MERGED - The 2010/2011 ASHES tour thread...all Ashes related chat here please!

After day 1 I still think that a) neither side are as good as they were in recent ashes tours and b) it will be a contest to see who is least rubbish.

So expect a cricketing classic that will be talked about for generations.
 
Allforone said:
To be honest the Ozzie attack wasn't that great, one magic spell from Siddle turned the game it can happen guy bowled brilliantly to be fair to him, but the rest looked pretty shit in all fairness.

Mitchell Johnson...ill never understand the hype around this man hes utter utter shit and Bell was taking the piss out of him most of his innings, Hilfenhaus is average at best and only a threat when the ball swings lucky for him it swung longer than it usually does in Aus, hes never taken 5 wickets in an innings in his entire test match career! and Doherty looked pretty ordinary until he picked up a couple of cheap throw away wickets at the end.

I don't think much has changed, the Ozzie attack isn't anything special, they won the day on the back of one great spell of bowling, a wonderful individual effort, the rest looked crap.

England need to bowl well and get themselves back in the game, they've clearly got a much better bowling outfit than the Australians so hopefully they can.
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They looked crap today but I think they're as good as the English bowling unit.
 
Wibble said:
After day 1 I still think that a) neither side are as good as they were in recent ashes tours and b) it will be a contest to see who is least rubbish.

So expect a cricketing classic that will be talked about for generations.
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For what its worth...these are the 4th and 5th ranked teams in test cricket, so obviously both teams are works in progress.

I do think the English bowlers, specially Anderson will face a tough time, whenever I've seen Anderson, if the ball doesn't swing, he looks Bangladesh standard. He won't be getting the Duke ball to bowl, so unless he digs deep and comes up with something, I think he might be a bit of a liability.
 
Allforone said:
To be honest the Ozzie attack wasn't that great, one magic spell from Siddle turned the game it can happen guy bowled brilliantly to be fair to him, but the rest looked pretty shit in all fairness.

...

I don't think much has changed, the Ozzie attack isn't anything special, they won the day on the back of one great spell of bowling, a wonderful individual effort, the rest looked crap.

England need to bowl well and get themselves back in the game, they've clearly got a much better bowling outfit than the Australians so hopefully they can.
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Well we're all entitled to a little bias aren't we? :)
 
Can't understand what people are getting excited about.

Its akin to being 0-0 after 20 minutes & Edwin has had to make a save from a decent opposition shot...

There's a long way to go yet, Oz could be all out for 230, or 280, then its as you were...

Its a 5 day test, plenty can happen in the next 4 days, although I suggest that it may not go to a 5th day...
 
I'm not the greatest follower of cricket and it's variations but I'd have thought 260 is a pretty poor total on what was by all accounts a batsmans dream of a pitch. Surely Ponting, Clarke, Hussey and co have enough about them to bat that kind of score into oblivion?
 
WireRed said:
I'm not the greatest follower of cricket and it's variations but I'd have thought 260 is a pretty poor total on what was by all accounts a batsmans dream of a pitch. Surely Ponting, Clarke, Hussey and co have enough about them to bat that kind of score into oblivion?
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Those 3 are very good Test players (Ponting's obviously a legend) but they've all struggled recently, in particular Hussey. Both Hussey and North are short of test runs so if England get a few early wickets, I think they have a chance of getting Australia out cheaply. Shane Watson's going to be a big wicket for England imo, he's been in good form recently.

Will be interested to see how Swann and Broad go today.
 
WireRed said:
I'm not the greatest follower of cricket and it's variations but I'd have thought 260 is a pretty poor total on what was by all accounts a batsmans dream of a pitch. Surely Ponting, Clarke, Hussey and co have enough about them to bat that kind of score into oblivion?
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Not true at all, if anything it was slightly in batsman's favour, hardly a dream pitch.
 
Michael Vaughan: "The pitch looks a bit 'fluffy' but it's still a good pitch and I'd expect one of the Australian batsmen to make a hundred on it..."
 
Good delivery, important wicket of Watson. Here comes Ricky...
 
Good ball from Anderson that one. Much-needed wicket. If we can pick up another quick wicket we're back in it.
 
Get in Anderson.. feck was so close to going to bed, but I'm willing to stay after lunch if we can take another one.
 
Bed for me. Gonna record the rest of the day and watch it when i get up. Have a horrid feeling i'll end up watching punter get a hundred and australia build up a huge lead.
 
I've watched Finn play 4 times against Bangladesh and I really don't think he gets as much bounce as he should given that he's 6'7. Harmison got a lot more steepling bounce, and even Flintoff used to hit the splice of the bat more regularly.
 
Said i believe England had the stronger attack of the two, Australia in trouble and Hussey lucky not to have been out first ball, very even at the moment a wicket or a partnership for either side gains the initiative, not a lot left to come for Australia England will fancy they can get a decent little lead here if they have a good last session.

Been very impressed with James Anderson, caused all sorts of problems, Michael Clarke was all over the place for his 9 runs off 50 balls, Swann starting to get some grip and turn on this pitch, Hussey playing very positively.

State of play at Tea:

Australia 168-5
 
Wibble said:
143-5

Australia taking pride in not being out rubbished by England.
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Are you here only to moan about the quality of play, which hasn't been bad at all in truth? It's getting a little tiresome.
 
zing said:
Are you here only to moan about the quality of play, which hasn't been bad at all in truth? It's getting a little tiresome.
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It has been terrible. A mate of mine who is at the Gabba (an England fan) has been texting me the same saying it is the worst international cricket that he has seen. Which is something being an England fan.

I hope it gets better but both sides have been shit so far. Really shit.
 
Allforone said:
I think the quality of crickets been very good, some very good bowling on what is in truth a pretty flat unbowler friendly wicket, ive been very impressed with how England have come out and done today.
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A decent side would make 500 on this wicket.
 
Yes. I'm not sure what Wibble's expecting. Does he look at Man United playing and shake his fist at the screen every time Valencia or someone else makes an error saying "That's not what George Best would've done"?
 
Wibble said:
A decent side would make 500 on this wicket.
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Maybe instead of rubbishing the batsmen you should commend the bowling which has been very good, England have bowled excellently especially in that second session today and Siddle bowled the spell of his life last night, sometimes cricket isnt as simple as 'flat pitch bright sunshine 500 today lads' bowlers are allowed to bowl well.
 
zing said:
Yes. I'm not sure what Wibble's expecting. Does he look at Man United playing and shake his fist at the screen every time Valencia or someone else makes an error saying "That's not what George Best would've done"?
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I guess some people have a more simplistic view of the game, theres been numerous test matches like this whereby the pitch offers little and yet both bowling attacks produce a very good spell of bowling and suddenly 450 plays 500 becomes 300 plays 250 etc, it doesn't actually mean both sides are shit because they haven't put mammoth runs on the board bowlers are allowed to bowl well an all.

I much prefer cricket like this myself, wickets coming and batsmen working for their runs, much better than having sat through a side 400-1 after 90 overs of bat dominating ball and the inevitable drawn test match.
 
zing said:
Yes. I'm not sure what Wibble's expecting. Does he look at Man United playing and shake his fist at the screen every time Valencia or someone else makes an error saying "That's not what George Best would've done"?
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Not at all but if Brentford and Carlisle turned out in United and Arsenal shirts I think I'd notice the difference and comment on it in disappointment.
 
Allforone said:
I guess some people have a more simplistic view of the game, theres been numerous test matches like this whereby the pitch offers little and yet both bowling attacks produce a very good spell of bowling and suddenly 450 plays 500 becomes 300 plays 250 etc, it doesn't actually mean both sides are shit because they haven't put mammoth runs on the board bowlers are allowed to bowl well an all.

I much prefer cricket like this myself, wickets coming and batsmen working for their runs, much better than having sat through a side 400-1 after 90 overs of bat dominating ball and the inevitable drawn test match.
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Well matched games are more interesting than one sided competitions but being equally rubbish is far less satisfying than watching 2 quality sides that are well matched.
 
Wibble said:
Not at all but if Brentford and Carlisle turned out in United and Arsenal shirts I think I'd notice the difference and comment on it in disappointment.
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That's the thing, though. This Australian team aren't as good as a #1 team, but they're still very good. They can't compare to the last team that blanked England 5-0, but no team will. That was a once in history team. You're going to be very disappointed if you watch cricket expecting Warne, McGrath, Langer, Hayden, Gilchrist and a Ponting in prime form to turn out every match. That's not even mentioning the other 5 players in the team who were also very good.
 
I don't care how green Usman is...North needs to be dropped. He should never have been in the test squad, and once he got in, his performances have no merited his stay.

2nd Test Khawaja for North, make it happen selectors.
 
North scored a century in our last test, so there's no way he was going to be dropped. Given the way Clarke struggled, perhaps he wasn't okay and shouldn't have played this match.

Anderson's bowling today has been :drool:
 
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