The Ashes and Cricket World Cup Discussion Thread

(07-12-2010 14:18 )birdlime Wrote:  Excellent win for England and Graeme Swann bowled very well today some of the balls he bowled spun quite a bit and my suggestion for the 3rd test is to play an extra bowler not an extra batsmen as i find that rather defensive.

In general, I favour a 5 man attack but we lack a genuine all-rounder who can bat at 6 and while I've no problem with Prior batting there if followed by Broad and Swann that isn't on the cards now. No Broad and a 1-0 lead means that a 4 man attack will remain the basic formula for Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. A few overs from KP and Colly can plug any gaps in the attack...

The Australians have far more difficult selecton decisions to make given that Katich looked to be hobbled by his achilles, Doherty is not a test match spinner (first class average of nearly 50 sort of gives that away!) and their left armers have been ineffective and given Swann extra footmarks to bowl into.

broad will become a genuine allrounder over the next year or 2.

It's a real shame that Broad is out for the rest of the tour, the bloke bowled well and with not much reward in the first two games and sadly we didn't get to see him do anything with the bat apart from walk out to the middle and then walk back one ball later (IT WAS A TIME WHEN THE AUSSIES ACTUALLY BOWLED SOMETHING BETTER THAN CRAP!). He'll be a decent all rounder in years to come and it would of been nice to see him make some batting progress over this winter (if we needed him to) after the innings he had at Lords to finish off the Test match summer. I see them more likely to bring in Tremlett (if all three perform to a similar level in the tour match) the bloke is built to bowl at the WACA.

Also something a bit 1st April or is it.....

http://www.inentertainment.co.uk/2010120...-comeback/

now they are desperate if they are thinking of getting warne out of retirement. maybe they should get mcgrath, lee, kasprowicz, gillespie and shaun tait. at the moment the aussies need a bowling 11 to get the toporder out.

(07-12-2010 09:23 )bigguy01 Wrote:  shazhad, tremlett and bresnan will be having a bowl off in their tour match at the weekend. either tremlett or shazhad would be good but these selectors are idoits half the time so expect bresnan to be selected and therefore england lose the next test.

I hope they go for Tremlett, did great at the end of the County Champs last season, but will all depend on the pitch.

(07-12-2010 14:18 )birdlime Wrote:  my suggestion for the 3rd test is to play an extra bowler not an extra batsmen as i find that rather defensive.

England did win by an innings! Why change things now? Some people are never satisfied are they?

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

unlike us we can replace players with others, tuffers then croft then giles then monty then swann then hopefully ali rashid of yorkshire. where as aussies mcgrath then no one lee then no one warne then no one. it looks like that aussies will be 0-3or4 at the start of their next innings if things continue the same.

As good a win as that was I don't think people should get too carried away. The next test is at Perth, and that tends to be a bouncy wicket if you believe the pundits. Ryan Harris could cause our batsmen some problems if that's the case. Our batsmen had some trouble with his bouncers. Trott and Pieterson in particular. Stuart Broad would have been ideal for this next test it seems.

With the game against Victoria, England could maybe go with the side of:
Strauss ©, Davies (wk), Trott, Collingwood, Morgan, Bell, Prior, Bresnan, Shahzad, Tremlett, Panesar
Gives the fit bowlers a rest (Jimmy is back over here for the birth of his child) and biggest run makers so far in Cook and KP. That lineup means everyone of the orignal party and Shahzad will of had a game, which is good. I think the non-Test XI have been in the performance squad at various times.

Over the Perth test, providing this match goes well and all bowlers leave it 'equal' then it should be Tremlett who plays, since its in Perth and there are rumours floating around that it will be classic Perth with some good pace and carry so he'll be the man who is best suited for the ground, since at times recently it has been turning and got a bit worn.

The current fund on http://www.bringbackwarne.com/ is AUS$4425 to bring him out of retirement. He has only played T20 cricket in the last four years (and not exactly full time at that) and his last first class game was for Hampshire against Yorkshire at the end of the 2007 season in a rain affected game he bowled 2 overs (0-7). He will be there but sat next to Beefy and Gower up in the box I think.