*Official* Road to the 2010/11 Ashes

[flibbertyjibber]

No.Treamcast is wrong in my opinion.Too many people are making this Aussie side out as world beaters when they clearly aren't.

 

[four_or_six]

I think we've got a pretty decent chance of winning, as good as we have in recent times, for sure. There's a good attitude around our squad atm. Strauss and Cook are one of our most successful opening partnerships ever, KP is brilliant, Colly scored an epic 200 in 06/07, Prior is strong keeping and batting, Swann is just great, Broad and Anderson are both capable of spells that win us matches. That's only three players with question marks.

As for Australia... Watson will likely be injured. Katitch, Ponting and Mussey are all at that age where they may well go downhill fast, North only gets above single figures ~5% of the time, Johnson sprays it all over the place when he's playing England, Siddle and Hilfenhaus are long-term injured. That's eight players with question marks.

 

[pasag]

No.Treamcast is wrong in my opinion.Too many people are making this Aussie side out as world beaters when they clearly aren't.

Define world beaters.

Most would agree we stand shoulder to shoulder with India and South Africa and the nature of the results between the three teams at the top indicate that.

We're not the side we were, and we do have a few glaring issues, but that doesn't mean we're not close to the best side in the world.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Define world beaters.

Most would agree we stand shoulder to shoulder with India and South Africa and the nature of the results between the three teams at the top indicate that.

We're not the side we were, and we do have a few glaring issues, but that doesn't mean we're not close to the best side in the world.

Well the side you used to have and the side you now have are chalk and cheese in terms of ability and fear factor.

We are just the same though pal with our results so why are the convicts quick to say we can't possibly win?

 

[pasag]

Well the side you used to have and the side you now have are chalk and cheese in terms of ability and fear factor.

We are just the same though pal with our results so why are the convicts quick to say we can't possibly win?

banter.

 

[Pothas]

I think we've got a pretty decent chance of winning, as good as we have in recent times, for sure. There's a good attitude around our squad atm. Strauss and Cook are one of our most successful opening partnerships ever, KP is brilliant, Colly scored an epic 200 in 06/07, Prior is strong keeping and batting, Swann is just great, Broad and Anderson are both capable of spells that win us matches. That's only three players with question marks.

As for Australia... Watson will likely be injured. Katitch, Ponting and Mussey are all at that age where they may well go downhill fast, North only gets above single figures ~5% of the time, Johnson sprays it all over the place when he's playing England, Siddle and Hilfenhaus are long-term injured. That's eight players with question marks.

Excellent optimism.

I will put the extreme negative view.

Agree about our attitude but Cook has a very poor record against Australia and Strauss while a very fine player is certainly not immune from a bad run of form, Doug will get him regulalry. Trott is a real worry at 3. Collingwood is getting on himself and will be very poor apart from on really slow pitches. Prior has failed to go on and make big scores of of late and will get found out this winter. Swann is great of course but will struggle in Australia, will certainly be no better than Hauritz. Broad and Anderson are capable of bowling total **** an awful lot of the time. We will not have a third seamer, Sidebottom, Onions will be injured and Bresnan will be found out horribly. Harmison to be called up last minute and spray it too second slip again.

As for Australia, Ponting will have a Sachin like revival and smash us all over the place, Johnson will get his revenge for last year. Doug to destroy us and oh and Stephen Smith will suddenly become Shane Warne and Phillip Hughes will have become the Don

 

[flibbertyjibber]

banter.

Trouble is you lot go all arsey whenever we mention we have a chance and realistically we do because there is so little between the sides.

 

[pasag]

Trouble is you lot go all arsey whenever we mention we have a chance and realistically we do because there is so little between the sides.

Yeah because you guys suck.

Seriously though, as I alluded to in my post, there is a BIG gap between the sides simply because it's being played in Australia (when was the last time you guys won a Test down here?).

ftr, I don't believe there's "so little" between the sides. Our batting is far superior, pace bowling is far superior in Australian conditions (no swing since 1748) and you guys have the edge on spin bowling. That's about it. Injury wise, if anyone goes down we have close to the best bench strength in the world these days where most players can be easily replaced like for like. There's so little between SA, India and Aus. England are on the rung below. That's not to say you can't beat us, just that we're favourites.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

So if we are on the rung below then please explain how we beat you and drew in South Africa in our last two meaningful series?

Australia in recent times have lost to India,South Africa and England and almost lost home matches against West Indies and Pakistan despite this megastrong squad you have.Still live in your fantasy world,it'll make it so much sweeter when we retain the urn.

 

[pasag]

****, just lost a whole post. Was a damn good one IMO. The gist of it was us>you.

 

[wpdavid]

****, just lost a whole post. Was a damn good one IMO. The gist of it was us>you.

fwiw my take on the matter is that the Aus team has more slack insofar as they can afford more to go wrong but still win. Especially at home. England need a lot of aspects of their side which currently look questionable to go right if they are going to win. Which could happen, but you'd have to make Aus favourites at this stage.

 

[BoyBrumby]

FWIW I don't think Oz's batting is far superior to ours; better, yes, but not out of sight.

It's the pace attack that scares me the most, tbh. Don't rate Bresnan, Finn's about 4 and looks a stress fracture waiting to happen, Jimmeh's neutered if it don't swing, Shahzad looks like he's been picked as much on what he can do with bat as with ball and Sid's permanently broken and keeps working out the combination to the larder.

Leaves Broad, pretty much. Lot of weight on those narrow shoulders.

 

[Jayzamann]

Lot of weight on those narrow shoulders.

They are pretty shoulders, though.

The way I'm feeling towards this upcoming Ashes is the same way I felt before South Africa rolled through here a few summers back. And that scares me.

 

[Pothas]

FWIW I don't think Oz's batting is far superior to ours; better, yes, but not out of sight.

It's the pace attack that scares me the most, tbh. Don't rate Bresnan, Finn's about 4 and looks a stress fracture waiting to happen, Jimmeh's neutered if it don't swing, Shahzad looks like he's been picked as much on what he can do with bat as with ball and Sid's permanently broken and keeps working out the combination to the larder.

Leaves Broad, pretty much. Lot of weight on those narrow shoulders.

Largely agree, Ausrtalia's batting has been prone to bouts of ****ness of late but man for man they are still stronger. Katich and Watson make for a very strong parntership, and Clarke is such a class player these days. It is the others we can be less sure about but I just have a nasty feeling that Ponting might have a big series.

 

[GIMH]

Reckon the Aussie bats are more likely to collapse but also more likely to pile them on big time

 

[King Pietersen]

The Aussie side more likely to collapse than our batting line-up? You sure about that? The mammoth collapse is England's specialty. We're brilliant at throwing a Test match away by batting like muppets every few months.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

The Aussie side more likely to collapse than our batting line-up? You sure about that? The mammoth collapse is England's specialty. We're brilliant at throwing a Test match away by batting like muppets every few months.

Australia last summer at Edgbaston,Oval and Lords.

At least our collapses came in the same game.

 

[Spark]

Reckon the Aussie bats are more likely to collapse but also more likely to pile them on big time

True.

Katich and Clarke seem the ones who are consistent enough to really be relied on for regular runs nowadays to stop a collapse. Watson still seems a bit reckless, Ponting very reckless, and Hussey is still nicking them - though not as much, obviously, as he was this time last year.

But when both Katich and Clarke fall cheaply it's a warning sign.

As for Australia... Watson will likely be injured. Katitch, Ponting and Mussey are all at that age where they may well go downhill fast, North only gets above single figures ~5% of the time, Johnson sprays it all over the place when he's playing England, Siddle and Hilfenhaus are long-term injured. That's eight players with question marks.

The way Watson plays now at least he doesn't look like he's gonna snap a muscle every second second. Katich definitely I don't see losing his touch, Ponting yes, MHussey already has to some extent. North still has an obvious question mark during a collapse - hence our reliance on Katich at the top and Clarke in the middle. Siddle/Hilfenhaus may be injured but Bollinger/Harris are more than capable replacements. As for Johnson... he's changed his action and is a bit more consistent now, and obviously still has the ability to murder an opposition line up. If he hits form this year, on our pitches, then you guys are in a whole heap.

 

[Top_Cat]

Australia last summer at Edgbaston,Oval and Lords.

At least our collapses came in the same game.

haha, that's a hell of a positive, really. If you're going to collapse twice in a series but limit it to one Test, reckon you're doing alright.

Myself, not a lot between the batting but agree with Zacalicious and BB about the pace attacks and I reckon Broad will lose a lot of his effectiveness if he's not bowling really quick. Reckon Swan will do better than most recent visiting spinners, though. Has the ideal game to 'succeed' (as far as a spinner can) in OZ, especially in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbs; tall, rips it and can churn through overs. Just needs to be given free reign to attack, tbh. Too many times in the last Ashes series, he'd veer from ultra-attack to ultra-defence in the space of a couple of overs. There's a happy medium and if he finds it in this coming series, he'll have a good series. Good enough to swing it England's way? Not sure.

Backing Johnson to lead the Aussie figures. Against Pakistan and the WI he didn't dominate but there are signs he's not too far off a decent combination of attack and knowing when to throttle back and still bowl really well. England watch out.

 

[marc71178]

Seriously though, as I alluded to in my post, there is a BIG gap between the sides simply because it's being played in Australia (when was the last time you guys won a Test down here?).

Pretty sure we've won 1 of our last 6 Tests In Aus, whereas Aus have only won 1 of their last 9 in England.