The Ashes First Test Lords Sunday 24th July..Day 4.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

Quite a bit of work for England to do over the next ten days or so, it seems. A disappointing start to the campaign, but a great game.

For sure. Fielding, Batting, Bowling. The only positives were Harmison's bowling and KP's batting.

[Victor Frankenstein]

We lost to South Africa here by an innings and 90 odd runs, coming back to win 2 tests and arguably only lost one of the others as our entire bowling attack broke down injured and was replaced by debutants.

Interesting to see if the selectors go back to the bad old days and panic, forcing thorpe out of retirement, bringing back butcher or key.

One game down, we competed for sections of the match but the old genius' of mcgrath and warne were our undoing. Our batsmen need to go away and have a good look at themselves and work hard over the next few days, I don't think it's time to hit the panic button yet, this game could have been different if it wasn't for mcgrath.

[John]

Congratulations to Australian side.
Now that England supporters have woken up with a hangover from all the pre series hype they can pick up the pieces and don't despair too much. They are second in the world and realistic assesment can take place.

[greg]

What a shambles.The biggest worry is that only KP can pick Warne.Bell certainly can't and Flintoff has always been weak against top spinners.Vaughan needs to start playing straight ones and the fielding needs to sharpen up.

[Lemming]

Well done Australia. They were just too good for England. The big difference between the teams was that Australia got the basics right! If so many catches hadn't been dropped and some batsmen actually played decent, correct shots, we would maybe have seen a closer result. Australia probably still would have won but not by such a margin.

There are however a few positives to look at from England's point of view.

Australia were not really bullying England with the bat. They batted well at times, yes! But England showed the potential to take 20 Aussie wickets. McGrath, Harmison and Warne were the best bowlers I think, but on the whole I reckon the attacks are evenly matched. If Gillespie comes good it may well be another story.

Harmison looked good. He hit a few guys and got 8-97 in the match which is a good performance considering he only got 9 wickets in South Africa.

Pietersen: I was against his debut being against the best team in the world. But I think he looked the best batsman in the game against some real top bowling, scoring 121 runs in the match. If he hadn't of had to force the issue in the first innings and hadn't run out of partners in the second, he looked good to have got 2 centuries. He can read Warne also, not something to be scoffed at.

Bell: At least we now know that he ain't up for test cricket and we can get rid, limiting the damage!

[greg]

Originally Posted by Lemming

Bell: At least we now know that he ain't up for test cricket and we can get rid, limiting the damage!

Who do you replace him with then? If you say Key you are mad.

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by greg

Who do you replace him [Ian "Bunny" Bell] with then? If you say Key you are mad.

Key! Look I'm mad !

Don't really know. We need a gritty, determined, disciplined player with no technical flaws, someone not overawed by top opposition or tough match situations. Someone with experience, who has world cricket's respect and runs all around the world against all opposition. Maybe an average of around 45, about 7,000 career runs, with 16 or so 100's. If possible he should also look something like this:



Can anyone think of a player matching this criteria?

Sorry, this doesn't help!

Bell, to be fair, has to be given a good chance. Even though Pietersen has done well I wouldn't advocate sticking in a debutant. Key could play, he wouldn't be "sledged-out" that's for sure but he is a bit too "shot-happy" for the Australians' disciplined bowling. If Butcher were fit enough to play a five-day match he would be perfect with his good career record against Australia. Any chance of Hussain getting his pads on? Thorpe's retirement has left the selectors scraping the barrel for a semi-experienced player to come in!

We really should stick with Bell I suppose!

[Victor Frankenstein]

Originally Posted by Lemming

Bell: At least we now know that he ain't up for test cricket and we can get rid, limiting the damage!

from one match against the worlds best bowlers? in a high pressure situation due to inept batting from his team mates?

Vaughan was also a bunny, as was flintoff, clearly they should be dropped too, perhaps replace them with ramprakash and ealham?

If Bell got out looking like a bunny whilst all the other batsmen scored effortless hundreds on a flat and placid pitch then i'd call for him to be dropped too, bear in mind this is the first time he's ever played against them, at least the others have played several one day innings against them and in some cases a number of tests.

glad you're not a selector Lemming

[John]

my side for the next Test
1 Strauss
2 Tresco
3 Butcher
4 Vaughan
5 Pietersen
6 Bell
7 Flintoff
8 Read
9 Hoggard
10 Harmison
11 Jones
I take Butchers fit.
They have 2 weeks Vaughan, Pietersen and Bell in the nets bowling practice.

[acker]

So once again Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo nowadays known as Glenn & Shane have gone to the heart of the Death Star and destroyed it.


may the force be with you