The Ashes

[West Brit]

Right, some observations after day one, in no particular order:
- Australia are never to be written off
- Peter Siddle could be better than I gave him credit for
- Australia have NO spinners worthy of the name. May as well just use Clarke, Katich and North as part-timers
- England need to adapt to Australian conditions a bit more
- All England players wearing one of those silly holographic bands should be zombie-slapped by the reanimated corpses of Dr Grace and Douglas Jardine
- Ditto Australian players and the corpse of Keith Miller (wasn't a captain but after his quote about pressure and Messerschmitts I doubt he'd have approved)
- Anthems before the match are just silly in cricket
- Watching highlights of the last time England won in Australia it's interesting to see the change from carrying the Union Jack to carrying the St George's Cross amongst English fans.
- English top order must be kicking themselves for getting starts and not going on with it.

Now I know I only watched the first session and the Australian innings but not watching much rugby doesn't seem to stop people from posting in the rugby threads so why should that stop me here?

[Leinster Exile]

I thought England were far too confident going into this test. Bring in Morgan!

[blaker]

I watched every second of it. Won't be a regular occurrence but as it was the first day and all. Few observations;
> Strauss and Collingwood weren't great but all other Eng batsmen (Cook, Trott, KP, Bell) got themselves in handily enough
> The Oz bowling is actually as poor as we thought. Hilfenhaus was hot for the first 5 overs and very pedestrian after that. Relatively tight but not overly threatening. Johnson was muck and targetted. The spinner got two tail end wickets and was a bit better than I expected but not exactly a stike option. Siddle had the day of days but is realistically unlikely to repeat that now is he?!?!? Eng were approx 195/4 before he kicked off and when you look at it like that its a whole different perspective
> While Siddle skewed the whole thing, the first day confirmed much of what I figured. England should win this series 3/1 but may conspire to lose it

Additionally - Oz looks lovverly altogether. At one stage they cut to a lass in a wee bikini top and little shorts and .......well.......Bumble struggled

[Darce]

I watched every second of it. Won't be a regular occurrence but as it was the first day and all. Few observations;
> Strauss and Collingwood weren't great but all other Eng batsmen (Cook, Trott, KP, Bell) got themselves in handily enough
> The Oz bowling is actually as poor as we thought. Hilfenhaus was hot for the first 5 overs and very pedestrian after that. Relatively tight but not overly threatening. Johnson was muck and targetted. The spinner got two tail end wickets and was a bit better than I expected but not exactly a stike option. Siddle had the day of days but is realistically unlikely to repeat that now is he?!?!? Eng were approx 195/4 before he kicked off and when you look at it like that its a whole different perspective
> While Siddle skewed the whole thing, the first day confirmed much of what I figured. England should win this series 3/1 but may conspire to lose it

Additionally - Oz looks lovverly altogether. At one stage they cut to a lass in a wee bikini top and little shorts and .......well.......Bumble struggled

This

[Logorrhea]

England were never going to be as good as their media hoped. Collingwood and Bell have always been flawed and Cook hasnt had anything resembling form for a good few years.

Having said that I think they will settle down after they lose this test. They will play better when the pressure is off them.

[West Brit]

I guess I should exaplain - I thought Siddle was total muck before this test, and maybe this showed he is indeed at a higher level than I gave him credit for. I'd now class him as average.

Xavier Doherty couldn't get me out. Marcus North (41), Michael Clarke (47), Simon Katich (37) and Michael Hussey (40) all have better first class bowling averages than Doherty (48). He is awful.

[nelly the elephant]

Right, some observations after day one, in no particular order:
- Australia are never to be written off
- Peter Siddle could be better than I gave him credit for
- Australia have NO spinners worthy of the name. May as well just use Clarke, Katich and North as part-timers
- England need to adapt to Australian conditions a bit more
- All England players wearing one of those silly holographic bands should be zombie-slapped by the reanimated corpses of Dr Grace and Douglas Jardine
- Ditto Australian players and the corpse of Keith Miller (wasn't a captain but after his quote about pressure and Messerschmitts I doubt he'd have approved)
- Anthems before the match are just silly in cricket
- Watching highlights of the last time England won in Australia it's interesting to see the change from carrying the Union Jack to carrying the St George's Cross amongst English fans.
- English top order must be kicking themselves for getting starts and not going on with it.

Now I know I only watched the first session and the Australian innings but not watching much rugby doesn't seem to stop people from posting in the rugby threads so why should that stop me here?

I kinda noticed that coming in after Euro '96 which England hosted. It brought on a new patriotic fervour accross the water and saw the sudden(overdue) appearance of England flags over Union Jacks. As they were no doubt manufactured in colossal numbers for merchandising purposes their sudden massively increased visibility and availability ensured they would be the flag of choice going forward for most England fans of whatever sporting persuasion.


Well that's MY theory anyway and I'm sticking to it!

Hope to fock Jimmy can make some inroads into their top order later tonight......

[West Brit]

And today showed why Hussey is called Mr Cricket.

[Darce]

Lucky to survive the first ball

[West Brit]

Lucky to survive the first ball

Very true, but it takes some nerve to totally forget about that and his previous indifferent form and decide to advance to Swan and dispatch him over long on.

On the other hand, I can't see North lasting much longer in the team.

[blaker]

That post lunch session from Eng was fairly good stuff. Interesting to note the attacking intent to Swann from the off, wonder will it continue or was it just a ""Welcom to Oz" thing? Was very impressed by Finn, raw but decent enough - big future if he stays fit. Anderson looked good too as he tends to do when theres movement. Broad a bit disappointing. And I focking hate him. I really do. Everything about him from the tips of his hair to the bottom of his heels. This has little to do with the Ashes I grant you and may reflect poorly on me but still.
Hussey was good, Ponting was poor, Watson still looks a bit quare, North needed something big and didn't get it. The Brits are just "tighter" in every facet and should win. May lose to the bit of mongrel in the Oz side though. Big big first hour tomorrow

[nelly the elephant]

That post lunch session from Eng was fairly good stuff. Interesting to note the attacking intent to Swann from the off, wonder will it continue or was it just a ""Welcom to Oz" thing? Was very impressed by Finn, raw but decent enough - big future if he stays fit. Anderson looked good too as he tends to do when theres movement. Broad a bit disappointing. And I focking hate him. I really do. Everything about him from the tips of his hair to the bottom of his heels. This has little to do with the Ashes I grant you and may reflect poorly on me but still.
Hussey was good, Ponting was poor, Watson still looks a bit quare, North needed something big and didn't get it. The Brits are just "tighter" in every facet and should win. May lose to the bit of mongrel in the Oz side though. Big big first hour tomorrow

Beefy's taken issue with him a few times in his test career for his on-field petulance and other antics(when umpires don't give him decisions in the main) and I'm inclined to agree with him. I've seen him interviewed a few times and seems a nice lad,pretty well grounded and obviously has the strong bloodline with his Da.Tremendous talent, he just sometimes oversteps the mark completely and being frank I haven't seen any real improvement. He'd want to cop on or they'll throw the book at him as an example one of these days.

[Darce]

That post lunch session from Eng was fairly good stuff. Interesting to note the attacking intent to Swann from the off, wonder will it continue or was it just a ""Welcom to Oz" thing? Was very impressed by Finn, raw but decent enough - big future if he stays fit. Anderson looked good too as he tends to do when theres movement. Broad a bit disappointing. And I focking hate him. I really do. Everything about him from the tips of his hair to the bottom of his heels. This has little to do with the Ashes I grant you and may reflect poorly on me but still.
Hussey was good, Ponting was poor, Watson still looks a bit quare, North needed something big and didn't get it. The Brits are just "tighter" in every facet and should win. May lose to the bit of mongrel in the Oz side though. Big big first hour tomorrow

Beefy's taken issue with him a few times in his test career for his on-field petulance and other antics(when umpires don't give him decisions in the main) and I'm inclined to agree with him. I've seen him interviewed a few times and seems a nice lad,pretty well grounded and obviously has the strong bloodline with his Da.Tremendous talent, he just sometimes oversteps the mark completely and being frank I haven't seen any real improvement. He'd want to cop on or they'll throw the book at him as an example one of these days.

You can't say he hasn't improved. He had a very good summer this year with the ball and is more than useful with the Bat

[nelly the elephant]

That post lunch session from Eng was fairly good stuff. Interesting to note the attacking intent to Swann from the off, wonder will it continue or was it just a ""Welcom to Oz" thing? Was very impressed by Finn, raw but decent enough - big future if he stays fit. Anderson looked good too as he tends to do when theres movement. Broad a bit disappointing. And I focking hate him. I really do. Everything about him from the tips of his hair to the bottom of his heels. This has little to do with the Ashes I grant you and may reflect poorly on me but still.
Hussey was good, Ponting was poor, Watson still looks a bit quare, North needed something big and didn't get it. The Brits are just "tighter" in every facet and should win. May lose to the bit of mongrel in the Oz side though. Big big first hour tomorrow

Beefy's taken issue with him a few times in his test career for his on-field petulance and other antics(when umpires don't give him decisions in the main) and I'm inclined to agree with him. I've seen him interviewed a few times and seems a nice lad,pretty well grounded and obviously has the strong bloodline with his Da.Tremendous talent, he just sometimes oversteps the mark completely and being frank I haven't seen any real improvement. He'd want to cop on or they'll throw the book at him as an example one of these days.

You can't say he hasn't improved. He had a very good summer this year with the ball and is more than useful with the Bat

I meant regarding his petulant attitude not his play..............I agree, he had a tremendous summer. There's no doubt though that he's a marked man if he(for example) keeps running down the wicket appealing without even turning around to look at the Umpire.

[blaker]

Massive day for Oz. Very impressive in all respects bythe two lads. Amazing to think that hussey could easily have been out for nought! Poor bowling from Broad I felt. Swann toiled but not hugely favourable conditions for him. Strauss haunted not to be out for a golden. I love the Ashes, haven't slept a bit!

[West Brit]

And a very tame draw in the end. Can anybody see where Australia are going to get 20 wickets from in this series?

[Darce]

If england can bat like this in every innings, Aus are toast. Johnson is muck, Siddle is average and had a serious purple patch. Jury is out on Doherty. Hilfinhaus is an old dog for the hard road type character but hardly a Glen McGrath or a Brett Lee.

Must be the worst Aussie team in 30/40 years....maybe even living memory

[blaker]

How disappointing really. Wondering how much of the 2nd innings were due to the wicket, poor bowling or general given uppedness once the draw was obvious?
Englands bowling attacke is almost 100% better than Oz's. One can see England taking 20 wickets in every test and as far as I can see, they're batsmen are in red hot form. Its unlikely that Morgan will get a sniff because even if say, KP whos maybe the ropiest of the current 6 has a mare the fact that he'll probably be hidden by the form of the remainder will negate the need for a potentially disruptive change. Tie that to the fact that Swann, Broad etc have all the potential to knock a 40 odd score and England should rarely be out for a sub 400 score.
Oz have potentially a good batting line up. They also have potentially a weak one. They look far less solid than England. Not weak, not cr@p or anything, just potential to get out cheaply enough as a unit. Additionally they don't bat as deep as England do.
Johnson is brutal. I don't know anything about Oz's reserves but if theres a lad out there whos even vaguely competent then he'd be better. Hilfenhaus = 6//10. Siddle prone to being expensive. North has taken 14 wickets in 20 Tests apparently (IT this morning) which is just weird.

Big chance lost for Oz here, not sure if they'll get a better one.

Special mention should also go to the fairly brutal standard of fielding by the Ozzies over the 2nd English innings. Oddly uncharacteristic and possibly symptomatic.

Onwards and upwards

[West Brit]

North has taken 14 wickets in 20 Tests apparently (IT this morning) which is just weird.

Not that strange - he's a batsman that bowls a bit. Given that he has a better first class bowling record than Xavier Doherty (as do most of the Australian batsmen) he's probably underbowled.

[deco]

thought this was a thread about our ruined country......