The Ashes 2013 Thread

[noharmdone]

You've backed England haven't you !

 

[thebluefox]

every one agrees its a very poor auss team , they have outplayed england in 5 out the last 6 days cricket , 2 poor teams , england tactics r negative as fk ,

 

[toffeejack]

You've backed England haven't you !

thankfully i've already reclaimed my money for them retaining the ashes. Only had a couple of quid on 4-0 but i didn't believe england were in good enough form to actually achieve that. Just knew how ****e australia were.

26-8 against india they were haha.

this has been a shocking batting display though. how can you score at 2.44 an over against a rank average bowling attack and still lose 8 wickets within the first day on a pitch doing little? not even bangladesh would be this embarrassing. will be down to the bowlers to try and save us yet again

 

[roydo]

Yeah, but that is why test cricket is so brilliant. The Aussies got inside our guys heads after Old Trafford, and, by and large, we have managed to get ourselves out today.

BTW, average 1st class, 1st innings score at Durham is 253. I can still see us getting near that, then see what the bowlers can do.

 

[roydo]

FFS. Scrub the above!

 

[toffeejack]

i don't think aussies got into our head, this gooch/cook partnership has been way too defensive and that's the problem. The same was happening against NZ. Score too slowly, let the pressure build and then play a terrible shot to get out. Teams don't bowl england out anymore, they get themselves out. 1 or 2 wickets again today by decent balls out of 9 wickets.

After getting off to a flyer, Cook hasn't led like a captain in this series. His slow laboured, struggling innings has set the tone for the other batsman.

strauss wasn't a great captain nor an aggressive batsman, but you would see him every now and then just start an innings like a rocket and even though he would get out at 50, he would have got it off about 60 balls and let from the start like a captain should.

 

[roydo]

Wouldnt disagree TJ, other than the way the Aussies outplayed us at OT surprised us after being 2-0 up. Something aint right with the batting, but not that long ago the Gooch/Cook combo was working a treat.

Cant really comment on Cooks captaincy; never played the game, and rely on TMS plus 60 mins of C5!

Still say this is what makes test cricket so brilliant though.

 

[toffeejack]

anderson played the best knock of the day there. mainly because he wasn't a coward and showed the aussies bowlers the respect they've earned with their test careers - which was virtually nothing

 

[roydo]

Yep. Maybe they are being over coached? Cant imagine Gooch spends that much time with Jimmy/Broad/Swann & Bres, who can, and do, all add runs from the tail. It hasnt been unknown for coachs to coach for coachings sake after all.

 

[toffeejack]

they're suppose to be test level batsman. they shouldn't rely on too much coaching; especially with all the technology these days.

this series so far has mainly been englands 3 main bowlers and bell vs australia baring the odd contribution from others

 

[toffeejack]

BTW, i 100% saw this coming when i heard england bat first after winning the toss. coming off their batting in the last test, i feared that that was the wrong decision. would have been much better bowling aussies out for 200 and sending the batsman in on more of an up

 

[roydo]

Well lets see what happens tomorrow!

 

[Bigmaclad]

It's one poor poor pitch though, very slow, makes for poorer test cricket

 

[roydo]

It's one poor poor pitch though, very slow, makes for poorer test cricket

Know where you are coming from mate, but its not poor, just a bit slow. It would be ace for us to have made 350-400 today, but as a match, modest scoring pitches by and large produce better matches. Then again, the Aussies might score 400 + tomorrow!

 

[Bigmaclad]

Know where you are coming from mate, but its not poor, just a bit slow. It would be ace for us to have made 350-400 today, but as a match, modest scoring pitches by and large produce better matches. Then again, the Aussies might score 400 + tomorrow!

The Old Trafford pitch was perfect, pace in it for the seamers, comes onto the bat nicely, and enough turn and bounce for the spinners

This pitch is slow, there's very little lateral movement, conventional or reverse swing, the batsmen are struggling with timing at times, and there's not much for the spinner (granted it is day 1)