*Official* Ashes Series Thread

[anzac]

a couple of days to catch up on....

Day 1
congrads to Vaughan for his knock - held the innings together and gave England a chance to post a decent score....I think the loss of his wicket at the end of play hurt them in the mental game with his stature as the Australian nemisis of day 1 gone....

Day 2
Oh dear.....more of the same of what we saw in the 1st Test from both the batting & bowling departments......another batting collapse followed by the English bowlers continuing to bowl too short and wide to the Aussie top order!!!!

Mind you I did derive some sence of 'I told you so' when I saw Hayden get out to a lazy shot to an around the wicket delivery!!!! (even if it was only after another ton up opening partnership)

Langer - again with a useful knock but not going on with the job....

Still Ponting is closing in on his ton and Martyn is got himself set in yet another Aussie ton plus partnership....

The England batting (top & middle order) has now scored 300 plus in both of their 1st innings so far - showing that they can score runs against the Aussie attack - however their bowlers have yet to come to the party and give them any kind of support in the field. Unless they do so they will face another big 2nd innings deficit for Warne to attack them with, and they will be staring down the barrel at a series white wash!!!!

Bichel will need to take wickets in the English 2nd innings to hold his place ahead of Lee for the 3rd Test.....

 

[Top_Cat]

anzac: Langer didn't go on with the job because he was given out when he wasn't out. He can't be blamed for that. Now, Hayden playing that silly shot is an example of 'not going on with the job'.

The best of the English bowling was undoubtably Rikki Dawson (I should know; I was there. ). He bowled VERY well. Ponting in particular was in some trouble against him on occasions. White bowled very well on a couple of occasions but let himself down with the occasional ooose ball. The other guys were just terrible. At best they were straight up and down, at worst they were horrible.

 

[Umpire Money]

as an umpire i have to make calls straight away.if the fielder says he has taken it i reakon 9/10 its out.
Langer caught it third umpire cant be brought into everything now its stupid

Mark waugh shouldnt have been dropped until they found someone who can field in slip but ponting can thats why i was wondering why martyn was at slip for warne.
Australia can and will still win when they lose the toss on such a batting wicket haha

 

[Gotchya]

Ponting is in devastating form, its amazing how he sticks it in the oppositions face. As evidenced by his century against Pakistan. Good aggressive batting.

 

[marc71178]

2 more injuries - this is beyond a joke now!

 

[Gotchya]

Originally posted by marc71178
2 more injuries - this is beyond a joke now!

they are ?

 

[marc71178]

Vaughan and Caddick.

 

[Anil]

England seems to have planned on averaging one good day per test and everything is going according to plan. That will leave the final scoreline at 5-0 or thereabouts.

 

[Rich2001]

Originally posted by Top_Cat
anzac: Langer didn't go on with the job because he was given out when he wasn't out. He can't be blamed for that. Now, Hayden playing that silly shot is an example of 'not going on with the job'.

Well from what I heard last night on the radio, the commentators couldn't work out how he was given out, because they all said they heard a noise as the ball went past...which means he edged it or the only other possiblity was that the ball clipped the pad on the way through...BUT they still said if that was the case it would have gone onto hit the stumps (backed up by hawkeye), So either way it seems a fair decsion.

*However I will comment later when I get to watch the highlights on TV.*

[Edited on 22/11/02 by Rich2001]

[Edited on 22/11/02 by Rich2001]

 

[Rich2001]

Originally posted by Umpire Money
as an umpire i have to make calls straight away.if the fielder says he has taken it i reakon 9/10 its out.
Langer caught it third umpire cant be brought into everything now its stupid

Doesn't it say someting that if a TV reply with many angles and zoom control still can't 100% say if it carried...So how can a guy with about a slipt second make a call.

In cricket i feel things even themself out throughout the course of a game/series. Yeah we got the luck on that one but I'm sure the Aussie's will get a debtable call go their way soon enough. You also have to remember that you did also drop the guy twice (56 & 151), so you can't blame the umpires for him going onto 177 and taking the game away from you. Also for all that moaned that he refused to walk, i didn't see Langer walk when he had a simalar call against the WI/Lara at Sydney two years ago......

[Edited on 22/11/02 by Rich2001]

 

[Rich2001]

Originally posted by Rich2001

Originally posted by Top_Cat
anzac: Langer didn't go on with the job because he was given out when he wasn't out. He can't be blamed for that. Now, Hayden playing that silly shot is an example of 'not going on with the job'.

Well from what I heard last night on the radio, the commentators couldn't work out how he was given out, because they all said they heard a noise as the ball went past...which means he edged it or the only other possiblity was that the ball clipped the pad on the way through...BUT they still said if that was the case it would have gone onto hit the stumps (backed up by hawkeye), So either way it seems a fair decsion.

*However I will comment later when I get to watch the highlights on TV.*

[Edited on 22/11/02 by Rich2001]

[Edited on 22/11/02 by Rich2001]

Ok now seen it and he was nowhere near hitting the ball, but I think the LBW shout was a good one...would have hit off stump and wasn't that high... the only possible debate comes with did it pitch out side the line, but it was so slow to the line that it's impossible to say for sure, even hawk-eye had half the ball in the zone and half out.

 

[Umpire Money]

im trying to say everyone should start walking when they know they are out aussies and everyone everyone complains about the umpiring but when you put them under such pressure they are prone to mistakes

 

[Rik]

Originally posted by Umpire Money
im trying to say everyone should start walking when they know they are out aussies and everyone everyone complains about the umpiring but when you put them under such pressure they are prone to mistakes

The problem is quite often you don't know if you are out...I've been given out plum LBW before and not known it! The problem is when you get given out LBW when you've moved half a food outside Off-Stump to get to the damn ball...hehe anyway Vaughan didn't know if it was a fair catch, when your batting you can often only catch the end of the catch and not know if it's fair or not. A batsman's job is to hit the ball not follow what happens afterwards, it's the job of the umpire to give the Player out, not the batsman.

 

[anzac]

Day 3

well the writing is well & truely on the wall for England - not just for this match but also for the rest of the series!!!

Once again their bowling allowed the Aussies to mount a 1st innings lead and take the leash of their (Aussie) bowling attack!!! With the English injury list as it stands I can not see them being able to turn this series around and a 5-0 scoreline is looking more probable....

Ponting and Martyn showed that they, along with Hayden, are the current backbone of the Aussie batting lineup - very formidable scoring over the past few series - if 1 of them 'fails' the other 2 usually contribute.

IMO the key to the Aussie success is their 1st innings run rate, combined with not loosing too many cheap wickets at the top of the order. A big total then allows the bowlers to attack the opposition without having to worry too much about conceeding too many runs too early. Because the opposition tend not to score as quickly, the Aussies have plenty of time to force them further onto the defensive and to make any adjustments as required. But the key is the scoring rate!!!!

Only occaisionaly do they fail to make the most of this advantage - their lack of quality 'utility' bowling options can be made to pay in the 2nd day of any innings - Australia seem to win their tests in 3 - 4 days, and are most vulnerable when in the field on the 5th day when still faced by the middle & lower order.

Still it's easier said than done as evidenced by their success rate!!!!!

 

[Gotchya]

IMO the key to the Aussie success is their 1st innings run rate, combined with not loosing too many cheap wickets at the top of the order. A big total then allows the bowlers to attack the opposition without having to worry too much about conceeding too many runs too early. Because the opposition tend not to score as quickly, the Aussies have plenty of time to force them further onto the defensive and to make any adjustments as required. But the key is the scoring rate!!!!

The opposition bowlers should get equal recognition for this.

 

[anzac]

 

[wahindiawah]

Originally posted by marc71178
2 more injuries - this is beyond a joke now!

Is there any cricketer in England that play a cricket series without getting injured???

 

[Rik]

Originally posted by wahindiawah

Originally posted by marc71178
2 more injuries - this is beyond a joke now!

Is there any cricketer in England that play a cricket series without getting injured???

That's a silly question. Of course there are! Sorry but this is just silly now.

 

[wahindiawah]

Yes i guess half a dozen can last a series, maybe ICC should allow England player to use corticosteroids, this way atleast we will see early recovery of injured player, though as soon as a player will recover, another will get injured!

 

[Rik]

The best cure is rest, never forget that.