The Ashes

[Rich Taff]

Oz found the rhythm. Batting line up is doing there job, Bowlers taking wickets.
England has issues. Trott out and replaced by Monthy. I reckon their bowlers are good enough but the batsmen don't really fire.

Totally agree. Oz has found some of their old fighting spirit, and the England bowlers have been carrying the Batsmen for some time now.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

I know it won happen but england need to take broad Finn tremlett and Rankin to the waca. Anderson panesar and swann should carry the drinks

 

[Rich Taff]

Yeah, Finn tends to get overlooked because he's fairly expensive. He's expensive because he always attacks though, looking for wickets. Instead of trying to stop the batsman from scoring, he tries to get them out.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

haha maybe that's why my bowling figure always look crap

the reason i named those blokes is because they are tall and eng should take 4 paceman to the waca. they need to keep it full though otherwise they'll be bowling head high wides.

sure anderson has his strengths but I believe they aren't suited to perth. a left arm quick would have also been valuable for england at the waca as i hear the fremantle doctor (strong cross ground wind) suits them.

 

[Darwin]

3rd Test starts in a few hours - it is now do or die for England. I do agree that they should look at including another "bounce" bowler in their XI - Finn would be my choice. I hear that Bresnan is back to full fitness too, so will come into contention. It will be interesting to see whether they do go in with 4 specialist pace bowlers - given Swann has not impressed so far I'm sure it is something they will consider. Rankin may be an option, but has no experience at this level, while Tremlett didn't really impress in the 1st test (his figures were ok, but he just seemed a bit slow).

If they do opt for 4 pace bowlers I don't think there is any reason to include Stokes - he is a promising young player, but I think both Ballance at Bairstow are better batsmen at this stage (and England need as many runs as possible!).

I don't expect any change for Australia, as I understand Harris has been passed fit. Lyon looks set to start again (instead of Faulkner) - he has bowled pretty well so far, and Australia won't want to change a winning combination. Johnson has been the key for Australia so far - I felt he was starting to show signs of fatigue near the end of the last test (allowing the England batsmen handled him comfortably), but he has had some success at the WACA before.

EDIT: Only one change for England, with Bresnan in for Panesar. Australia are unchanged.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Well after England looked like they'd worked us out, Smith comes out and makes a tonne. hard days work in the field, have played club cricket in 42 degrees myself and it wasn't easy so I feel for England but they really got loose with those short balls.

Australian on top after day 1, you'd think a total of 400 would be enough to make it hard to England to come back from.

 

[Darwin]

The test is pretty evenly balanced so far. England bowled a lot better this morning, but I'm sure Australia will be happy with 385 after being 143-5 at one stage. A fair bit of controversy about the Root dismissal - there was more than enough evidence for the 3rd umpire to overturn the 'out' decision in my opinion.

 

[RoosTah]

Welcome back Ashes. You're home where you belong again ;-)

 

[SelimNiai]

Technically theyve never left their home of Lord's.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Indeed. Really good stuff by the Aussies.

 

[Rich Taff]

Can't see an Australian win, even with the apparent media campaign against KP and Broad.

I'm REALLY regretting posting that now

 

[TRF_Cymro]

England have been an embarrassment. They should have seen this coming since the summer Ashes earlier on this year.

Flower has let the ball slip for the first time in his reign. To many players out of touch, to many similar 'fast' bowlers on tour, to many excuses, the wrong gameplan and the worst ... a lack of dog.

There needs to be changes for the next test. England have nothing to lose now and might as well give the rest on tour a chance to show the old guard how it's done.

Ballance, Bairstow and Rankin in. If they can chuck James Harris in from the development tour also, then they should. It's not change for the sake of change but might as well give these lads a run, they can do no worse.

 

[Darwin]

England have been an embarrassment. They should have seen this coming since the summer Ashes earlier on this year.

Flower has let the ball slip for the first time in his reign. To many players out of touch, to many similar 'fast' bowlers on tour, to many excuses, the wrong gameplan and the worst ... a lack of dog.

There needs to be changes for the next test. England have nothing to lose now and might as well give the rest on tour a chance to show the old guard how it's done.

Ballance, Bairstow and Rankin in. If they can chuck James Harris in from the development tour also, then they should. It's not change for the sake of change but might as well give these lads a run, they can do no worse.

There was a lot of talk when the squad was announced about England 'putting all their eggs in one basket' by picking a pile of tall 'bounce' bowlers (Tremlett, Rankin, and Finn). The strange thing is they seem to have gone out of their way not to pick any of them. Tremlett played the first test and (ending up with respectable match figures of 4-120), but since them none of these bowlers have been sighted. I'm not at all suggesting picking these players would be the answer to England's problems (as their issues run deeper than this), but it is strange that they haven't even tried to pick players who could exploit the conditions.

Australia have this game in the bag, but it is nice to see Stokes showing a bit of his batting talent.

 

[RoosTah]

Technically theyve never left their home of Lord's.

Well yes, but you know what I mean. Now there's a big glass trophy to symbolise it too, and we'll be hanging onto that.

 

[Darwin]

 

[Larksea]

I always thought the Aussies would have this but never believed it would be so one sided.

hard to believe that no English batsman has scored a ton so far this series yet the Aussies clock up one or two every innings. With Trot out and Cook mindf$^# the English batting lineup is really in the crapper.

England need to drop swan and barestow(sp) for Finn and another batsman. Something like that I wont pretend to know the English players that well.

The Johnson factor is pretty big - lets face it its turning this series on its head. He is taking a LOT of wickets and the other aussie bowlers are taking wickets around him because of his bowling and the damage he is doing physically and psychologically.

Hadden seems to have a new lease on life, Lion is complementing the attack perfectly.

some stat came out yesterday that Clarke, Hadden and Warner had scored more runs just the three of them combined than the entire English team this series.

 

[Larksea]

I'm not that surprised by Australia's dominance in the series so far. Basically Australia have a fantastic fast bowling line up (they basically have 10 world class fast bowlers: Siddle, Pattinson, Bird, Johnson, Harris, Starc, Faulkner etc). They also have Clarke who has an absolutely fantastic batsman. Basically their fast bowling attack and Clarke have been so good that the fact that Watson, Bailey, Smith etc are not test quality has been covered up. Clarke can't always score runs and when he doesn't Australia will be in trouble. England have a more well-rounded side but less out and out brilliance.

pretty funny since Watson and Smith just scored tons and Bailey took 28 off a Jimmy Anderson over to reach the Dec Target. After Clarke got out cheap

pretty much everyone is contributing for the aussies. almost no one is contributing for the poms

 

[Darwin]

I always thought the Aussies would have this but never believed it would be so one sided.

hard to believe that no English batsman has scored a ton so far this series yet the Aussies clock up one or two every innings. With Trot out and Cook mindf$^# the English batting lineup is really in the crapper.

England need to drop swan and barestow(sp) for Finn and another batsman. Something like that I wont pretend to know the English players that well.

The Johnson factor is pretty big - lets face it its turning this series on its head. He is taking a LOT of wickets and the other aussie bowlers are taking wickets around him because of his bowling and the damage he is doing physically and psychologically.

Hadden seems to have a new lease on life, Lion is complementing the attack perfectly.

some stat came out yesterday that Clarke, Hadden and Warner had scored more runs just the three of them combined than the entire English team this series.

It would be pretty hard for England to drop Bairstow - he hasn't even played this series

 

[McTallshort]

Well done Australia, the bowlers were the real difference, pinned England down and made the "stars" make stupid batting decisions.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Great feeling to have won the series now as I feel england will get better. Stokes deserved that hundred and looks like a too prospect for the future. England need their key players to fire or they need to be replaced. Cook hasn't been too bad, trott has off field issues but I feel Anderson and swann have let england down the most.