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The Ashes 2009

Hmm - 2006 - I know that I was here...think it may have been something like listening to it (before R5 live locked the broadcast down?) on the internet whislt watching the Swiss TV coverage - I can't remember the details myself tbh! whatever it was, I'm sure it was a fluke :D

yeah I just meant listening to it. Whenever I tried listening to any commentary from BBC in China, it just fed me the contractural obligations wankfest
 
Also, David Lacy - from the Guardian - plagurised my work from the 1990s.

When it was published it was out of date and not exactly correct, but the prick published it in the Guardian on the following Saturday.

Cheeky cunt.
 
That said Broad still has a big overdraft, needs a few more spells like that, against the Yarpies.

Team for SA:

Strauss*
Denly/Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Bopara
Collingwood
Prior+
Broad
Swann/Rashid
Anderson
Onions

Strauss is a legend :cool:

Cook seems to have fucked it, see how Denly goes.

Trott has #3 written all over him for me; solid technically, great head on his shoulders, can play the new ball well if in early and spin too if the openers get a good start. KP plays where he wants which is 4, Ravi and Colly are better down the order, then you have Prior who is pretty much a batsman, Broad looks the goods with a bat, Swann/Rashid can hit a few.

Swing and seam-up with Jimmeh and Onions, backed up by whatever Broad delivers depending on mood, good spin from Swanny or Adil, a few cutters from Colly or some offie from KP.

Jobs a gud'un.

Looks good enough. I'd like to see Denly compete with Cook for the other opener's spot. Collingwood's still worth his position.

England will still have to look for a proper out-and-out scary fast man. Who are the county prospects?
 
It's also now traditional for the open-topped bus procession to be followed by a 5-0 Aussie whitewash in the return series.

I'll settle for England being transported to Trafalgar Square in a fleet of battered up Maestros and Mondeos if it avoids that fate again.

I don't think we'll see that. Apparently even Fred turned in early last night. This series just didnt capture the imagination like 05, for whatever reason. I think its down to the personalities involved - neither team had a big character really... shame, was entertaining nonetheless for the purist.
 
I think in 2005 it was just more dramatic. We got pulverised in the first test IIRC and everyone said we had no chance, and then we levelled with a win in like the last ball or something when the Aussies needed only two more runs to win. Then it was a dramatic draw and then an exciting win to go 2-1 up
 
Collingwood's still worth his position.

I wouldn't agree. He's the most nothing player in world cricket. He's a mediocre batsman, a less than mediocre bowler and while his fielding was once excellent I think the years have caught up with him on that front.
 
I don't think we'll see that. Apparently even Fred turned in early last night. This series just didnt capture the imagination like 05, for whatever reason. I think its down to the personalities involved - neither team had a big character really... shame, was entertaining nonetheless for the purist.

some truth in that - would have been bigger if it was on terrestrial telly, freddie was a bit subdued, KP went off early doors, Punter was a bit of a boo boy earlier on, but then the crowds showed some punter love, the aussies had no bad boy bowlers, nor did england tbf
 
some truth in that - would have been bigger if it was on terrestrial telly, freddie was a bit subdued, KP went off early doors, Punter was a bit of a boo boy earlier on, but then the crowds showed some punter love, the aussies had no bad boy bowlers, nor did england tbf

KP v Warne in 05 was what made it IMO. Two massive egos clashing, loved it.
 
Australia aren't special any more, neither are England. It makes for closer contests out on the pitch, based on occasional flashes of brilliance and lapses in concentration rather than some of the more consistent stuff we had in 2005. With K.P having turned into the moodiest and most wastefully gifted English Saffie we've got, Fred toddled off into the sunset - it'll be the next generation of young cricketers combined with those current squad members who'll still be around in 2/4 years times who decide where we're going. But we'll need more Stuart Broad's than Ravi Bopara's. Monty has got to get his head in the bloody game, K.P has got to fucking grow up or fuck the fuck off at the minute - he's moodier than an Aussie this morning at the minute and isn't our 'best player' by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, and we need to find a decent top order. And we still bloody won the Ashes :D
 
I wouldn't agree. He's the most nothing player in world cricket. He's a mediocre batsman, a less than mediocre bowler and while his fielding was once excellent I think the years have caught up with him on that front.

He's not a mediocre batsman -- a limited one, for sure, but he'll find some form soon, he always does. England look a bit more solid with him, although he had a poor last three Tests. He doesn't need to bowl, and he hasn't become a poor fielder overnight.
 
But we'll need more Stuart Broad's than Ravi Bopara's.

how fickle! just before the ashes, Bopara had scored 3 centuries in a row against the windies while Broad was getting lambasted for being dog shite at the start of the series. Two good tests doesn't make Broad the saviour of english cricket, nor does a bad series make Bopara the villain in all this.
 
Yeah Ravi is not, and will never be a #3 for me (against the decent teams at any rate).

I'd stick with him down the order though.
 
Are batting positions much more fixed these days? Looking at scorecards from 20, 30 and more years ago, it seemed much more common for players to switch, even across a series. One of the arguments against dropping Ravi down the order (rather than dropping him altogether) was that it would show a sign of weakness, whereas this seems to have been done with much more regularity in the 70s, 80s...
 
After the euphoria, the realism: England's numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 – keeper plus three bowling all-rounders – all averaged higher in this series than Collingwood, Bell, Cook or Bopara, who all averaged well under 30 (the benchmark for very poor series). Collingwood, Cook and Bell will be lucky boys to be picked for the next match. I would drop one, two or all three of them.
 
bit of an anti climax really.

Australia brought their worst team for about 15 years. It's always good to beat the Aussies and hopefully next time they will put up more of a fight.

Some of them seem like good cricketers, some of them just seem like weaklings who can't hack it.
 
bit of an anti climax really.

Australia brought their worst team for about 15 years. It's always good to beat the Aussies and hopefully next time they will put up more of a fight.

Some of them seem like good cricketers, some of them just seem like weaklings who can't hack it.

Nah,cant agree,i reckon it was a pretty good series despite the fact we got rolled:(,teams were pretty even except we coudn't take wickets when we needed too(Cardiff) nor make runs when needed(Lords).
That was as good as team as we could muster imo except i would have Manou for Haddin,maybe played Watson earlier for Hughes:hmm:Who gives a rats,its all academic now,your blokes were too good this time:)So fuck off you Pommy bastards and enjoy yourselves:D
 
I reckon the Aussies could have done with Symonds, just to get on everyone's nerves, he'd have got shitfaced and made a hundred the next morning probably as well
 
Yeah Ravi is not, and will never be a #3 for me (against the decent teams at any rate).

I'd stick with him down the order though.
This. He has dash, which would be good lower down the order. Obviously he needs to tighten his technique a bit, because not all teams are going to be as generous with drops as the Windies were, but if he comes in just ahead of Prior (wherever he ends up batting) he'd have more license to play as himself, rather than trying to be something he isn't. Colly's worth keeping at four/five (for the moment at least) because, as he showed in Cardiff, he has the knack of showing up just when he is desperately needed (sort of a poor man's Thorpe I suppose). IMO, when KP returns, it should be at Bell's expense, as the others all have more to bring to the party than he does.
 
Well, I guess Ravi can fill his boots again next summer when the West Indies come back. Four series in two years v. the WI -- how crap is that?
 
Does anyone really think Watson will become a full time opener??? I give him not long till a run of very poor form and he'll be gone, or lowered down to 6ish.
 
Colly's worth keeping at four/five (for the moment at least) because, as he showed in Cardiff, he has the knack of showing up just when he is desperately needed (sort of a poor man's Thorpe I suppose).
He singularly failed to do this at Headingley! In fact since Cardiff, he's had a terrible run of form. The shot he was out to in the second innings at the Oval was worse than anything Bopara played. It was a timid tailender's dismissal. Worrying.
 
Does anyone really think Watson will become a full time opener??? I give him not long till a run of very poor form and he'll be gone, or lowered down to 6ish.

he's got 50s, but never more, they need someone who can bang out more runs, and he's a rubbish bowler, he was just there as an emergency, did ok, but can't see him lasting
 
the funny thing is, Broad had one and a half good tests now suddenly he's the new flintoff. plenty of other players who are mentioned as failures in the series (Colly, Bell etc) have had similarly inconsistent performances but there's all kinds of talk about dropping them. Collingwood saved the first test for us and Bell got a couple of important half centuries. now i'm not suggesting that Broad should be dropped or even that Colly or Bell should not be under scrutiny, but it's amazing how people only remember your last match as opposed to performances throughout the whole series.
 
Broad might end up being a bit of a Jimmeh though, big impact now and - well in Jimmy's case catastrophic injury/loss of form - then will have a late burst.

I think a good few of the England top order need to get back to County and remember how to bloody bat properly ;) [/boycott]
 
Broad might end up being a bit of a Jimmeh though, big impact now and - well in Jimmy's case catastrophic injury/loss of form - then will have a late burst.

I think a good few of the England top order need to get back to County and remember how to bloody bat properly ;) [/boycott]

Strauss's revival began by playing district cricket in NZ a summer or two ago. Maybe getting out of England would help some of the current middle order. A summer playing state cricket in Aus before the next ashes would definitely harden Bell up anyway.
 
Collingwood played a vital innings at Cardiff. He didn't finish the job even there, though, and has failed miserably ever since. Bell scored an important half-century at the Oval, sure. But he failed to convert again and overall, he had three bad tests. England's top five batting order, Strauss excepted, was awful. No other word for those averages, and the fact that Flintoff, Broad and Swann outscored them says a lot.
 
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