Yes, not worth even staying up the night for. Not many positives for England. How quickly things can change. Very similar teams to the summer, two completely different results.
Australia have got much better and England much worse. I fully expect their performances to carry on in that trend for the next year or two as I think its time to rebuild the England side. Also expect Andy Flowers will quit next year/end of this series.
Australia did better in the summer than results suggest. I thought the alarm bells were ringing then, though I didn't think we would do quite as badly as we are now.
Pietersen really needs to be taken aside and told his place in the side is at risk if he keeps getting out to stupid shots.
I agree , I know history will show we won the last series 3-0 but we won one of those games by 14 runs and the rain won us another one . Also I hope this is the last time we have 2 series so close together .
The schedule for the next three ashes is 2 years apart... 2015, 2017 & 2019. Hopefully that will be the fixed way of doing things.
The pain is that it is easier to hold onto the Ashes than to gain them. A draw will be enough for the Aussies next time.
Actually, I have no problem with the Aussies' winning the Ashes back this time, because they deserve to. We have failed in every department in this series. Let's do what Michael Vaughan had to prior to the 2005 Ashes and rebuild the side, when we hadn't held the Ashes for 16 years. If we just carried on holding the Ashes indefinitely against inferior opposition the contest would cease to have any meaning. This is what sporting contests are all about, you win some, and you lose some.
I agree CHILCO . But as Boycott said it's how you lose . Get rid of KP NOW , make Broad captain after this series is over .
With over half the team in their 30's we are going to have to start rebuilding sooner or later anyway, these players should know that if their current performance levels carry on then they will be replaced by a younger player and their international careers will be over.
Broad as captain? Not sure about that. Bowlers and all-rounders rarely make great (or even good) captains and I don't really think Cook's done much wrong as captain. Dropping KP doesn't strike me as a great idea either. His record this year isn't really good enough but it's hardly disastrous either, he has the highest batting average in the side and plays innings that very few other batsmen can. We're already rebuilding the top 6 - in Carberry and Stokes we have 2 new guys in the top 6 with question marks over their places (I would suggest Carberry in particular needs a big score pretty soon or his chance may be gone) and Root is another learning his trade. Dropping KP would mean 4 of our top 6 are inexperienced and have questions marks over them to some extent. Possibly 5 of the top 7 if Prior gets dropped, and at this point he may need to be dropped for his own good. England's bowling attack has been very dependent on Anderson and Swann for a long time. Broad blows a bit hot and cold but those two have been consistent for years. At the moment they're both knackered, Swann has had relatively serious surgery on his elbow and the conditions don't really suit either of them. There's also the question of how big an effect Trott's situation has had on the touring party and how mentally spent the team are as a whole.
I think Trott's departure was a massive blow to the squad and would have impacted them just as much off the field as on it. The team are mentally spent, on a tour when you are winning its probably a great place to be, but with them getting battered every day and then coping it from everyone everywhere they go, they probably just want the whole experience to be over. That transfers itself on to the pitch and its as if they are going through the motions. If by some miracle (it is Christmas after all) they can save this test, then suddenly they will grow in stature agaion and we could be in for a couple of great Tests. Can't see it though.
Jesus. We are being completely and utterly destroyed this morning. Oz are playing T20 and it is painful listening to it. Even Anderson went for 57 runs off his last 4 overs. 504 to win!!
203/4. Bell and Stokes making a decent stand (fingers crossed) which begs the question...why didn't the earlier batsmen?
251-5 at stumps. On paper England could still win this, but you would be certifiably mad to bet on it. The only achievable target would be to get a century for Ben Stokes before everyone else throws their wickets away.
