an England pov, we'd have to go back more than 50 years, so I really have no point of reference here. Maybe comparing the 0-4 in 1958/59 to Benaud's sleight of hand at Old Trafford to keep trhe Ashes a couple of years later.

 

[Adders]

Don't recall either of them so can't comment.

 

[GIMH]

Me.

So if we lost the Ashes but scored more centuries and played some nice stuff, it wouldn't hurt?

Reprioritise your life

 

[Cabinet96]

So if we lost the Ashes but scored more centuries and played some nice stuff, it wouldn't hurt?

Reprioritise your life

It would be a lot more bearable than watching us get rolled twice every game while the crime rack up 500.

 

[GIMH]

It would be a lot more bearable than watching us get rolled twice every game while the crime rack up 500.

it would still suck

 

[Uppercut]

It would be a lot more bearable than watching us get rolled twice every game while the crime rack up 500.

I assume that was supposed to be "the crims" but "the crime" is an amazing nickname for Australia, I'm going to just start using it.

 

[sledger]

I assume that was supposed to be "the crims" but "the crime" is an amazing nickname for Australia, I'm going to just start using it.

hahaha yes

 

[Cabinet96]

I assume that was supposed to be "the crims" but "the crime" is an amazing nickname for Australia, I'm going to just start using it.

Funny, I saw you post this in the match thread and thought "lol, his autocorrect screwed him".