Australia set their sights on the Ashes

[Paoli]

Nasser Hussain is to be congratulated. When he took over England were worse than Zimbabwe, lagging last. Now they are second thanks mainly to Hussain.

His average may have suffered but yet it is good enough.

Now- Can a cricket team not have a captain. Just let alot of people work it out. Tresco, Vaughan and Thorpey take care of the batsmen, Geraint Jones of Himself and Hoggard takes charge of the bowlers and possibly Flintoff. It'd relieve the pressure on all involved.

[Seamer]

Good point Paoli69. The only problem with that is the whole lot of them will either be sacked or have a nervios breakdown!

[Zainub]

England have improved mentally a lot from past England sides.

[Ernest]

Hey Beny I am not alone, I have found another believer, another who believes we are gona win the Ashes see #35865 by the name of Tresothick

[cantplaycantalk]

England can only beat what is put in front of them, and that is what they have done convincingly.
The tour of Sri-Lanka was without about half of the current team.

I do hope the Australian team come over to England with the same incredible arrogance that some of the Aussie fans have shown, and underestimate England in the same way.

I look forward to watching West Indies vs Australia. My family is mixed English/West Indian and I do so hope that the "worst team in the world apart from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh" show the Aussies just how much they have improved recently as well.

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by cantplaycantalk

England can only beat what is put in front of them, and that is what they have done convincingly.
The tour of Sri-Lanka was without about half of the current team.

I do hope the Australian team come over to England with the same incredible arrogance that some of the Aussie fans have shown, and underestimate England in the same way.

I look forward to watching West Indies vs Australia. My family is mixed English/West Indian and I do so hope that the "worst team in the world apart from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh" show the Aussies just how much they have improved recently as well.

I was only stating fact that at the time Eng played SAfr,WI&NZ, they were ranked either 6,7,8 by the ICC, and rightly so.. Next time i will sugar coat the phrase 'worst team' with "lower ranked" to help avoid offence to some.
I will say again, you cannot judge a teams performance until they have played the best(or even the top 4). In any case, Vaughan does not have the killer insinct to take England to the top. When you hear people say Eng were "robbed" by bad light in the second test vs Sth Afr, they are fooling themselves. The fact is that Vaughan batted too long on the fourth day to ensure he could,nt lose and subsequently ran out of time to win. Australia would not have made that mistake. In the final test, he purposly bowled slow on the second day to waste time to ensure England did,nt lose the test. Australia would have declared aggresively and backed their bowlers to win both those tests - and no doubt they would have.
Australia have beaten the best, England have only beaten the "lower ranked"
P.S Autralia will not be so foolish to underestimate any team. They always go into a series with the belief it will be competitive, but are usually pleasantly surprised that it is,nt

[Paoli]

Michael Vaughan isn't even confident!! In 2009 maybe.

[cantplaycantalk]

OK I was being a bit touchy and I should remember this is the "Australia" forum, but I still think you are missing a few points.
1. The only series we (England) have lost recently was vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. This series England went into without 75% of the front line bowling attack an 50% of the current batting line up.
2. SA currently have a world ranking which is unrealistically low. Kallis, Smith, Gibbs, Ntini and Pollock are all proven world class players and AB De Villiers is going to be another one.
3. WI and NZ are ranked as low as they are partly because they just got whitewashed by England, and that seriously hurts your rankings.
4. WI are an improving team IMHO (OK so I am biased) they have some good youngsters and a few high quality players as well.
5. I keep getting told that the aging Aussie team isn't a problem because "any number of good youngsters could come through in the next few years." but that is the same for any country. (A couple of quality bowlers would make India unbeatable, and a couple of world class batsmen would do a world of good for Pakistan or Sri-Lanka)

NOTE, I do not claim that the current England side are yet a match for the current Australian side, but they are the best England side in a generation and they are getting closer...

[Seamer]

I doubt Vaughan will even be in the picture by 2009.It will be the next generation,s fight. Personally, i think domestic cricket in Australia is far stronger that county cricket which will mean we will produce better cricketers. Aussie dominance will probably continue. In a way though, i would,nt neccesarily mind England regaining the Ashes if they deserve it. Like the Rugby Union world cup - the better team won and i am the first to tip my hats to them. For the sake of test cricket, i just hope that the world catches up to the Aussies and not the Aussies dropping down to their level. Attacking cricket, good over rates, scoring runs quickly - that,s what i want from every test nation. At the moment the only other nation attempting to do that is Pakistan

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Seamer

For the sake of test cricket, i just hope that the world catches up to the Aussies and not the Aussies dropping down to their level.

That's an interesting point, Seamer, and in an ideal world I'm sure we would all agree with you. Do you think it's likely though? The present Aussie side is a once in a lifetime side for all of us - quite possibly the guys who are fielded in England this summer will be the strongest team I am ever likely to see in my three score and ten. I think it is actually much more likely that, when Australia eventually are beaten (and it will happen at some time, of course), it will be as much because they are on a slide as because the opposition is on a rise.

I'm still sticking with my prediction that England will regain The Ashes in Australia in 2006/7. (That's based on nothing at all, other than a strong personal desire to be there when it happens and the near impossibility of getting any tickets for the summer 2005 series.)