Obligatory Ashes thread

[Agafaster]

Australia 346-3. Doh!
Harmy is clearly not at the races !
good on Ponting though. any one else think he's the spit of Dubya ?  :lol:

[Agafaster]

ta! is it the underdog thing? cos we really fit that now!

..and here's me thinking G.Jones would be the problem !

still, we're marginally better off than the same point the last time we came down under!

[Agafaster]

indeed, its the title!

it doesnt look good, not a good start - we didnt really get into it until the saturday!

still in with a chance though (got to believe that, ro they might as well just come home!) there are still up to 20 days to play...

Adelaide is a whole other story, should play Monty.
The new BBC highlights program is quite good - a high point!

nice to see Warne rattled too ... ;o)

[Agafaster]

its the burnt remains of a stump burned when Australia won a series in 1882 to 'signify the death of English Cricket' as a piece of satire I guess in The Times.
and now, it is the oldest international sporting competition in the world!

heres what good ol' wikipedia has to say...

-edit-
oh..ok, you read wikipedia as well,X-ray! I sit corrected...

[Agafaster]

X-ray wrote:


"Oh, bollox and woe is me," he muttered.

and I uttered the same when work's firewall wouldnt let me see the picture...

'Twas a bad day for England.

absolute shocker!

my ghast was flabbered - what would you have done ?
any postmortems from non-English view points?

most of the English ones say 'Whither Monty and his wicket taking?' and why Jones ?

I would've prefered personnel changes (Panasar in for Anderson or Giles wouldve done),
but really, I'd've prefered if we hadnt changed a winning side, just put Flintoff back in.

although, all being said, it was our poor 2nd inns and the Warne factor that did for us...

[Agafaster]

X-ray wrote:
@ Agafaster

I dunno what your blokes can do now, but it will be an uphill slog from now on, even if victory is attained. History is not on your side though, because nobody has won the Ashes from a 2-0 starting deficit.

theres always a first time!
I dont think we'll do it either, too much has been lost.
mathematically its doable, but psychologically ? need to pull England up, and the Aussies to lose confidence, which ay gonna appen is it!

I think we should play Panesar at 11 instead of Anderson. and someone needs to reprogram Fletcher that for us to bat to 8, we need to start by batting to 7 first! above all, England need to not be cowed like they used to in the late nineties/early noughties... BRING IT ON!!

-edit-
slight nitpick, but we dont need to win the ashes (though that would be sweet!) just retain them - so a series draw is the what is required. a bit of grit to the last ball is the bare minimum!!

[Agafaster]

@ Agafaster

I dunno what your blokes can do now, but it will be an uphill slog from now on, even
if victory is attained. History is not on your side though, because nobody has won the
Ashes from a 2-0 starting deficit.

actually,
The Aussies did it in the '30s IIRC (1936/7 ?)
won the series 3-2 from a 2-0 start by England.
;-)
still - its a tall order - just have to remember to play until the end this time!

[Agafaster]

y'never know though - we may get more luck too - Strauss was apparently given caught in the 2nd inns when the analysis showed the ball didnt touch bat or pad.

to Paraphrase Alex Ferguson: Cricket ? bl00dy hell! )

still-nothing like blind optimism in the face of impossible odds to see us through, eh!

[Agafaster]

X-ray wrote:
I see Monty did a good job for your boys, eh? You were right about him.

Ta! shame about the rest - good bowling performance (even Harmy came to the party!) undone by poor shot selection - the Aussies were really only bowling good line and length nowt special, but it got the job done - only Pietersen Harmison and (him again!) Panesar had an innings of any real worth.

still if the test ends with the series 3-0 I guess the series sponsors wont be happy!

on the upnote, if we can get Ponting with a 1st ball like the one that did for Langer, and then bat like never before, we COULD turn it around! looking forward to the summer now really !

[Agafaster]

I hope that was celebration, and not mock surprise! ;-)

in reference to this discussion, conclusive proof that god isnt an Englishman!

on paper, quite a close match between the sides (once Panesar* got a look in), but in reality a miss is as good as a mile. we were shot down in flames in Brisbane, lost it really only on the final day in Adelaide and lost it when Gilchrist made his tonne in almost-record time (Viv's record is safe for a bit then!) despite a magnificent tonne from Cook in Perth.
Still, two more to go!

Happy Christmas Australia!

high points - Freddie's Bowling, KP, Colly and Cook tonnes, Hoggy's 7-fer, Monty's 5-fer (8 in the match)*
low points - Jones either side of the sticks!

*so. it seems Panesar justified Fletchers' decision not to pick him for the 1st two tests. I mean he only got a 5-fer!!  :pissed:

its been interesting!