The Ashes 2006 (calling all Oz and limeys!)

Robert wojci · Post by **Robert wojci** » 25 Nov 2006 21:43

alright lads, the Ashes 2006 are upon us and *gulp* in austrailia. Can england retain the little urn? doesnt look like it so far, with them needing 647 runs to win this game, although at 194-3 they may be making the Aussies sweat a bit, and pieterson and collingwood have gottent the 100 partnership (yay!). KP seems to have pissed off warneand with some bad weather and some luck, england juust might tie this thing! (or maybe not).
Here is where (the few of you here that follow cricket) can post ideas, opinions and so-on.

Well with this solid batting, ther is still hope.

(yes i am back into footbag, woohoo!)

NotHisRealName · Post by **NotHisRealName** » 26 Nov 2006 02:41

I was rather supprised by the little exchange between Warne and Pieterson today. Warney's throwing the ball at the English batter seemed a bit childish after getting slogged around the pitch for an over or two.
Although I've had to watch the game on my lunch breaks, so I've missed alot of the action over the last two days.

I think England has a lot of work to do mentally considering the position they're in right now, at the start of the series. Can they do it?

Also, considering the heat of Brisbane these last few days (I know cos I've been trying to work in it!!!), that's just another battle for England. I'm sure they'll be looking foreward to when the series moves further south.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 26 Nov 2006 03:05

It's awesome. Easily the second best sporting event in the world after the Football World Cup (I'm exaggerating, if you argue this point, you need to get a life).

Anyway I've been watching it as much as work will allow (which isn't much now that I've been promoted and working almost full time as well as organising a national tournament and volunteering on a number of committees and stuff).

It's been fantastic. I love the tension between players and the fact that we've so completely destroyed them. Justin Langer is the man (oh and Ponting of course). I actually had a heated discussion about if Langer should be dropped for Jacques leading into the first test and ended the argument with me saying "well let's just see how Langer does in the first test, and if he doesn't score at least 150 runs in total, you're right (that he should be dropped)." On the money on that one. Glenn McGrath's comeback was also spectacular. I actually found myself hoping England would score a few runs today and it's good that they did. Still it's very hard to see them managing to go a full day of batting.

I'm looking forward to an awesome summer of Cricket.

Robert wojci · Post by **Robert wojci** » 26 Nov 2006 07:53

I love the tension between players and the fact that we've so completely destroyed them.

excuse me! (i'm never forgetting edgbaston!

)

290 something for 5 isnt too bad! i was happy to see that pieterson was still in, but i dont think this partnership will last very long (pieterson and jones)
i heard maybe rumours of rain for today (or tomorrow, or day five, whatever) on the TMS part of the BBC. That would be perfect, if no rain, we're finished, unless we get some sort of herculaen geofry boycott act from hoggard

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 26 Nov 2006 16:28

WOOOOOO Ashes! I've watched almost all of it - the final day is starting up now - why I will never know - we should have enforced the follow on and finished them off yesterday (if not the day before). Ponting said it was because they didn't want to have to bat last on a even further deteriorated pitch, but really, if they had bowled well they wouldn't have had to. Its true the pitch deteriorated more - but that actually made it harder for the bowlers (except for Warne) because there was too much movement so they just kept beating the bat or flying down leg instead of finding edges and getting lbw's. If it rains and England, by some miracle survive, it will go down as one of the worst descisions Ponting will have ever made. He's a great batsmen, but only an average captain.
The English bowlers are shit, except Flintoff (was it Hussey he knoked over with an absolute beauty). Harmison is a laughing stock. The commentary team here are calling extreme wides "Harmey's". He'll need to put some pretty solid performances in quick succesion to win some respect back after this. The TV coverage here compared the pitch maps of all the bowlers and its pretty damning, Mc Grath and Clark are pretty much all on a good line with literally only one or two exceptions, and largely grouped around a good length - Clarke a little less so then McGrath - but the English are all over the place - they're worse than Lee, and way slower. I guess the upside of Australia not enforcing the follow on, is that we came out and batted on the same pitch which England couldn't perform on - so they can't really blame the pitch, which they might have been able to do had we just enforced the follow on and bowled them twice in a day and a quarter.
I was impressed by Alastair Cook. There's also rumours that Vaughn will be back for the next test because apparantly he was sighted practicing in the nets at the gabbattoir yesterday and the day before, and said he was "almost ready to play". I think Adelade would be wishful thinking, but maybe the third test. I imagine Freddy has been given captaincy for the whole tour, but if Vaughn came back in the side - he's the better captain of the two - but even if Freddy kept the job, it can only help.
Gilchrist struggled with the bat, England seem to have his number. If only they could bowl the tail out, or anyone out for that mater.
It's not over though - Adelade could offer something for the English although we might play McGill and Warne which would probably cause problems. Not sure what the MCG pitch will be like, but Warne at home is gonna be hard to beat - in fact the whole team will be fireed up cos its a sell out so it'll be packed to the rafters for the first three days. You can guarantee the SCG wicket will turn, although it will probably rain and end in a draw. What's that leave - WACCA?, well we'll win there with all the extra bounce and half the English batting line-up unable to hook and pull properly. SO Adelade will be important, if they can sneak a draw or a win, then the pressure goes onto Boxing day in MCG cos Sydney could go either way.
Its a bit of shame I won't be in Sydney for the test at the SCG otherwie I would have gone to one of the days because I know a couple of members who have guest passes. Although sitting with the members isn't as good as sitting in the Doug Walters stand trading chants with the Balmy Army - A bit of "you all live in a convinct colony (to yellow submarine"), to which we reply "I'd rather be a convict than a pom...". Then they go with a bit of "Get you're shitty stars of our flag" and if we're bowling by now a wicket will have fallen so we'll sing our praise of Warney or McGrath. Fantastic. Play has resumed so I'm heading back to the TV.

<edit> well Petersen didn't last long today, none of them did really. But they'll be happier with that second innings. Realyy it was all lost on the first day with that crap bowling. Their crap first innings batting only made a bad situation worse.
277 run win is solid but then so was the win in the first test last series. Panasar should come in. I don't think there's much else they can do. Why he didn't play is amystery, he's way better than Gilles.
I expect McGill will come in for the Aussies but who sits out? Do you play 5 bowlers and put Gilchrist at 6? Do you put Watson in or Clark, who took 6 for the test and paired well with McGrath and Warne. Lee's spot might be shakey, he was a bit lack-lustre. Decisions, decisions. I wouldn't put Watson in, our tail bats quite well, and we can do with the quality bowling attack. I'd play 5 bowlers, McGrath and Warne, McGill, Clark, Lee. I'd keep Micheal Clarke and leave out Watson. I don't think Langer will lose his spot any time soon - I expect he'll go to the West Indies next year, if Jaques was going to break in he would have done so by now. Personally I don't think it matters that much, either one will dominate. Maybe Jaques has a better chance of taking Hayden's spot, but again, highly unlikely. He'll get his chance in a couple of years if he hangs around long enough.</edit>

Robert wojci · Post by **Robert wojci** » 26 Nov 2006 18:05

yes yes time to gloat..we have to bring panesar in for harmy, something to give us some motivation, this innings was a hell of alot better though, so i'm not too disspaointed. Not to sure about Lee, but if we dont bring panesar in, i think it's our death sentence. not very happy with this, but im feeling optimistic i always am! I really hope vaughan comes in soon! i'll probably add more analysis tomorrow, but i have school in the morning, well played aussies, see you in adelaide!

King Monkey · Post by **King Monkey** » 26 Nov 2006 19:06

dyalander wrote:gabbattoir

Very disappointed that ive seen virtually none of this test, due to pile of schoolwork.

Just call me hagesy · Post by **Just call me hagesy** » 27 Nov 2006 13:43

Australia, if the weather is good is going to win this series 5-0.

My reasons.

-The ashes are being played in Australia, we are twice as good at home and most opponents dont really like the bounce of our pitches.

-The english have a few injuries to a few key players. Vaughn, Trescothick, that good bowler i forget his name.

-When we lost the series last time, we played so shithouse, key players were out of form, we dropped so many catches, and yet we still should have retained the ashes with the opportunites we had.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 27 Nov 2006 17:08

You probably mean Jones.
I'd tentatively agree with most of that assessment. But of course most of the grounds are close enough to the coast to possibly get a bit of rain. We should move them all into the catchment areas where it never rains and truck water out to them for maintanance.
I'm not so sure we lost simply because we played shithouse - we did drop too many catches, and some batsmen played shit - Gilchrist for example. But I think part of the problem was that our batsmen were good enough to get edges onto ridiculously swinging balls. Most other teams would have faired better because with that amount of swing, they wouldn't have been able to get anywhere near the ball. We were also a bit unlucky with some dodgy umpiring and crap weather which could have easily gone the other way. Any one of these things wouldn't have been enough on their own, but for tham to all happen consistently throughout the series is a one off, so essentially your assessment is probably right - it won't happen here. They wont get much swing, certainly nothing close to what occurs in england. There will be less rain/light issues. There will be more bounce. There will still be some dodgy umpiring decisions but without all the other stuff, it won't be the final straw.

Robert wojci · Post by **Robert wojci** » 27 Nov 2006 18:16

England have a chance. This is obviously flintoffs chance to show us what he's made of, although i think someone else, preferably Strauss should be capt of england. Nonetheless we must bring in Panesar and Mahmood, we need something different from our bowlers! I'm not too farmiliar with cricket pitches, Yeah obviously england's swing bowlers aren't having much effect, but i heard, (i have to listen on the radio, havent seen it) Flintoff is bowling beautifully, so yeah, we need a little luck, combined with a hell of alot more skill, i dunno if we can do it this year. But im an optimist when it comes to this, how sad .

drop gilo..also anderson goes.

England XI
Strauss, Cook, Bell, Colly, Pieterson, Flintoff, Jones (if he doesnt prove himself this test, we might bring in read for the third) ,Panesar, Hoggy, Harmy, Mahmood.

There, take that aussies!

Just call me hagesy · Post by **Just call me hagesy** » 28 Nov 2006 22:00

It is impossible for flintoff to carry the english team by himself. i give your batsman half a chance if they get their act together, which they sort of did in the second innings. but it is your bowling that will hold you back. Except for flintoff the standard of the english bowling was at state level, if that. I fail to see where you can get enough wickets quickly in a short enough period to trouble the aussies.

Another weakness of the english is their tail end. Youse pretty much have 4 no 11's looking at your preferred line up. So if you lose early wickets, which is likely, you put way too much pressure on your middle order. With Australia we have gilchrist at 7 followed by Brett Lee (solid) Warney (Can smash some very quick runs, highest score 99 at test level) Stuart Clark (who smashed some sixes last test) and Mcgrath who is a fast runner between the wickets.

I think the poms will have a definate chance next ashes when it is in england again. Mcgrath will be gone, Warney will be gone, Langer will be gone, Hayden will be gone, gilly will most likely be gone. Currently the poms are playing a team which is regarded as the best australian team since the invincibles and it has been thought of like this since the captaincy of Mark Taylor.It is coming to the end of its reign, but definately not this series.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 29 Nov 2006 03:30

Yeah I can't imagine Australia losing any games this series. When you consider that ultimately we only lost the ashes in England because of a bad umpiring decision to give Kasprovich out (how could anybody deny we wouldn't have scored the 2 runs needed to win). Had the umpire got that right we would have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 2 - retained the ashes - and look at how bad we played in that series - no runs from the openers or the middle order - Just Ponting, Lee and Warne scoring the runs. Look how much better our team is now - Hussy is the man, Langer is batting really well, Ponting is obviously batting really well - with those three alone we're pretty much guaranteed to score at least 300 runs an innings. England have no consistently good bowlers and are far too intimidated by our bowlers.

People can talk about how well England played in their last innings as much as you like but the fact is it took 10 wickets for them to score 150 runs more than what Australia could score with 1 wicket.

I would like to see Australia go into the next test with this side:

Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Hussey, Martyn, Gilchrist, Lee, Warne, Clarke, McGill, McGrath.

I am tipping another demolition. Playing well for 1 day doesn't mean anything in test cricket.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 29 Nov 2006 16:08

No McGill. Could be a mistake. Probably won't matter that much though. We'll see tomorrow!
Flintoff did bowl quite well, but no one person can win a test, and McGrath and Clarke both bowled better.
I think of it this way - if you had to pick one team from the Aussies and the English the only Englishman to make the team would be Flintoff. Even if Vaughn was fit and in form he'd struggle to make the team - Ponting would be the better no. 3, you could probably drop Martyn and put Vaughn in at 4. Other than that there is no Englishman that would make the team.
It's the same when you compare Aust with any other team in the world - at most there's maybe 2 players that would be able to make it and they're the best of the best - ppl like Flintoff, Lara, Tendulka, maybe Pollock (Murilalphabet wouldn't make it cos he's a cheating chucker).

Robert wojci · Post by **Robert wojci** » 30 Nov 2006 13:11

^^ i think thats very harsh, i would definitely put pieterson in an england-autrailia XI.

but, all of your arguments are actually totally sound, and austrailia ARE the better team, but i can STILL see england winning or drawing the next test. They obviously will draw inpiration from last year, and the personnel change up might spark a miracle. Unlikely but it could happen! hehe

2nd test starts tonight! or today for aussies

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 30 Nov 2006 15:34

Hmmm, don't know about Pieterson, yet to see him make a really big hundred so I don't know where he would fit, you'd have already swapped Micheal Clarke/ Watson fo Flintoff. Who gets left out? You can't drop Gilchrist he's a good keeper and can be a good batsmen - maybe if you dropped a bowler and extended the batting line up, but we batso far down the order it wouldn't be worth it.

I agree about England still having a chance, if the better team always won it would be as good.
It starts soon - last night they said McGrath might not play because of his bruised heel - that would be interesting - they'd regret not putting McGill in the squad then.
Can't wait!

Oh and is it just me or is Mark Nicholas a dick. The guy constantly talks in hyperbole, and is awe of everything. The worst is when he and Mark Taylor are both commentating together - they are the two shittest commentators in the history of Channel 9's illustrious commentary team and are a blight on that proud history. On the other hand the addition of Slats is solid, he used to be on the ABC radio coverage and was pretty funny, he's similar to Heals, he just says stupid stuff and makes fun of himself, and everyone else.

Just call me hagesy · Post by **Just call me hagesy** » 30 Nov 2006 16:20

NO 1 Total Dick commentator= Ian Healy By far.

My Bumhole excretes better mumble jumble.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 30 Nov 2006 18:03

Can't say I have a problem with any of the commentators.

Have to say it would be hard to pick anybody from England in the Australia - England XI. I guess the Clarke/Watson spot cause those guys are crap, but I'd prefer everybody else in the team.

Well England making a slightly strong start then I expected, but still fairly poor - 2/45 now. I guess they might be able to hit 300 for the innings if they're really lucky.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 30 Nov 2006 18:25

Only if they're really lucky and thats after winning the toss on a batting paradise!
Look at the field setting, its ridiculous. On the first day on a batting pitch, the run rate is just over 2. There's a slip, gully, point, midwicket,catchers everywhere around the bat, you'd expect that on the last day to the tail. Bell has no idea what's comin out of Warne's hand! If he tries to get to the pitch, he's gonna get stumped, if stays at homw he'll get bowled or lbw, if hes lucky he'll get bat to ball and get caught.
They're like lambs to the slaughter - no aggression - they're just trying to defend - no idea about how to play good line and length. You can't just wait for loose balls and block everything else - you need to move up the pitch - change it up and force the bowlers to change their line and length - if you let them dictate you will get out.
Pressure will be on Pietersen and Flintoff.
No Panasar is stupid - I haven't seen him play that much but from what I saw he is way better than Gilles, what are they thinking.
Aust will come out tommorrow and blow the attack out of the ground England will not win this test from here and its not even lunch yet.

And for fans of "The Australian Fast Bowler" you will have seen it all before, but I recommend it to our English collegue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5XEPGr6WSs

max · Post by **max** » 01 Dec 2006 01:37

God I love cricket:

Look at the field setting, its ridiculous. On the first day on a batting pitch, the run rate is just over 2. There's a slip, gully, point, midwicket,catchers everywhere around the bat, you'd expect that on the last day to the tail. Bell has no idea what's comin out of Warne's hand! If he tries to get to the pitch, he's gonna get stumped, if stays at homw he'll get bowled or lbw, if hes lucky he'll get bat to ball and get caught.

I have got NO IDEA as to the meaning of what I quoted there... and that's despite having played a great deal of cricket in my youth

I challenge any canadian or US citizen to explain that quote to me

Robert wojci · Post by **Robert wojci** » 01 Dec 2006 04:18

muahaha aus coming out tomorrow? nah! hopefully collingwood can get his ton and then some, maybe even a 200 partnership with pieterson? hey i can dream, i think an ideal score would be 450-500 and that gives us alot of room to work with on the bowling front, im veerry happy with england right now, although the wickets were a bit stupid. This is really exactly what we need. im excited!

Edit: hilarious video!