great - only another 18 months and we can see another trouncing by the Aussies !! Seems a bit weird that for the past 100 years we've played them home & away every 4 years and now we are playing them 3 times in 2 years.
errr, I don't think so. I don't have any dates in front of me , but I'd hazard a guess we play them at home in 2017 and then in OZ in either 17/18 or 18/19.
I can confirm that Home in 2015 is the next Ashes series. We have re-jigged the whole Ashes diary to avoid a down under tour immediately preceding a World Cup. That's why we are there now, a year early. Our next away Ashes series is four years from now, 2017/18.
Love Bell, but he isn't a captain. Has to be Cook, but agree that once this series is lost, the last two games should be an opportunity to try out some new things.
Panesar should be brought in for Swann, who has been atrocious and looks utterly lost. He needs time out to sort himself out.
Cook needs to find form. He's drastically out of nick, but at least Carberry has looked ok. Would move Bell up to three. At least he hasn't looked dire - and would be a better bet than Root there for my money.
I'd drop KP. Give Ballance a shot, or chuck Root in at four and play Ballance at 5.
I am not sure Bell wants the captaincy anyway, does not really stand out as a leader and it could wreck his batting too!
As for the last two Test's it seems crazy to me that we select three giant fast bowlers in Finn, Rankin and Tremlett and don't play any of them.
Tremlett looks past his best, well down on pace from 2010/11 and probably won't play again but Finn and Rankin really may as well be chucked into the mix now, as must Ballance and Bairstow - we may as well see what these blokes have got and they can't do any worse than the current lot.
My team for Melbourne would be....
Cook Carberry Root Pietersen Bell Bairstow (Keeper) Stokes Broad Finn Anderson Panesar
By the way, I spoke to a bloke from Queensland Cricket this morning who was at the Development XI game in Brisbane the other week, the one where Bresnan played.
I asked him about Tymal Mills and he said that he was "Bloody quick but he sprays it everywhere!" - he had match figures of 14-0-76-4!!!
@ozaddick if you're about today, come and have a chat and a beer today mate flag will be in the same place more or less and I will be on the bank by the coca cola room (not scoreboard side). We can talk about how well sport in general is going!
@ozaddick if you're about today, come and have a chat and a beer today mate flag will be in the same place more or less and I will be on the bank by the coca cola room (not scoreboard side). We can talk about how well sport in general is going!
Abysmal performance.lucky it's only the 1st test and we've got 4 more to bI've said our ideas uprel="greenwichred68">Typical England.had the opposition by the bollocks and yet again we let them back in the game.we come to bat started well and collapsed.how the hell did they survive there collapse and go onto make a reasonable score.no balls England.What's happened to cook and trott? Also Anderson.am I the only person who thinks he an average bowler when the ball doesn't swing.as for swann is he past it? Wheres minty ha ga.overall a shit day so need to back our ideas up next 3 days.
Have a word with yourself about Anderson.
The bloke has just bowled his balls off on an absolute road in sweltering conditions and helped knock over the Aussies for 295, got two wickets and bowled tight.
His batsmen then capitulate in 30 overs - including losing 6-9 at one stage - meaning Anderson gets a break from bowling of about three fucking hours and is back out there in 30 degree + heat and nasty humidity to bowl in their second innings.
Not surprising he looked a bit average really is it?
Typical England.had the opposition by the bollocks and yet again we let them back in the game.we come to bat started well and collapsed.how the hell did they survive there collapse and go onto make a reasonable score.no balls England.What's happened to cook and trott? Also Anderson.am I the only person who thinks he an average bowler when the ball doesn't swing.as for swann is he past it? Wheres minty ha ga.overall a shit day so need to back our ideas up next 3 days.
Have a word with yourself about Anderson.
The bloke has just bowled his balls off on an absolute road in sweltering conditions and helped knock over the Aussies for 295, got two wickets and bowled tight.
His batsmen then capitulate in 30 overs - including losing 6-9 at one stage - meaning Anderson gets a break from bowling of about three fucking hours and is back out there in 30 degree + heat and nasty humidity to bowl in their second innings.
Not surprising he looked a bit average really is it?
Have a word with myself about Anderson.....don't need too.the figures say it all.
Abysmal performance.lucky it's only the 1st test and we've got 4 more to bI've said our ideas uprel="greenwichred68">Typical England.had the opposition by the bollocks and yet again we let them back in the game.we come to bat started well and collapsed.how the hell did they survive there collapse and go onto make a reasonable score.no balls England.What's happened to cook and trott? Also Anderson.am I the only person who thinks he an average bowler when the ball doesn't swing.as for swann is he past it? Wheres minty ha ga.overall a shit day so need to back our ideas up next 3 days.
Have a word with yourself about Anderson.
The bloke has just bowled his balls off on an absolute road in sweltering conditions and helped knock over the Aussies for 295, got two wickets and bowled tight.
His batsmen then capitulate in 30 overs - including losing 6-9 at one stage - meaning Anderson gets a break from bowling of about three fucking hours and is back out there in 30 degree + heat and nasty humidity to bowl in their second innings.
Not surprising he looked a bit average really is it?
Typical England.had the opposition by the bollocks and yet again we let them back in the game.we come to bat started well and collapsed.how the hell did they survive there collapse and go onto make a reasonable score.no balls England.What's happened to cook and trott? Also Anderson.am I the only person who thinks he an average bowler when the ball doesn't swing.as for swann is he past it? Wheres minty ha ga.overall a shit day so need to back our ideas up next 3 days.
Have a word with yourself about Anderson.
The bloke has just bowled his balls off on an absolute road in sweltering conditions and helped knock over the Aussies for 295, got two wickets and bowled tight.
His batsmen then capitulate in 30 overs - including losing 6-9 at one stage - meaning Anderson gets a break from bowling of about three fucking hours and is back out there in 30 degree + heat and nasty humidity to bowl in their second innings.
Not surprising he looked a bit average really is it?
Have a word with myself about Anderson.....don't need too.the figures say it all.
Yes, being a bowler when you are facing a second innings deficit of 200 in every Test match would be a real piece of cake.
Anyone who thinks that getting tonked by a slogger when your team is already 470 runs behind doesn't know much about Test cricket.
Anderson has not bowled that badly really, the main problem has been the batting which has been abysmal.
This Aussie side are not that good, you will see just how good they are when they go to SA in February and get pounded by a really strong SA side.
Bottom line is that our batting has been flaky for 18 months or more against good quality quick bowling - the SA attack will make mincemeat of the likes of Rogers, Watson, Smith and Bailey.
This is bound to be the kiss of death but Stokes is quickly becoming one of the biggest plus points of this series. Good to see someone taking it back to the opposition.
I agree that cook is struggling , not only as captain but with his batting but if he stood down who on earth would step in as captain? . The only two who might be in with a shout would be Broad ( unusual for a bowler to captain ) or Prior , who is struggling with his own form.
Australia have always played a 'captain in waiting': Clarke alongside Ponting, Ponting alongside Steve Waugh, Waugh alongside Taylor and so on back as far as I can remember. England have no such heir apparent. And I say yet again, there is such a dearth of English talent playing county cricket that there is no obvious candidate to replace Cook. Likewise very few players are obvious replacements for the current out of formers/over the hillers. As has been discussed ad nauseam on here, the money paid through central contracts and sponsorship to the current favoured few players is such that it is very difficult for the captain/selectors to drop a player who may be a 'mate' and might have played well in the past and be a well respected member of the inner circle, very hard to leave him out, perhaps ending a lucrative career. The money such a player would lose would be huge. It is difficult for more than one or two new players at a time to break into the side because of the money factor as opposed to the form factor. There is only so much of the creamy cake to go round and the boys in possession want it all for themselves. Excuse the metaphors. Ed Smith on TMS this morning made a good point. Some of the current England players need a rest after a long hard few seasons. They need refreshing and to rediscover their form and passion, their mojo. Being dropped from the side need not necessarily ring the death knell for a career
He lofted a few shots over the slips for boundaries earlier in the session. Just looked like he was trying to repeat it but chose the wrong ball for it...
Praying for a Stokes century so there's something to celebrate.
Stokes has played really well and could prove to be a real all rounder for us.
He is playing without the same level of pressure and expectation that Cook, KP, Bell, Prior etc etc are and for that reason we ought to find a way of introducing Ballance into the team. I doubt that that will happen because the selectors are unlikely to drop any of the batsmen.
Comments
As for the last two Test's it seems crazy to me that we select three giant fast bowlers in Finn, Rankin and Tremlett and don't play any of them.
Tremlett looks past his best, well down on pace from 2010/11 and probably won't play again but Finn and Rankin really may as well be chucked into the mix now, as must Ballance and Bairstow - we may as well see what these blokes have got and they can't do any worse than the current lot.
My team for Melbourne would be....
Cook
Carberry
Root
Pietersen
Bell
Bairstow (Keeper)
Stokes
Broad
Finn
Anderson
Panesar
By the way, I spoke to a bloke from Queensland Cricket this morning who was at the Development XI game in Brisbane the other week, the one where Bresnan played.
I asked him about Tymal Mills and he said that he was "Bloody quick but he sprays it everywhere!" - he had match figures of 14-0-76-4!!!
62-2
Just another 442 to win!
Have a word with yourself about Anderson.
The bloke has just bowled his balls off on an absolute road in sweltering conditions and helped knock over the Aussies for 295, got two wickets and bowled tight.
His batsmen then capitulate in 30 overs - including losing 6-9 at one stage - meaning Anderson gets a break from bowling of about three fucking hours and is back out there in 30 degree + heat and nasty humidity to bowl in their second innings.
Not surprising he looked a bit average really is it? Have a word with myself about Anderson.....don't need too.the figures say it all.
You still think there would more England players than Aussie in a combined XI?
I'm fed up hearing that this Aussie team are no good.
The bloke has just bowled his balls off on an absolute road in sweltering conditions and helped knock over the Aussies for 295, got two wickets and bowled tight.
His batsmen then capitulate in 30 overs - including losing 6-9 at one stage - meaning Anderson gets a break from bowling of about three fucking hours and is back out there in 30 degree + heat and nasty humidity to bowl in their second innings.
Not surprising he looked a bit average really is it? Have a word with myself about Anderson.....don't need too.the figures say it all.
Yes, being a bowler when you are facing a second innings deficit of 200 in every Test match would be a real piece of cake.
Anyone who thinks that getting tonked by a slogger when your team is already 470 runs behind doesn't know much about Test cricket.
Anderson has not bowled that badly really, the main problem has been the batting which has been abysmal.
This Aussie side are not that good, you will see just how good they are when they go to SA in February and get pounded by a really strong SA side.
Bottom line is that our batting has been flaky for 18 months or more against good quality quick bowling - the SA attack will make mincemeat of the likes of Rogers, Watson, Smith and Bailey.
Even Lyon would get in before Swann!
Australia have always played a 'captain in waiting': Clarke alongside Ponting, Ponting alongside Steve Waugh, Waugh alongside Taylor and so on back as far as I can remember. England have no such heir apparent.
And I say yet again, there is such a dearth of English talent playing county cricket that there is no obvious candidate to replace Cook. Likewise very few players are obvious replacements for the current out of formers/over the hillers.
As has been discussed ad nauseam on here, the money paid through central contracts and sponsorship to the current favoured few players is such that it is very difficult for the captain/selectors to drop a player who may be a 'mate' and might have played well in the past and be a well respected member of the inner circle, very hard to leave him out, perhaps ending a lucrative career. The money such a player would lose would be huge. It is difficult for more than one or two new players at a time to break into the side because of the money factor as opposed to the form factor. There is only so much of the creamy cake to go round and the boys in possession want it all for themselves. Excuse the metaphors.
Ed Smith on TMS this morning made a good point. Some of the current England players need a rest after a long hard few seasons. They need refreshing and to rediscover their form and passion, their mojo. Being dropped from the side need not necessarily ring the death knell for a career
Stupid dismissal. 220-5. :-(
Stokes gets his first test match 50. Well played as well.
Do these blokes have no pride?
That's going to be SIX completed innings and not a SINGLE centurion.
Fully expect KP to pull a big ton out of the bag now that the pressure is off in Melbourne or Sydney.
Praying for a Stokes century so there's something to celebrate.
He is playing without the same level of pressure and expectation that Cook, KP, Bell, Prior etc etc are and for that reason we ought to find a way of introducing Ballance into the team. I doubt that that will happen because the selectors are unlikely to drop any of the batsmen.