Now it's Over

[Zainub]

Gee, very cute avatar Ernie.

[Ernest]

Yep so is your Zainub, I call mine Freddie.

[Zainub]

You've changed the dog one, but this one is equally cute, mine is called Boo, from Monstors Incorporation

[John]

Well done again England. You have exposed the limitations of some of our players. Smith LBW our allrounders Hall and Rudolp limited.
Youre big test is coming up there is no hiding place.
Dare you start with Harminson in the first match with the Aussies? He could get away with against SA for 5 Tests but with Australia you can't afford to play him in one test and bowl like that. The margins are finer.
Vaughan gonna have to improve his form. Strauss and Tresco might not be able to provide the starts.
Butcher must take Keys place. He has got the exprience Key has not established his place in the side. I know Key played a good innings against Australia but can anyone put their hand up and say he was impressive in the present tour. You can think about bringing a couple of new batsmen when the Ashes are over. Thorpe and Butcher will go.
Anderson should go and play a summers county cricket. Ditto Collingwood.

[The229club]

New to the forum...so hello to everyone

After watching the SA-Eng series, I can see where England have improved in most facets of their game, but meeting Australia even on home soil is to big of an ask. I well know Australia have been preparing for the last twelve months for tyhe upcoming series and are hell bent on preserving their 16 year dominance.

The batting strength of Aust who regularly surpass 400 have minor chinks in their armour but never fully penetrated.They are prone to losing a couple of wickets together, which this England attack may for the first time in decades be able to maken an advantage of. The Aust middle to later order is where the edge lies in their batting and England like all other sides may be out of their depth.

The bowling attacks will make this series mouth watering. England will need a fully fit Harmison- he's got six months to get right and Hoggard. Australia's improved fitness in their bowling attack will give them an edge. Gillespie is the unluckiest of all bowlers in taking wickets, but the luck has changed around with his fitness. McGrath is simply McGrath, a surgeon who is likely to disect any weakness in the golden boy Strauss and continue to dismay the tried and true remaining Eng batting.

Can't wait for July!

[Ernest]

Hi 229,
Welcome to the board, got one or two Aussies here so you are not the only one.

Beny should be online soon, he also is an Aussie who supports Victoria.

Yep can't wait for the Ashes series, should be some scrap.

[redback]

Welcome 229 i to are looking forward to July when the mighty aussies come up against the old foe should be a ripper series thank god we dont muck around with our test side like we do with our 1 day squad

[Richard Jenkins]

If England are to have a seroius chance in the ashes they will need to perform a lot better than they did here in tests. having said all that, England did very well.


I'd not carry on with Key after Bangledseh if Butcher is fit. If Butcher is unfit I'd tell key you've god the Ashes to show your class and if you don't ' by-by'.

Don't know enough about Bell to make a judgement.

G. Jones i'd stick with.

Giles look like his batting has come on. I'd keep him in the team.

The trouble is on paper England look like a good team but in practice we fail to fire . However, somehow Vaughan (or whoever) gets performances out of key individuals ,or perhaps those individuals just perform on the day and this has been the difference.
Freddies batting in South Africa was poor , but his bowling excellent.
Hoggard bowled very well.
Strauss looks world class and those Aussies will be studying the videotape
Harmison bowled very well in WI and not so in SA. His action seems flawed.
SP Jones seems ok.

England will have to play at their very best to get close to the Australians, but we beat them in the ICC trophy and the ashes will be a fascinating challenge.

Well Done England.

[Zainub]

Welcome to the board 229!

[Goatman]

It would be great for cricket to have an Ashes series thats not a walkover, and I think we all have reason to anticipate that. And to be honest, so long as the last game isn't a dead-rubber - and wouldn't it be lovely if all three results were possible in that last game! - I don't give a flying **** if AUS walk away with the crown again. They're good. There's no shame in losing to them. The shame lies in rolling over and letting them jump up and down on your bloated corpse, guffawing and rubbing dung into your hair. Which is how I would charcterise ENG's performances in most of the recent Ashes series.....

The ENG team is a good one. The 3 position is a worry, but we shoudn't get too worked up about form - it comes and goes, even for the best. Tendulkar was out of nick last year, but he's still top of the list for my world XI. Hayden walking to the crease was one of the most ominous things it was possible for a bowler to see over the last few years. But he's stuggled a bit lately too. In the words of an anonymous monk in 13th Century Germany "O Fortune, like the moon - you are ever changeable........poverty and power, you melt them like ice."

On the other hand, I am annoyed with Harmison. People are saying that he played OK in WI, so he must have got over his homesickness, but thats a little simplistic. He'd abandoned (I think...) 2 tours in the past, one for ENG youth and ENG A and the rumour was he did the same after a minor knock in BAN a year or so ago. He seems to be very, very vulnerable away from home. And from a technical standpoint he looked OK in SA. I think his mind wasn't on the job - he was going through the motions. Before he left for SA he was saying "This is the hardest tour of my career" and that he was "just looing to get through it". The mind set of a man who is going to do well in one of the most intense cauldrons of test cricket? Errrrr..... no. not one bit. No wonder he bowled like a blind badger in a gale. Well Stevey boy - I missed the 2nd and 4th months of my little lads life on fieldwork, and did I sit in the the airport blubbing? No, I bloody diddn't. Did I make a bloody awful mess of my work? No, I diddn't do that either. Except when I drove the hire-car into that big rock, but that was different. Get over it you big Geordie Jessica, for Gods sake.
On the 3 place just one thought - we have 4 candidates. 2 we have seen in tests, and both have dodgy technique - Butcher and Key. Butch averages about 35 in tests, and I think thats where Key'll end up. Respectable, but not great. The others (Bell and - I guess - Pietersen) are, basically, untried and untested at the top level. Bit of a risk to chuck them into the Ashes series. Bit unfair too. Maybe we should just wait and see what form they are in come the first test, and pick on that basis? One things for sure IMO; if the Ashes are going badly, ENG should revert to Butcher simply for the advantages of experience.