Feel free to post your Ashes thoughts here. Let's start with some predictions. I'm hoping, 3-2 to us if Cooke and Trott rediscover their 2010 form. Otherwise would be happy with 2-2 and retaining the urn
I have a theory that the Aussies are the antipodean version of Spud fans. 1) Useless at their given sport 2) Underachievers 3) Arrogant 4) Idiotic 5) Hated by all 6) Gobby
Sounds exactly like England and its football team. Never a good idea to generalise, you usually end up looking like a pratt.
Much depends on what decks the Aussies ask to be produced - they can't have pacey grassy decks as that plays into Englands hands with our 6ft 5in seam attack, and they can't produce dry turners because Swann is one of the worlds best spinners and their spin options are limited and poor. So what does all that mean ? I reckon they'll produce slow paceless uninteresting wickets that are easy paced/slow, meaning high scores but probably slightly slow scoring. It also means the draw comes into play for most tests so I don't see a 3-2 or 2-2, wouldn't be surprised to see it 1-1 heading to Sydney then you'll see a result deck. Bottom line in test cricket is that games invariably come down to the toss of a coin, if ant team wins 4 tosses they probably win the series. Bat to dominate ball for me...
Hopefully a better series than the last one without the technology goofs. Incidently, none of the pitches will be "doctored" to suit the key bowlers, so we might actually sight some grass. Saw none in England ( Swann ) none in India ,another dumb move by cricket Aust. in my view.
Cricket Australia has ordered that no pitches are to be doctored. Brisbane and Perth will be hard ,grassy and fast, Sydney will turn from day 3, Adelaide be batsman's paradise, Melbourne true and even. Actually not sure if Adelaide will be played due to ground reconstruction. In any event, we will see a variety of cricket and a true test of players for a change. Don't understand why they don't toss for the first test, then take turns. heaps fairer. In 5 test series the winner of toss gets 3 goes to 2. Not cricket I suppose.
It's the 'drop in' decks that could be anything, I assume the refurbishment of Adelaide Oval affected facilities and that's why they've opted for a drop in ? I meant to say as well that the wildcard is Mitch Johnson, the guy has so much ability but when he can't control the thing he looks terrible, he's certainly got his control back and his pace up recently and probably sees this series as a final Ashes swansong with a few doubters to prove wrong. He could be very dangerous....
A few of the matches in the last series were close and could have gone either way. With home advantage and KP bound to implode on tour I will say 2-1 to the Aussies.
CP - I wasn't suggesting that decks are doctored unfairly but it would be crazy for Lehman to order fast bouncy ones given the make up of Englands attack. That said Finn looks gone, Tremlett is in on his performances 3 years ago and Rankin could get found out now he steps up in level, much depends on Jimmy, Broad and Bresnan, and as England will go in with a 4 man attack (with Swann) only it may be the other 3 never get tested, but if they do Aus will have found our weak point....
Superb effort Broady. Off to work now. Four hours sleep. Mrs got vomiting bug so got to do school run too! But don't care... Ashes zombies of the world unite. 13 hours to the next session (may have to call someone for wind assistance tonight).
Found it ironic how the aussies are STILL slating broad for bad sportsmanship whilst proceeding to act like petulant whingers in the process. Read a funny headline earlier, something like calling Broad a smug pommy cheat
I know you weren't, but I think we are mad for not "adjusting" our pitches, everyone else does, and we used to as well , it's just professionalism in my book. The Aust Cricket Board at the moment are a bunch of rank amateurs, making too many goofs. Our Test team has spent all it's preparation for the Ashes playing 1 day series in India !!! After the England debacle of last summer, they have learnt bugger all. !st day at Gabba showed the sense in our top order playing 1 day stuff. Clarke was out to a bottler, but the others just dumb shots. That said, I expect it will be closer and better to watch than the last series. If Anderson or Broad break down, you might struggle. Our bowling, as usual will be anyone guess. Siddle and Harris are gems, but Johnson really needs to fire up with all our young quicks broken down. The old sports saying rings true again, when its bad on the pitch, its bad off the pitch. Best of luck to England.
Usually means the ball was hooping around on a green seamer, reality was very different, poor application and shot selection. CP - you're right to question Aussie preperation but the calendar is dominated by money spinning 20-20 and ODIs these days and as the players salaries are paid by CA it's CA's responsibility to ensure they maximise their income streams, sad but it's the modern world, personally I'd pay large sums to watch propert hard test cricket but wouldn't go watch a 20-20 even if entry was free, I accept I am in a minority
Well the minority just doubled Grizzly, now there's 2 of us. Think we can now safely say England are not nearly as good as they thought, Aust not nearly as bad, neither of them any great shakes. Test cricket exposes all their flaws, and both teams have plenty. They also both have some cracking bowlers. So far it's bowlers 15, batsmen 5. Cook needs to be more imaginative, he's not an instinctive Captain.Much as I love to hate him, KP is the man for the job. We have not seen the last of the great collapses in this series, that's for sure. That said, the first 2 days have been better than all the 20-20 matches of the last year combined.
Definitely. The great thing about test cricket is the media reaction, after day 1 Aus were the worst side is test cricket, complete swing inside 24 hours, so many more swings to come. One thing for sure is that having ridiculed him for years, England have discovered Johnson is the talented player most always thought he was, when he gets his pac e up and bowls with the control he has so far, he is up there with the best in the world. And having a bowler at one end you're worried about does is it makes you play false shots against the other bowler. Aus have been clever, England less so, but plenty more cricket to played...
