Key Players For The Ashes

[greg]

Who does everybody think will be the key player for both sides this winter?

For me the choice for Australia has to be Matthew Hayden as he sets the tone at the top of the innings and he had a shocker in the last series and the Aussie batting failed regurlarly because they didn't make the usual great start.Yes they have the 2 great bowlers but the reason they can attack so much is the fact that they always have runs on the board to play with and Hayden is a huge part of that.

If he gets going then i expect the confidence to flood through the Aussie batting line up and for England to struggle but should he fail then a repeat of 2005 is possible.

As for England it has to be Alastair Cook as i think he is the one player capable of batting out a full day which could prove vital at some stage of the series.He is the only member of the line up who has the same mentality that Mike Atherton had and isn't bothered if he isn't scoring quickly and just wants to bat for a long time.

An outside tip to break the record of Atherton for the slowest ever ashes century this winter.

[Ernest]

For England Flintoff - his batting - his bowling and his captaincy.

For Australia Ponting for his captaincy and batting.

England and Australia are even stevens in the warm ups, but in the Ashes for real - keeping one's nerve will play a big part.

Harmison and Lee are both important to their sides, little to choose between them at the moment.

[flanflinger]

For me it's the Fringe players

If Australia get Jacques, Johnson and Tait into their teams I will worry. But if they continue to plug ahead with their old guard, (who are great players, but time is hard) then England may well sneak a win (but it won't be easy).

[darksideofthemoon]

For England Harmison, Flintoff and Pietersen
For Australia Warne, Hussey and McGrath

[KennyG]

I think for England it will be whichever spinner plays.Last series Giles did a good job of containing our batsman,thus allowing your quicks to be well rested.


For Australia I think it will be Shane Watson.Not so much for what he does personally, but if he can hold down his spot he will reduce McGraths workload & allow Stuart MacGill to play.

[Quagmire]

For England it will be Flintoff because he has to everything bat bowl and captain, also the English opening batsman because they will need a good start to the innings



For Australia it will have to be Warne because of the amount of overs he will bowl when MacGill is not in the side, Gilchrist can change a test match in a session and Martyn because last time around he got shocking decisions that changed affected the series.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

Martyn because last time around he got shocking decisions that changed affected the series.

Not at all due to the quality of the bowling, just the quality of umpiring!! Still no bitterness then....

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by KennyG

I think for England it will be whichever spinner plays.Last series Giles did a good job of containing our batsman,thus allowing your quicks to be well rested. [...] For Australia I think it will be Shane Watson.Not so much for what he does personally, but if he can hold down his spot he will reduce McGraths workload & allow Stuart MacGill to play.

I think that's absolutely spot on: everyone knows what to expect from Flintoff, Warne, Hayden, Gilchrist and so on... and you've identified the make or break positions.

[greg]

Originally Posted by Rachael

I think that's absolutely spot on: everyone knows what to expect from Flintoff, Warne, Hayden, Gilchrist and so on... and you've identified the make or break positions.

But Hayden and Gilchrist were terrible last time.Do you expect a repeat?

[Quagmire]

Obviously you either did not watch the series or you don't know the rules of cricket . Yes it was good bowling but Martyn got horrible decision LBW's when he smashed it onto his pads and just some horrible umpiring mistakes