This is my opinion on the 2006/2007 Ashes please give me all your opinions. Yes it was a very one sided series but both teams took a lot out of it. Young English players got experience, we were able to say goodbye to two legends and two very good players. We got to show the English that Australia is not racist Panesar would be safe coming to the country, the barmy army were eventually allowed to use there trumpet and there were a lot of songs and beer. The series was played in good spirit, and the weather was good there were always results unfortunately too early on some occasions. 2009 series is on its way it will be interesting to see how the two sides shape up then.



BATTING



Best Aussie batsman: Ricky Ponting was outstanding throughout the series he scored 579 runs at 82.28. Ponting's scores: 196, 60*, 142, 49, 2, 75, 7 & 45. His first three innings were just unbelievable. He would not give the English an inch until the Ashes were back in Australia’s possession. Ponting was a man possessed which showed how much it hurt when they lost the Ashes in 2005. Only one man averaged more in the series an that was Mr. Cricket who was averaging 91.60.



Best English batsman: Can't go past Kevin Pietersen he was alone fighting for the pride of England he had attitude and was the only English batsman to get in Warne's face and not get humiliated. Collingwood was also very good. Pietersen - 490 runs at 54.44. Scores 16, 92, 158, 70, 60*, 21, 1, 41 & 29.



Best Aussie individual innings: He was a caged lion for most of the series but it was only a matter of time until he was going to get out and do some destructive hitting. It was Gilchrist with the second quickest century in the history of test cricket. 102 off 59 balls, 57 balls to bring up his ton which was one short of Big Vivs record.



Best English individual innings - Paul Collingwood's solid 206 in the second test that made ever Aussies heart drop when Colly and Pietersen's massive 310 run partnership that put the thought of 2005 in convict’s minds.



Worst Aussie batsman: This one is a little harsh due to this man only playing two tests but the second lowest average from a recognized batsman was Langer with 43.28. It's the forgotten Australia retiree Damien Martyn three innings 45 runs at 15.00 & a High score of 29. He was very unlucky and sadly retired because of the media. Through out his career no other batsman has made batting look as easy as Martyn has, one of the only men I have seen that was able to block balls through cover and point for four. We will miss you Marto.



Worst English batsman: Strauss he was unlucky but he was the worst out of the recognized batsman, he looked in good form then he would find a way to get out. When I say worst I’m say runs wise, he was brave through all his innings and he some how got up after one of the most sickening blows that you will ever see from Brett Lee. He’s a battler he reminds me of Justin Langer.



Best Australian team innings: It’s a toss up between the first innings of the first test & the one that I have chosen which was Australia’s second innings in the 3rd test in Perth. 5/527 dec. After Langer went out on the first ball of the innings it was all smiles to Australia. Clarke 135*, Gilchrist 102*, Hussey 103, Hayden 92, and Ponting 75. Great all round innings to torn the hearts out of all the English fans around the world. It was an amazing innings.



Best English team innings: Easily be the first innings of the second test 6/551 dec is a winning position. Collingwood 206, Pietersen 158 & Bell 60. They kept Warne to 1/167 which is an extremely good effort.

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

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

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

In term sof best and worst English bowling performances... putting Panesar up on a pedestal makes no sense: he has huge potential... and I've followed his rise with enthusiasm since well before he burtst onto the International scene... and it's encouraging to see him emerge from an Ashes series with a bit of credit... but he started the tour so badly that Giles was regarded as the better bowler (forget the batting, Giles was outbowling him) and the guy's bowling at Perth was by some margin the worst (though most handsomely rewarded) of his short career.

The kid has a lot to learn, and still lacks the experience to bowl to the level some seem to think he's already managing... a fact recognised by Flintoff, whose negative field placings to allow Symonds off the hook were diabolical... but perhaps based on a realistic assessment of Panesar's current ability to bowl to a plan.

In terms of best England bowler... a jaded Flintoff (nowhere near his best) topped Panesar... and Hoggard comfortably eclipsed both (being the only only English bowler on tour who looked consistently on his game and capable of bowling to a plan.

The worst? Mahmood by miles: I've not seen a bowler inspire less confidence in his captain and look less capable of bowling to a plan since Devon Malcolm had Boycott spitting feathers for undoing all the great work of Gus Fraser. Anderson, by comparison, was pretty decent: it's a shame Anderson's best spells came in tour matches rather than Test matches... but he at no point looked as incapable of following instructions as Mahmood.

Giles was out of sorts, but (in near impossible circumstances created by a mis-firing seam attack) still bowled better than both Mahmood and Anderson: a defensive finger spinner is there to help the seamers maintain pressure.. but with Harmison doing his best to get the series known as "shoddyline" and Anderson struggling... there was simply no pressure to maintain - and Giles stood no chance.

ps. we all admire those bowlers who can thrive when the other bowlers are NOT helping build the pressure... as Murali does, for example... but that's hardly the be all and end all of bowling: even the best finger spinners and medium pace bowlers generally need to be part of a fully functioning bowling unit to really shine... even an all time great like Laker (or Bedser for that matter) would have struggled with Harmison and Anderson gifting the initiative as they did at the Gabba!

I've already discussed Panesar's bowling at Perth with you. You seem determined to see the worst in that performance. I can assure you, he did not bowl as badly as Vic Marks, Geoff Boycott or which other old goat you've been listening to had to say. Was he a world beater? No. Did he bowl well. Yes.

As for Anderson, I thought he bowled pretty well in Sydney - especially in his first 10 overs. In fact, in those overs, I thought he bowled the best he'd done in a test match in a very long time. Unfortunately, he was absolutely awful before that.

Ponting nudges Warne for me. Warne had a decent series with the ball but not his best (averaging 30ish), and although he did tremendously well with the bat and sentimentality tugs at me, I have to say that Ponting has never had a better Ashes series with the bat (IMO, without recourse to statistics and based mainly on just watching him bat) and I've never seen him play so well. He's still lacking as a captain, but with the quality he has with the bat and in the field, the players he had and the performances they put in he didn't need to be the best of leaders. Bouncing back from 2005 to spearhead an Ashes reclaimation is highly admirable indeed.

I thought his captaincy was brilliant. The big difference between Australia and England is that Ponting had great players with brilliant cricket brains as well as experience. Gilchrist, McGrath, Warne and Langer. England didnt have any.

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

Stuart Clark was robbed.
The only number that really matters in cricket is 10.

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" You don't want the truth,you can't handle the truth."

Stuart Clark was robbed of man of the series he showed just how good a bowler he is and that Glenn McGrath wont be missed anywhere near as much as Warne

Remember that when MacGill is tearing through your line up in 09.

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" You don't want the truth,you can't handle the truth."

A disgrace