too early for an ashes thread??

FaninOz · Post by **FaninOz** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:38 am

The whole Australian team depends on Warne and McGrath. If they play well and keep fit we lose I'm afraid. But if either of them faulter or get injured then the Aussies start to fall apart. Lee is still very hit and miss and he usually fails when the pressure is on him to be the top bowler.

For the first time the papers here are reporting as much on the negative things that Lillie has said about the Aussie "Dad's Army" team as on what Ponting has been saying about what the Brits have been saying. Lots of words and no action as yet.

My gut tells me that with an all firing Warne and McGrath we lose 5-0, otherwise a 3-2 result either way. My heart says easy 4-1 win the Brits.

David Lee's Hair · Post by **David Lee's Hair** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 9:35 am

This makes interesting reading

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket ... 131474.stm

Best captain in world cricket, even if his batting is not up to par, i'd have him in just for his captaincy

CAPSLOCK · Post by **CAPSLOCK** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:33 am

Fleming would have something to say about the captaincy claim

I fear Vaughan will have to do the sensible thing and admit defeat pretty soon

thebish · Post by **thebish** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:50 am

Good start then!!!

beaten by 166 runs by the president's XI

mahmoud - 1 for 97 off nine overs (strength in depth!!)

Flintoff and Pieterson both out cheaply

Jonesy dropped a sitter

Tait running riot through...

and not much cricket at all until the first test...

still - Flintoff looked OK - bowling full speed, Strauss looked comfortable, Giles got some overs under his belt..

we're all still confident.... aren't we??

(lulling them into a false sense of security... errr...)

Bruce Rioja · Post by **Bruce Rioja** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:11 am

I could do with doing one of those poll jobbies on this, but anyway;

Behind the stumps - Read or Jones?

For me it has to be Read. The extra runs that Jones gives us off the bat are far less than the runs that he gives away, not just with what goes past him but also the runs that the batters he drops go on to score.

And you?

thebish · Post by **thebish** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:17 am

I like the extra runs that Jones brings - especially if we're going to play five bowlers and pieterson and flintoff are stuttering... But as a wicket keeper - Read has it...

I think you might be right that the Jones lower-order rund effect is more than offset by the Jones - give-the-bloke-another-chance-to-score-a-century effect..

so I'd go with Read. You have to be able to depend on your top order batsmen to get the meat of the total - not that lower-order runs are unimportant - but you can't afford to give the Aussies second chances - they usually take them big-time, and then a few extra lower-order runs are neither here nor (indeed) there...

CAPSLOCK · Post by **CAPSLOCK** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:19 am

I must admit to favouring Jones - just

He took an excellent catch early in last nights game, but then spilled an easy one which cost a 100 runs

Point about Read is this

Unless Trescothick and him can sort themselves out, there are going to be plenty more edges going between wk and first slip

As happened in the latter tests of last summer

That is a worry

Jones goes for everything

Aye, he drops some, but takes plenty too

He also seems to be a better 'team man'

David Lee's Hair · Post by **David Lee's Hair** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:26 am

I'm with caps on this one.

I favour Jones, he's better bat in hand and he's not that bad behind the stumps, he's improved ten fold from what he was like. Also some of th catches he dropped in the last few tests before the axe fell where not easy takes, and he was made a bit of a scape goat for me.

My only concern for Jones is that at least read has shown he can keep for panesar, it'll be testing for jones

thebish · Post by **thebish** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:32 am

David Lee's Hair wrote:I'm with caps on this one.

I favour Jones, he's better bat in hand and he's not that bad behind the stumps, he's improved ten fold from what he was like. Also some of th catches he dropped in the last few tests before the axe fell where not easy takes, and he was made a bit of a scape goat for me.

My only concern for Jones is that at least read has shown he can keep for panesar, it'll be testing for jones

to be honest I'll not be fussed with either - but a slightly favour Read. The problem with Jones dropping catches that are "not easy takes" is that those are precisely the kind of catches that you need to take for a chance of beating the Aussies on their own turf. You HAVE to take the easy ones (as if any of them are easy!) - and you also have to take nearly all of the HARD ones - and you have to take a good number of BLINDERS - then you stand a chance of beating the Aussies on their turf..

the Panesar point is a good 'un...

Dujon · Post by **Dujon** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:26 pm

What's your assorted opinion on the squad's ability in the field?

The adage catches win matches is just as pertinent as it ever was - especially if heads go down. You can't let that happen with the Australians; you'll be slaughtered. For a while the Aussies did let their fielding slip a bit and it showed - they had to work a bit harder to overcome the deficit. From what I've seen recently they seemed to now have that aspect of their game back on track.

I didn't see any of the PM's XI v England game but the scorecard looks pretty terrible. As far as I can see there were no (zero) test players in the home side's team, though Jaques is knocking solidly on the door. So unless the squad's still finding its feet as a team it could be a long hot summer for the English lads. They've got a couple of four day games coming up (NSW and SA) which might give us a better idea of how they will perform in the big ones.

Let's hope they get it all together. I'd hate to see a one sided Ashes series.

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:21 pm

Dujon wrote: Let's hope they get it all together. I'd hate to see a one sided Ashes series.

It won't be.

And Jones for me. A couple of bad patches and people soon forget how solid he can be.

CAPSLOCK · Post by **CAPSLOCK** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:11 pm

Fletcher has announced Jones will start the series

Methinks Flintoff must be a big fan, and that's good enough for me

Brave decision though, because the critics will be queuing up to hit out at Fletcher

Batman · Post by **Batman** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:29 pm

We're gonna get battered.

Interesting point (interesting to me), I once opened the batting for Farnworth 2nds with Aussie Test batsman Brad Hodge.

thebish · Post by **thebish** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:26 pm

without Jones it would be a big tail... I think that's what tipped Jones the nod - and it's that kind of bold decision (against general opionion) that marks out a great manager... I think Fletcher has always favoured Jones - lets hope Jones grabs this unexpected opportunity with both hands (literally!!)

CAPSLOCK · Post by **CAPSLOCK** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 3:37 pm

thebish wrote:without Jones it would be a big tail

Jones averages about 10 more than Read

5 tests = 10 innings = 100 runs

ie the number Jacques added on Thursday after being dropped

That's why its a brave/risky decision

Not one I disagree with, but it's far, far from clear cut

Bruce Rioja · Post by **Bruce Rioja** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 4:50 pm

Well I hope that I don't end up saying I told you so. Jones may be the slightly better batter but I still reckon that he costs us more than he scores. Hope I'm wrong though.

superjohnmcginlay · Post by **superjohnmcginlay** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:51 am

Better.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket ... 142238.stm

bw@bw · Post by **bw@bw** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:04 pm

I would not have Geraint Jones in our club team.

His batting is not as good as people crack on - at least not against good teams.

And his keeping is not as good as our club keeper's (though our club keeper has just broken all known records this year).

thebish · Post by **thebish** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:29 pm

bw@bw wrote:I would not have Geraint Jones in our club team.

His batting is not as good as people crack on - at least not against good teams.

And his keeping is not as good as our club keeper's (though our club keeper has just broken all known records this year).

did he pluck a turkey in less than 1min 30secs??

Vincent Pilkington of Cootehill, County Cavan, Republic of Ireland, plucked a turkey in 1 minute 30 seconds on November 17, 1980. His past best time was 2 minutes 44 seconds. Vincent is so enthusiastic about his skills that he even carried out 24 hours of turkey plucking to raise funds for his local Holy Family School. In this time he plucked 244 turkeys.

David Lee's Hair · Post by **David Lee's Hair** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:42 am

And Trescothick has flown home.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket ... 146688.stm

its one thing that astounds me with English sports teams, why pick someone who half fit!!

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