Who's gonna win?

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by vic_orthdox

Gah, was going to write my bit on the Ashes Blog about how Australia don't seem to be winning the crucial moments of games (esp. Tests), a characteristic that was the opposite of the teams before McGrath and Warne retired. Now I'm just going to be stating the obvious.

Yeah, no more Australianism.

[TumTum]

I want my vote to be changed to England.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Prince EWS

Yeah, no more Australianism.

Nah Australianism was coming back from the dead right.

It's just no longer an Australian thing. It's Indianism and Sri Lankanism and Pakistanism now lol.

It's a common thing nowadays

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Jono

Nah Australianism was coming back from the dead right.

It's just no longer an Australian thing. It's Indianism and Sri Lankanism and Pakistanism now lol.

It's a common thing nowadays

Haha, I think it's just goodteamism. The better and more experienced a team is as a whole, the more likely its players - even the lesser ones - are to stand up in clutch moments or pull games out of the fire. It's all about confidence and self-belief which is generally created by a winning atmosphere, experienced heads and - shock horror - good players. That's why it happened so often with those Australian teams of the late nineties and early 2000s - they had experience, confidence and quality in high supply.

I'm going to keep calling it Australianism even when other teams do it though, just to piss Manan off.

[Jono]

Haha I reckon rather than piss him off, he gets back at everyone else by calling it Australianism when they win tests that are fixed

Remember Pasag's reaction to his post

[flibbertyjibber]

Originally Posted by TumTum

I want my vote to be changed to England.

The worm is turning.

In all honesty what Cricket Australia thought would be a nice confidence booster leading into the series is turning into a disaster and just piling on the pressure on the selectors and players.

A few weeks back there was a lot of talk on here about how it will all be fine once Siddle returns but he got smashed today.What next,pinning all hope on Bollinger and Harris who will surely be undercooked if picked for Brisbane.

Makes a refreshing change for you guys to be in the mess instead of us as we have had so many shambolic tours with injuries and selection issues in the last 20 years i have lost count.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by flibbertyjibber

A few weeks back there was a lot of talk on here about how it will all be fine once Siddle returns but he got smashed today.

Haha so much wrong with this post. Firstly, Siddle's unlikely to play in the Ashes unless someone gets injured or the spinner gets dropped, so he's not not going to be a big factor anyway. No-one was looking to him as the saviour. Secondly, he's always **** in ODIs and it's not really a good pointer to how he'd bowl if he played in Tests anyway.

[Kylez]

Originally Posted by flibbertyjibber

The worm is turning.

In all honesty what Cricket Australia thought would be a nice confidence booster leading into the series is turning into a disaster and just piling on the pressure on the selectors and players.

A few weeks back there was a lot of talk on here about how it will all be fine once Siddle returns but he got smashed today.What next,pinning all hope on Bollinger and Harris who will surely be undercooked if picked for Brisbane.

Makes a refreshing change for you guys to be in the mess instead of us as we have had so many shambolic tours with injuries and selection issues in the last 20 years i have lost count.

Yeah, because we are all so worried about how Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Bollinger will perform in Australian bowling conditions . We really need Siddle, even though 4 quicks might not even be played at the GABBA..

Siddle got smashed around today in an ODI ( A format he isn't even that good at in the first place ), so by your logic, Siddle is going to fail in the Ashes? I saw Siddle's return first class game and he looked very impressive.

[flibbertyjibber]

Originally Posted by Kylez

Yeah, because we are all so worried about how Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Bollinger will perform in Australian bowling conditions . We really need Siddle, even though 4 quicks might not even be played at the GABBA..

Siddle got smashed around today in an ODI ( A format he isn't even that good at in the first place ), so by your logic, Siddle is going to fail in the Ashes? I saw Siddle's return first class game and he looked very impressive.

Losing is a habit and bowling badly becomes a habit.I don't know how many games Siddle will have with the red ball before Brisbane and whether he could be playing one instead of being picked in the one day side but picking the wrong team and ending up losing is a common theme at present,who is to say the selectors will pick the right test side in a few weeks.

Not really followed Siddle much in ODI's but he could just be an Aussie version of Hoggard,great with a red ball and awful with a white one.Just seemed strange seeing him bowl such utter tripe today when he was supposedly firing on all cylinders.

[four_or_six]

It would be really interesting if we can re-run this vote just before the series starts, and see if things have changed.

[treamcast34]

England should win and win well. All settled, confident, this is the big chance to do it. The convicts won't be this weak in four years' time.

[GingerFurball]

Originally Posted by treamcast34

England should win and win well. All settled, confident, this is the big chance to do it. The convicts won't be this weak in four years' time.

The lineup might be settled, but the batting isn't particularly firing or in form.

Since the last Ashes:

Strauss - 511 runs @ 31.93, 4 50s
Cook - 855 runs @ 42.75, 4 100s, 2 50s
Trott - 995 @ 52.36, 2 100s, 4 50s
Pietersen - 659 @ 36.91, 5 50s
Collingwood - 611 @ 40.73, 1 100, 4 50s
Bell - 719 @ 65.36, 3 100s, 2 50s
Prior - 570 @ 38.00, 1 100, 5 50s

vs

Katich - 1101 @ 55.05, 2 100s, 8 50s
Watson - 1021 @ 51.05, 2 100s, 7 50s
Ponting - 905 @ 43.09, 1 100, 7 50s
Clarke - 897 @ 47.21, 2 100s, 4 50s
Hussey - 763 @ 40.15, 1 100, 5 50s
North - 595 @ 31.31, 2 100s, 3 50s
Haddin - 366 @ 36.60, 2 50s

For every weakness in Australia's lineup, there's an equivelant in England's.

[smalishah84]

Originally Posted by treamcast34

England should win and win well. All settled, confident, this is the big chance to do it. The convicts won't be this weak in four years' time.

big statement this. The Aussies will once again beat the **** out of England. They are no pushovers at home. Even in the mid to late 1980s when the Aussies were a reasonably ordinary side they were quite tough to beat at home.

England will eat **** once more. I can't see anyone other than Swann in their bowling attack who will trouble the Aussies.

[Jono]

CW heavily in favour of Australia it seems. 36-20

[Spark]

36-29 to be more accurate. Draw = England win for all intents and purposes.