The Ashes 2015
- Thread starter Santino
- Start date
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
He opens the batting for Worcestershire IIRC, and has opened for England in ODIs.
He's the sort of player who wants to hit everything he can though, opening requires someone boring who can stand there and block everything but a bad ball.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
Warner as vice-captain? That's a bit desperate isn't it. Basically the only other batsman whose place is secure.
I'm going to the tour match at Northampton tomorrow. I'll report back whether they are as shit in the flesh as they are on tele. I bet S.Marsh hits a ton, the fucking flat track bully that he is, still, I'm looking forward to seeing Pat Cummins bowl.
They are as shit in the flesh. That being said Cummins was bowling some pretty hostile stuff and Mitchell Marsh played well, they both had long bowls as well which suggests they'll both start at the Oval.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Has anyone else been pissed off with the constant mention of the conditions and the ball in this series? Duke balls have been used in England for decades and the conditions are exactly the same as they've always been. I've found it very annoying to hear it mentioned so often - it devalues the win, and it's total bloody bollocks. Same conditions for both teams.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
They only just avoided following on yesterday.
Against Northants reserves.Not really no. I think the conditions have played a very important role just as they did when we got thumped down there last time out and just as it will when it's turning sideways in the UAE. You can't escape the fact that it is becoming very very rare for test series to be won by the away side and this is for a number of reasons. Also when you look at this series the one game when it wasn't doing much the aussies were in their element, compare that to the other games and in particular Steve Smith, a world beater at Lords and hopelessly technically flawed in every other game.
Of course England played some good cricket but Oz were terrible against the moving ball, some of their shots were pure village. Having seen the tour match on Saturday it just looked like two teams playing completely different cricket. All the Oz bowling was quick and hostile but it was only when Northants bowled that the ball started beating the bat.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
England really should have won 2-1 in uae last time.
I don't buy it at all that home advantage is anything different from what it's always been. And the very best find a way to adapt. But we've heard more about 'conditions' this series than ever before.
I don't buy it at all that home advantage is anything different from what it's always been. And the very best find a way to adapt. But we've heard more about 'conditions' this series than ever before.
Yeah because it's not just the low Oz scores it's how they've got out. They have clear technical flaws for these conditions just as England do on the fast pitches of Oz and the bunsons in the UAE.
England go down to Oz and get thumped, notably through quick and hostile bowling on fast pitches. Fast forward a short period of time and Oz get thumped on green seamers with helpful overhead conditions. So much of Cricket is about how teams adapt to conditions, just look at the shots aussies played against the moving ball?
What is different now is 20/20 and big money has changed everything in Cricket. There is next to no tour preparation, teams just turn up and play, look at the amount of tour games a tour used to consist of. Then there is all the 20/20 stuff and big money mean that players are playing less and less long format cricket in foreign conditions. How many young aussie batsman are playing county cricket? It's a different cricketing world and players are less and less able to adapt to long innings in alien conditions.
Idaho
blah blah blah
Cricket is ridiculous for its "news agenda". A team can go from being the best in the world to hopeless after one match. Likewise the series will be defined by mitchell johnson pace... Then the moving ball.
I would like to see Rashid given his chance at the oval, but it won't happen.
I would like to see Rashid given his chance at the oval, but it won't happen.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I'm still not totally buying this conditions thing. Sri Lanka managed it last year, and in early-season conditions, which are even trickier. Yes, Sangakkara came over early to practise with a county team, but he wasn't the only one to get runs.
Winning away is the benchmark of a great team. I just think there aren't any really great teams around at the moment. Maybe that is due to the amount of one-day stuff going on. But maybe not - no team plays more pointless one-dayers than Sri Lanka, and yet they adapted and won here last year.
Winning away is the benchmark of a great team. I just think there aren't any really great teams around at the moment. Maybe that is due to the amount of one-day stuff going on. But maybe not - no team plays more pointless one-dayers than Sri Lanka, and yet they adapted and won here last year.
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
As mentioned above he's an opener. If he's brought in then there would be space for Rashid.
Cook
Ali
Bell
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Buttler
Rashid
Broad
Wood/Finn
Anderson
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Well Johnson wasn't very effective. And it turns out that Starc and Hazlewood were both nowhere near as good as the hype that had preceded them.
But pace bowling can excel in England. West Indies in the 80s barely lost a test here. In the 'Blackwash' year, they didn't even come close to losing a test here. Wasim and Waqar did great here.
Balls to the conditions. Aus were just shit.
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
Getting Ali and Rashid working together before the UAE.
This is kind of what I'm getting at and the point really, that conditions have not got worse but the modern player's ability to adapt to them has. Only once in the last eight ashes series has the away team won.
Oz lost because they batted like shit when the conditions didn't suit.
All of whom played a lot of county cricket.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
True.
Lillee didn't, though, and he did alright here. Mohammad Amir hadn't played here, and he did alright. Seam bowlers should be licking their lips at the idea of a Duke's ball and a favourable pitch.
McGrath? Don't remember him playing CC.
McGrath played for both Worcs and Middlesex, but yes not season after season.
But the aussie attack is really set up for pace and with the likes of Pattinson and Cummins in the background that's not going to change. But all this is a bit of a distraction as they bowled OK, maybe not with the control but they knocked over England enough times, but in the last two tests they had nothing to bowl at. If you get skittled for 60 then you're not going to win regardless of who you have bowling.
All the talk about conditions is because Oz batsman were playing shots like they were on the WACA not an overcast morning next to the Trent. When it didn't swing around at Lords it was fine, they could still be batting now.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
There's more than one way to open. Sehwag tried to hit the very first ball for four. Ended his career averaging just about 50. Warner is similar.
I have no problem with this approach - test cricket is not about how, but how many. Main thing is to know your own game and be clear how you want to play. So if you're a 'traditional' opener like Cook, you leave everything you can for the first hour, then see how it goes from there. But no problem with trying to blast your way to 50 in the first hour, not if that's the method you've decided on beforehand and if that method gets results.
Problem with Lyth this summer has been that he's looked to play like a traditional opener but hasn't been able to resist darting at the wide ones early on. Problem's in his head now.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
True. It's their batsmen who lost them this series.
...and when you score them. Oz have scored more runs in this series than England.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
True. I'm not blaming conditions for England's defeat at Lord's either. Should have scored a lot more than 320 first innings, and should have got a whole lot closer to the draw than they did.
TBH the batting of both teams has been fragile. If you look at the averages for the series, they show that. Without Root, England would have been buggered.
Odd series. I haven't been hugely impressed with either team, really. Not like 2005, when it felt like England played really well to beat a really good team.
We definitely haven't played really well across the team. We have won some really key sessions against a pretty ordinary and dysfunctional aussie team
Hearing some of the old players in Oz coming up with all the guff about blaming the wives for being on tour, Clarke denying rifts, the rumours of him not travelling on the team bus etc all smacks of a touring party in chaos and we've taken advantage at key moments
Which is what they do to us, the odd whitewash not withstanding.
Hearing some of the old players in Oz coming up with all the guff about blaming the wives for being on tour, Clarke denying rifts, the rumours of him not travelling on the team bus etc all smacks of a touring party in chaos and we've taken advantage at key moments
Which is what they do to us, the odd whitewash not withstanding.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
There are definite similarities with England last time in Aus. Senior bowler retiring through injury. Established keeper not making it to the end of the series. A collective failure with the bat, including the captain not getting any. 30-something new batsman brought in as a short-term measure, and pretty certain never to play again after the series.
And disarray by the end. I really wish they'd been made to follow on against Northants.
All points to a miserable end for Aus. I don't believe Clarke will rediscover anything. And I think 4-1 will be the result barring rain.
And disarray by the end. I really wish they'd been made to follow on against Northants.
All points to a miserable end for Aus. I don't believe Clarke will rediscover anything. And I think 4-1 will be the result barring rain.
I'm hoping for a victory on Saturday. Am going with the father in law Friday and Saturday, he has tickets for the whole game on his aussie tour package. Mrs has told me 3 days is not going to be a good look for me to attend but I want to be there for the final day if poss. Which is unlikely to be Monday..
