The Official 2013 Ashes Thread

[Guest LFD]

Mills has just done a 90mph deliver which has hit Swann on the wrist, his spinning hand.

 

Not good and he is in a lot of pain!

 

and now he has hit Bresnan on the helmet.

 

Swann has stayed on, but looks in a lot of pain - he should probably go off really.

 

and now he has hit Bell while batting at short leg.

 

Is he an Aussie?

[Red Banjo]

2 sixes then Swann has him.

[Guest LFD]

Swann bowls Mills, who had hit him for two 6s before.

 

Essex all out for 278. England lead by 135 runs.

[ChrisM]

I see they've fast-tracked Fawad Ahmed's citizenship application so he is now eligible for the entire series.

[TheBitch]

I see they've fast-tracked Fawad Ahmed's citizenship application so he is now eligible for the entire series.

 

Good. He's shit.

[Rex Banner]

He won't be playing anyway. Rogers will though which I think is a good move, he obviously knows English conditions very well and has vast experience. I'd take him over Cowan every time, Cowan to me always looks like he's playing just to survive and often just doing so. He's the furthest thing from a shot maker, his biggest attribute is he can hang in there and scratch and scrape his way along with singles that's not the Aussie way.

[Rex Banner]

Watson with a ton and a strike rate over 100, an in form Watson is dangerous.

[Yozzer]

Yeah, got mine delivered too today, proper excited when I saw the LCCC on the envelope. What day(s) are you going Yozzer? I'm there for the Friday, staying in a hotel in the city centre afterwards, gonna get wasted I reckon.

 

Day 1, 4 and 5 as they were really cheap when we looked at the prices. Considering booking a hotel for the lot of us over the weekend and make the most of it, be arsed getting some shite Northern Rail train to Oxford Rd every day. Whether it makes it to the last days is probably the more important point, by all accounts the new strip has been lively.

[Vincent Vega]

Day 1, 4 and 5 as they were really cheap when we looked at the prices. Considering booking a hotel for the lot of us over the weekend and make the most of it, be arsed getting some shite Northern Rail train to Oxford Rd every day. Whether it makes it to the last days is probably the more important point, by all accounts the new strip has been lively.

 

Yeah, I saw Ian Ward and Paul Allott talking about the pitch last night saying it's got plenty of pace in it and also takes spin. The recent Lancs v Northants county match saw 24 wickets fall in two days, with most of the damage done by the pace bowlers.

[A_S]

Watson with a ton and a strike rate over 100, an in form Watson is dangerous.

 

Needs to bowl too. Returning him to the top of the order seems to have restored his confidence somewhat and he did quite well opening in 2009 too.

 

What do you make of Siddle and Khawaja not playing this game? Rested for the 1st Test? I'd be stunned if Siddle was dropped for the 1st Test, esepcially given his consistency over the last 2 years. Khawaja is a hard one to work out, but I'd personally like to see him given a chance to finally prove himself.

[Guest LFD]

Needs to bowl too. Returning him to the top of the order seems to have restored his confidence somewhat and he did quite well opening in 2009 too.

 

What do you make of Siddle and Khawaja not playing this game? Rested for the 1st Test? I'd be stunned if Siddle was dropped for the 1st Test, esepcially given his consistency over the last 2 years. Khawaja is a hard one to work out, but I'd personally like to see him given a chance to finally prove himself.

 

Looks to me Australia have played their batters, but rested their bowlers - bit like England did vs Essex.

 

Therefore I can't see Khawaja playing the first Test.

[Rex Banner]

I'm far from convinced by Khawaja, I just get the feeling he's not mentally tough enough and you need to be for an Ashes series.

Siddle will play for sure, he's the work horse and you need that.

[Vincent Vega]

I wonder if the forecasted heatwave for next week will have an impact on the first test at Trent Bridge? This is usually one of James Anderson's favourite places to bowl as the swing he can produce is prodigious if the overhead conditions are cloudy, bright sunshine may well nullify Anderson and Broad to a degree.

 

I've got say I'm not quite as uber confident as I was a few months ago due to the following:

 

- England failed to impress in New Zealand (though conditions and pitches were not favourable).

 

- the fact England have struggled in the past when they are overwhelming favourites, they seem to prefer the underdog tag, as evidenced in India.

 

- England have taken a bit of risk by moving Root to open and Bairstow doesn't have a great deal of experience. Root looks a fine player and has impressed greatly at number six in the team, but moving him to opener having never played there for England is a punt and we also need to look at the fact that he has got out in the first over of the second new ball on three occasions, not a great sign for someone moving to opener.

 

- Aussie pride has taken a right battering and a proud sporting nation like them will be determined to fight back. I think the removal of Micky Arthur and appointment of Darren Lehman will galvanise them and think the test matches will be closer than many people expect.

 

I still expect England to win as when it comes down to talen we have the better proven batsmen in Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell and Prior, we can get runs down the order from Broad, Bresnan and Swann, we have the better wicketkeeper by far in Prior and our bowling attack is vastly more experienced, with a hell of a lot more wickets to their names.

 

Chris Rogers looks to be a clever pick with his experience of English conditions, let's hope he is exposed by some top class bowling. Clarke is undoubtedly their class act and Watson is a capable batsman but his pattern against England seems to be getting to 50 and then getting himself out. I don't rate what I've seeen of Warner, Cowan or Phil Hughes. Haddin is a decent enough batsman but was shocking before he was dropped, playing ridiculous attacking shots when his team needed him to try and stay in and build an innings, he's okay with the gloves, nothing more. As for the much vaunted bowling attack, we don't really know much about them, but I think Siddle as their main man has never really impressed that much when playing England previously apart from the odd spell. I certainly think Micky Arthur was talking out of his arse when he said Australia had the best bowiling attack in the world.

 

The fact we are playing at home and we tend to have a very good record in England apart from when playing the South Africans, should be enough to ensure we retain the Ashes until we visit the Aussies this winter.

[RobbieOR]

Agree with most of that. England will win but it wont be as emphatic as people think it will be. The Aussies wont just lie down, especially against England.

[lifetime fan]

The Aussies are shit, it'll be close in a couple of tests because they hate losing but they're crap.

 

No way can they have Clarke at 5 with their batting line up, he'll end up with scores of 50 and 60 n.o. batting with the tail.

[RobbieOR]

They're crap but they wont give up. And England arent that good when the onus is on them to produce either.

[lifetime fan]

They're crap but they wont give up. And England arent that good when the onus is on them to produce either.

 

 

Maybe, well apart from Haddin.

 

If we need a wicket I'll just tell you to fuck off to bed.

[s(k)aturation]

I think Essex can win the Ashes.

[RobbieOR]

During the day??

 

I'll miss the first two tests through work (the weekdays anyway) so you wont have any trouble there.

[lifetime fan]

During the day??

 

I'll miss the first two tests through work (the weekdays anyway) so you wont have any trouble there.

 

 

Every time you went to bed in 09 the wickets tumbled, so yeah, if need be you'll have to go to bed during the day mate.

[sir roger]

I think it will be something like 3-1 to England here & the series in OZ to follow will be a really good one.

 

Don't rate Bairstow & would be surprised if he was still in the side by the end of the Summer.

[Guest LFD]

I think England will win at least 3-0, maybe 4-0, I just can't see the Australian team beating this England side who will be on full song against them, unlike against New Zealand when they were in second gear a lot of the time.

 

In Australia I think it will be a similar result. England will get heavy runs in Australia and they have the better bowling attack to get 20 wickets.

 

I think only Clarke would get in the England side and he can't do it all batting at number 5 is too low IMO, he should bat at 4 for the good of the team.

[Ian Sea]

Has Clarke been confirmed to bat at 5? He moved up to 4 in his last Test in India, albeit under duress. For me the Aussies batting line up should be;

 

Watson

Rodgers

Cowan

Clarke

Hughes

Smith

Haddin

[A_S]

Has Clarke been confirmed to bat at 5? He moved up to 4 in his last Test in India, albeit under duress. For me the Aussies batting line up should be;

 

Watson

Rodgers

Cowan

Clarke

Hughes

Smith

Haddin

 

It's possible, Clarke is easily good enough that moving up one place in the middle order shouldn't worry him. The spots between the openers and Haddin at 7 are well up for grabs, Clarke aside. I do like the balance of a steady Rogers with the aggressive Watson, left/right combo too, which is never a bad thing. One thing that hasn't been mentioned much is that all of Siddle, Pattinson and Starc are quite useful with the bat, Faulkner is a bowling all rounder too. Hopefully this will not need to be too much in evidence this series, but it probably will.

 

BTW, am I missing something or was Nick Compton playing for Somerset last week and Worcstershire this week? Excuse the ignorance.

[Yozzer]

The ECB can give players special clearance to play for other counties for the benefit of England.