Biggest disapointment of the 2009 Ashes?

[Pizzorno]

Whether it be a player or a passage of play or whatever, what is your biggest disapointment of the series just gone?

Personally for me it's Peter Siddle. A lot of the crims were talking him up as the next big thing yet apart from the first innings at Headingley he did next to nothing. Same goes for Mitchell Johnson too.

From an England perspective Bopara was a shambles. I thought he would have made at least one score in the series but he was just woefully out of his depteh throughout.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Pietersen.

 

[Daryl Harper]

The umpiring. But then again nothing else ever had a chance.

The fact that technology will finally only come in full time a couple of months AFTER this series, is the typical type of joke that is the ICC who manage to yet again get it wrong.

 

[zaremba]

Bopara, Freddie (post Lord's), KP, Anderson (mostly), the umpiring.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Bopara's performances were poor, but I'd have him down as only mildly disappointing because my hopes weren't too high anyway.

Biggest disappointment was probably Hughes for my money, who went from early-season century machine to dropped in three test innings.

England have a lot of players who were disappointing apart from one or two performances: Anderson (Lords), Cook (Lords), Flintoff (Lords), Collingwood (Cardiff & Lords) & Swann (Lords & The Oval).

 

[Jamee999]

Kpp

 

[Pigeon]

Flintoff. Surely after Lord's nobody expected him to go out on such a whimper.

 

[TT Boy]

Flintoff and Johnson. Johnson with the bat was a non-event.

Didn't expect anything from Bopara and the form of Cook and Colly wasn't surprising.

 

[oitoitoi]

Above everything else the umpiring, it was truly abysmal, I'm not a fan of the referral system but it's got to be better than this, at times decisions just seemed a total lottery.

Johnson was a epicly giant disappointment, saw glimpses of what he can do at Headingley but otherwise was all over the shop and did more harm than good.

Hughes almost forgotten among the wreckage, was talked up as the next big thing with the runs to prove it but was sorted out pretty quickly.

Siddle, was so accurate in SA but was inconsistent over here.

Swann, he did well when he got a turning surface, but was otherwise pretty innocuous, I was expecting a much more solid performance from him.

Anderson, had the chance to prove that he'd really stepped up to the next level but didn't take it apart from one innnings at Lords, remains inconsistent.

Bopara, thought he would do ok this series, maybe average 40, it wasn't that he failed that was so dissappointing it was the manner in which he did so.

The crowds booing, awful to see, gives the occasion such a sour taste.

The oval pitch was bit dissappointing, was hoping for a real slugfest that went to the last day, a result on that kind of surface somehow feels a little contrived.

Cardiff getting a test, was soulless and dull as expected, a poor way to start the series, was rescued by some exciting cricket.

 

[aussie]

Johnson's performance & an Ashes test not coming to Manchester.

 

[slippy]

Brett Lee not playing in the test series.

 

[Ikki]

In general, the fact that we seemed to palm off responsibility in the most dire of situations. The two innings where we lost wickets while I winked, it seemed to me as if the players didn't really value their wickets. They didn't have that old-school attitude towards staying in. It almost seemed as if they were under the impression that the next guy would do his job and it'd be ok.

 

[Scaly piscine]

The ECB selling out by staging the first Test at a joke ground

 

[huxleypig]

Brett Lee not playing any part was a disappointment for me. I was looking forward to seeing him and he was looking great till he got that side strain just before Cardiff. I reckon he could've still done something in the last 2 tests though.

Freddie not doing much in the last test. Would've been a nice end to his career to have got amongst the wickets. Run out was class though!

Gotta say KP. Biggest let down of all.

 

[Jakester1288]

Losing.

 

[Langeveldt]

My DSTV decoder breaking down so I haven't been able to watch any of the final test

 

[slippyslip]

Australia's idiotic selection. Just expecting the Oval's curators to produce a pitch that would end in a draw was ignorant. Why no one in the Australian camp couldnt read that the pitch was modified to ensure a result is bizarre. North's 4 wickets in the 2nd innings just shows you what a massive blunder it was to not select Hauritz.

Whats the old saying? Its harder to get dropped from the Australian side than to get in. Stuart Clark finished with 4 wickets @ 44 from 2 tests. I find it hard that neither Lee or Haurtiz could have done better than that.

When it comes to cricket every country has its hang-ups and bizarre philosophies. The way people in Australia hang on to old ideas is puzzling. Maybe because cricket is still largely an anglo-saxon sport here and we've inherited England's stubbornness when it comes to cricket. Then again people of limited intelligence will always hold onto their prejudices and beliefs without reason or re-evaluating them.

The selectors got it right by dropping Hughes for Watson, even though Watson is not the long term solution. Why couldnt get it right for Clark I dont know. He was smashed in England's 2nd innings in Leeds and then was smashed again in the tour match between the 4th and 5th tests.

I think people are being unduly unfair on Johson. He finished the series with much better figures than Flinoff, Swann and Anderson and only 2 runs per wicket higher than Broad but 2 more wickets.

I thought it was a bold decision by England to drop Onions for the 5th test. Obviously the English read the pitch better and realised that Onions/Clark's style of bowling would have little impact at the Oval.

Most disappointing thing besides Australia's selection policy was North only being able to score runs when Australia was on top. His 2nd innings score of 96 at Edgbaston was when the game was already headed for a draw.

 

[Redbacks]

a match played in Wales

KP missing most of the series

Johnson's erratic performances

 

[Pothas]

Think the biggest disappointment for me that all the matches were so one sided and that we only got one classic finnish. Though that the run chases at both Lords and today could have been classics if things had gone a little differently. Third test could also have been a really good one if it had not been for the rain.

 

[Johnners]

Johnners not playing anything close to his best (with either bat or ball) and Watto not tonning up.