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***Official*** Australia in England (The Ashes)

King_Ponting

International Regular
Yeh Warne could have been a better batsman at international level than he currently is. Warne has more potential and talent then gillespie, with the willow, however gillespie is a smarter batsman and values his wicket more than warne does. Therefore if warne valued his wicket, as much as gillespie valuead his, he could have had a much higher average.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
aussie said:
so warn hasn't utilised his full potential has a batsman at international level has well???
He hasn't used the full potential of his brain at ANY level, but I suppose that's an accusation that can be made about anyone.

Warne just looks as though he 'enjoys' batting a little too much to be really good at it - inclined to look forward to those little 'rushes of blood'. Could be why he's such fun to watch.
 

PY

International Coach
A very nice article Eddie, sums it up pretty well I reckon.

Just one thing, Mr Hayden gets a mention where he possibly shouldn't. :)
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
PY said:
A very nice article Eddie, sums it up pretty well I reckon.

Just one thing, Mr Hayden gets a mention where he possibly shouldn't. :)
Naturally, I wanted to determine whether anyone actually read the darned thing so I put a quite platant faux-pas into the article.

<quack> That's a new one. He usually claims that it's an 'anti-plagiarism device'

Either way, thanks. Same goes for all of you. If you see that I've been a prat in a report, then post a message or email me (click on the link by my name in the article if the phrase 'email me' is a bit too hard) and I shall rectify said nonsense.

Please.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Well, with only a week until the Ashes now, we've got a few things to look at.

Australia have the momentum from the ODIs without question, but England will know they've been competitive and won a couple of games, which should help their confidence a bit. The main worry for England will be their top order. Flintoff has consistently troubled the Australians with the ball, and Harmison and Jones have had their moments too, but it really hasn't been a convincing showing from the English batting at all, with most of the players who have had success with the bat for England unlikely to play in the Ashes at all, and they won't want to find themselves 3 and 4 down for very little many times in the test series, however well they bowl.

Australia's worries seem to be almost gone now, with Ponting, Gilchrist, Gillespie and Kasprowicz all hitting a bit of form before the end of the ODIs, and really only Hayden looking out of sorts. Australia have moved in a matter of days from the only debate in the bowling lineup being which out of Gillespie and Kasprowicz was less poor and deserved a spot, to a real four man battle for three spots. Their top order has come to life on flatter wickets and suddenly learned to play Harmison and Flintoff with relative ease, and psychological points have been scored in each facet of the game, with Australia's fielding picking up, Harmison and Giles being belted around the park, and the seamers picking up top order wickets at will.

England bring in two or three new players for the tests of course, while Australia will call on Katich and Warne, so there's still new battles yet to be played out. England have a selection dilemma of their own as well, with Pietersen, Bell and Thorpe competing for two places.

However it goes, this is surely the most anticipated Ashes series in over a decade, and the first time in several decades that the Ashes has been contested by the genuine top two teams in the world.
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
FaaipDeOiad said:
Well, with only a week until the Ashes now, we've got a few things to look at.

Australia have the momentum from the ODIs without question, but England will know they've been competitive and won a couple of games, which should help their confidence a bit. The main worry for England will be their top order. Flintoff has consistently troubled the Australians with the ball, and Harmison and Jones have had their moments too, but it really hasn't been a convincing showing from the English batting at all, with most of the players who have had success with the bat for England unlikely to play in the Ashes at all, and they won't want to find themselves 3 and 4 down for very little many times in the test series, however well they bowl.

Australia's worries seem to be almost gone now, with Ponting, Gilchrist, Gillespie and Kasprowicz all hitting a bit of form before the end of the ODIs, and really only Hayden looking out of sorts. Australia have moved in a matter of days from the only debate in the bowling lineup being which out of Gillespie and Kasprowicz was less poor and deserved a spot, to a real four man battle for three spots. Their top order has come to life on flatter wickets and suddenly learned to play Harmison and Flintoff with relative ease, and psychological points have been scored in each facet of the game, with Australia's fielding picking up, Harmison and Giles being belted around the park, and the seamers picking up top order wickets at will.

England bring in two or three new players for the tests of course, while Australia will call on Katich and Warne, so there's still new battles yet to be played out. England have a selection dilemma of their own as well, with Pietersen, Bell and Thorpe competing for two places.

However it goes, this is surely the most anticipated Ashes series in over a decade, and the first time in several decades that the Ashes has been contested by the genuine top two teams in the world.
I have my doubts over how close this might be, for all the reasons you've listed above. We were told that the 2001 series would be the most keenly contested in a decade, and we all know what happened then. Give what we're seeing from Aus now, you feel that every facet of the English game has to be right if we're going to see a contest, and I just don't reckon it will happen. A couple of weeks ago I thought our bowling would be competitive, but now I'm not so sure unless the wickets are pretty sporting. The batting, OTOH, has always looked iffy, with no real signs of progress.

If this series is going to be remotely a good as people seem to think, then we need big, big performances from our top 3 and more than one of our quicks to be firing at any given moment. I'd love to think that Hoggard can do to Hayden & Langer what he did to Graeme Smith during our winter, that Harmison can regularly find the form we saw on half a dozen occasions in 2004, Flintoff can rough up the Aus middle order just like he did Lara & Sarwan last summer, and that Jones can make his big breakthough and surprise everyone by swinging the ball all over the place at 85+mph. Will any of this happen? You have to live in hope, but I'm not putting money on it.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Regarding the England bowling, I think what we've seen in the ODIs has vindicated my claim beforehand that England should be preparing bowler-friendly pitches. In all honesty, I don't think there's a team now or ever who can match the current Australian lineup for destructive capacity on a flat pitch. The batsmen thrive and score at an incredible rate against any sort of bowling, and Austalia's bowlers, particularly McGrath and Warne, are as good as anyone ever seen at dislogding batsmen without getting a lot of assistance from the pitch.

On a seamer however, I think more than a few Australian batsmen can struggle. Yes, McGrath will be a menace, and the England batsmen may struggle, but I think the gap in class may turn out to be much less significant. If England are producing flat belters which break up and turn as the match goes on like what was seen in the last couple of matches, I honestly think Australia might maul them. I can see 500+ totals, McGrath, Kasprowicz and so on working England out gradually to build a lead, and Warne swooping for the kill later on. On a seamer, people like Flintoff, Hoggard and Jones will be quite lethal, and at the very least it will require the Australian batsmen to be right on top of their game all the way down the order to consistently score decent totals.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
so its simple, If England prepare flat pitches they will get mauled, but if they produce seamer friendly pitches they have a chance.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
How well did Gillespie bowl today? I only saw his 9th & 10th overs, but they looked the same old dross frankly, aside from him dicking KP with a full toss. I'll have to have a look at the highlights.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
BoyBrumby said:
How well did Gillespie bowl today? I only saw his 9th & 10th overs, but they looked the same old dross frankly, aside from him dicking KP with a full toss. I'll have to have a look at the highlights.
to me he has got his accuracy back but he has totally gotten back that nip that has made such a superb new ball bowler over the years but he's certainly getting their.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
BoyBrumby said:
How well did Gillespie bowl today? I only saw his 9th & 10th overs, but they looked the same old dross frankly, aside from him dicking KP with a full toss. I'll have to have a look at the highlights.
You must not have watched them that closely then, since Gillespie "dicked" KP with a length slower ball. :p

Gillespie bowled really well. Back at his best, as far as I'm concerned. He looked good from the moment he hit the pitch the first time and the ball ripped through at chest height. He seemed to like the wicket, he bowled 90% of his balls on the spot, and was extremely economical aside from KP belting him at the end. The pick of the bowlers on the day.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
sledger said:
then how would it benefit england to prepare seamer friendly wickets?
because prepare seamer friendly wickets is the best chance England have to winning the Ashes.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
sledger said:
then how would it benefit england to prepare seamer friendly wickets?
Because I think Australia's seamers are better, but Englands rely more on assistance from the pitch. Harmison looked pretty harmless today, Jones always has when he's not getting help, Flintoff is good on a flat wicket but better on a seamer as he showed with his awesome spells at Lords and Headingley, and Hoggard loves swing. McGrath can move it on anything, Gillespie doesn't really get that much seam movement these days, and Lee doesn't move it much off the seam any more.

Also, Australia's batsmen are a powerhouse unit on a flat deck, but much more questionable when its seaming.
 

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