The Ashes Thread

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They may well be quality, but they may well have not pulled their weight . We weren't the best side at that world cup; just the most efficient.
Anyway, world cup euphoria is a powerful thing .

 

Well, the weather has killed us. There's no way we're going to win this one, plain and simple. Vaughan would be a fool to give Australia even a ghost of a chance with the Ashes on the line.

Congratulations to Mr Flintoff - he carried England to victory in this series and deserves his accolades. Following the typical English tradition of over-the-top celebration, I fully expect him to be granted a duchy somewhere and knighted to boot.

England wins back the Ashes... who'd have thought it? I do not believe that they were the better side, though, and while I could rattle off a list of excuses it will change nothing.

Am I bitter? Absolutely. Hence, I will shut up and let you Brits enjoy it.

 

No no! Nothing less than a seat in the House of Lords will do. Or maybe governorship of one of the sunnier colonies. I wonder which one would be most appropriate...

 

And Bell goes for a Golden.

An average of 17.1 for the series.

 

234-7 now, this is gettin better by the second!

 

It's all over, I'm one happy bunny.

 

YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well done England on a truly well deserved victory .

The Ashes are finally home .

I was a crapping myself a bit after the first couple of hours and we were 3 wickets down quite cheaply, and then Flintoff going for nowt, but the innings by KP today was something special. Sure, he rode his luck a bit early on, but then he really took the piss and smacked everyone allover the park. Special mention the the King of Spain for his part in it as well. Gilo had a great knock.

It's not just the victory that is so special, but the manner of the victory. We outplayed the Aussies in around 80%+ of the sessions since the 1st test.

Happy .

 

THE ASHES ARE HOME!!!



Well, we did it. Never any doubt.

A fantastic day's batting from England, with Gilo showing fantastic resolve and determination, and Badgerhead putting on a superb knock, really making the Australian's pay for putting him down.

This has been easily the most memorable test series I can ever recall, and would have remained so whatever the result. For England to show such resolution on the final day was truly commendable, but I can't overlook the Aussies. They're still a tremendous side with some great performers, but weren't able to find enough to beat us on this occasion. Even with Warne straining every sinew to retain the urn - virtually single-handed at times - we were able to find enough. He's a true great, simple. It's been a privilege to watch, and an honour to know I've been able to watch one of the best ever in action, in the flesh.

Well done England! And the Aussies? See you in 18 months for the re-match. I can only hope it's half as good as this series has been.

 

BARMY'S PLAYER RATINGS

Marcus Trescothick 9
The man who was supposed to be cheap pickings for McGrath and was anything but. Has averaged over 40 in the series and has produced some excellent knocks.

Andrew Strauss 8
Struggled at first but grew as the series went on. How vital the century was in the fifth test!

Michael Vaughan(with the bat) 7
Showed his grit with a century but was a little indifferent overall.

Michael Vaughan(Captaincy)10
His decisions and field settings have been awesome. Captain Marvel!

Ian Bell 6
Two fifties don't hide what has been a dissapointment. It was a bit of a shock to the system for him, in his first test series ever playing against such class.

Kevin Pietersen 9
Has fought them head on and finished as leading run scorer averaging 52. Be it not for six dropped catches he would of got a ten. To think his inclusion was up for debate!

Andrew Flintoff 10
The greatest cricketer we have produced since Ian Botham. He has led the fight and the others have followed, has been key in many tests but Sunday mornings effort along with Hoggard has allowed us to be where we are today.
Player of the series, simply stunning!

Paul Collingwood 6 1/2
Didn't get the number of games he deserves but is part of the team. I thought at the time his ten was excellent today in unbelievable pressure. Small score, but a big and meaningful innings.

Geraint Jones 8
Yes, he dropped some catches and missed some stumpings but had it been not for his catch at Edgbaston and his stand with Freddie at TrentBridge we could be staring at defeat tonight. Although, we need to be scouring for a replacement before long if his catching percentage doesn't improve.

Ashley Giles 8
Targetted by the Aussies and then he targetted them. Excellent at Edgbaston and balls of steel at Trentbridge. Great 50 today. Makes up for a lack of talent with a big heart and determination.

Matthew Hoggard 8
Quiet start but strong finish. Took plenty of wickets and his batting frustrated them tremendously. Who can forget his boundary off Lee with eight to win in Nottingham?

Steve Harmison 7
Bit hit and miss but took vital wickets at key points of the series.

Simon Jones 9
Key England bowler and has really come of age this summer. Can bat as well!

I don't think it's fair of me to rate the Aussies as I believe many have under-performed, but whether they had a choice in that is a different issue.
Warne 10
Lee 9
These two have to get a mention. Warnes best ever series is still not enough to beat us, I think that says it all!
Fair play Aussies.

Oh, and Warne and Lee have gone up massively in my estimation these last 5 weeks or so. Ponting has gone down a bit, though.

 

Congratulations to England for a great series victory, but well done to both England and Australia for producing one of the most memorable cricket events ever. This was a fantastic contest from start to finish and a brilliant advertisement for the game of test cricket. There is something special about the cut and thrust of the five day test that just cannot be replicated in the shorter versions of the game. I would also say that the 25 days of tension we have experienced in this series is totally different from anything you could get in any other sport.

Also, full credit to the spirit in which this series was contested. Other than a few outbursts (which Ricky will regret), this has been a great example of sportsmanship and a whole world away from the constant petulance and tantrums we see in tennis, rugby, and especially soccer.

On the downside, some of the hairstyles and clothing choices in this series have been unforgiveable.

Now, what to look forward to? We have the Super Series coming up, but that just seems silly now that Australia have been shown to be human. I wonder what changes will be made to that team for that series.

Longer term, maybe we can now look forward to a more level playing field in world cricket for a few years, with the outcome of the series not being decided before they start. Next mission for England will be to sort out their one day game to match their dominance in the test arena. Next mission for Australia is to find some new young players.

Brilliant stuff all around.

 

All very true, good post Gaz. it's a shame it's over, that was the best series I have ever seen in my lifetime, and probably the best series many people older than me have seen in their lifetimes!

Great entertainment .

 

The only other times I can remember watching test series that did not involve my own country so closely were when Australia and the West Indies had some of their epic clashes a while back. But that didn't have the aura of the Ashes so wasn't quite the same.

 

This series for me has also been slightly bittersweet, to be honest mate. I mean that as in this was a series of endings. The ending of Cricket on free to air television, and the end of Channel 4's excellent covereage, the end of the career in British televison commentary of the greatest commentator of all time, the end of the test career in England of two of the greatest bowlers of all time in Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Ashes series in this country will miss those two, and cricket will miss the commentary of the legendary Richie Benaud. You can't often say that about a commentator.

But most improtantly the end of that wait for England to regain the Ashes. Well done lads, there are 40 odd million of us waiting to buy you a pint.

Now to see what happens after this.

 

From Barmy:

Rode his luck a bit???
In the Innings he could have been:
-Caught by Warne
-Caught by Gilchrist/Hayden
-Caught by Tait
-Run out by clark
-Run out by Lee

And also had some lucky umpire decisions:
-1st ball McGrath bowled a bouncer that hit his glove(which was touching his bat) and was caught. Rudi gave it not out because he thought it hit the arm guard. If the decision were paid McGrath would have made a hat trick.

-lbw Warne, given not out by Rudi – ball spun 43 inches and Hawk eye could not at first recognise the ball (on account of the ammount of spin)

Oh well we lost, but it was an excellent series none the less! Well done to England.


Also given their form I would not be particually surprised if McGrath and Warne kicked on for the next Ashes. Neither of the techniques are particually straining and their carrers have been mainly injury free.

 

And so the first shots are fired... none too soon, IMO.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=4110

 

Let's see caught by Warne - no he dropped it
Caught by Gilchrsist/Hayden - no they dropped it
Caught by Tait (difficult chance) - no he dropped it as well
Run Out by Clark - no he missed
Run out by Lee - No he missed

Yes he rode his luck all the above didn't happen and we won the ashes, and I sat at the Oval and watched my favourite thing in Sport; Australians losing to England.

November 2003
September 2005

Gloating Poms 2 Whingeing Aussies 0

 

NS

Not unexpected. In the post match presentations, Ponting praised the English for having always been supportive of the team for the last 18 years, (I'm not all that convinced myself) No doubt he knew all too well that he would be castigated for the Aussie loss.

Stu

I watched the replays, and I was reasonably convinced that first ball hit his shoulder. Both commentators were definitely convinced when looking at the replays that it hadn't hit his hand and said it was a good decision.

 

@ NS: wow, that's the sort of knee-jerk reactionism we used to get over here after every Ashes series - "we lost! Let's sack EVERYONE!"

Never got us very far, did it?

Of course, there's also not too much to argue with, either; Martyn looks a goner, frankly, although Hayden ought to survive. He showed at the Oval during the 2nd & 3rd days that he was capable of adapting his game to tough out runs to meet the circumstances. Katich I don't think was as bad as Martyn, but didn't make an impact either. Clarke should be safe; he's a young, improving player of the sort Australia need. I think Gillespie's days are pretty much numbered and Kasprowicz didn't do enough to justify taking his place. Tait - whilst erratic - has something about him, and could yet work on tempering his raw aggression into some kind of consistency. Gilchrist's technique got shown up by Flintoff, but he still contributed well with the gloves.

Where they do have most of a point, though, is with Ponting: he was out-thought by Vaughan for most of the series, and never looked a leader on the pitch. Warne did, both by example and tactically. Leave his private life out of it, and he seems an easy choice. Personally, I never like to see people's private lives come into decisions like this; it should be the best person for the job, full stop. Ponting looked lost out there, often as not, and should be replaced. His batting would probably improve, too. It's the way with captaincy that it impacts batsmen more than bowlers, so there's another reason to pick Warne. His presence is such that even if someone else is picked he'll always be a "pseudo-captain" (as Lillee put it) out on the pitch.

 

NS interesting article and quite correct really I've always felt that ponting was a politic (even possibly the polite) choice as captain. Unfortunately CA seems to be still at times more concerned with the pc aspects than who/what's best for the job.

Shane Warne is the greatest leg-spinner the world has ever seen and one of the most competitive sportsman I have ever seen in any sport. While I have enjoyed the ashes series and finally beating Shane it would have been much harder had he been captain.

@The Magpie I agree with your assessment and I'm hoping that in 14 months time when we go to australia to keep the ashes (hopefully); that australia have brought players to replace them to make the series competitive.

But the big question is; Is there anyone to ready to replace Glenn McGrath ?

 

I don't think the Aussies will be looking to directly replace players. Anyway, a legend like McGrath is pretty much irreplaceable. Australian cricket being as it is though, there will be a rut of young lads ready to step up and immediately have an effect on the team. The current Australian side is mostly in the twilight of an illustrious period of ruthless superiority. They were just way better than anyone else. Now, a lot of them are getting old, but still, the younger Australian sides are immense. Some young kids'll step up and take fivefers and smack tons. It's Australias national sport. I just hope the new popularity for cricket over here means that there will be a load of young Flintoffs and Harmisons knocking about in a few years (and hopefully a young Alec Stewart and Jim Laker!!!).

In addition to the above, there's talk about Shane Watson, Andy Symonds, Mike Hussey coming into the Test squad. Those 3 are superb players, especially Hussey and Symonds (who I consider the best one day all-rounder right now). In fact, it's pretty ridiculous that they aren't in the team already. Hussey and Symonds would walk straight into the England squad, no messing.

[ September 14, 2005, 19:25: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]