A fair assessment of why England can retain the Ashes

Here

"If you are seduced by popular opinion, England has as much chance of retaining the Ashes this summer as pigs flying over the Gabba in November.
Ask just about anyone - from sports bookmakers to rank-and-file cricket fans - and they will tell you that, while England aren't hopeless, they just can't win on Aussie soil.

On the face of it, they are right because England haven't held the urn aloft here since Mike Gatting's men enjoyed a famous 2-1 series victory way back in 1986-87.

But dig a little deeper and you will find this England side is made of stern stuff, has made giant strides since it won the Ashes last year and has enormous belief compared to the sides that have been lambs to the slaughter in Australia for 20 years.

It is just over 18 months since the two Andys, captain Strauss and coach Flower, took over the side and they are now unrecognisable from the rabble they once were."

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The rest of the article is a good read on all the pluses in Engulund's favour. I fully expect JKL to poo-poo the lot of it, but it makes sense to me. Should be an excellent Ashes 10-11 coming up.

Here's hoping anyway.

As interesting as the article was ...Australia's chances are only dependent upon themselves ...

No injuries ...especially to Punter's and Mitch's Brain ...and a team that is prepared to play Test Cricket for 5 days at a time will beat anything the Poms can throw at us.

A fair call, A. We all know that Aus is hard to beat on home soil under much more benign atmospheric and pitch conditions (in terms of sideways movement).

JKL (and others) are of the view that England's attack cannot dismiss Aus twice often enough to retain the Ashes. I guess the counter question is can Aus's attack dismiss the Poms twice often enough to regain the urn?

I think Bolly, Milf, maybe Sids and occasionally Midge (on a good day) have enough firepower to win a couple of Tests. Fingers crossed.

For England much will depend on Swanny.

Aus should walk it.

Eng touring Aus is almost the same as India touring SA except that England occasionally win

Hope you're right, taips. A long tour under the blazing Aus sun normally has the Poms struggling but on paper they have a pretty fair arsenal.

I fear Strauss, Colly, Swanny and maybe Trott, KP and Prior.

skully wrote:Hope you're right, taips. A long tour under the blazing Aus sun normally has the Poms struggling but on paper they have a pretty fair arsenal.

I fear Strauss, Colly, Swanny and maybe Trott, KP and Prior.

Only 4 of those are SA born

Hehehe.

Pommy fast bowlers often succumb to injury on our tougher ground and more unforgiving conditions. It's usually an arduous tour for them and the tyranny of distance sometimes seems to induce a hint of homesickness in the camp.

True Red, but spinners don't. The last time England beat us on home soil Embers and Edders took 33 wickets between them. The Poms best quicks were Gladdy Small with 12 wickets in 2 Tests and Graham Dilley with 16 in 5 Tests. So the spinners were the difference.

To me, Swann appears to be the only danger man

Aye.

'why England can retain the Ashes'

Because they're a side that's got form, confidence, and stability.

Australia is a side that lost its last Test against Pak-i-f*cking-stan, and has tests in India in the lead-up, id captained by a moron, coached by a dill, and is selected by numbskulls, with players in form unable to get in, and players in poor form unlikely to be dropped.

Hard to argue with that succinctly put assessment.

We can't win over there, if we win a single live test then I'll be happy.

vilky, I suspect you'll be doing ice-cold thick banana whips.

Wonder how many Balmy Armiers will be out?

Can we have them all shot?

Better still, can we, from a position of superiority, sledge the fark out 'em?

Now you're just being silly.

A little bird told me that a certain forum member had great fun sledging a member of the Balmy Army at a previous Forum gathering.

They're idiots - the lot of them.

F**king Inane and repetitive dirges all day long can blow your brain away if seated a few rows from the constsnt din.

The only time they're worth their salt is when they get under the skins of an Aussie cricketer fielding near them and screw with his head - perfect example - Jason Gillespie.

Merlin wrote:They're idiots - the lot of them.

F**king Inane and repetitive dirges all day long can blow your brain away if seated a few rows from the constsnt din.

I think you've just summed up the Emperor's hatred of said mob.

skully wrote:

JKL (and others) are of the view that England's attack cannot dismiss Aus twice often enough to retain the Ashes. I guess the counter question is can Aus's attack dismiss the Poms twice often enough to regain the urn?

You make it sound like our batting is anything more than just workmanlike!!

if australia plays its first choice xi it will win

england's bowling attack is not ideal for aussie conditions and their batting is not going to put up collosal scores with regularity to put enough pressure

aus probably 2-0 or 3-1

Looks better on paper than ours, JKL. Espesh given you have people like Morgan and Bell fighting for the one spot.

We've got the woeful Ollie at 6 with no-one really in the wings beating down the door to replace him. Sadly our best option, if North was to be given time back in Shield, appears to be Watto at 6, with Phews coming into open. The English would be smacking their lips at that prospect.