England's Tour of Australia - Ashes, ODIs and T20s 13/14

update all over. England all out for 312 and lose by 218 runs. Australia lead series now 2-0

No complaints. Better side won.
No sympathy from me.
England need to man up or a 5-0 drubbing is on the cards.

So, this time next Tuesday night it could all be over (if it goes 5 days). England have barely had time to gloat since August - is this the shortest time between series?

Perth is a nightmare venue for England .
Of all the grounds in all the world against Mitchell Johnson to stay in the series it has to be The WACA.
Oh dear oh dear oh dear .

It was good of England to not even try and bat out the day. At least I won't have to stay up all night watching it now or suffer any nervous tension counting the overs down as England try to hang on. The hit out and lose wickets quickly policy at least got it all over with in just an hour.

How do we come back from this - if there is a way back? Cook has to start ripping into his team and not defend them. We simply are not good enough as we thought we was last summer. KP just hasn't fired like he usually does. I feel the time has come to drop him from the line up. He has been a good batsman but now he has to fight to get his place back. I think wholesale changes are now needed to find the spark we need to get back into being a winning team. Forget about trying to win the Ashes back, To me, they are now as good as gone. What we need to do now is start ripping out dead wood from this team and start building for the future. Let's aim to win the next World Cup and build from there. And let's start looking through the county ides and start looking for fresh new faces that we can take there. I am just so disappointed that our performances haven't matched those that we have done in the past. We won three straight Ashes series fine, but we just haven't been the team that have achieved that. The difference between the sides has definitely has been Johnson and his sheer pace I would say he has to be quicker than either Lillee or Thomson at their best. If anything Australia look like they can dominate Test cricket once again. I would say we will tumble down the about mid table in the rankings after this. I wonder why we haven't started the process of re - building sooner Maybe now is the time to start it.

IMHO Babelover whilst I would agree that changes clearly need to be made. I don't see the skipper publically ripping into the team will help. Rebuilding is all about evolution not revolution bringing in players who can adjust from being a good / great player at county level to players who can adjust to the big step up and rigors at test level. This is partially achieved with them being a team and learning from players who have been there and done that. For me and I hope the ECB Test Matches are the number one thing and I believe you build this team first and then worry about one day world cups tournaments.

If you look at the age of our players.most are 30+.So in the next 2 - 3 years the make-up of the side will have to change.England have a system,a performance program,Lions Tours etc. that identifies the future players.We had Root & Bairstow in the last Ashes series in England both in their early 20's,Bairstow didn't take his chance & will come again hopefully,this & Roots inability to nail down the openers spot gave Carberry a chance who is turned 30 as was Comptom,so it isn't a closed shop as they have picked on county form as well.Stokes has benefited from England playing 2 spinners in this match,they could stick with him or Ballance could well get a chance.Prior will come under pressure from Butler in the next year or 2,his move to Lancashire as their NO.1 keeper will help.

On the bowling front the spinners are a problem,not many get to learn their trade a County level with unconducive pitches & captains reluctant to give them long spells & set the right fields.It took Swann time to develop,Kerrigan will need the same time.Most of our spinners are learning in one day cricket such as Briggs were spinning the ball isn't top priority.It was suggested that Monty needs to play more one day stuff as he needs a game-plan for when the batsmen attack him,the move to Essex could give him that chance.Swann has a plan -B but he's had injuries & wont go on for ever.

Fast bowling is a problem,Finn is in a real mess but is young enough to sort it out,he's tall & has the ability to bowl 90 mph.Rankin is still raw & approaching 30 not sure we will get much production out of him.
A left-arm quick should be a priority Sidebottom did a great job for a few years & wasn't rapid,Tymal Mills has the ability to hit batsmen but has struggled to get into the Essex side,fast bowling takes it out on the body & staying fit throughout a full county season isn't easy.Traditionally Australia & South Africa have & will produce more fast bowlers that England owing to the climate & pitches,but if you can find 1 or 2 it can make all the difference as in the case of Johnson,who incidentally is 32,will he be fit & bowling 90+ in 2 years time.

Rebuilding is an evolving process,as has been stated above.A good example would be India Sehwag,Dravid,Ganguly,Tendulkar,Laxman were all in their mid 30's but they now have a young side with Dhoni the only 30+.
Australia have had a similar issue,but they have had to replace with some older experienced players such as Rogers & Bailey as their younger stars didn't impress enough ie. Khawaja & Hughes.

This is not a time to panic,nor is it a time to do nothing & pretend all is well.

Better team again won. England need to win the toss in the next match.

And the match referee and the umpires need to get to grip on the agression on the square. The acceptable banter has now gone and it's now been replaced by out and out insults.

(09-12-2013 08:40 )Jack Bishop Wrote:  IMHO Babelover whilst I would agree that changes clearly need to be made. I don't see the skipper publically ripping into the team will help. Rebuilding is all about evolution not revolution bringing in players who can adjust from being a good / great player at county level to players who can adjust to the big step up and rigors at test level. This is partially achieved with them being a team and learning from players who have been there and done that. For me and I hope the ECB Test Matches are the number one thing and I believe you build this team first and then worry about one day world cups tournaments.

Jack, I never said Cook should rip into his team publicly I'm sure that can be done behind closed doors one way or another.