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

[cameeel]

Mainly agree with you ratings, but why was Katich rated so high?

 

[mavric41]

Congratulations to England for outplaying us and winning back the Ashes.

 

[tassietiger]

Australia just didn't play to the best of their abilities, and don't tell me that's because of the way England played, because I've seen players like Martyn play well against better bowling than he had to this series. None of the players really reached their peaks, including Warney, who was just faced with a team that obviously doesn't face top quality spin very often. Most of the English players played out of their skins, which obviously means they deserved to win the series.

A few changes that could go towards winning the Ashes back next time:
- Fix up this pace bowling selection shambles. Tait is good, young, keep him. Kasprowicz is handy, wouldn't want to lose him in a hurry. Gillespie is a star, don't ever drop him again until he retires. Brett Lee. Well. I'm not going to question his heart, he tried as hard as he could with bat and ball. But, fact is, I could try as hard as I can with the bat and the ball, but the selectors still don't pick me. He's not the great bowler he is made out to be.
- Martyn. Out. Now. I've had enough of the way that he just gets put under pressure by the selectors, scores a century, and then goes quiet for about a year. He's never looked like a team player, and no matter how many strokes he can play, he's still got to learn when to play them.
- Stop giving Katich such a raw deal. The way they were considering dropping him after those two long and hardworking innings was unfair and not too dissimilar to the way they like to treat their pace bowlers.

At least this series shows that even if they are going to have to play 20 days of good cricket, any team can beat any team. Will give hope to many other teams when playing Australia, and we might not see teams backing away from Brett Lee for too much longer.

 

[honestbharani]

I actually think Ponting would have refrained from the "I can't see the ball!" "gee, it's a bit dark out here!" routine after every over personally. He certainly would have taken the light if offered though.

Really? What about all the time wasting at Old Trafford when he got together with Warne after almost every second ball? Surely a man who does that will also keep reminding the umpires about the dark conditions as often as possible.

 

[honestbharani]

What difference does it make if it hit him outside the line? He wasn't trying to hit it.

Anyway, amazing delivery, probably a bit of doubt but Warne usually gets those simply because the batsman looks so dead and beaten.

Actually, he was looking to hit it. The ball turned and kept a little lower than what Trescothick expected. (Not kept low because of the pitch or anything, just that Tresco misread the bounce.)

 

[honestbharani]

No doubt replace him with Kadeer?

He'll likely never have to face such a great attack in his life.

McGrath wasn't at his best. Agreed that he is still great, even when he is not at his best, but surely, if your no.4 batsman is someone who is going to be dismissed by every good ball he gets, he isn't gonna score too many. The guy is clueless against Warne (like most of the Englishmen, actually) and seems to have a penchant for nicking good length outswingers (the sort you will get from most new ball bowlers around the world.) I still think that they should have dropped him for Thorpe. He just doesn't look anything great to me. Hope he proves me wrong for England's sake, but I can't see that happening, atleast not soon.

 

[honestbharani]

We will be there till 9pm if need be...

The umpires won't allow it. The clause in the law talks about "reasonable conditions".

 

[honestbharani]

Its very hard to fit many Aussies in when we are going on this series alone and not reputation.
I think this goes to show the difference between the two on this tour,England played as a team and all players put in.Australia played in fits and starts and seemed to play as individuals although when your losing that is how it always appears.Credit has to go to England for not allowing Aus to play to capacity as this is what Aus has done for last 15 years to most teams.They were taken on and beaten at thier own game and it takes a great team to be able to do that. Eng certainly are a top team and will get stronger now. The challenge is on to Aus and all other nations to lift the standard.This must only be a good thing for cricket.The hunted now becomes the hunter.Anyone in England can you tell me if the cricket is still dominating the football over there? when i was leaving it was pleasing to see the footballers pushed back a few pages .Our family even saw something in suburban eng and london that we had never seen before,young kids were playing cricket in the streets. You see that in Aus,india,pak,NZ,Sri l, but never in england ,well not that our family have seen. How good that is for cricket will be shown in the next 10 years as the kids come through.
How good is that for cricket to have a healthy aus /eng/ind/pak/SA/ who said cricket was dying ?

I think it is wonderful. If only we could get a strong WI team in, that would be the best, IMO.

 

[jlo33692]

Well said to x cool
Your rating system and summing up are well thought out and to tell the truth i cannot argue with 1 thing you have wrote. at first i thought if Flintoff got 10 then warne had a 10 as well,but on consideration i agree,flintoff was man of series,and while warne done extra well with ball and bat even he had to sit in the shadows of Flintoff,which is no disgrace. had Warne of pulled them through and we held the ashes ,i would then have gone with warne as 10 and flintoff 10 . Anyway well said on all points.

 

[honestbharani]

You must have been watching a different series to most people on the planet. Brett Lee has been ordinary at best.

He has done reasonably well, just what I said. He is always going to go for runs but he has picked up important wickets and made important runs. He is not as bad as u guys make it out to be. If Gilespie or Kasper had been in form and McGrath not been injured, an attack of McGrath, Lee, Kasper/Gillespie, Warne sounds awesome, simply because McGrath and Gillespie will give control, Warne can tie up an end/be the attacking bowler, and Lee can go all out. He has bowled really well. A number of balls falling just short of fielders or in no man's land when the batsman has been beaten for pace and/or movement...

 

[jlo33692]

Australia just didn't play to the best of their abilities, and don't tell me that's because of the way England played, because I've seen players like Martyn play well against better bowling than he had to this series. None of the players really reached their peaks, including Warney, who was just faced with a team that obviously doesn't face top quality spin very often. Most of the English players played out of their skins, which obviously means they deserved to win the series.

A few changes that could go towards winning the Ashes back next time:
- Fix up this pace bowling selection shambles. Tait is good, young, keep him. Kasprowicz is handy, wouldn't want to lose him in a hurry. Gillespie is a star, don't ever drop him again until he retires. Brett Lee. Well. I'm not going to question his heart, he tried as hard as he could with bat and ball. But, fact is, I could try as hard as I can with the bat and the ball, but the selectors still don't pick me. He's not the great bowler he is made out to be.
- Martyn. Out. Now. I've had enough of the way that he just gets put under pressure by the selectors, scores a century, and then goes quiet for about a year. He's never looked like a team player, and no matter how many strokes he can play, he's still got to learn when to play them.
- Stop giving Katich such a raw deal. The way they were considering dropping him after those two long and hardworking innings was unfair and not too dissimilar to the way they like to treat their pace bowlers.

At least this series shows that even if they are going to have to play 20 days of good cricket, any team can beat any team. Will give hope to many other teams when playing Australia, and we might not see teams backing away from Brett Lee for too much longer.

Gee wizz tassie your a hard bloke to please m8.
Remember lee had not played a test for 18 month leading into this series. He is the fastest bowler in the world at the moment,He carried the attack when McGrath broke down.In a perfect world his roll would have been to come on after McGrath and Gillesspi had opened,taken a few wickets and are into middle and tail,thats when his pace would be worth gold.Unfortunatly it didnt work out like that but putting all the heat on Lee is a bit harsh as he gave his heart and sole,i think people are bluffed by his smiling,but he just loves his cricket, Gee m8 you dont just drop the quickest bowler in the world especially when we dont have a replacement yet.He will lead the Aussie bowling for the next 5 years and hopefully we find him some young quicks to lead with him.I cant work out why you want Gillesspi and Kaspa in and Lee out if you are going on the ashes performance????IMHO

 

[tooextracool]

Mainly agree with you ratings, but why was Katich rated so high?

5/10 isnt that high considering that he played a very big hand in australias only win in the series, and also batted a long time at trent bridge.

 

[atichon]

trescothick 7/10: despite not actually improving on his troublesome footwork, hes started to leave more balls that are in the danger zone- just outside the off stump going away at the right length. of course the fact that his chief tormentor in past series jason gillespie was run of the mill, glenn mcgrath was fully fit in only one test and kaspa was half the bowler that he can be all helped him a fair bit, but nonetheless still a quality performance that suggests that he might finally be worth as much as his test match batting average suggests. his weakness against seam and swing still exists though, and with that so will his lengthy periods of poor form.

Trescothick is the unsung hero of this english side, not only in this series but in his whole career.

When he underperforms, everybody shouts "I told you so, drop him, he's been worked out, he'll never score again"

When he performs, it is despite his flaws, due to his luck, having to face an injured attack...

He passed 5000 test runs nearly unnoticed. That is an achievement

Truth is : after years of selecting elegant strokemakers, county attack bashers, "artistic cricket" players (Hick, Ramprakash...), they finally found one who was unimpressed by the event and lifted his game for the big occasion. His rise coincided with England waking up and he more than the others symbolises this winning side

All praise for Trez

 

[tooextracool]

Trescothick is the unsung hero of this english side, not only in this series but in his whole career.

When he underperforms, everybody shouts "I told you so, drop him, he's been worked out, he'll never score again"

When he performs, it is despite his flaws, due to his luck, having to face an injured attack...

trescothick until the tour of SA, kept getting out to the same bowlers with the same mode of dismissal. it remains to be seen whether the series in SA was an anomaly, because the fact is that almost everytime trescothick has got past 50 in this series hes got a life, and this is despite the fact that he hasnt had to play gillespie or mcgrath at their best. im not fully convinced of him just yet.

 

[atichon]

trescothick until the tour of SA, kept getting out to the same bowlers with the same mode of dismissal. it remains to be seen whether the series in SA was an anomaly, because the fact is that almost everytime trescothick has got past 50 in this series hes got a life, and this is despite the fact that he hasnt had to play gillespie or mcgrath at their best. im not fully convinced of him just yet.

Told you !!!!

 

[honestbharani]

And MacGill is in England for?

sight seeing.

 

[luckyeddie]

Seeing as LuckyEddie remembered my avatar forfeit if England were to win a test match, up goes KP until the 12th October..

A pair of top blokes - well done.

 

[marc71178]

I could make a case for Blackwell or even Batty.

Based on what?

Blackwell is a slogger who isn't really a front-line spinner.

Batty's batting is nowhere near Giles'

 

[marc71178]

paul collingwood 5/10- did as good a job as he could have done and played his part in the test match. should have bowled more.

I don't why he should've bowled more to be honest - with the rain delays we were able to use the main 4 so much that it wouldn't have made sense to bring him on IMO.

 

[Prince EWS]

Based on what?

Blackwell is a slogger who isn't really a front-line spinner.

Batty's batting is nowhere near Giles'

Im was referring to batting ability, as per the quote.