Botham predicts easy ashes win in 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7713794.stm

It's not like him to jump on a bandwagon...

England are really f*cked now.

Oh well that's the Aussie motivational speech for 2009 sorted then. Thanks Beefy....

Maybe he hadn't noticed we've lost our last 3 'big' series

"Kevin averaged 50 plus runs before he was captain and I think you'll see that go up maybe as much as 10 runs as captain, because I think he'll thrive on it,"

So a Vaughanesque average coming up then...

Oh come on. It's not like he doesn't go over the top in talking up England's Ashes chances before EVERY series. Even in 1997 he was saying that England had a great chance.

I don't think he's ever said that we can "easily" beat them. Saying that we have a chance to beat them and saying that we will easily beat them are two very different things.

In observing that Australia have declined, he's managed to forget that England have gone backwards at an alarming rate since 2005 as well.

I think it'll be a close series, mind......Probably a 2-2 draw.

Dunno what Beefy's basing his opinion on - other than real ale.

England were well and truly shafted at home by SA and looked weak in both batting and bowling.

I suspect the upcoming series in India will highlight the same problems.

They might win the Ashes - anything's possible - but imagining England will be anything other than underdogs is delusional.

What he's saying is actually true but he's presuming we're some sort of crash hot side ourselves....

"What I've seen so far, I don't see as too much of a threat and if England's bowlers stay fit then they'll win the series," said Botham.

Ah. It all makes sense now. Beefy knows that there is no chance that England's bowlers will stay fit for the entire series.

Both teams aren't as good as they were in 2005. AUS are about 60% of what they were in 05 while ENG are about 75% of what they were back in the day.

PlanetPakistan wrote:Both teams aren't as good as they were in 2005. AUS are about 60% of what they were in 05 while ENG are about 75% of what they were back in the day.

So you agree with Beefy then?

Memo. to Beefy:

STFU

Basil wrote:Memo. to Beefy:

STFU

That memo doesn't even need a context.

Henry wrote:

PlanetPakistan wrote:Both teams aren't as good as they were in 2005. AUS are about 60% of what they were in 05 while ENG are about 75% of what they were back in the day.

So you agree with Beefy then?

ENG will win- yes

....but not by a big margin

p.s this is assuming that there are no injuries to players like Harmison, Flintoff and KP

The thing is he's clearly overlooking the fact that Johnson,Lee & Clark would be far more effective in English conditions than in India.

A legend as a player, but as a human a complete farqwit.

JKLever wrote:The thing is he's clearly overlooking the fact that Johnson,Lee & Clark would be far more effective in English conditions than in India.

A legend as a player, but as a human a complete farqwit.

Harsh!

Australia will be a more settled side by then and Roy back hopefully. We can only go up from here.

He's actually a rather excellent human being, he's just a sh*t pundit.

vilkrang wrote:He's actually a rather excellent human being, .

Aye, he clocked Ian Chappell on the chin after all.

Bit harsh to call a human who's raised almost £4 million for Leukemia Research and who has decked Chappelli a farquit !
But Beefy's 'punditry' can sometimes backfire - he wears his 3 Lions proudly, but he does tend to overcook the mushrooms occasionally as his vocal chords operate an hour before his brain activates.

Honest as the day's long though .... which is more than can be said about a few other ex-cricketers still working the circuit.

vilkrang wrote:"Kevin averaged 50 plus runs before he was captain and I think you'll see that go up maybe as much as 10 runs as captain, because I think he'll thrive on it,"

So a Vaughanesque average coming up then...

How did Beefy perform when he was captain?

Farqwit was a bit harsh perhaps..... whats below that on the scale? Dickwad?

JKLever wrote:Farqwit was a bit harsh perhaps..... whats below that on the scale? Dickwad?

Para Batsman

embee wrote:

vilkrang wrote:"Kevin averaged 50 plus runs before he was captain and I think you'll see that go up maybe as much as 10 runs as captain, because I think he'll thrive on it,"

So a Vaughanesque average coming up then...

How did Beefy perform when he was captain?

batting average 13 (from 37 when not)
bowling average 33 (28 )