This is why Australia will lose the Ashes

[oitoitoi]

Watson sits out training with knee injury | Cricket News | The Ashes - England v Australia 2009 | Cricinfo.com

Watson will never be fit for 5 tests in a row, which means Macdonald will play, and no team with Macdonald in will ever win the ashes.

[Richard]

Team with McDonald won in South Africa, which should be far tougher than winning in England.

That said, obviously South Africa were lesser than they should've been, but they were likewise in England last summer and still won the series with a game to spare.

[social]

Originally Posted by Richard

Team with McDonald won in South Africa, which should be far tougher than winning in England.

That said, obviously South Africa were lesser than they should've been, but they were likewise in England last summer and still won the series with a game to spare.

SA were hammered in the first 2 tests (let's not forget that they both should've been innings victories if not for ridiculously conservative captaincy) because Oz has the best pace bowling attack in the world and Macdonald was part of that

He's as ridiculously underrated as is Eng's spin bowling advantage overrated

Seriously, what do you think Johnson, Siddle & co will do to a lineup that the WI dismissed for 50 when NONE of the WI bowlers would make the Oz squad?

[grecian]

Originally Posted by social

SA were hammered in the first 2 tests (let's not forget that they both should've been innings victories if not for ridiculously conservative captaincy) because Oz has the best pace bowling attack in the world and Macdonald was part of that

He's as ridiculously underrated as is Eng's spin bowling advantage overrated

Seriously, what do you think Johnson, Siddle & co will do to a lineup that the WI dismissed for 50 when NONE of the WI bowlers would make the Oz squad?

Most of what you say is right, but Jerome Taylor IS quality when he gets going.

We'll lose humiliatingly anyway.....

[social]

Originally Posted by grecian

Most of what you say is right, but Jerome Taylor IS quality when he gets going.

We'll lose humiliatingly anyway.....

I dont think it will be a humiliation but most of what Eng fans are using as a supposed advantage is borne out of ignorance (i.e. they havent seen the new Oz bowlers) or blind hope

Reality is that Oz has more world class players than Eng but many are inexperienced and hardly any compare to the recently retired greats

Is Haddin = Gilchrist? No, but he's bloody good

Is Haurritz = Warne? No, but he's not too bad and certainly can play a role

Are Johnson/Siddle = McGrath? No but the latter is arguably the best fast bowler ever and, in any case, they're MUCH better than Lee

IMO, the bowling talent is a lop-sided verdict in favour of Oz

The major issue is how far Ponting, Hussey etc have deteriorated (because they have!) and whether Hughes and co can compensate for it

[Richard]

Originally Posted by social

SA were hammered in the first 2 tests (let's not forget that they both should've been innings victories if not for ridiculously conservative captaincy) because Oz has the best pace bowling attack in the world and Macdonald was part of that

And much more so because their own bowlers were well below their best.

[social]

Originally Posted by Richard

And much more so because their own bowlers were well below their best.

When your best batsmen are being put in hospital, it's pretty easy to fade into the background

[Richard]

Not really. SA's bowlers underperformed because they underperformed, not because they were intimidated by the fact that a few of their batsmen sustained unfortunate injuries.

[social]

Originally Posted by Richard

Not really. SA's bowlers underperformed because they underperformed, not because they were intimidated by the fact that a few of their batsmen sustained unfortunate injuries.

Richard, they were hammered - end of story

BTW, when people get hit over and over again, it's not "unfortunate"

Johnson owns Smith

[tooextracool]

Originally Posted by social

When your best batsmen are being put in hospital, it's pretty easy to fade into the background

Not sure how putting the batsmen in the hospital is supposed to affect the bowlers in the side............
Australia bowled well in SA, but as Brett Lee has so rudely found out in the past, bowling in England is a different kettle of fish from bowling in SA. That doesn't mean that they wont bowl well, but England's bowlers are well suited to their own conditions and the likes of Anderson, Onions and even Harmison could be quite cumbersome task to score runs against if they get things right. Lets just remember that Australia's potential starting lineup (Siddle, Johnson, Hilfenhaus, McDonald, Hauritz) share one common characteristic in that none of them have ever bowled a ball in an FC match in England and if that is the case, that is the first time in a very long time that has happened with an Australian team.

[tooextracool]

Regarding the Australia South Africa series, I cannot believe it took SA so long to discard Morne Morkel. Never rated him particularly highly and given how young he still is, hes better off spending a little time in the domestic cricket and possibly remodelling his action before he gets considered for a place in the side again.

[inbox24]

I'm pretty sure that with Watson out, the selectors will start to panic. The batting is already pretty thin having to rely on Hughes, Katich, Clarke and Haddin as the main men (first time in about 10 years that we're actually relying on the keeper for regular contributions with the bat). Hilditch will probably leak in fear and try to stack the batting by squeezing both McDonald and North in there which means only 3 bowling spots. Now if Hauritz plays at Cardiff, he will probably only contribute 4 wickets maximum, which leaves only 2 bowlers to take 18 wickets. This is the reason why Australia will lose the Ashes. Even Warne and McGrath can't win you a test series by themselves ash shown four years ago.

This will most likely be the team picked on the 8th:

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
North
Haddin
McDonald
Johnson
Hauritz
Siddle

Same mistake as in India, stacking the batting at the cost of bowling. Instead of 3 bowlers (Lee, Clark and Hilfenhaus) competing for 2 spots (or 1 at Cardiff if you want to play a spinner), you have no spots left. And all this because our all rounder obsession. In conclusion, the major effect Andrew Flintoff's performance in 2005 has extended beyond the field and Australia are feeling the effects.

[Burgey]

Lee or (preferably) Clark in for McDonald to Inbox's team and it's a side well good enough to win.

[Malleeboy]

ibox24,

Maybe I'm biased as a Vic, but why do you think Hilf.. is a better bowler then McDonald, FC and Test stats have McDonald out in front. Hilf is faster but medium pace can be very effective on English conditions if you have good control.

Infact McDonald's stats af F/C 29 and Test 33 is comparable to a number of the English bowlers...
Anderson FC 28 Test 33, Broad FC 29 Test 37, Flintoff FC 31 Test 32.

His 4 tests have been against SA and mostly in SA, he took Kallis x 2, AB and Amla so he didn't just take tailenders. he outbowled Hilf in SA and so I think deserves a crack at England.

All that being said, I think the first 3 bowlers should be Johnson, Siddle and Clark and then the fourth spot is between Hautitz, Lee and McDonald depending on form and conditons.

[Samuel_Vimes]

Originally Posted by oitoitoi

Watson will never be fit for 5 tests in a row, which means Macdonald will play, and no team with Macdonald in will ever win the ashes.

Argument to rile up, clearly.

Anyway, a team with Ashley Giles won it the last time around.