Australia clearly the better team

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Re: Ramps and Hick... you're a seasoned county watcher... have there been many finer sights in the past 2-3 seasons? Ramps was doing it again for Surry yesterday: the torygraph report spoke very highly about his play.

No arguments with me there Rachael... Absolutely right, there's been some fine innings worth the entry fee alone from those two... as long as the bowlers suffering weren't from Essex . The trouble was we hardly ever got to see their full ability for England. One of the biggest disappointments for England in the last 25 years was that Ramps and Hick couldn't seem to do it!

[Sean Beynon]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Strauss, by contrast, seems something of a southern softie ... he's not the man for a tough Test innings as Hussain was - more the man to bat the opposition out of the game on a good track.

Rather unfair I think. Strauss can hardly be blamed for being part of a succesful England team - it is impossible to make a judgement on his ability to tough it out on the evidence of two lost Test matches in 17 played. In those, he neither excelled nor disgraced himself. I agree, incidentially, that Hussain was a useful man for a tough situation, but Strauss has, thankfully from an English point of view, not been given much chance to show his resiliance.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Re: Ramps and Hick... you're a seasoned county watcher... have there been many finer sights in the past 2-3 seasons? Ramps was doing it again for Surry yesterday: the torygraph report spoke very highly about his play.

Which you would stop banging on about those two... Yes they have played well against County Attacks with perhaps one proper bowler and a few dibbly-dobbers.. but they coulddn't do it against Test match teams with a real attack..

Get over it please!!! It is just broing.. they never had it mentaly and their averages and perfomances at the heighest level demonstrate that...

[greg]

Ramprakash and Hick are arguably the most wasted talents in English cricket in the last 20 years along with Chris Lewis.There is no doubting there ability to plunder county attacks but if they had half of the temperament that the likes of Atherton and Thorpe had then they would undoubtedly have been top class test players,as it is they go down as wasters.Don't know why they get so much written about them on here?

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by greg

Ramprakash and Hick are arguably the most wasted talents in English cricket in the last 20 years along with Chris Lewis.

Not wasted at all... at least not if you actually give a damn about first class cricket: they would have been in the best Xi of the year more years than not over the past few seasons and have delighted crowds consistently.

No problem with them facing quality attacks either: I'm less sure of hick (who has been talked of as a flat track bully from time to time, but who really appears to have been better than that, and to have the measure of even the best bowlers)... but Ramps actually did best against the best opposition - his record against the Aussies is damn good!

[Dans]

Clearly Australia are the better team.

[greg]

Notice how TTFRECKLETON has not been about lately?

[Dans]

Hello? Hello?


Where's the bloke who started this thread then? Does he care to update his original post?

2-1

[Zainub]

Actually one can still argue if one wants to (I DON'T) that Australia are the better team on paper but since we don't play test cricket on paper and England are playing much better on the field (forget how good they are on paper) it really doesn't matter.

[English_Al]

Yeah, there seems to be considerably less Aussie posting on the forums recently

I am always critical of the Eng team if deserved but I would have disagreed with TTF when he first posted that, although I would have agreed that Aus were the best team at the end of the one dayers.

Even though Aus beat Eng comfortably in the end of the first test, it was won by two bowlers, McGrath and Warne. McGrath bowled one of the greatest spells ever on a pitch that was totally perfect for him. In the 2nd innings Warne bowled well but then it was the first time that our batsmen had faced him this summer, for some it was the first time ever, and I think we just hadn't worked out how to play him. The fact that our bowlers had decimated their batters was unfortunately not picked up.

In the second test McGrath wasn't there which was great, but also by then our batters had had time to think about how to play Warne after facing him in the first test. With those two threats gone or reduced, we could now bat, and then this time our bowlers efforts came into play. We walloped Aus in that game and if it wasn't for some great flaying with the bat at the end we would have won easily.

Since then we have been outplaying Aus, partly in batting but mainly in the bowling dept. I've heard many Aussies going on about how their team are not in form but I really believe it's our bowling. Aus had 2 great wins in the last 2 one dayers, and TV commentators were talking about how their form was peaking in perfect time for the Ashes - so what happened then?! They have come up against a set of good English test-match bowlers who actually have plans against their batters and are carrying them out well, with swing bowling mainly causing the trouble. I do think that the Aussie's attacking style is helping us out but then if they want to play more defensively they'll have to stick with a lower run rate wont they?!

Having said all that, it doesn't mean that Aus wont win the last test, they've got a lot of fight in em...