Will England Retain The Ashes?.

[Paoli]

Originally Posted by Ernest

But the Ashes are different - it's Test cricket - proper cricket, and I think England in this form of cricket will be a different matter, a fit team will probably IMO make them just favourites.

There is not much chance at all that England will win the Ashes. You might win a test match, but not the series. Warne, McGrath and co. will be looking to go out in a blaze of glory, winning back what is rightfully ours.

But honestly, not even England's test form inspires confidence. To be honest, I'd have liked to have seen series wins in India or Pakistan, and a home series win against Sri Lanka, in the tests at least. Even if only 1-0- a series win is a series win.

The way things are, unless all players hit full throttle by November- there is no chance for England. Unfortunate, but I doubt I'll be seeing the competitive cricket that kept me up until 3am last June.

[Victor Frankenstein]

Given that we can only go on current form and not what could be possible in the future, i'd say this is going to be one of the most dissapointing series in a long while, probably put off as many supporters as it gained last time around. We're missing our captain, our best middle order strike bowler, and our containing spinner who probably adds another 100 runs to our totals too through lower order partnerships. Instead we've replaced them with Flintoff who is a great player but a woeful captain as shown against sri lanka and a couple of ordinary looking medium pacers, along with a spinner who can bowl well but can't field, imagine a dropped catch off ponting on 6*... soon to be 156* :/

It's entirely possible for it to all come good in the end, and the underdog tag will actually help us a lot, but realistically the only possible chance we have of winning the ashes is retaining them, getting a series of draws by virtue of the fact that whilst australia's batsmen are far better, their bowlers aren't all that much better currently (except warne).

Last time we were coming into the series on the back of a series of successful performances and some really good wins, everyone getting into good form. Leading into this next ashes series we've dropped heavily out of form, beset by injuries to not only our main players but our backup players too, even if some of them recover in time they'll be so out of form it would make little difference. It's annoying as i do think with our full team on form we could have at least made a contest of it even if australia just sneaked it 2-1 or something.

[Seamer]

I voted yes for the pure and simple reason that in cricket, nothing is impossible. England's efforts since the Ashes in England has shown that they do not have the consistency or mentallity to be no.1.
But that does not mean they are not capaple of winning individual series. After last year especially i am not prepared to write any team off

[John]

Its still a bit far off but as things stand it does look unlikely. Its was always going to be tough in England but it will be tougher out there.
Mind you even if they do retain the Ashes in Australia it will hardly been the crowning of the new world champions which we all antcipated at the end of the last Ashes. First they have to beat Pakistan well which I have my doubts about.
The Aussies will be hoping a couple of English bowlers remain injured because without the full attack Englands morale will be low.

[Quagmire]

I dont think it will matter who is in English side its playing Australia in Australia it is a totally different story in Australian conditions.

Since 2000 Australia has plaed 39 test matches in Australia and have won 30 tests and lost 2 tests

[Collyisamackem]

I seem to remember us being written off, as Paoli and Rowan have chosen to do this time, before the last Ashes series, weak batting lineup, erratic bowling, psychological barriers etc. being named as our "weaknesses". This time it is injuries, most notably to our captain who was the more clever of the two last year. However, our squad is a very talented one and the introductions to test cricket of Cook, Shah, Panesar, Plunkett and Mahmood (plus Pietersen who is still a relative test novice, just one who averages about 50!), together with the maturity of Collingwood, Anderson plus the steps into the realms of the World Class of Trescothick and Hoggard have given us cause for optimism about the present and future of English cricket. Added further to this are the A team candidates in Key, Bopara, Dalrymple, Loudon, Read, Broad and even Jefferson if you go back to the 2004 WAT England A Team. It will be tougher than it would have been for these young guys to retain the Ashes in such a formidable country, but these developments in our game mean that the glass can be viewed as half full. I still retain my belief that even if this ageing Aussie side manages to win the Ashes back, and they are clearly still a very strong side, Egland is the country with the most promising cricketing future.

Seamer - I think yours is a wise position to take. Neither side could be written off, and remember it is still 1 vs 2 in the world. The competition will be fierce.

[BarmyBarmyArmy]

I'd love to say yes but frankly they'll rely on Warne and McGrath yet again. If they didn't have those 2 their bowling attack would be poor. Look at last years ashes, Warne took about 40 wickets, that's out of a 100 possible and not all 100 were taken. Warne probably took 50% of the Australian wickets taken.. Loose him and you loose the ashes (again) aussies.

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by Collyisamackem

Seamer - I think yours is a wise position to take. Neither side could be written off, and remember it is still 1 vs 2 in the world. The competition will be fierce.

Of course it will. Many Australians are highly confident of a series victoty but they would be wise to take the following points into consideration.
(1) The Australian team is largely made up of old men - some of them burnt out and jaded such as Gilchrist.
(2) They will be coming off a huge lay off. Ponting will be complaining about the team being "rusty" and "underdone" as opposed to his recent complaints of schedules being "too hectic" Basically the Australian team has too many spoilt primadonnas who need everything "just so" to be able to perform.
(3)England will lift for the Ashes - have no doubt.
(4) Apart from Warne, Australia have a tinpot bowling attack. Yes and that includes McGrath. Unless Warne has another 40+ wickets blinder of a series, Australia will be struggling to get England out twice. The series will show once and for all that Mcgrath is past it, Gillespie has lost it and Kaspa is no longer up to it.
(5) Hussey is due for a bad series. You cannot maintain the form he has forever - not even Bradman could do that.
(6) There will be a huge turnout of English supporters for every day of the series. The fact that they are so loud willl give the effect of homeground advantage.
(7) Australia's newfound confidence since the Ashes 2005 has been won against, basically, crap teams.
(8) With such an aged team and after such a long lay off, injuries to the Aussie team will be inevitable.

These are just a few of the things that i am keeping in mind when talk of the Ashes comes up

[Quagmire]

What will the sides look like

This is what i think the Aussie side should be but it wont be

Hayden - been in good form will be looking forward to playing England on batting wickets to make up for last year
Langer - Last Ashes maybe last series
Ponting - Will want to take it to the English
Hodge - Hodge should still be in the side one of the best batsman in the world and hasnt been given the opportunities
Hussey - Nothing really to say but Englands going to get a taste of him in the test arena
Symonds - Hasnt shown his full potential but if he gets going no one can hit the ball harder and further
Gilchrist - Always been consistently better in Australia
Warne - Nothing much to say
Lee - Has a heart bigger than Phar laps
Clark - Shown how good he can bowl in South Africa and Gillespie hasnt bowled too well in County
McGrath - Nothing to say but he will scare the English because of the past.

12th Man
Clarke - Good batsman
Cosgrove - Hes going to be better than Ponting and Hayden

English side

Trescothick
Strauss
Cook
Peitersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
Read
Hoggard
Harmison
Anderson
Monty

[greg]

Not too far off with our side Rowan though Jones will probably still be in for Read.That is still a strong side and with the likes of Bell and Plunkett in reserve at least we have more depth than when we won last year.We can't afford any more injuries though as we are already 3 men down.Hopefully you can get some too to even it up.

Failing that you could just pick Gillespie instead.