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

Australia have added Alex Doolan to their squad as cover for Shane Watson.

(30-12-2013 13:04 )William H Bonney Wrote:  

(30-12-2013 04:46 )mickster Wrote:  They're ALL scared of Johnson

Pietersen has told other (lower order) batsman on several occasions that he's happy to take the strike against Johnson, so Pietersen for one isn't scared. Bell has gone through 4 matches in this series without losing his wicket to Johnson, so he won't be scared either. Carberry has only been out to Johnson once. By the way, Johnson isn't as fast as Brett Lee was for Australia.

They're ALL shit scared of him .
Wheres all the big scores then .
Bell ,Pietersen ,Prior ,Cook ,not one of them have taken the game to Mitchell , 'cos they're ALL scared of him .When he's not bowling ,they're ALL pre-occupied worrying about when he's going to come back on .Hence the poor shots they're getting out with against the mediocre bowlers .
Pietersen gives all the big talk in his interviews ,when was the last time he played a match winning innings ?
Pietersen has consistently failed to live up to his publicity and has split dressing room morale regularly with his actions and comments .

(31-12-2013 08:06 )mickster Wrote:  Bell ,Pietersen ,Prior ,Cook ,not one of them have taken the game to Mitchell ,

Pietersen has certainly attacked Johnson. The two times he's been out to Johnson in this series were both to very attacking shots.

Consider Pietersen's strike rate against Australia's 4 main bowlers: 70 against Lyon, 46 against Johnson, 39 against Harris and 21 against Siddle.

The are ruffled by Johnson, but KP tends to be more bothered by Siddle.

As for this ashes, this has to go down as England's worst ashes in history. They've been whitewashed three times in the past, but by great sides. This is still an average Aussie side who've been made to look better then they are. England haven't shown the hunger and seem mentally weak.

As for where England go in the future, I would still stick with Prior because Bairstow isn't good enough and have Nick Compton back as opener. I also wouldn't bother with a spinner, we're playing Sri Lanka and and India in the summer and it's not needed. Bell has to play at 3 and Gary Ballance should be given a go. Cook should be removed as capatin and he is not a test captain. Give the captaincy to Broad.

Go with this:

Cook
Compton
Bell
KP
Root
Ballance
Prior
Stokes
Broad - Captain
Anderson
Finn

That would also make our batting a bit more solid. The team is lacking confidence in the batting, they need some runs and have a good chance against the Indian and Lanka attacks.

I doubt it that would be solid enough against either India or Sri Lanka. I think it would be nice if we can get some confidence back in the ODI's & 20/20 series to come that would be a start for us. As far as Cook goes, I would probably give the captaincy to probably Anderson or Bell. Broad would be a good captain, but I'd like to see how his stats stack up as a captain against Cook.

Like I said earlier I would not give the captaincy to Anderson cause we need to take a long look at how he starts in the Summer. By relieving Cook of the ODI's we get a chance to have a look at someone else like Bell for example or a better loom at Broad over a longer format.

For the moment however Cook should remain in the hot seat for this summer. We blooded Stokes and he now picks himself so we have to do the same with Ballance seth's team for Sydney looks a decent shout. The only other change I would make is give Finn a run and rest Anderson. No has has anything to lose just tell him to bowl very quickly.

Root may end up bowling 30 overs in this match if we go without Panesar.

I've got the England team for the next test. I called the Psychic channel and this is what they gave me:

Cook
Root
Bell
Pietersen
Ballance
Stokes
Prior
Borthwick
Broad
Anderson
Panesar

At home, our team should be too strong for Sri Lanka or India. Both of those have a toothless attack away from home and our bowlers should give them all sorts of trouble in England.

From reading articles on BBC and Cricinfo, it is very possible that England will play this team in the final test.
Cook
Root
Bell
Pietersen
Ballance
Stokes
Bairstow
Borthwick
Broad
Anderson
Rankin

That would mean 3 debutants (first time since Cook, Panesar and Blackwell played in Nagpur in 2006) and Root moving back up to open (in his 15 tests he has already batted in every position from 2 to 7).

I can see them playing that side, it wouldn't bother me too much.

Panesar is a doubt for the final Test in Sydney with a calf injury.If Borthwick plays he will get marmalized.