2006 Ashes

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Jeez, those umpires must really hate Straus - He middled that ball and was still given lbw. And since it was that Pakistani umpire that made the call, Barmy's Rudi Kurtzen's sister shagging hypothesis doesn't really hold up. Perhaps he started a petition for cuts to international umpire salaries. New Zealand's fielding well again!

 

Yeah, that was a tough call for Strauss. He's had many of those this season. Good run out by Patel.

 

Well done to England, but really, both teams lived up to their billings as under achievers. There would have been nothing in that display that would be keeping the Australians awake at night. I wish our batsmen could score some runs and not always be propped up the tail.

 

Bloody hell, we made hard work of that! Both the bowling and the batting was piss poor again. Ed Joyce... I'd love to know how these selectors reach their decisions.

 

Vaughan injured again. He's getting as bad as Wilko. At least we've actually called up a decent batsman as replacement (Mal Loye). I was scared that they were going to bring in Owais Shah or Rav Bopara (knowing our idiot selectors).

Bond will have a scan on his dodgy back again, because it's been giving him gip. It'd be a shame if he had to go home.

 

Loye looked pretty dangerous at the beginning but once he got out, everyone else fell like dominos. 155 really should not be a hard target to reach.

And what a great catch by Hodge (his first one) and flukish run out by White. Ian Bell deserves to be back handed for changing his mind about which end he was going to run to 5 or 6 times in the middle of the pitch.

 

What an enthralling game. How good is Mike Hussey? He's awesome.

 

Without Ponting they struggled. Take Hussey away as well and the team would be nondescript. Nondescript. Just another average team. The Aussie team relies on a few extremely good players always bailing them out of bother. India will take over their mantle soon. I am absolutely certain of it. Their young team is absolutely unreal. I'll put my good name down as quotable on that one.

 

Like NZ and England? Until either of us beats them, they'll still be awesome. At least they have a few extremely good players.

 

At least we didn't loose our top five batsmen in a space of 20 runs . England's tail (well, their last five batsmen) made more runs than the top 1/2.
The umpires are getting worse! Hussy was out the other night (it was a small nick, but still hearable) and McMillian today made a huge noise.

 

Once again our second half get all the runs. Still a hopeless batting effort. Why can't our top order bat as easily as our lower order?

Umpiring decisions go both ways. It all evens out over time.

 

Gilly AND Haydos gone for 6!!!! What the hell is this world coming to?!?!?!?

 

Yeah, not the best start, Roy looks like he's in form though - we should make the total easy. No Bond to deal with either.
Since there's been a bit of criticism over the length of the tournament I have an idea. Make it England and New Zealand vs Australia at the same time!
Does anyone think that perhaps Ponting isn't feeling the best? It seemed a tad odd that he sent Clarke in before him.

 

Australia are just doing enough to give us a sniff, before cruising it in the end.

 

If NZ got their bloody fielding together... It's fumble-tastic out there. Yeah, we're taking it pretty easy out there. Apart from Bevan and Peiterson, Hussy is the only Batsman whose ODI average has never gone below 40 (min 30 games).

[Edit]Gee that was close, only 2 wickets to go. Well, at least someone's getting closer.

[ January 21, 2007, 12:13: Message edited by: Stu ]

 

This is so unfair. Only humans should be allowed to play international cricket. Michael Hussey is clearly not human, so should be banned. He's unbelievable.

But yes, despite the close finish, NZ did not deserve to get close. Australia did their best to hand the game to NZ but we couldn't accept it. Very disappointing effort.

 

Everyone in England was saying for years that Hussey should be playing for Australia. When they finally realize it, it's about 3 or 4 years too late! Class, class player. There are no weaknesses in his technique.

 

Hussey is a god. It is as simple as that. NZ should have won if they werent so gumby in the field. 2 dropped catches and and absolute screwup of a runout. Not good for the morale.

 

It's not good for the morale of the NZ fans either. It's very difficult to watch them at the moment. Wish we could find an indestructible god like Hussey. Michael Slater had it right when he said: "They should have known better than to throw the ball at Hussey's end anyway. You can't get Hussey out!"

Amazing that he is so good that your game plan almost has to be to get rid of all his partners and leave him at the other end.

 

Well played Kiwi's. Well deserved win (I'm writing this at 108 for 8). England were just utter dire today. It's getting beyond embarrassing now, there's no improvement in performances at all.