*** The Ashes 2009 ***

[jaffa]

O.K it's here.

Hopefully you cricket fans out there will get in on this thread.

Good luck to England, go get em Strauss.

1st test starts today so lets hope Eng win the toss and get off to a good start.

If it anything like last Ashes in England we are in for a roller coaster ride.

 

[ruud36]

O.K it's here.

Hopefully you cricket fans out there will get in on this thread.

Good luck to England, go get em Strauss.

1st test starts today so lets hope Eng win the toss and get off to a good start.

If it anything like last Ashes in England we are in for a roller coaster ride.

can't wait mate, we need to get our pride back after the last ashes drubbing.come on england:BLOBBY:

 

[Nani121]

Can't wait just a shame Simon Jones couldn't stay fit as he would have been awesome in my opinion last time he was brilliant!

 

[jaffa]

Can't wait just a shame Simon Jones couldn't stay fit as he would have been awesome in my opinion last time he was brilliant!

I have to agree with you there, I would have loved to see Simon Jones in the squad, he winds them up no end...lol.

When want it back.

 

[Erazor786]

I'm excited as well - remember the 2005 series very well. The weather was decent in that summer and the cricket didn't disappoint.

I've got a feeling that England's bowling attack lacks the fire-power it possessed in 2005.

In my opinion Hoggard was one of the best orthodox swing bowlers we had. He had Hayden, Langer and Gilchrist all ends up and I'm sure I read that he bowled the most left-handed batsman in all of test cricket (not too sure about it, I'll try and find the figures/info)

Then we had the likes of Harmison and Flintoff with good aggressive bowling, with Harmison extracting the extra bounce in the pitch and Flintoff with the reverse swing yorker and his all over bowling was probably the best I've seen him bowl!

Then we had Simon Jones who reversed the ball most of the time and took some key wickets.

Not to forget Giles with all of his variations and also got some key wickets.

From the above only Freddie survives. I don't think Broad is that good of a bowler, and with Anderson it is hit and miss. Saying that, his consistency has improved and when he is on point he is a very dangerous bowler but for me he isn't on point enough.


I suppose time will tell....


C'mon England!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:flagwave:

 

[gasman]

I have to agree with you there, I would have loved to see Simon Jones in the squad, he winds them up no end...lol.

When want it back.

Is that a full size pic ??? :Clap: I piss meself everytime the captain goes to lift em.

 

[jaffa]

Well day one was a mixed u day indeed, I was dissapointed they way KP got out, ffs that ball should have been left alone but not a bad knock by KP.

I reckon its still anyones game, if Eng can get to 400 it would set a high standard for Ozzies.

Come on England.

 

[ruud36]

when they took the new ball yesterday it started swinging like mad.so hopefully when we do start bowling(late afternoon lol) we may get the same with the ball.but if not i think our spinners are alot better than the aussies:Clap:

 

[Munkey]

Wow the track really ripped this morning, it seems that playing Monty and Swann could be a master stroke as the pitch breaks up even further.

Still England did well this morning to post 435 runs. It's going to be a cracker of a test match.

 

[jaffa]

When they were talking yesterday about trying to get to 400 I thought that was ambitious cos they only had Swann left to come in as we all know Monty can't bat, they did excellent to get what they did.

Game on.

 

[Nani121]

great effort to get 435

any streams?

i'm in bed can't be bothered going down to watch on tele lol

 

[ruud36]

lets hope our bowlers can conjour up some magic today, in hindsight perhaps harmy might have been a better choice than say monty.i think monty's out of sorts at the mo.come on england:Clap:

 

[Munkey]

lets hope our bowlers can conjour up some magic today, in hindsight perhaps harmy might have been a better choice than say monty.i think monty's out of sorts at the mo.come on england:Clap:

The wicket didn't offer much yesterday but that's how it goes with English conditions. I don't think it was Monty or Swanns fault, the Aussies played with really high concentration levels and refused to play any poor deliveries which kept them in all day. Hopefully our England batsmen can learn from this. I did think that the quickies bowled a really poor line and that helped the Aussies get settled with easy boundaries.

Because the Aussies are scoring so slowly this match could be heading for a draw unless England really screw up or bowl them out by tea in which case its game on.

 

[jaffa]

I thnk they are predicting heavy rain so a draw looks likely. Its been pretty boring to be honest.

 

[Nani121]

Disappointing stuff from England i think Australia's batting proved the bitch was easy to bat on! Most of Englands batsmen fooked up and Collingwood and Pietersen both should have pressed on! As for Bopara i was never convinced by him from the start just like Owais Shah and Ian Bell he ain't good enough against the top teams!

I think number 3 is an important position and Bopara for me isn't the man for the job i think he should go and someone like Rob key should come in!

Also the bowling has been poor and Broad has dissapointed once again maybe time to drop him and give Onions a go and even get Harmison in for one of the spinners!

I think England could well lose tomorrow if rain doesn't help them!

 

[Curious123]

The number 3 spot is for Petersen but I just cannot understand why he prats about with batting lower down the order. I was listening to the radio and it was funny hearing old boyicks saying ' is Kevin going to show us how to do a sweep?' sarky or what?I reckon it is going to end up being a draw.

 

[ruud36]

it's do or die today for england.coming out of this with a draw would'nt be too bad,but losing and then the next test in a few days would certainly give the Aussies a big boost.we need to show some metal!! come on england:BLOBBY:

 

[Munkey]

Absolute thrilling finish and a great performance from Collingwood to give us a chance of a draw.

Well done Monty and Anderson for holding on until the end, great stuff from the England tail. The top batsmen should take note!

 

[Nani121]

This will give England unbelievable confidence in a weird way and Australia will be gutted!

I think its time to make some changes i don't think they will change the batting but bowling they will. I ain't convinced by Bopara at number 3 for me it has to be Pietersen and if they are going to pursue with Bopara give him a chance at number 5 where he is under less pressure!

I always believe your best should bat at 3 and at present Bopara is a long way from being the best in the line up. Let him play lower down and put KP up!

Well done to Anderson and Monty they did real well the pressure was unbelievable in the latter stages and Collingwood was outstanding apart from one bad shot he played an almost perfect innings for the situation!

Also Cook needs to step up and perform!

 

[jaffa]

Nail biting stuff, the commentators said that you would think they won the match when they went a run ahead...lol. It may actually be true IF Eng win the Ashes then this match could have swayed it.

End of match report for England:

MUST do better.

It reminded me of 2005 when Bret Lee almost saved the match for the Aussies.