Australia set their sights on the Ashes

[Seamer]

Yeah, this seems the strongest English team i have seen too, but i can,t be sure until they have been tested. If England do win in in 2007, i hope it is close and they do it against an Aussie team that has,nt slid too much. Then the two of us can dominate the rest and force them to play a positive, aggresive, attractive brand of cricket or plaster them until they do so. I just like attractive cricket, no matter who it is. The amount of times Flintoff has kept me up until the 2-3am has almost cost me my job.I just hope tests never revert back to th boring old days of the 60,s and 70,s. Some of Vaughans conservitive captaincy efforts of late have not filled me with confidence though.

[Seamer]

If England get a captain with a killer streak such as S.Waugh they have the talent to take #1 in the future, I have no doubt. I feel Vaughan does,nt back his bowlers enough and his declarations are too conservitive.

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Seamer

Some of Vaughans conservitive captaincy efforts of late have not filled me with confidence though.

Vaughan has an England team that is good but not great. He knows they can lose Tests almost as easily as they are winning them. How the Press would have hounded him had he played the game in the way you suggest at Centurion and gone on to lose the match. Until we've had ten years as World Number One I don't believe it's fair to compare the tactics of the two.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Seamer

Yeah, this seems the strongest English team i have seen too, but i can,t be sure until they have been tested.

I think you misunderstood: when I said that the guys coming out in England in the summer were possibly going to be the strongest team I have seen or shall ever see, I was actually talking about the Aussies. The England team are as strong as they've been for many years, but they're far from being the strongest I shall see in my lifetime: England will go on getting stronger for a while, but I doubt they will ever reach the standard which the Aussies have today. Hence I think the Aussies will need to decline a bit before England will beat them.

[Beny]

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

it seems I too, have a new Ally (or two)

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)

I have no doubt that in 5 years Australia is going to be another India... Fantastic Batsmen but only a decent Bowling line up. At the momment there are no real bright lights in our reserve bowling line-ups although hopefully a few will come through later...

That would be enough to maintain a decent level of compition though. I doubt that England could beat India right now.

[cantplaycantalk]

From what I have seen, the best (fast) bowling prospects are coming through from WI, SA and Pakistan.
Of course fast bowlers can appear very quickly.

[Beny]

I don't know about all these good up an coming pakistani bowlers, we sure as all hell did not see them this series. But we've proven already that even our back up bowlers can make a contest... just take a look at the Indian series 2 years ago now. The bowlers did ok, Nothing flash but lets remember a few of them were injured or like Lee- Just returning of Injury and badly out of touch. Australia will never be a number 8 in the world... We will always be up there fighting.

[Paoli]

We have enough batting in the shadows. Hodge and the Hussey's are international class. How many England fringe players are? Troughton was tried and failed. Rikki Clarke performed well below expectation. Ian Bell looks decent, but have a look at Australia's fringe players. Williams could be called up. Bracken, Tait, Michael Lewis, Damien Wright and although the selectors aren't keen, Andrew Bichel could still play for Australia and trouble batsmen. Hodge, Hussey, both MEK and DJ. Callum Ferguson is a prospect and MTG Elliot can still play at the highest level. We have a deeper International reserve than any country.

[cantplaycantalk]

Bell, Pieterson,Collingwood (don't write him off he won awards in Australia a couple of years back), Prior, Cook
to name just a few and don't forget our up and coming players are several years younger than the ones you mention.
Plenty more as well, remember if each county has 1 quality English player or 2 for a 1st div side then we have a 1st XI and an A team...

[Beny]

I think it is accepted that we have the strongest Batting reserves in the world... Take a look at the proformances of the Hussy brothers, Hodge, Elliot and some of the lesser players who have gone over to England and dominated. That is a lot harder than it might seem to as English condidions are far different to our own.