England v Australia, 1st Test, Cardiff, July 8-12 (II)

This group of about 18 playes were our best players prior to the test starting and are still our best players. Fark the Ashes, I want to win as many series as I can 'now'

Can't believe the minceathon going on. Our current system has produced a team that have been outplayed by Australia for the past 3 days. We are currently not as good as the top 3 sides in world cricket. Thems the facts.

Putting all the current candidates into a melting pot and stirring it around changes nothing. If we want to consistently compete (as opposed to one offs like 2005) then the system needs to change.

Chivalry Augustus wrote: The whole England Lions' team put in a better performance than this.

Ah yes, the old better out of the team than in it scenario.

Saj Mahmood, Tim Bresnan, Steve Harmison, Graham Onions. Obviously they would have carried Australia before them in this game.

Chivalry Augustus wrote:James Anderson is averaging nearly 80 against Australia.

I know his batting's improved, but surely not that much?

What a festive looking cake!

Chivalry Augustus wrote:Retain Pietersen, Strauss, Collingwood, Flintoff and Swann then start again around them.

So Bopara gets the chop for one streaky innings of 30 or so and one umpiring shocker? And people say Blobert didn't get a fair go?

As for your 4-man attack, find me four world-class bowlers and I might agree. If you've got limited quality I'd rather have six bowlers than four. What good does a specialist batsman at number 7 ever do?

Welly well well. A dominant batting performance followed by a couple of very early wickets followed by sh!t Welsh weather.

Great knocks from Ollie and Haddit. Can we get 4 hours play to try to winkle out 8 wickets for less than 200?

Dare I say, we can already claim the moral victory?

Prior hasn't totally sucked in this match either.

Naz and Athers made some sage comments about the likely state of pitches for the remaining four Tests, basically urging the curators to juice 'em up a bit.

I can't help but think that will suit Aus more than England. If the NSP correct their aberration and bring Gump in for Haurie, and Con can find a method to score runs through the leg, Aus could be dominant.

Or am I getting carried away?

JGK wrote:Prior hasn't totally sucked in this match either.

Indeed, JGK. For all the crap, both Hads and prior seemed to keep fairly well on a difficult pitch . . . and their batting was top notch . . . both seem to have pull their respective thumbs out behind the stumps . . .

still, it's early days . . . wait til they get a bit weary after 2 or 3 tests . . .

nice of "dial a quote" Nel Harvey to offer his opinion on the biased Ashes commentary in the paper this morning...

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25766574-2882,00.html

skully wrote:Naz and Athers made some sage comments about the likely state of pitches for the remaining four Tests, basically urging the curators to juice 'em up a bit.

I can't help but think that will suit Aus more than England. If the NSP correct their aberration and bring Gump in for Haurie, and Con can find a method to score runs through the leg, Aus could be dominant.

Or am I getting carried away?

I think they have been proven right in opting for Hilfenhaus though, and Hauritz actually 'bought' some wickets with his peculiar brand of blandness. I think Clark has to be assessed on current, not past form. The suspicion is that he's still working his way towards full fitness and hasn't looked anything resembling a strike bowler to date. Punter seems to think that Siddle can do the grunt work and be a dangerous option. Hauritz is also batting insurance. Unless it's a raging seamer at Lord's, I'd be surprised if they changed the team.

On the plus side while the Poms are struggling good to see the commentary team squirming to the point of Beefy bitching and moaning, heaven help us when England come good however.

JKLever wrote:Rob Key?

FFS

Kneejerkorama. Discard the bloke in his early 20's who has 9 test centuries and is in form because of 1 failure, for a bloke who can't buy a run this season!!

We do this everytime the Ashes come round.

Same squad for Lords for me. Just perform better.

The problem is, unless England somehow apply themselves today, lose few wickets and somehow grab the initiative from Australia, some changes will have to be made. It would seem almost impossible for the same team to regroup in time for an assault at Lord's. The die is already cast, the tone seems set. Somehow England must invigorate their line-up and keep the Aussies guessing. The body language looked very poor, the team looked downcast and dispirited. Punter is in a position to inflict further wounds on an injured enemy.

The feeling is that England placed too much emphasis in reprising 2005, thinking that because our personnel looks inferior, they would have the upper hand. They also seemed intent on preying on a perceived weakness against spin. Both of these seem off the mark. In any case Panesar and Swann don't seem to be the types to exploit any shortcoming.

They have to start afresh and attempt to create a new era. Punter told his teammates before this test that the victory in the last series against the odds with a 'new team' has satisfied him more than any Ashes success. It's time for England to make bold decisions and cast aside what hasn't worked and embark upon a new era. No more harm can be done than sending in a bedraggled looking lot for another battering at the home of cricket.

Most Aussie critics think that hindsight or not, Harmison should have been picked because he genuinely intimidated some of the Aussies at Worcester. He maybe should be recalled despite fears that he's moody and been a part of too many of the previous defeats.

Terry Jenner said this morning that both Swann and Panesar tried to bowl too quickly and this negated any possible spin. He feels they're getting bad advice from their bowling coach.

He also remarked that he found it curious that when the England team formed a huddle as they prepared to field for the first time in the match, KP was not part of it. He senses some trouble in the camp and he wonders if the enigmatic one is the major source here.

KP is all about KP and not the greater good of the team it seems, as mentioned elsewhere not only not taking part in the team huddle, but not warming up with the team and then hiding out on the boundary.
Seems KP is being more than a tad precious.

Flintoff and Pietersen can't work in the same team. That's long been established.

Seems Freddy isn't the only one that can't work with KP.

Blackadder wrote:Seems Freddy isn't the only one that can't work with KP.

What is the solution?

And England desperately requires a really strong leader to control and marshal its disparate forces. Is there someone on the English cricketing landscape who fits the bill?

Time to bite the bullet and cut KP free from the side until he can get his attitude right?

Ramprakash

Eric Air Emu wrote:I'd like to see Flintoff dropped because being an official Freddy Flintoff lookalike (3 people have told me this now unprompted) I don't want to be associated with the stench of failure and also we need to start slaughtering the sacred cows of 2005.

Sacred cows make the best hamburgers.

Dello wrote:Bobby has been piss poor for the last two seasons. Good player, yes. But he's not even the best opener at Kent at present.

But on the plus side, picking Key would mean much less general ribbing from Aussie fans, as we'd have one huge, Blobby-shaped target to laugh at.

Are there cliques in the English Management and selectors? They choose players based on where they come from and favourites? Is it wrong to think nepotism plays a huge part in this classed based system?

Zat wrote:

Invader Zim wrote:

Zat wrote:

Invader Zim wrote:

Zat wrote:So is Hussey's career over?

Wha?

Come on, he was outscored by 100+ by four batsmen. The useless crab should retire.

Stoopid dubber.

Got you in, didn't it?

On a serious note, Rod Nicholson in the Mudoch papers is saying questions should be asked about Mr Cricket.

Ouch! Scathing cricinfo article here.

Paul Keating wrote:Are there cliques in the English Management and selectors? They choose players based on where they come from and favourites? Is it wrong to think nepotism plays a huge part in this classed based system?

I was wondering that the other day, especially regarding those father/son selections.

Henry wrote:Flintoff and Pietersen can't work in the same team. That's long been established.

Blackadder wrote:Seems Freddy isn't the only one that can't work with KP.

Blackadder wrote:Time to bite the bullet and cut KP free from the side until he can get his attitude right?

Music to my ears. Internal bitching even before the 1st Test is over.

And all the talk in the interviews with the English bowlers during the match that indicated how nervous they where. I thought with all Aus's big guns gone, the Poms would be strutting around arrogantly. But that seems to be a posture reserved for the ubiquitous KP.