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

[luckyeddie]

Andrew Flintoff has been a great advert for northern grit, I think the stage is set for Warren Hegg's last hurrah

I read that as "Andrew Flitoff is a northern git" - I was going to agree with you.

 

[luckyeddie]

And Prior continues to score runs...

The early-season hissy fit involving Shane and Grizzly might have, er, exposed his lack of mental fortitude a little too much for a few people's liking.

 

[Blaze]

does anybody else find this at all ironic?
amazing isnt it, no matter how good a ball the bowlers bowls, both of these 2 manage to come up with some way to blame their own batters for making a mistake.

Haha that is classic stuff from SP.

Wow England, well done. The ashes are wide open now and if McGrath stays injured and they have some decent luck themselves with injuries etc, they will come close to winning this series

 

[tooextracool]

I totally and utterly agree with you, TEC - a sign that you are getting old.

nope i usually only blame a batsman for making the same mistake over and over again....
coughtrescocough.

 

[luckyeddie]

nope i usually only blame a batsman for making the same mistake over and over again....
coughtrescocough.

I thought of you this morning, and opened a beer in your memory (having thought that you would have choked on your breakfast curry watching, er, THAT dismissal).

 

[tooextracool]

Gilchrist actually.

and we could include flintoffs fielding abilities and say that hes better.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Well(attempting to change the subject), another day another 17 wickets. We're averaging about 13 wickets a day in the series so far. Good bowling, bad batting or sub-standard pitches.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Well(attempting to change the subject), another day another 17 wickets. We're averaging about 13 wickets a day in the series so far. Good bowling, bad batting or sub-standard pitches.

Good cricket.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The early-season hissy fit involving Shane and Grizzly might have, er, exposed his lack of mental fortitude a little too much for a few people's liking.

Well surely he can catch the ball at least. He can't do any worse with the bat than Jones has (I hope). The thing about Jones at the crease in this series is that he doesn't even look like scoring substantial runs really. Admittedly he got a good one today though.

 

[twctopcat]

That six from freddy today, wow. One to remember for a long time. Up there with the "confectionery stall" one from Beefy. Even if we lose these ashes will bring a smile to my face for a long time.

 

[Blaze]

Good cricket.

The batting has been overall below par IMO. Some great innings but no one has kicked on and dominated. Still yet to see a hundred aren't we

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The batting has been overall below par IMO. Some great innings but no one has kicked on and dominated. Still yet to see a hundred aren't we

Good bowling at times. Good batting at times. Some poor stroke and some good balls. The key is that both sides have shown this. The series will likely be 1-1 after tomorrow. That's good cricket for mine.

 

[luckyeddie]

The batting has been overall below par IMO. Some great innings but no one has kicked on and dominated. Still yet to see a hundred aren't we

As a contest, it's been absolutely breathtaking. Now how did I cornily describe it in the match report?

Ah, yes.

The two sides, the best in the world by a distance, were slugging matters out like heavyweight boxers, toe-to-toe in the middle of the ring, with no quarter asked for and none given.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Him or Vaughan!

Seriously tho, we can't carry two passengers in our batting (you might even extend that to three, if you include G Jones too) & Collingwood seems in prime nick with the blade, so there's a case to be made.

Bell was also in prime nick, until the Aussies came about...

 

[age_master]

well i didn't see much of the game last night as i was out at a party and went to bed pretty soon after i got home, but from what ive seen over the last 2 test matches i would like to see this side for the next test

M Hussey
J Langer
R Ponting*
D Martyn
M Clarke
S Katich
A Gilchrist (wk)
S Warne
B Lee
S Tait
S Macgill

if McGrath is fit get rid of Lee who has been bowling rubbish unintelligently. Macgill must play for mine, the english batsmen have proven the really arn't much good at facing legspin, and though Macgilla is a different type of leg spin i reakon that he would still have alot of success against them.

Brett Lee has been crap, as have Kaspa and Gillespie, give them a spell till they learn to bowl again. Tait coming in to the side adds an unknown element as the English batsmen haven't seen too much of him.

Matthew Hayden has been batting poorly for a long time now, his average for his last 15 tests is under 40, closer to 30 in his last 10, which, while not being that bat in terms of international cricket shouldn't be enough to keep Hussey out of the side for mine.

ofcourse none of this will happen as the selectors will pick exactly the same side for the next test unless McGrath is fit or its a turner.

 

[greg]

The fact that there have been no big scores cannot just be put down to poor batting. The fact is that with these bowling line-ups (especially England's) the batsmen get barely no respite. England can never get on top of Austalia's top bowlers because Warne can bowl all day, and England have so much variety in their attack - with the potential to exploit both the new and old ball that it's not surprising that "lapses in concentration" occur. The batsmen have to put in so much effort to simply survive the first hour of their innings that more often than not they're mentally exhausted when they need to kick on (Ponting's tremendous (in the circumstances) knock in the second innings at Lords would be a prime example of this. He finally sees an opportunity to break the shackles with a long hop outside off stump and pats it staight to gully.). It's no surprise that there are a fair share of seemingly innocuous balls getting batsmen out when well set (to go with a fair number of corkers!).

 

[age_master]

the lack of big scores shows poor batting, especially with so many starts and bowlers like Giles, Lee, Kaspa and Dizzy bowling poorly

 

[greg]

the lack of big scores shows poor batting, especially with so many starts and bowlers like Giles, Lee, Kaspa and Dizzy bowling poorly

Well forget today's cricket, you can't have watched any of the whole match if you think Giles was bowling poorly.

 

[Shane Warne]

well i didn't see much of the game last night as i was out at a party and went to bed pretty soon after i got home, but from what ive seen over the last 2 test matches i would like to see this side for the next test

M Hussey
J Langer
R Ponting*
D Martyn
M Clarke
S Katich
A Gilchrist (wk)
S Warne
B Lee
S Tait
S Macgill

if McGrath is fit get rid of Lee who has been bowling rubbish unintelligently. Macgill must play for mine, the english batsmen have proven the really arn't much good at facing legspin, and though Macgilla is a different type of leg spin i reakon that he would still have alot of success against them.

Brett Lee has been crap, as have Kaspa and Gillespie, give them a spell till they learn to bowl again. Tait coming in to the side adds an unknown element as the English batsmen haven't seen too much of him.

Matthew Hayden has been batting poorly for a long time now, his average for his last 15 tests is under 40, closer to 30 in his last 10, which, while not being that bat in terms of international cricket shouldn't be enough to keep Hussey out of the side for mine.

ofcourse none of this will happen as the selectors will pick exactly the same side for the next test unless McGrath is fit or its a turner.

It will be a turner for sure.

I like your side. I'd rather play it than the current one.

If Mcgrath was fir I'd play him instead of Tait though, not Lee.

 

[steds]

Tait