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Posted: |
Dec 30, 2017 - 10:48 AM
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By: |
leagolfer
(Member)
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I do despise cricket quite a bit, but Cook 244 not out was a handy score, maybe enough to eek out a draw.
Australia who lost some good players 8-10 years, have now re-grouped another generation of solid players, maybe not as good as previous ashes teams though.
I don't think they are. They're just players who do well in home conditions.
Their bowling attack excels at home. Jimmy has done OK but not had enough support. Everyone has to be firing when you go to Australia. Broad and Ali really struggled in the first three Tests which effectively killed us. Would've helped if Cook and Root had stood up too.
Its hard to replace good bowlers what Australia use to have, Shane Warne, Glenn Mcgrath were world class bowlers, plus they had the Waugh brothers solid batsman.
England always under perform in Australia have they actually won there in the last decade, I can't remember them doing so, if they did win its when Australia were going threw that transition patch.
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Posted: |
Dec 30, 2017 - 12:05 PM
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By: |
litefoot
(Member)
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I do despise cricket quite a bit, but Cook 244 not out was a handy score, maybe enough to eek out a draw.
Australia who lost some good players 8-10 years, have now re-grouped another generation of solid players, maybe not as good as previous ashes teams though.
I don't think they are. They're just players who do well in home conditions.
Their bowling attack excels at home. Jimmy has done OK but not had enough support. Everyone has to be firing when you go to Australia. Broad and Ali really struggled in the first three Tests which effectively killed us. Would've helped if Cook and Root had stood up too.
Its hard to replace good bowlers what Australia use to have, Shane Warne, Glenn Mcgrath were world class bowlers, plus they had the Waugh brothers solid batsman.
England always under perform in Australia have they actually won there in the last decade, I can't remember them doing so, if they did win its when Australia were going threw that transition patch.
We won in 2010-11. Everybody was firing back then! And the Australians weren't.
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Posted: |
Dec 30, 2017 - 5:36 PM
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By: |
leagolfer
(Member)
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I for-got Cook was around back then, plus, Strauss, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Trott, all known as solid batsman & could score quick runs. I looked it was quite a thumping, although Hussey, Hayden are unpredictable opening batsman, 1st inns there inn, 2nd a duck, vice-versa.
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Posted: |
Dec 31, 2017 - 9:02 AM
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By: |
litefoot
(Member)
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I for-got Cook was around back then, plus, Strauss, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Trott, all known as solid batsman & could score quick runs. I looked it was quite a thumping, although Hussey, Hayden are unpredictable opening batsman, 1st inns there inn, 2nd a duck, vice-versa.
All those England players got centuries except Collingwood who was off-colour, but everyone else was doing so well they carried him. The England bowlers were all firing too. Anderson was backed up by Finn, Swann, Tremlett and Bresnan.
Hussey was the best Australian player in that series. Hayden had already retired.
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Posted: |
Dec 31, 2017 - 10:14 AM
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By: |
leagolfer
(Member)
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I for-got Cook was around back then, plus, Strauss, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Trott, all known as solid batsman & could score quick runs. I looked it was quite a thumping, although Hussey, Hayden are unpredictable opening batsman, 1st inns there inn, 2nd a duck, vice-versa.
All those England players got centuries except Collingwood who was off-colour, but everyone else was doing so well they carried him. The England bowlers were all firing too. Anderson was backed up by Finn, Swann, Tremlett and Bresnan.
Hussey was the best Australian player in that series. Hayden had already retired.
Hayden was probably still part of the team as an advisor, I saw his name in 2010-11, as you say though well-retired, Australia did go threw a transition with only Hussey, Ponting was near retirement, others weren't too reliable, night watch-men.
With all them names England had back then they were talented, Anderson was always a consistent bowler, it would of took a star Australian 11 to compete in them ashes, centuries are hard to match when facing a big total to chase they cracked.
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Posted: |
Dec 31, 2017 - 10:29 AM
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By: |
litefoot
(Member)
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Hayden was probably still part of the team as an advisor, I saw his name in 2010-11, as you say though well-retired, Australia did go threw a transition with only Hussey, Ponting was near retirement, others weren't too reliable, night watch-men.
With all them names England had back then they were talented, Anderson was always a consistent bowler, it would of took a star Australian 11 to compete in them ashes, centuries are hard to match when facing a big total to chase they cracked.
The turnaround when England went back two years later was astonishing. That series should never have been played IMO (they weren't due to go back to Australia until Nov 2014 but due to too many fixtures they moved it up a year).
The 2013/14 Ashes ended the careers of England greats Trott, Pietersen, Swann and Panesar, 2010-11 Ashes players Tremlett and Bresnan, and newbies Carberry, Borthwick and Rankin. Only Trott returned, and that was to open the batting in the West Indies, a mistake by the selectors when he'd always done so well at number 3.
It really annoys me how the ECB handled that series and the aftermath. Trott and Pietersen should arguably still be playing for England.
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Posted: |
Dec 31, 2017 - 10:52 AM
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By: |
leagolfer
(Member)
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Hayden was probably still part of the team as an advisor, I saw his name in 2010-11, as you say though well-retired, Australia did go threw a transition with only Hussey, Ponting was near retirement, others weren't too reliable, night watch-men.
With all them names England had back then they were talented, Anderson was always a consistent bowler, it would of took a star Australian 11 to compete in them ashes, centuries are hard to match when facing a big total to chase they cracked.
The turnaround when England went back two years later was astonishing. That series should never have been played IMO (they weren't due to go back to Australia until Nov 2014 but due to too many fixtures they moved it up a year).
The 2013/14 Ashes ended the careers of England greats Trott, Pietersen, Swann and Panesar, 2010-11 Ashes players Tremlett and Bresnan, and newbies Carberry, Borthwick and Rankin. Only Trott returned, and that was to open the batting in the West Indies, a mistake by the selectors when he'd always done so well at number 3.
It really annoys me how the ECB handled that series and the aftermath. Trott and Pietersen should arguably still be playing for England.
Cheers for the info litefoot. I lost touch/love with cricket, yes, England need to find spin bowlers pace doesn't always work, indifferent pitches. Panesar, Swann were effective key-players.
ECB selectors are always picky, after previous behaviour from players, like Botham, Lamb, Tuffnell Etc. Pieterson was quite outspoken at the time hardly enough to snub him though.
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Ahem. Do you want the geoff boycott quote now or after day 3? 
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Posted: |
Jan 5, 2018 - 2:52 AM
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By: |
litefoot
(Member)
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Easy to say in hindsight but with two overs left why didn’t they send out Crane or Anderson to nightwatch? Crazy to send out the best remaining batter under those circumstances. Bairstow himself shouldn’t have been able to make that call.
To be fair to Crane (who was padded up) maybe Bairstow thought it better not to expose the nightwatchman to the new ball. England policy is to let the next batsman decide if they want a nightwatchman in instead.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/42563892
5 down, no biggie, if they stay in control for an hour or 2 then maybe some-think can happen, better selecting next time from the ECB they make mistakes its like picking night-watch men, score little runs.
Malan was out early for 60 odd to a good catch by Smith. There followed three pretty innings of 30 each by Ali, Curran and Broad before Crane was run out for 4 giving England a total of 346. Nowhere near enough I'm afraid. It's just the same as the first three Tests. To make things worse we've played Usman Khawaja back into form - he's 91 not out with you know who at the other end on 40. Australia 193-2 in a good position to build a BIG lead.
Anyway, never mind all that nonsense, because meanwhile, down at Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa won the toss and chose to bat in the First Test against India. Dale Steyn is back. India haven't played any warm-up matches for this Test which is a curious decision.
Kohli said he would have chosen to bowl had he won the toss, so he's got what he wanted. Well, it looks like he was right because SA were 12-3 within 20 minutes, Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking the wickets of Elgar, Markram and Amla. De Villiers has started to rebuild with 37 off 37 balls, Du Plessis at the other end. Currently 64/3.
Live radio commentary at http://www.radio2000.co.za/digital/player/1.0/radio2000/index.html?tab=w
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Posted: |
Jan 5, 2018 - 12:50 PM
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By: |
litefoot
(Member)
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meanwhile, down at Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa won the toss and chose to bat in the First Test against India. Dale Steyn is back. India haven't played any warm-up matches for this Test which is a curious decision.
Kohli said he would have chosen to bowl had he won the toss, so he's got what he wanted. Well, it looks like he was right because SA were 12-3 within 20 minutes, Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking the wickets of Elgar, Markram and Amla. De Villiers has started to rebuild with 37 off 37 balls, Du Plessis at the other end. Currently 64/3.
India continued taking wickets but South Africa continued scoring runs, and they were all out for 286, with half centuries from De Villiers and Du Plessis. Kumar was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 4/87.
India came into bat and their supposedly world-class top order had a chance to show they could bat in alien conditions. They failed miserably, with the SA bowlers Steyn, Morkel and Philander giving them a real working over. Vijay wafted and was caught in the gully (1); Dhawan top edged a pull (16); and Kohli nicked to the keeper (5). India 28/3 at stumps. So much for world class. Maybe have some warm-up games next time eh Virat?
A cracking day of Test cricket for the neutral - it had everything.
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