The Official Ashes 09 Thread

[jimharri]

I am an Aussie and I cant stand the game of cricket. So F*****g boring.
Play for 5 days and get no result.No thanks.

Dont care if the poms win 4-0 or Aussies win 2-1.

I dread the papers in the morning. National day of mourning. Oh god!

You're an Aus and you don't like cricket? "Nurse; the screens!"

 

[bornblueegg]

I am an Aussie and I cant stand the game of cricket. So F*****g boring.
Play for 5 days and get no result.No thanks.

Dont care if the poms win 4-0 or Aussies win 2-1.

I dread the papers in the morning. National day of mourning. Oh god!

You're an Aus and you don't like cricket? "Nurse; the screens!"

Something is very wrong

 

[MelbourneBlue]

I am an Aussie and I cant stand the game of cricket. So F*****g boring.
Play for 5 days and get no result.No thanks.

Dont care if the poms win 4-0 or Aussies win 2-1.

I dread the papers in the morning. National day of mourning. Oh god!

You're an Aus and you don't like cricket? "Nurse; the screens!"

Family background is Italian. That probably explains it.

 

[bluwes]

You're an Aus and you don't like cricket? "Nurse; the screens!"

Family background is Italian. That probably explains it.

Italian?? from Melbourne.............. shouldnt you be Greek !!

 

[Uwe Rosler]

You're an Aus and you don't like cricket? "Nurse; the screens!"

Something is very wrong

lol we don't all love it! i watch it every now and then but its boring these days, test cricket is over! the ashes has been only interesting the last few series, although 06/07 was pretty boring at 5-0 :P

Aussie rules football is by far the biggest, and i think within 10 yrs football will be more popular that cricket....plus we don't have any cricket grounds to play on anymore cause it doesn't rain here anymore lol

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

Regardless of whether or not England win this test or contrive to lose it,I still maintain that Strauss is one of the worst captains of recent times.
He is tactically naive,his field settings are mind-boggling,the way he (mis)uses his bowlers is absurd
(what on earth was he doing opening with Onions and Broad and not Flintoff and Anderson when we needed 2 wickets to enforce a follow-on which he chose not to enforce)?
He totally lacks the ability to inspire,motivate and lead his players the way Punter does,and I really don't think he is cut out for captaincy.
England got into a position of relative strength in this match,(a position which now looks more tenuous),through some solid individual performances and,yes,one of those was his knock in the first innings.
But little of this came through inspired captaincy.
And any England captain who can claim a catch so blatantly "grassed" as the one he did should take a long,hard look at himself.
You instinctively know as a slip fielder whether the ball has carried or not,and any doubt should go in the batsmans' favour.It should not be left to an incompetent umpire to adjudicate.
Unless winning at all costs is now more important than honesty and sportsmanship.

You are correct fetlock, the ball was grassed. However you are wrong on so many other issues. I screamed Not for the follow on, but admit I was in the minority, including Beefy et al. But you suggest he does not inspire!, apologise now or remain wrong!

"Wrong on so many other issues"?
Well,perhaps if you care to list them,then I can reply in kind - not knowing what on earth you are referring to leaves me at a disadvantage somewhat.
If you bother to look back at previous posts,you will notice that I was one of the few who agreed with the decision not to enforce the follow-on,and gave my reasons accordingly.
On this,Strauss was correct,but then even a broken watch is right twice a day.
Strauss' shortcomings in terms of motivational skills,rotation and selection of bowlers,field placements and inability to show command on the field have been highlighted by almost every cricket pundit you care to name.
Even articles in the "Cricketer" magazine and last years' Wisden have expressed reservations and concerns.
I am hardly alone in thinking this way.
Yes,we won,and I am obviously pleased by that.
But I would argue that we would have made things a damned sight easier for ourselves with a captain who demonstrates more leadership on the field.

 

[Brumblue]

Srauss isn't the best captain we've had. In fact, in the time since I started watching cricket, I'd rather have Atherton, Stewart, Hussain or Vaughan any day instead.

(I don't include Flintoff or Pietersen because they only captained a few tests)

But who on earth would you have instead?

Collingwood is a gritty batsman but not tactically aware enough to lead a test side.

Pietersen would make some awful decisions, like he does when he bats.

There's nobody else who even comes in to the reckoning.

Strauss will learn and a big series like this will mean he learns quickly. Give him time and judge him after three or four series and let's see how he copes without Flintoff.

 

[dannybcity]

Strauss has stepped up his own game since becoming captain, he leads from the front and expects to follow. I quite like that approach. He's field placement is abit strange but the again so was Vaughen's at times. I think he struggles when our bowlers aren't doing anything to find a sucessful change but I don't think he's as bad as all that. With regards to his catch. If the fielder claims he caught it you have to except his decision, sometimes you can get the smallest part of your finger underneath and only you know. I trust this to be the case with Strauss.

 

[tommyducks]

Something is very wrong

lol we don't all love it! i watch it every now and then but its boring these days, test cricket is over! the ashes has been only interesting the last few series, although 06/07 was pretty boring at 5-0 :P

Aussie rules football is by far the biggest, and i think within 10 yrs football will be more popular that cricket....plus we don't have any cricket grounds to play on anymore cause it doesn't rain here anymore lol

Test cricket is the purest and by far the most dramatic form of the game. To prefer ODIs or 20/20 is in my view a short-sighted "Sun reader" approach. Just because everything else in the world has dumbed down, doesn't mean the best sport in the world should do the same. Long live test cricket, and how strange that an Aussie should say it's "over" just because you are getting spanked.

 

[Uwe Rosler]

lol we don't all love it! i watch it every now and then but its boring these days, test cricket is over! the ashes has been only interesting the last few series, although 06/07 was pretty boring at 5-0 :P

Aussie rules football is by far the biggest, and i think within 10 yrs football will be more popular that cricket....plus we don't have any cricket grounds to play on anymore cause it doesn't rain here anymore lol

Test cricket is the purest and by far the most dramatic form of the game. To prefer ODIs or 20/20 is in my view a short-sighted "Sun reader" approach. Just because everything else in the world has dumbed down, doesn't mean the best sport in the world should do the same. Long live test cricket, and how strange that an Aussie should say it's "over" just because you are getting spanked.

For the record i hate t20 cricket and used to love 50 over cricket but thats on the decline to hence T20 being introduced. I don't have any enjoyment watching australia play test cricket against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, New Zealand,Pakistan,Sri Lanka and winning within 3 or 4 days. And i could include a few more nations if i wanted to but as we are in new phase as a test team it may be close for a while?

Australia has been a victim of its own success in many ways with their dominance for so long, and the arrogance of the Australian team because of it. The Australian cricket team were the epitome of Australian sportsman for decades. But in recent times that has now changed and i would say the Australian football team have taken over that mantle and will only get bigger in our country.
You only have to look a the crowds at our test matches to see its on the decline,apart from the boxing day test because its in melbourne and melbourne is the sports capital of the world.

And i wouldn't say losing by 100 odd runs on the final day is 'getting spanked' i wonder what your opinion would be of the first test.......(against the weakest aussie team in 20 years)