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:

[X-ray]

Well, if you had asked me earlier in the year who I supported, I would probably have said Australia. But now it is 50/50. That doesn't look like a good start for England though.

[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!

[Cyberus]

We are SO not going to retain the ashes...

Sorry,
/blind patriotism mode on

We are going to stop those Aussie b@stards stealing the Ashes from us



;-)

[adz]

Come on Aussie!!! Come on, come on!!!
Come on Aussie!!! Come on!!!


Kiss the Ashes goodbye fellas :lol:

[X-ray]

Ja I suspect them Ashes are going back to the Aussies (even though they don't ever go to the Aussies, but you know what I mean)

[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)

[odin]

Whose ashes are the prize then?

[X-ray]

@ Odin

It isn't certain what the ashes are from. Three ideas are:

1) A ball
2) A piece of bail
3) Lord Darnley's Mother-in-law's veil

Whatever those ashes are, they don't ever stay in Australia. In fact the recent tour of Australia by the real ashes in a secure glass cage is very rare. They usually don't leave England.
A replica urn is handed to the winning team. So like Agafaster says, it is the title, not the actual ashes that matters.

[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...

[X-ray]

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


'Twas a bad day for England.

[adz]

Muahahahahahahahahaaaaa :lol: :lol: :lol:

[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...

[X-ray]

@ 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.

[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!!