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

[social]

Surprised no-one's haven't used those two as excuses yet

Oh, wait.....

no excuses, just an indication of how badly things have been going.

 

[cameeel]

I was there on Monday for that glorious day, and this is the first chance I've had to post since. What a day.

Pietersen's innings was one of the greatest of all time, an innings of thundering violence, of heroic bravery, of unerring confidence, and of daring impetuosity, mixed with a bit of shining defiance.

:

And of dropped chances

 

[Linda]

And of dropped chances

Haha. No one in this part of the world will ever let you Brits forget that

I never thought that I would see so much about our loss all over the newspapers, tv and even on Rove... its a sad week in Aussie journalism

 

[Zinzan]

Can I add another?

The supreme level of sportsmanship between the 2 sides.

Harks back to a golden age when you'd go hell for leather in the middle then sit and have a pint in the evening as mates.

Yeah it was pretty good. Although I might remind you that when langer and Ponting were hit in the first test their wasn't much noticable concern shown by England, whereas when Strauss and others were struck by Lee, the Australians seemed more concerned for the oppositions health.

Hey, having said that I think England's overall aggression towards the aussies (not bad sportsmanship) was one of the many reasons they dominated.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

Yeah it was pretty good. Although I might remind you that when langer and Ponting were hit in the first test their wasn't much noticable concern shown by England, whereas when Strauss and others were struck by Lee, the Australians seemed more concerned for the oppositions health.

Hey, having said that I think England's overall aggression towards the aussies (not bad sportsmanship) was one of the many reasons they dominated.

I think that Harmison getting the first over of the series (it's usually Hoggard) and his being told to let them have it (I think JL was hit twice in the over IIRC) was simply a message to Aus that "we're here, we won't take a backward step". I think Strauss was actually struck under the helmet in the throat area anyway, rather than on the helmet like Punter.

A lot of this stemmed from Jonah v Hayden in the ODI series I reckon, and once everyone had calmed down the spirit was splendid.

 

[age_master]

Can I add another?

The supreme level of sportsmanship between the 2 sides.

Harks back to a golden age when you'd go hell for leather in the middle then sit and have a pint in the evening as mates.

yeah that was a definate highlight for me too.

 

[age_master]

Dunno if anyone's mentioned this, but there was a brilliant moment yesterday, when there was some guy in the crowd waving a sign that said "I missed my wedding for this", causing Holding to remark "I hope she missed it too".

haha yeah i reakon she might have, he certainly looked to be enjoying himself

 

[Craig]

Seeing the celebrations are like if England win something for the first time in 18 years, how will it be if England win next year 's football (soccer) World Cup - something that has not been done for nearly 40 years?

 

[PY]

Seeing the celebrations are like if England win something for the first time in 18 years, how will it be if England win next year 's football (soccer) World Cup - something that has not been done for nearly 40 years?

One article on BBC put that it would be national meltdown if we win the World Cup in footy.

 

[Linda]

Oh great news guys.

Apparently our sporting credibility just went back up a few hundred notches. Some bloke in a cork hat won a bug-eating contest in London. Only good at swimming eh Army? Not at all...

 

[Barney Rubble]

And of dropped chances

Nope - they never happened.

 

[andyc]

My god Flintoff was p***ed when he did that interview at the parade!

 

[Barney Rubble]

My god Flintoff was p***ed when he did that interview at the parade!

When his first sentence was "Yeah, it's been a great series..." there was an almighty roar from the crowd - his brain wasn't functioning on the higher levels.

 

[Jono]

The footage of the celebrations were so fantastic to see on TV. Just awesome stuff. Freddy was hilarious!

 

[greg]

My god Flintoff was p***ed when he did that interview at the parade!

You should have seen Pietersen when he met the PM

Tony Blair had to resort to having a sort of "knowing" parental conversation with Michael Vaughan about the naughty kid with his tie half done up and shirt not tucked in ;-)

Apparently they rolled up at downing street and were only offered pineapple juice and tea (for obvious reasons) and there was nearly a riot!

 

[Jono]

Haha I saw footage of Pietersen with Blair. That was gold, him tucking his shirt in!

 

[jlo33692]

Surprised no-one's haven't used those two as excuses yet

Oh, wait.....

Lucky eddie ,we left you a post on ashes best combined team m8.
Didnt want you to miss it for obvious reasons!!!!!!!!
Thanks

 

[wpdavid]

I still think Flintoff deserved the MOM in the 5th game.

Without that spell of 18 overs we were a long way behind on first innings, and I don't think we'd have survived.

Quite right. One journo described it as one of the best ever spells by an England bowler and, without getting into a detailed discussion of exactly where it ranks, I know what he means. When you think that Aus were only 110 runs behind us at 260 for 1 and, as you say, looking set for a huge lead, it was a quite extraordinary effort. Especially given the lack of support he was getting on Saturday afternoon. To flog enough life out of a very old ball to get Ponting and Martyn with the bounce was just amazing.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Pietersen's innings was one of the greatest of all time, an innings of thundering violence, of heroic bravery, of unerring confidence, and of daring impetuosity, mixed with a bit of shining defiance.

Oh, God. Mark Nicholas has hacked your sign-in.

 

[chris.hinton]

My view

We out played the aussies in 4 of the 5 tests and deserve to come away with the Ashes for the first time in 18 years. Pietersen innings was as good as bothams in 1981 and Flintoff is a better player than Bothan ever was,

The Aussies have to rebulid and have to do so around these 5 players (Ponting,Clarke, Gilcrist, Tait, Lee) they have to find younger guys to step up now it getting too old