Ashes II - 2013/14 - In Australia

Trott's my favourite of England's batting, it's a shame to see him go. Mental illness is a horrible thing.

There really is no love lost between us and the Aussies, I hope we smash them in the next Tests. Wankers.

No major loss for Test cricket. Boring, staid batsman. Shame about the illness, hope he recovers soon.
 
Sorry if that comes across as a bit cnutish but really?

Not KP, Bell or Cook?

They're all good but I have admired the way Trott digs himself in and gets himself into the zone. He doesn't care about what's going on around him and just keeps gardening etc at the crease.
 
Quite fancy seeing Stokes come in as he offers something with the ball and can be explosive with the bat. The Aussies have figured Bairstow out.

Stokes comes in at 6, Bell moves to 3 and Finn comes in for Tremlett
 
"I'll have a think about it," Flower said at the press conference where Trott's departure was announced when asked if talks with Lehmann were necessary. "I think both sides must concentrate on playing the game of cricket on the pitch. In a competitive way but finding the right balance.

Flower came to the Indian dressing room and asked Dhoni to recall Bell when Bell had been stupidly run out.

Flower, after Broad didn't walk, "It's part of the game, and we should move on with it."

Flower, after England get convincingly beaten and feel under the cosh, "We'll have a talk to reduce the sledging."

What a hypocrite.
 
And he went and compared Trott's injury to a hamstring pull. Really dislikeable character.
 
Aussies should sledge even more the next game, England appear to be rattled and the Aussies should amp it up.
 
Aussies should sledge even more the next game, England appear to be rattled and the Aussies should amp it up.
Yup. Flower hides behind sanctimonious bullshit when it's not favouring England.
 
Warne really dislikes Ponting, doesn't he?

Seeing some show on TV, leg spinning master class from him and he says Sachin the best player of his era, then Lara.. then a group of players Gooch, Pietersen, Mark Waugh..

Then says "Ponting probably ought to be in there somewhere" after about 10 names.
 
Warne really dislikes Ponting, doesn't he?

Seeing some show on TV, leg spinning master class from him and he says Sachin the best player of his era, then Lara.. then a group of players Gooch, Pietersen, Mark Waugh..

Then says "Ponting probably ought to be in there somewhere" after about 10 names.


:lol: Ponting though, what a player.
 
Little bit of talk that Tymal Mills is going to get a call up.

feck me, that would be fighting fire with fire the kid is seriously, seriously quick.

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Did that to Cook in the nets recently, not sure he's ready for international cricket though. Needs more control.
 
An Irishman, a Kiwi and a Zimbabwean are sitting in a bar … They're waiting to hear which one will be replacing Trott in Adelaide.
 
An Irishman, a Kiwi and a Zimbabwean are sitting in a bar … They're waiting to hear which one will be replacing Trott in Adelaide.


Who's the Kiwi?
 
A man who averages near 50 in test cricket and is probably one of the best in the world. It is a major loss.


He is referring more to the style of Trott's play. I haven't seen him enough, but I haven't heard good things.
 
Not liking this team selection at all, they've bottled it I think, panicked and tried not to be predictable.

Ballance should be playing, England's batting line up is extremely weak at the moment, Stokes is a poor choice to strengthen it, and bowling wise I certainly won't be expecting much. With Panesar too this is an extremely weak batting side.

Panesar is an extremely poor selection too, based on his record this year, his record in this part of the world, and his personal troubles, its a poor selection in my view. The only reason he's even in the squad is Kerrigan's woeful performance at the Oval. Regardless of which given we're bowling first anyway he's only likely to end up with a bit part bowling role.

Root at 3 is another terrible decision, he was a rabbit in headlights opening and was painfully slow at scoring. Considering the way our openers have been playing, playing 3 for England is essentially playing as an opener. Bell should have been moved up and Root retained in the middle order.

Expecting this to be 2-0 Aussies based on this, hope i'll be surprised but certainly not expecting it. I doubt we'll be seeing an improvement on our batting troubles with this line up anyway.
 
Word for word what I think, Jules.

Stokes good enough with neither bat nor ball. Batting already brittle has been weakened and I genuinely don't see that attack taking 20 wickets on that pitch.

Also dull, dull, game in store I think. Pitch looks pathetic.

More annoyed I made a cup of coffee before the toss, should have just gone to bed.
 
I obviously don't speak that aboriginal dialect but even I can tell you she fecked that up.
 
I'm struggling to think of reasons to watch this match.

If there's more than 25 wickets on this pitch I will be amazed.
 
Two spinners? Why?

Stokes isn't good enough as a 3rd seamer and he isn't good enough to be a no. 6 batsman.
 
Two spinners? Why?

Stokes isn't good enough as a 3rd seamer and he isn't good enough to be a no. 6 batsman.


Because this pitch is slooooooooow and spinners have taken over 50% of shield wickets on it.

In fairness, having seen the pitch I'm beginning to agree with the team selection. There is NOTHING here that should worry a batsman and England's batting line up should be good enough to score a significant amount of runs on it whether they have 6 or 5 and a half outright batsmen. Harris, Watson and Siddle will bowl well here with nagging accuracy but even then they shouldn't overly threaten and Johnson's lack of control should really hurt him, this is not a pitch you can spray it around on.

England have gambled on the pitch breaking up and taking spin which is fair enough, they couldn't rely on it doing anything upfront.

It's a horses for courses team, time will tell if its the right decision.