2013/14 Ashes non Official thread !!

What does everyone make of the tour as a whole? Highlights/lowlights? Who improved/surprised?

For me, I generally lose interest after the Test matches when there is a long tour - it becomes a bit like "Oh, it's Monday...we must be playing England AGAIN!" - and this time it was no different. Of the 13 international matches Australia played on tour, 12 were against England.

The positives for me were Chris Rogers, Steve Smith, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle in the Tests, the performance and attitude of James Faulkner, getting more game time into Fawad Ahmed and George Bailey's calming influence in the ODI's. I would love for Bailey to have a strong start to the Shield season and press his claim for a Test spot.

Typically, the results gradually improved - 0-3 in Tests, 1-1 in T20's and 2-1 in the ODI's - which is not neccessarily a good thing as it may point to the Aus team being better at "bash and crash" than anything else.
 
which is not neccessarily a good thing as it may point to the Aus team being better at "bash and crash" than anything else.
Click to expand...

That just about sums it up. Who cares about T20 or 1 dayer results; Tests are what counts.
As for the coming summer, everyone's banging on about how our bouncier tracks will suit Oz. Well, the Poms have a number of tall quicks that should be on the trip who can dish it out to the Aussies. Do many of our batsmen (not 'batters' - that's what is on fish and chips...puhleeze :rolleyes:) have the patience/techique to handle the bounce? Chris Rogers was one who showed the necessary grit; others batted like millionaires. Also a number of the Brit batsmen don't mind the ball coming on to the bat. Cook lapped it up last tour.
Mitch Johnson showed he can still bowl fast - in ODI's at least; just a matter of his mind being in the right place...we have a few injuries in the bowling department, as usual. Maybe a Test recall?
Dunno if the batting's settled yet, either. There should be a lot of interest in our early season 1st class games - looking forward to it getting underway :)
 
The England Ashes squad:

Cook, Prior, Anderson, Bairstow, Ballance, Bell, Broad, Carberry, Finn, Panesar, KP, Rankin, Root, Stokes, Swann, Tremlett, Trott
 
I just don't know who pulls the strings in Australian cricket any more - the selections for the current Australia A vs England tour match are an insult to the people of Tasmania, the England team and those of us who love the sport.

The bowling line-up is Ben Cutting, Trent Copeland, Moises Henriques, Jon Holland, with part-time work from Glenn Maxwell.......even Usman Khawaja had a trundle, so threadbare is the attack.

Henriques is captain of the team, yet the batting order has been decided by Performance Manager Pat Howard and the Selection panel and Henriques himself admitted this. The plan is for the likes of Alex Doolan and Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja to spend lots of time at the crease, which hamstrings Henriques as far as the game situation is concerned.

England are 0/318 at stumps on day 1, and I hope they expose the stupidity of Cricket Australia's insistence on micro-managing every bloody thing and bat until lunch on day 3!
 
Last edited:
LOL.

Lovely batting deck; medium pacers at 120km and shit spinners...

They're not letting England have any pace, so the speed men will attack at the Gabba.

And it's payback for the slops ECB served up as warm up in the middle of the year.
 
Up until the early/mid 1990's, players were mailed a letter advising them they had been selected for Australia. LOL. Doubt anyone does anything unless it's on Twitter these days.
 
What does everyone think the line-up should/could be for the Gabba Test? Not long to go now!

I think it will be:

Chris Rogers
David Warner
Shane Watson
Michael Clarke
Steve Smith
George Bailey
Brad Haddin
Mitchell Johnson
Peter Siddle
Ryan Harris
Nathan Lyon

I think Steve Smith has matured enough to earn his place as a batsman following his recent performances. If Watson is ruled out through injury I would move Clarke, Smith, Bailey and Haddin up one spot and include James Faulkner at No. 7.
 
Last edited:
That's a bloody good point mate! My XI is a bit light on for bowling if Watson plays as a batsman only.....his selection is becoming more trouble than it's worth to be honest.
 
True but I am hopeful that the poms are a bit blasé knowing his weakness for planting that front foot. Hopefully they keep it full and if the wicket isn't doing much he will murder them down the ground and through mid wicket!!
 
IF Watto doesn't bowl, I'd not have him.

Faulkner has to be in there too for mine.

Not sure about Mitch Johnson either.

Jordan Silk as a smoky too.
 
The squad has been named and is:

Michael Clarke (c), Brad Haddin (vc), George Bailey, James Faulkner, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, David Warner, Shane Watson.

Who knows what the final line-up will be, which is fair enough given the doubt (at this stage) over Watson's availability to bowl. You would hope that the selectors don't linger over the Watson decision, I'd almost be inclined to say "mate, you're not bowling in this Test match" and then work around it.
 
Well the First Test finally gets under way today, it's been a long 3 months! What's your prediction for the result? I'm tipping a draw because of the weather forecast, but Aus will be slightly ahead in the game. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom