Ashes 2013-14

[Red Astaire]

"Pipe down". From the guy who was lording it all over this thread yesterday after Day 1.

Yesterday @16.50 'As Boycott said though I'll wait to see England bat before coming to any conclusions about this Aussie side (and captaincy).'
Yesterday @ 21.25 'Johnson could make some serious in roads if he decides to get his line right.'

Hardly lording it all over the thread - Quite the opposite really. So yes Pipe Down Mr England 1 Australia 0 - Spoken by you 2 hours before the start of yesterday play.

 

[Ryan]

Yesterday @16.50 'As Boycott said though I'll wait to see England bat before coming to any conclusions about this Aussie side (and captaincy).'
Yesterday @ 21.25 'Johnson could make some serious in roads if he decides to get his line right.'

Hardly lording it all over the thread - Quite the opposite really. So yes Pipe Down Mr England 1 Australia 0 - Spoken by you 2 hours before the start of yesterday play.

Some selective editing there mate and you know it.

Regardless, the Australian approach to this Test is gonna make it a proper ripsnorter of a Series in my book. There were signs even in their first batting innings that they're gonna go at it differently; I loved the agression shown against Swann. That's the way to play him, play him early, knock him for four, get off strike, don't let him get comfortable.

And the bowling attack was imperious. Johnson's getting all the credit rightly, bur Ryan Harris is proving again he's a top class opener. He's got Cook's number, he doesn't waste balls, and his line and length were there all day.

They were pumped up to begin with, and yesterday's gonna do nothing to halt that.

Gonna be a fascinating series.

 

[Pesam]

Edit: To show I am willing to put my money where my mouth is, I have just bet a tenner on England at 29/1.

I enjoy cricket but know very little about it and to prove the point I've joined you Portly....£5 England to win, wins £155.

 

[tony]

In the home Ashes series in the summer, the Aussies had figured out the way to get the wickets of Cook and Trott. The standard pattern was for Cook and Trott to get out cheaply, and the middle-order batsmen - especially Bell - to come to the rescue and accumulate a winning score. Yesterday the middle order didn't do the business!

We were crowing after the first day's play, the Aussies are crowing today, but there are three days to go before we will know who was justifiably crowing!

Exactly, this is a very flat track - and we are better off than the last test we played here when we finished on 500 odd for one. Didn't see anyone crowing yesterday as bad as Ryan's pathetic and childish outburst here. As I said before if we get out of Brisbane with a draw its going to be difficult for the Australians.

 

[Red Astaire]

Some selective editing there mate and you know it.

No I don't - I was obviously pleased with day 1- Who wouldn't be. I've been following England cricket for over 20 years so I wasn't counting my chickens before they batted.

For the record I don't think you should either. Plenty of play left and yes Australia did well and are in a fantastic position to go 1 up but they are not there yet. Today is going to be interesting for sure.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

He's Irish, & lives in Australia.

Talking shiote shocker then.

 

[Ryan]

No I don't - I was obviously pleased with day 1- Who wouldn't be. I've been following England cricket for over 20 years so I wasn't counting my chickens before they batted.

For the record I don't think you should either. Plenty of play left and yes Australia did well and are in a fantastic position to go 1 up but they are not there yet. Today is going to be interesting for sure.

Well I think if they can get an overall lead of 350+ (so they need 130 odd with all 10 wickets remaining) they'll be rightly favourites to win.

I'm certaonly not counting chickens either, I just thought it hilarious that there were several pages of trumpeting here, only to see Mitchell Johnson bloody rip you apart.

 

[Ryan]

Talking shiote shocker then

I think you were going for "shoite" there.

FAIL.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Typical celt with a massive chip on his shoulder when it comes to England, enjoy the rugby this weekend! should be a laugh.

 

[kingjulian]

I didn't think England were that far ahead, after first day, but now I do think they can't get back into this game. It will take a monumental effort in the second dig to save this match from here.

 

[tony]

I didn't think England were that far ahead, after first day, but I do think they can't get back into this game. It will take a monumental effort in the second dig to save this match from here.

Sure but we have done it before. Tbh the preparation for this test has been terrible, when it comes to the next Ashes lets give them their warm ups against Staffordshire 2nds on Orkney and see how they like it.

 

[kingjulian]

Actually getting there a month ahead is a luxury that most other teams don't get. In modern Cricket you get a week or at most 10 days to settle in on a tour.

Having a long preparatory tour has worked for England in the past but it won't always work. When you are chasing the pack players will have the motivation to do that kind of hard work, but in this case England have bested Australia for some time now, and it was bit of an overkill. It was the time to be a bit smarter and have a shorter but more effective tour practice schedule and let the confidence of having results behind do the rest.

Chasing over 400 in the fourth innings will be very difficult. But I think England will end up having to chase a lot more than that. If I was Australian Captain, for me the emphasis would be to tire out the English bowlers by keeping them on the field for as long as possible......they have already been on the tour for more than a month, and keeping them on the field for the best part of first four days of the very first test would psychologically make the rest of the series feel like climbing mount Everest!

 

[doctor_mac]

Well I think if they can get an overall lead of 350+ (so they need 130 odd with all 10 wickets remaining) they'll be rightly favourites to win.

I'm certaonly not counting chickens either, I just thought it hilarious that there were several pages of trumpeting here, only to see Mitchell Johnson bloody rip you apart.

I don't think there was much in the way of 'trumpeting'. Even when there was some satisfaction with the first day (and particularly that the Aussie tabloid hate figure had taken 6 wickets) the 'trumpeting' was pretty muted. Nobody was as arsey about it as you seem to be about Mitchell Johnson.

 

[Piedro]

That's a start anyway!

 

[FoxForceFive]

Just caught the replay.

Nice easy catch that.

Couldn't have hoped for a better start really.

 

[Ryan]

This tactic of walking Warner to get Clarke on strike is a bizarre one.

Fine if Broad can get Clarke with a short one, but are England really in a position to be allowing Australia to rotate the strike and keep the runs ticking over harmlessly?

 

[FoxForceFive]

Yeah, it's not something I agree with.

As a relative novice to cricket, I compare it to letting the opposition have the ball when you're losing cos they're not getting forward that much & when they do you think their striker will give it back straight away.

It's just doing make much sense.

Right, I've had enough, bed, Harrison seems to like 6am so up in less than 5 hours!

 

[Ryan]

Yeah, it's not something I agree with.

As a relative novice to cricket, I compare it to letting the opposition have the ball when you're losing cos they're not getting forward that much & when they do you think their striker will give it back straight away.

It's just doing make much sense.

Right, I've had enough, bed, Harrison seems to like 6am so up in less than 5 hours!

Clarke's one of the best batsmen in the world too. He's hit double centuries off Morkel and Steyn for God's sake.

This is just weird.

 

[kingjulian]

Clarke is not that weak against the short ball especially once he has settled... To target him with bumpers is silly cricket

What happened to "bowling dry" I wonder. You have got two batsmen out there who like to score at a decent clip and rotate the strike.... If there was a time to frustrate them, this would be it.

 

[Ryan]

Fully agree. I've no idea what Cook's thinking here.

These two have hit 60 runs off 70 balls from just nudging it around and taking singles. All because Cook's insisted on having Tremlett and Broad pitch them in short in the hope Clarke's gonna swing one to his 3 men out in the deep.

Average captaincy. Surround the wicket, bowl line and length and put Australia under pressure at 80-2 should have been the obvious tactic. Cook's let them off the hook (no pun intended).

 

[kingjulian]

The commentators have started talking about when Australia should declare. They seem to think that Australia should declare in the post tea session because of the threat of the rain.

Bullshit i say....this is just the third day, and Australia should plan to keep England on the field for a lot longer if they have the wickets in hand. Board and Anderson seem like the only two working option for Cook....force him to over work them, render them useless for the rest of the series.

Three to four sessions is more than enough....

 

[FoxForceFive]

Well the boy slept til 7 so I got an entire five & a half hours sleep. Not tired at all, honest.

England have their heads up their arses. They need to sort this shit out, hopefully it's the (cliché alert) wakeup call the players need.

Now, at 10-2 can someone tell me, is it worth England just telling their players to play safely & stay in as long as possible, or play 20-20 style with the idea to get some quick runs & maybe get out quicker meaning they're rested for the next test?

 

[Red Astaire]

No @FoxForceFive - The main objective at this point is to try and get some runs on the board. They have lost the test for sure but there can still be some positives. For example if someone in the middle order can grab a 'daddy' century that will do wonders to the team and put doubts in the Aussie bowlers. Cook grabbing a big score as well will bode well for the rest of series. Things like that.

What's more alarming is the complete breakdown of Trott. He was all over the place and simply had no answer to Johnson (Who looks completely transformed from 3 years ago)

 

[Piedro]

They have to believe they can still win the game, however slight the chances are! Their confidence must be rock bottom though after what's happened so far.

Play slowly and try and knock the runs off. Nice double hundred from cook, plus tons from pietersen and bell and we are almost home!

Arf!

 

[Fox]

I know its early but trotts place must be under threat with the pathetic way he is playing the short ball.

 

[Red Astaire]

Adelaide might suit him a bit more but I agree. The way he got out today was a shocker. I'm a massive fan of Trott as well but serious questions needs to be asked. How about Root at three and bring Bairstow in at 6?

 

[kingjulian]

It's not so bad....Trott is more than capable of turning it around. Warner is being a prick saying things like, Johnson is no Akthar or Ambrose...lesser batsmen have found their feet against better bowlers.

I think everyone is laying into Trott because that's what the media wants.

The thing about watching Ashes is i don't want to see either side win....i'm always finding myself supporting the side that is doing badly.

 

[Red Astaire]

Where are you from KJ? (if you don't mind me asking.)

 

[tony]

With the benefit of hindsight we missed a trick not playing Finn here, apart from being right arm he's very similar to Johnson and about 10mph quicker than Tremlett. Yes he's erratic but this is the fastest wicket in the world at the moment - much quicker and bouncier than Perth. Coming off the back of 7 wickets at Sydney where he improved as the match went on I think we've missed a trick here.

 

[tony]

Adelaide might suit him a bit more but I agree. The way he got out today was a shocker. I'm a massive fan of Trott as well but serious questions needs to be asked. How about Root at three and bring Bairstow in at 6?

Adelaide is a drop in pitch as the ground is being developed for Aussie rules and is low and slow apparently. The shield games they have played there this season aganst Western Australia was a runfest where most wickets fell to spinners, so the leg side targeting of him shouldn't be as effective if he is mentally ok. I would perservere with Trott and trust him to work his way out of this fault