Does anyone think that we've shot ourselves in the foot....

.. already when it comes to next year's Ashes?

Both Old Trafford and Trent Bridge are off the itinerary. It seems like two horrendous decisions to me.

At Old Trafford in 2005, we dominated and were Glen McGrath's wicket away from winning. Besides, it's Monty's favourite ground. He's consistently excellent at OT and he's never faced the Aussies there. Beau Casson may have improved but he's certainly no Warne. Bad move.

At Trent Bridge, we won the test that won the Ashes! How did we win the Ashes? Through reverse swing bowling, against which Australia looked largely clueless. I read an article on this and it said that since the new stand has gone up, no side (apart from England in the last Test) has scored more than 277 because it is such a swinger's paradise.

Also, when you look at the Aussie bowlers, Johnson's erratic and Stuart Clark gets movement off the seam by virtue of being a tall, upright seam bowler. Simon Jones and Freddy decimated Australia with swing bowling so we remove the one ground which hoops around consistently. Terrible move.

Who bloody cares if the facilities aren't great? We could win Test matches at these places. Who wants good facilities if we keep losing?! We should be picking Test grounds to suit our strengths. One of our strengths is spin bowling (Monty) and the other is swing bowling. I think it's a joke to be honest. If we can't get wins in the next Ashes, this will come back to haunt us.

Lord's will suit Stuart Clark and Headingley will suit Brett Lee and Clark again. We've practically lost already.

We will steamroll them anyway. As sure as eggs is eggs.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:
At Trent Bridge, we won the test that won the Ashes! How did we win the Ashes? Through reverse swing bowling, against which Australia looked largely clueless. I read an article on this and it said that since the new stand has gone up, no side (apart from England in the last Test) has scored more than 277 because it is such a swinger's paradise.

Also, when you look at the Aussie bowlers, Johnson's erratic and Stuart Clark gets movement off the seam by virtue of being a tall, upright seam bowler. Simon Jones and Freddy decimated Australia with swing bowling so we remove the one ground which hoops around consistently. Terrible move.

The new stand wasn't competed when the venues were decided so there was no way of knowing that it would cause (if indeed it does cause - ball didn't swing much when the sun came out towards the end of the match against NZ the other day) TB to become a "swinger's paradise".

Up until this season, Trent Bridge has been one of the best batting tracks around. Easy paced and true, an average of about 380 per FC innings.

F*ck off Dello. How dare you logically disprove my theory. How dare you.

Can we rush through Test status for Lerwick?

Can't they switch it back to TB? Who cares if the Welsh have been promised?

Or catch them on a sticky wicket in Bakewell?

Just send a random 22 players over to Walesland as "Englorn" and "Ausmalia", call it The Ashies - they won't know the difference.

Play the proper game somewhere else: everyone wins. Except the Welsh. And, probably, England.

Dello wrote:Just send a random 22 players over to Walesland as "Englorn" and "Ausmalia", call it The Ashies - they won't know the difference.

Play the proper game somewhere else: everyone wins. Except the Welsh. And, probably, England.

That sounds complex. Just send a few sheep their way.

Agree with you LLL, what is it Cardiff & Lords 1st 2 tests?

Christ, we'll be 2-0 down before we know it.

JKLever wrote:Agree with you LLL, what is it Cardiff & Lords 1st 2 tests?

Christ, we'll be 2-0 down before we know it.

I don't know.... we even lost to the Bangers in Cardiff.....

Cardiffs a bit of an unknown.

Can't see a load of Welshmen being that raucous shouting for a team called England to be honest....

Unless a certain SP Jones happens to be fit and reverse swinging it, that is...

And the commentators will start shouting "It's reversing! It's reversing!"

JKLever wrote:Cardiffs a bit of an unknown.

Can't see a load of Welshmen being that raucous shouting for a team called England to be honest....

Unless a certain SP Jones happens to be fit and reverse swinging it, that is...

Or a certain GO Jones starts spilling catches left, right and centre ...