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Quagmire · 11-01-2007, 04:35 AM in reply to Quagmire's post "The Ashes Summary"

BOWLING

Best Australian bowler: This man in my opinion was the player of the series he was the leading wicket taker with 26 wickets at 17.03 was surprising to everyone no one was expecting him to repeat what he did in South Africa. It was a toss up between Clark and the young Mitchell Johnson but they went with the experienced Clark who just bowl like McGrath did when he was 30. Clark - 3/21 off 14, 4/72 off 24.1, 3/75 off 34, 1/22 off 13, 3/49 off 15.1, 2/56 off 25, 3/62 off 24, 2/29 off 12, 2/27 off 17 & 3/30 off 16.

Best English bowler: The million dollar question why play Giles instead of Panesar, there is nothing you can hate about this man especially his celebrations when he gets a wicket. The main difference between Panesar and Giles is that when Panesar gets a wicket he runs and jumps with joy, Giles just stands there with a blank look of shock "oh my god he got himself out". Panesar bowled very well he played only three tests took 10 wickets at 37.90 he did not take the most wickets or have the best average but he was the most dangerous SR of 53.7 considering that Hoggard’s 65.0, Flintoff 74.7, Mahmood 61.6, Harmison 102.1, Anderson 112.0 and Giles 164.0. Panesar would have done a lot better if he or Flintoff could set an attacking field for Monty in Melbourne.

Best Aussie individual bowling performance: McGrath's 6/50 at Brisbane in the first test getting the wickets of Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Jones, Giles and Harmison. This bowling performance mentally broke England to get 600+ smashed against you in the first innings of the first test then get knocked over for 157. After all the talk about smash McGrath and for McGrath to come out after naming Cook, Strauss and Pietersen as bunnies and getting them all out. I think McGrath named the whole side as his bunnies, McGrath always names the two openers of a side to be his bunnies, because he is going to bowl to them with the new ball and either the captain or there best batsman. Very predictable

Best English individual bowling performance: No one can go past Matthew Hoggard his 7/109 he swung the ball and pitched it full and when he ball got old he hit the deck hard on a good length. He got the wickets of Hayden, Ponting, Martyn, Hussey, Clarke, Warne and Clark. Its not like just cleaned up the tail he got nearly the whole top order out by himself. One of the best bowling performances I have seen in a long time. Considering he was the only bowler who was able to get wickets on that deck. Flintoff 1/82, Harmison 0/96, Anderson 1/85, Giles 1/103 & Pietersen 0/32.

Worst Aussie bowler: It's a hard thing to choose because all the Australian's bowled well the only one the struggled during the series was Brett Lee at the start but he rapidly improved during the second half. Lee - 20 wickets at 33.20 was the worst of the bowlers considering the rest of the bowlers bowled so well. Clark 26 wickets at 17.03, McGrath 21 wickets at 23.90 & Warne 23 wickets at 30.34.

Worst English bowler: It’s a toss up between two bowlers Giles and Anderson. Anderson got more chances to improve on his earlier horrible performances where Giles did not get the opportunity. Harmison no doubt has the worst ball of the series which haunted him in the first two tests. The media destroyed him but he came back and bowled some good spells. Tie between Giles 3 wickets at 87.33, Anderson 5 wickets at 82.60.

Best Aussie team bowling performance: England's 2nd innings in Adelaide which was one of the most remarkable matches in test cricket history. The matched looked to be a draw or an England win and Australia were able to steam role England for 129. Warne took 4/49 off 32, McGrath took 2/15 off 10, Lee took 2/35 off 18 and Clark took 1/22 off 13 overs. The rest of the match is modern history a great moment for Australian cricket.

Best England team bowling performance: There were not many good team performances with the ball during the series but the only time they got Australia out for under 300 was the first innings at Perth they knocked over the Aussies for 244. Harmison was always going to take wickets at Perth with the bounce and took 4/48 off 20 overs and he was brilliant with the wickets of Ponting & Clark then finished off the tail getting Clark and McGrath. It was also Panesar’s first game in Australia and was very good taking 5/92 off 24, bowling Langer, getting Symonds and Warne caught behind, getting the dangerous Gilchirst out in front of his home crowd and trapping Brett Lee LBW. The other wicket went to Hoggard who get Matthew Hayden out caught behind. It was all pressure that caused England to get Australia out like they did. Two bowlers that bowled in a Partnership was what England missed in the series.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Warne’s 700th test wicket
Warne, McGrath and Langer’s final test.
Australia winning the ashes back
Symonds & Hayden’s come back at Melbourne
Collingwood and Pietersen's big partnership
Gilchrist’s 57 ball century
Seeing the crowds loving Monty Panesar. (Who was it who said they would love him?)
Seeing that England have a decent spin bowler
Pietersen Vs Warne
Remarkable 2nd test
Seeing how good Hussey really was against a good side.
Seeing that Pietersen was quite a good bowler
Monty's throw like he’s a shot putter
Strauss getting back up from that hit to the head
Ponting’s first three innings