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Ian Healy's Ashes predictions
- Thread starter The Daddy
- Start date
luckyeddie
Cricket Web Staff Member
No, Ian Healy is just the latest in a long line of prats. He genuinely believes that by saying that it will be 5-0, he is 'doing his bit' for the convicts.The Daddy said:I can't believe what I've just seen in a Sunday newspaper....Ian Healy is predicting that Australia will win The Ashes 5 - 0, he's either been misquoted or he's forgotten what the weather is like over here!
luckyeddie
Cricket Web Staff Member
Careful...The Daddy said:
You'll have one or two people on here thinking that you're predicting that England aren't going to just roll over and die like they're supposed to.
From what I've seen over the last year, England's greatest weapon could turn out to be Ricky Ponting's captaincy.
Exactly my point, for everybody out there...I am predicting England will not roll over and die this summer.
luckyeddie
Cricket Web Staff Member
If Australia are going to win 5-0, I really think that they would need the rub of the green - and that would include winning the toss in every game.Blaze said:
Note I'm not saying that Australia need to win the toss in order to win, but given the Aussies' record for just putting their feet up and going to the pub when a series is in the bag (witness any number of series in the last 10 years when the 'dead rubber' comes along), what makes anyone think that their attitude this series will be any different from what we've seen in the past?
FaaipDeOiad
Hall of Fame Member
Who's past it exactly? Gillespie's not in great form but he's still on the right side of 30, McGrath is in the form of his life, Kasprowicz and Lee are both peaking. If anyone is past it, it would be Warne, and he's not exactly useless either.The Daddy said:Punter's captaincy will be one of their downfalls, the other (apart from Warne) will be their rather past it bowling attack.
I agree Ponting's captaincy isn't the greatest, but it's not the worst either, and Gilchrist is a very handy tactician and he's out there as well.
luckyeddie
Cricket Web Staff Member
It was just a throw-away wind-up line. The Ashes are ages away at the moment but it's nice to have a bit of a discussion. I'm going for 3-1 to Australia - I've been saying that ever since the start of last year and I'm not going to change my mind now.cameeel said:
(mind you, a tenner at the bookies on 2-1 to England might give me a bit of fun - at least until the end of the Edgbaston test).
FaaipDeOiad said:
Just trying to provoke discussion....
I do actually agree with most of what you say about your bowling attack, it's just that Dizzy and Pidgeon do not hold any surprises for our batters on English wickets and Bing is too wayward for my liking. Kasper and Warney are a different story though.
luckyeddie
Cricket Web Staff Member
I agree as far as McGrath's form, but Brett Lee couldn't 'peak' if you blindfolded him badly.FaaipDeOiad said:
I'm kidding a bit about Ponting's captaincy - his ODI record pretty well speaks for itself but I reckon I could captain the 2003 vintage Aussie ODI side (biggest problem would be where to hide myself in the field, of course) and in tests he's really not had much of an examination.
Warne is the deciding factor, IMO. If he's off form and England don't have to bat last too often, then it could be extremely close.
benchmark00
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So do you think that Australia only whitewash teams because they simply 'lay down'....??
FaaipDeOiad
Hall of Fame Member
I don't think McGrath really needs to have any "surprises", and he has actually added a couple of new strings to his bow lately, notably his increased use of swing, both conventional and reverse (although the latter is not likely to be a huge factor in English conditions). He's still averaged under 20 comfortably since his return, without surprising anybody. I'm a convert to Lee in the last few months and if picked I expect him to be successful. Even if he's not, Kasprowicz I can see causing a lot of problems for the English left-handers, and Gillespie at his best is as good as anyone. Warne's record in Ashes series of course speaks for itself.The Daddy said:
Rather than the bowling, I'd think the potentially brittle nature of the Australian batting on bowler-friendly wickets is probably the main weakness. Since the Indian series at home Australia has had a problem with collapsing only to recover through the lower order, with Hayden and Ponting not having great years. It even happened in New Zealand, and they don't exactly have the strongest bowling attack in the world. The key to beating Australia is keeping pressure on them for 5 days rather than 2 or 3, and so far nobody has really been able to do that, but if England play out of their skin I can see them winning at least a test or two. My prediction is 3-1 Australia.
luckyeddie
Cricket Web Staff Member
Not at all - all I'm saying is that I have heard the same tired ridiculous 5-0 predictions churned out over and over again by people who really ought to have more sense.benchmark00 said:
Remember how you were supposed to roll Bangladesh over in a day?
Australia whitewash sides because at the moment they are head and shoulders above anybode else - but they have this propensity for quitting - having one foot on the plane, so to speak, at the end of tours.
The list of Aussies making stupid predictions in the past is endless - and invariably they end up with egg over their faces (not that the final result - an Aussie series win - is ever really in doubt).
It's the quite pathetic arrogance from certain pundits which winds me up. Just because a bonehead makes a ridiculous prediction doesn't make it true, no matter how much he believes it. Just shows that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Yep, 3 - 1 would be my prediction too, Australia are notorious for losing a dead rubber game. I think you're right, nobody appears to be able to exert 5 days of pressure on the Aussies, but the current England team is the number 2 team in the world at the moment (IMO) and will definitely be the Aussies toughest series for a while.
SquidAU
First Class Debutant
Much like Ian Chappell (I think) predicting that India would go down 4-0 when they toured here last.luckyeddie said:
Eddie has got it right when the Aussies usually have one foot on the plane at the end of a tour, hence the Aussies lose the last Test of a series or the last couple of one dayers. It was more apparent under the captaincy of Steve Waugh and it really irritated me to see the Aussies dominate a Test or ODI series only to lose the last one through sheer laziness.
luckyeddie
Cricket Web Staff Member
In (sort-of) defence of Healy and on reflection, he's been around long enough to have seen a couple of 'false dawns' in English test cricket - and it could just be his own way of sticking two fingers up at our own ridiculous press who went over the top in a similar hyperbolic fashion after the first win in South Africa (that was going to be a whitewash too).