Ashes Series

The more we get closer to the series, the more I fancy Australia, lets see what happens in this game against the A Team, but if we perform poorly, then I think there may well be a series defeat on the way for England.

Aus definitely have a chance, but if the England top 3 get some better starts than they did last Summer then Aus are going to have to bat a lot better. It's looking like the attacks will be pretty similar to 2010/11 when England comfortably outbowled Aus, and the Aus batting still feels weak. I'm not convinced that good innings against an attack including Woakes and Kerrigan on a flat deck at the Oval means that Watson and Smith have cracked test match batting.

Feel the series will be determined by how well England bat. If they get good first innings scores, then Clarke is going to have to get lots of runs to keep Aus in matches.

Well they are 318-0 atm, which isnt a bad start.  Carberry to open, Root down to six?

I think MCC will thrash Aussie again.  Half Aussie bowlers are crook, English batsmen look better already.  I think aussie batsmen will perform better in this series and maybe Aus will pick the right side from available talent this time but England have big bowling advantage.  Only a couple of Mitchell Johnson bowling freakeries will give the Aussies a chance to avoid a further beating and humiliation.  Root at 6 gives great strength and depth to English batting.  I am sorry Aus will not be able to field their best bowlers.

The preparation of the Aussie team is crap again

they seemed in an unnecessary rush to get root opening in the summer. certainly think you'll get more runs out of this combination than root opening and ballance/bairstow in the middle order

this australian team would be better without Watson

The ironic thing is England will be better suited to Aussie pitches.

Tall fast bowlers and batsmen who love the ball to hit the bat. KP must have hated English pitches this year..

An excellent start to the tour, considering, the 1st hours play, that I saw, favoured the bowlers. I was most impressed by Carberry, as he left the ball well and was very patient and nice to see Cook, scoring big, as its what we need. if he fires, then the Aussies, will struggle. Pieterson loves the big time and big games and if Trott and Bell do well, we won't be losing the Ashes, however we won't know what will happen until it all starts.

I remember thinking in bangles 4 years ago that carberry could end up with the highest average of any english batsman, perhaps all batsmen, if he got an unbeaten score in his second innings in the first test.

England's chances rest on whether they get their lunch menu as requested

MAKE no doubt, the Poms have truly lost the plot with their 82-page list of catering demands. You only have to skim read the list to realise just how crazy it is.

Words like "probiotic", "agave", "ganache" and "fresh fruit" are instant giveaways that they've lost the plot.

In my day the Australian dressing room requirements could be summed up in one sentence: a functioning urn and plenty of ashtrays.

Yes, I know times have changed, but surely the England team must realise how ridiculous some of their requests actually are?

>> Poms make fussy food demands

A "continuous supply of bottled water".

What's wrong with drinking from the tap?

That's what we all do, except for Pup who prefers to drink the contents of his own ice bath (and I think that says a lot about the bloke).

"Goji berry bars"?

What's wrong with a couple of Cherry Ripes?

"Blueberry and flax seed smoothies"?

All I can say is - good luck getting them out to the middle, balanced on board a giant Gatorade bottle.

As for "probiotic yoghurt and quinoa salad"? Please.


There’s nothing wrong with a beer in the dressing room, as David Boon (left) and Mark Taylor demonstrate. Source: News Limited
At this rate there won't be a tea break, we'll be leaving the ground for petit fours. Whatever the hell they are.

Play may well be delayed because the coriander mayo is yet to set.

Now don't get me wrong, I accept that players need to refuel.

An entire morning spent down at long on waiting for Mitchell Johnson to land a ball vaguely in the vicinity of off-stump can sap anyone's energy.

And yes, we need to be careful about what we consume.

There's a fine line between elite international athlete and Arjuna Ranatunga.

But it's a simple question of maintaining a balanced diet, one that covers the four basic food groups: meat, dairy, vegetables and Victoria Bitter.

Any more than that and you're over-thinking the issue.

I can't believe that the Poms actually have a nutritionist on staff. The closest we've got is Darren Lehmann.

Boof believes his role a coach extends to keeping a close eye on what we all eat and he insists on personally sampling every dish himself, assessing it for taste, nutritional value and ease of slipping into a Tupperware container for a takeaway treat on the trip home.

But the day we Aussies start issuing 82-page lists of meal requirements is the day I hang up the baggy green.

My old mate Warnie had the right idea - keep it simple.

He survived his entire playing career on a basic diet of cheese pizza, baked beans and Dencorub.

We're here to win the Ashes, not MasterChef.

absolutely crow..primadonnas imo
Items missing from official dietary request to ACB: Buffalo cok biltong, Badger spunk rehab shakes and  Shlong pie

I love all this mindless aussie banter.

yep the worse they get the more they can't stop saying how they're getting better/how bad england are

For England to be bad they must have been good, unfortunately not in my life time

I'll give the aussies 2 chances - slim & none - unfortunately slim has left town

I agree with our Australian cousins about the diet issue. After all they keep whipping our butts in these series so their diet of road kill must be the way forward.

You give then 2 more chances than me Geordie, but that little voice in the back of my head keeps saying if the Saffers play long enough for England surely they will start playing like them

can't believe england are gonna take a chance on bairstow as keeper. he's no sort of keeper at all and doesn't even do it regularly

would have got buttler or even steve davies out there pronto. wouldn't lose much battingwise and certainly be confident they'll snaffle up any chances coming

Agree with that mafe.

All of a sudden England look vulnerable to me. Preparation has been marred by rain, and now injury scares. Notoriously slow starters on away tours now looking undercooked, unsure of who or what their batting order is, and potentially without their frontline wicketkeeper.

Questions is can the Aussies get out a fit first team themselves?

yep australia's best chances will be at brisbane and perth where england almost always fail to cope with the bounce. i'd take 1-1 in those 2 games all day long

#Ashes squad: Clarke (c), Haddin (vc), Warner, Rogers, Watson, Smith, Bailey, Siddle, Harris, Johnson, Lyon, Faulkner

It seems that Australia are still running scared though when they are unwilling to allow any recognised top class players to test England in a warm up match. I am surprised that they are not insisting that the game is played on a village green or a beach somewhere.

Nov 12, 2013 -- 7:57AM, sageform wrote:

It seems that Australia are still running scared though when they are unwilling to allow any recognised top class players to test England in a warm up match. I am surprised that they are not insisting that the game is played on a village green or a beach somewhere.

Rather warm up in the warm pastures of the Sheffield Shield

Booked Canberra and Sydney via the long term weather forecast. No use us picking a decent team if they are only going to get 1 days play in each match

Going to go to Perth and Sydney, looking forward to celebrating with the Barmy Army

george bailey looks a real stab in the dark by the aussies. know he has a tremendous ODI record and got loads in that joke series just finished but a bit different facing swann with men round the bat or anderson and broad possibly with a new cherry

England's best chances of winning are in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia's best chances of winning are in Perth and Brisbane, Adelaide is usually a flat deck wouldnt be suprised if a draw in Adelaide

mafeking,

I think he is made of the right stuff, whatever that is!

I agree with you in some respects but the game is in the name, Test Cricket.  I think the Test arena exposes your weaknesses.  Players like Bairstow have proved good in the ODI arena but their technique is exposed at the higher level.  I do think though that if you can get runs in ODI's then you do have ability and could do well in Test Cricket if you can make the adjustments needed...in Bairstow's case stop playing across the line with a heavy bottom hand ( I have a degree in the art of the bleedin' obvious ) but he has not made the correct adjustment.  I think Bailey if given time will.

I think Aus have a better balanced side and assume Faulkner will be 12th man.  I don't think his batting or bowling is up to test level at the moment but he can bat and think he would serve Aus better if he could nail down a place as a batter.  He could bowl 20 overs a day for Aus but I don't think he is as good a bowler as the others.  Play your best bowlers...Starc, Pattison and Cummins with Johnson and Lyon would have been if not formidable over a series certainly a challenge.

I think England's batting has a solid look about it with Root at 6 assuming Trott doesn't go walkies again!

I mean Aus have a better balanced side than when in England.

you'd imagine england can't possibly bat as badly as they did in the home series but can oz get enough runs to be competitive. only once did their top order really show up in england (i don't count runs made against woakes and kerrigan in a dead rubber). jury still out on the likes of watson and smith for me. if they can't eliminate the constant collapses result will be the same again

Be careful assuming Adelaide will be flat. Understand that it is now a drop in pitch, so who knows what it will be like.

Who's backing Australia at 13/8?

Seems a remarkable price for a team beaten 3-0 by the same oppo as recently as 3 months ago and without a win in 9 Tests.
Brisbane last three Tests results: DWD  (that's Draws with SA and Eng and a beating of NZ).

Appreciate Eng look a little off the pace so far on the Tour - no major surprise if they collapse during one of the Brisbane innings but all this propaganda about pitches being the deciding factor last summer cannot be believed can it?

From what I can tell the logic goes along the following lines:
Eng doctored the pitches in England to be as dead as possible and suit Swann and now - on greener than normal Aus pitches - the playing field will be levelled.

I just don't see how Aus batting is not affected at least as much as England's will be, by playing on lively pitches.

Apart from the obvious point that Aus were architects of their own demise in England by playing sh1t at important times on basically fair for both sides pitches (okay it was as dull as fk at times because of dead pitches).  Is anyone suggesting Lord's was any different to normal?

Hey long may it continue - if aus cannot get their heads round their real issues and want to blame imaginary bogey men for their short comings then that's great - their recovery from the current situation will take longer than it needs to.

Must be patriotic mug punters?  13/8?  Come off it...

Is Tremlett going to play ahead of Finn?  I am not so sure.  I thought England like to go with consistency.

assuming no major weather interruptions forecasted, laying the draw will, I think, be the way to go

Brisbane is actually the one place in Oz I wouldn't lay the draw..
Its the one pitch when prepared to order is the easily the biggest road
in Australia.
Think 2 of last 3 tests there and too many shield finals I can remember
when Qld were the home team.

Also looks like rain around.

David LLoyd just tweeted about the pitch being an absolute belter! However, all the old cricketers say every pitch is a belter. Especially the players from the uncovered pitch era! It's also amazing how on almost every game the pitch is described as slow & not much pace. I just think the pitches are obviously better prepared. I don't think the bowlers were quicker in days gone by, just that the pitches were dodgier. When u play on a dodgy pitch it always feels quicker when a bowl flies of a crack etc

I'm pre match backing the draw, which is ultra rare for me!!

I'm with Jucel69: I've backed the draw which is rare for me. 3s seems big considering the amount of rain now forecast through days 2-4, coupled with what they seem to think will be a decent batting track.

Brisbane to me despite what's happened the past 3 seasons (someone mentioned 2 draws), I know last season when Australia played South Africa 1 whole day was washed out with rain so Id be careful backing the draw at the GABBA. In the 2010-11 series, about 35-40 overs were lost due to rain. I havent checked the weather forecasts but traditionally the GABBA is a 'result' ground win or lose and I think Australia's batting is a different kettle of fish this time around with uncertainty, players playing for their positions and England bowlers having much better belief.

I just did a quick research in the GABBA test match last season, an interesting thing is the morning session  produced plenty of runs in the morning session: 90, 0 (day 2 was washed out), 102, 103 and 109 runs respectively with the loss of a total of 4 wickets during the 5 days. No doubt if the captain wins the toss, they will elect to bat as its probably best to bat 1st here.

i was at brisbane last time and only play lost was a handful of overs for bad light near the close on day 4. remember it was called off an hour early on day 5 cos the game was going nowhere and might have a few lostr here and there for slow over rates

is a tropical climate though so when it rains it can really rain

Lots of thoughts on this thread but once again all clueless.

The Toss wins this series , just like the last one.

The winning toss will always and won't lose , win or draw maybe but not lose. mock all you want but remember it because it will happen

The forecast, is Sunny on Thursday, A late shower possible on Friday, Possible Thunderstorms , Saturday and Sunday and sunny again on Monday.
             The toss is of course always vital, win it, bat first and put a big score on the board and your are bowling at batsmen who have been fielding in the heat for nearly 2 days, of course it doesn't always happen like that. If you choose to bowl first, it is because of favourable bowling conditions and should the bowlers bowl well, then you have shot the opposition out for a smallish score.
However if the batting side, mess up after winning the toss and batting, they are going to probably lose the game.
There isn't too much between the sides, however England are used to winning and Australia are used to losing. England have players who are capable of going very big, when they bat. Australia's haven't apart from Clarke, or haven't yet proved they can do this.
    Lets see what happens, an interesting series, in prospect, but whoever starts the best, will probably finish the best.

http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/forecasts/brisbane.shtml

Hushwing right on the money. Some very poor judges on here. Probably all cleaning khazis now

Some very poor judges on here.

Huge number seem to have swapped robes

Now their Buddhist monks..........mute!

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