The Official Ashes 09 Thread

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

Next XI:-
Strauss
Cook
Bopara
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior
Freddie
Swann
Anderson
Harmison
Onions

Gotta play harmy but im unsure whether or not broad should be given another go ahead of onions.

That's spot on, Broad just didn't quite preform and Monty has to be dropped as Swann is simply better imo.

Some people are unsure about Bopara batting at 3 but I have a feeling he will get a big score at Lord's.

Monty will not be dropped after today!

I think he will, judging by who is more likely to get more wickets.

Things really have reached a sorry state if we keep Monty for his batting!

 

[lc-mcfc]

No amount of patriotic pride can hide the fact that this was a truly pitiful England performance.
Australia were superior in every department,from taking their catches and chasing down every ball in the field,bowling,(even "horrible" Hauritz looked world-class against that England batting line up),through to four centurions who batted with application,common sense and aggression.

Yes,we got out of jail but we really can't take a great deal of positives from this shambles other than the actual result,and that itself was a travesty which barely shows the true mismatch that this "contest" became.

Strauss is possibly the most inept,ineffective and tactically naive captain England have ever had,and his position must surely come under close scrutiny for the next test at Lords.KP plays every knock like its a 20/20 game,ditto Freddie,Broad couldn't hit a cows' arse with a frying pan and our so-called spinners couldn't turn milk.

The gulf in class between the sides was immense,as in the last series,and unless Australia implode spectacularly or our batsmen start to show the discipline required to play a test innings,our bowlers find out exactly what line and length mean and we actually look like we care out there,then this could be a long and humiliating summer at the hands of a team who look hungrier,smarter and far more focussed than we are.

This Aussie side is there for the taking, the bowling is nothing special and we bowled poorly.

England never preform well in a first Ashes test, it's warranted.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

No amount of patriotic pride can hide the fact that this was a truly pitiful England performance.
Australia were superior in every department,from taking their catches and chasing down every ball in the field,bowling,(even "horrible" Hauritz looked world-class against that England batting line up),through to four centurions who batted with application,common sense and aggression.

Yes,we got out of jail but we really can't take a great deal of positives from this shambles other than the actual result,and that itself was a travesty which barely shows the true mismatch that this "contest" became.

Strauss is possibly the most inept,ineffective and tactically naive captain England have ever had,and his position must surely come under close scrutiny for the next test at Lords.KP plays every knock like its a 20/20 game,ditto Freddie,Broad couldn't hit a cows' arse with a frying pan and our so-called spinners couldn't turn milk.

The gulf in class between the sides was immense,as in the last series,and unless Australia implode spectacularly or our batsmen start to show the discipline required to play a test innings,our bowlers find out exactly what line and length mean and we actually look like we care out there,then this could be a long and humiliating summer at the hands of a team who look hungrier,smarter and far more focussed than we are.

This Aussie side is there for the taking, the bowling is nothing special and we bowled poorly.

England never preform well in a first Ashes test, it's warranted.

No disrespect mate,but what on earth do you base that conclusion on?
We were totally and utterly outplayed in every single aspect of the game you care to name,and if it hadn't pissed down on Saturday afternoon we would be one down,and deservedly so.

I would love to see an England Ashes series win,but based on that spineless,apathetic and incompetent performance,that is about as likely as me arriving home from work to find Angelina Jolie handcuffed to my bedposts.

You think their bowling is "nothing special",yet they got movement and turn out of the most docile of tracks imaginable,and our so-called bowling attack was a joke,with no variation or nous whatsoever.

How you can envisage anything other than an embarrassing rout based on that nonsense is beyond my comprehension.

 

[tommyducks]

I do know what you mean about the Aussie bowlers. KP (twice), Strauss, Bopara, Cook and Prior were the authors of their own demise, all having got a start, at least in the first innings. These are all extremely capable batsmen who appear to have let the occasion get the better of them. If we can eradicate the rushes of blood, we can master the weakest Aussie attack in living memory.

Our bowling was more of a worry, and I can see Stuart Broad struggling to keep his place, although he may be saved by the dropping of a spinner. Despite true heroics yesterday, I can see Monty paying the price, and Swann being kept on for his potential batting contribution.

So Onions for Panesar.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

I do know what you mean about the Aussie bowlers. KP (twice), Strauss, Bopara, Cook and Prior were the authors of their own demise, all having got a start, at least in the first innings. These are all extremely capable batsmen who appear to have let the occasion get the better of them. If we can eradicate the rushes of blood, we can master the weakest Aussie attack in living memory.

Our bowling was more of a worry, and I can see Stuart Broad struggling to keep his place, although he may be saved by the dropping of a spinner. Despite true heroics yesterday, I can see Monty paying the price, and Swann being kept on for his potential batting contribution.

So Onions for Panesar.

I would agree 100% with Onions for Panesar.
Monty can't bat,can't field to save his life and won't get much out of Lords.
I would drop Broad too and bring in Harmison - Broad is supposed to be an all-rounder,but right now does nothing very well.
And Priors' wicketkeeping to spinners is truly awful - his position is in doubt.
As for Strauss,he needs to start acting like a captain on the field and show some authority - at times in the first test he just looked clueless and devoid of inspiration.

 

[tommyducks]

I do know what you mean about the Aussie bowlers. KP (twice), Strauss, Bopara, Cook and Prior were the authors of their own demise, all having got a start, at least in the first innings. These are all extremely capable batsmen who appear to have let the occasion get the better of them. If we can eradicate the rushes of blood, we can master the weakest Aussie attack in living memory.

Our bowling was more of a worry, and I can see Stuart Broad struggling to keep his place, although he may be saved by the dropping of a spinner. Despite true heroics yesterday, I can see Monty paying the price, and Swann being kept on for his potential batting contribution.

So Onions for Panesar.

I would agree 100% with Onions for Panesar.
Monty can't bat,can't field to save his life and won't get much out of Lords.
I would drop Broad too and bring in Harmison - Broad is supposed to be an all-rounder,but right now does nothing very well.
And Priors' wicketkeeping to spinners is truly awful - his position is in doubt.
As for Strauss,he needs to start acting like a captain on the field and show some authority - at times in the first test he just looked clueless and devoid of inspiration.

Good point.

Ponting oozes authority - he's like a coiled spring the whole time. I find myself hating him and throwing things at the telly - so he must be doing a good job. Fact is we don't have anyone with that kind of authority. Also it's too late to change captains now, so we have to make do. And at least he has good support in Flintoff, Collingwood and KP. He'd better sort his bloody batting out though, as that's all he's in the team for!

 

[lc-mcfc]

No amount of patriotic pride can hide the fact that this was a truly pitiful England performance.
Australia were superior in every department,from taking their catches and chasing down every ball in the field,bowling,(even "horrible" Hauritz looked world-class against that England batting line up),through to four centurions who batted with application,common sense and aggression.

Yes,we got out of jail but we really can't take a great deal of positives from this shambles other than the actual result,and that itself was a travesty which barely shows the true mismatch that this "contest" became.

Strauss is possibly the most inept,ineffective and tactically naive captain England have ever had,and his position must surely come under close scrutiny for the next test at Lords.KP plays every knock like its a 20/20 game,ditto Freddie,Broad couldn't hit a cows' arse with a frying pan and our so-called spinners couldn't turn milk.

The gulf in class between the sides was immense,as in the last series,and unless Australia implode spectacularly or our batsmen start to show the discipline required to play a test innings,our bowlers find out exactly what line and length mean and we actually look like we care out there,then this could be a long and humiliating summer at the hands of a team who look hungrier,smarter and far more focussed than we are.

This Aussie side is there for the taking, the bowling is nothing special and we bowled poorly.

England never preform well in a first Ashes test, it's warranted.

No disrespect mate,but what on earth do you base that conclusion on?
We were totally and utterly outplayed in every single aspect of the game you care to name,and if it hadn't pissed down on Saturday afternoon we would be one down,and deservedly so.

I would love to see an England Ashes series win,but based on that spineless,apathetic and incompetent performance,that is about as likely as me arriving home from work to find Angelina Jolie handcuffed to my bedposts.

You think their bowling is "nothing special",yet they got movement and turn out of the most docile of tracks imaginable,and our so-called bowling attack was a joke,with no variation or nous whatsoever.

How you can envisage anything other than an embarrassing rout based on that nonsense is beyond my comprehension.

We were totally outplayed at Lord's in 2005 apart from Australia's 1st innings but then re-grouped at won the series.

Our bowling attack was shite, add Onions and Harmison and take out Monty and Broad and we have a bowling attack to take 20 wickets against any side on our day.

Australia's bowling attack is no where near as good as it was in 2005. Our batsman played stupid shots and it could have avoided.

It was embarassing but not the end of the world, we have replacements and the batting in the 1st innings was alright was wasn't brilliant, still got 400+ against Australia. We have a quality batting line up.

 

[mcfc_nick]

why is everyone saying we got away with a draw? monty and jimmy looked very solid, if there was more time i think they were putting at least another 200 onto the score and were gonna go for the win but rain on saturday meant that it wasnt possible! they get some look them aussies!

 

[lc-mcfc]

Harmison recalled and Freddie is a doubt.

 

[johnny on the spot]

England squad: A Strauss (capt), J Anderson, I Bell, R Bopara, S Broad, P Collingwood, A Cook, A Flintoff, S Harmison, G Onions, M Panesar, K Pietersen, M Prior (wkt), G Swann