*Official* Road to 2013 Ashes

[GIMH]

Originally Posted by Pothas

When was the last time England won back to back series in Australia? Must have been a little while. Fancy they may sneak a draw.

What is the situation for tickets up north? (By that I mean outside of London) Missed out in the ballot for the Oval so relying on Lords now.

All sold out but that was also the case this time four years ago and I still got to two

[flibbertyjibber]

Originally Posted by Black_Warrior

As for batting, I am not sure if Bell will come back in India in the 4th test..assuming he doesnt..will England persist with him in the Ashes given his record against Australia or make the bold move of dropping him?

Ding dong will play. Probably be our leading run scorer as well.

[uvelocity]

Originally Posted by flibbertyjibber

Ding dong will play. Probably be our leading run scorer as well.

consider yourselves ****ed in that case

[aussie tragic]

A quick comparison of where I think the teams are today:

Cowan / Compton (=)
Warner / Cook (Eng)
Hughes / Trott (Eng)*
Watson / Pietersen (Eng)
Clarke / Bell (Aus)
Hussey / Patel (Aus)
Wade / Prior (Eng)

Bowlers
Starc / Broad (Eng)*
Pattinson / Finn (=)*
Siddle / Anderson (Eng)
Lyon / Swann (Eng)

Which is 7-2 to England (2=), however * is where I think (hope) it may change Australia's way which would then make a cracker of a series as it would be equal at 5-5

[benchmark00]

Finn is a junk red ball bowler ftr.

[Black_Warrior]

Originally Posted by aussie tragic

A quick comparison of where I think the teams are today:

Cowan / Compton (=)
Warner / Cook (Eng)
Hughes / Trott (Eng)*
Watson / Pietersen (Eng)
Clarke / Bell (Aus)
Hussey / Patel (Aus)
Wade / Prior (Eng)

Bowlers
Starc / Broad (Eng)*
Pattinson / Finn (=)*
Siddle / Anderson (Eng)
Lyon / Swann (Eng)

Which is 7-2 to England (2=), however * is where I think (hope) it may change Australia's way which would then make a cracker of a series as it would be equal at 5-5

Pattinson > Finn

Finn > Siddle

Would be interested with the comparison if Clarke bats at 4 for Australia instead of Watson.

[flibbertyjibber]

Originally Posted by aussie tragic

A quick comparison of where I think the teams are today:

Cowan / Compton (=)
Warner / Cook (Eng)
Hughes / Trott (Eng)*
Watson / Pietersen (Eng)
Clarke / Bell (Aus)
Hussey / Patel (Aus)
Wade / Prior (Eng)

Bowlers
Starc / Broad (Eng)*
Pattinson / Finn (=)*
Siddle / Anderson (Eng)
Lyon / Swann (Eng)

Which is 7-2 to England (2=), however * is where I think (hope) it may change Australia's way which would then make a cracker of a series as it would be equal at 5-5

Agree with that but Patel certainly won't play for us.

[Howe_zat]

Can't complain at that, though I personally don't hold out much hope for Hughes. In fairness, the difference between Hussey and Patel is probably the biggest of the XI.

[LongHopCassidy]

Something I've never learned - what are the stereotypical pitches for each English ground? It's relatively common knowledge that:

Gabba - greenish first day, bouncy throughout
Adelaide - road, occasional delusions of fifth day turn
Perth - exaggerated bounce for seamers
Hobart - road (until recently?)
Melbourne - slowest/lowest of Australian pitches (not saying much)
Sydney - spinner's deck

But what about Lord's, Headingley, the Oval, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston, Old Trafford, Chester-le-Street?

[aussie tragic]

Originally Posted by flibbertyjibber

Agree with that but Patel certainly won't play for us.

Either way, #6 should stay in Aus favour with Hussey

[Spark]

Lord's is a serious road. Oval is dry, but also pretty good to bat on.

TBH most of the English decks are pretty placid. It's the weather that makes things dicey for batsmen.

[flibbertyjibber]

Originally Posted by aussie tragic

Either way, #6 should stay in Aus favour with Hussey

Unless Hussey repeats his last ashes tour of England.

[Howe_zat]

Lord's - flat deck, all about cloud cover to get movement
Oval - same for the first 3 days, will take spin later if it doesn't rain
Headingley - green seamy deathtrap (less true in recent times)
Old Trafford - takes plenty of spin late in the match
Trent Bridge - seam and swing, even more so since redevelopment
Edgbaston - jack of all trades, getting flatter, loud crowd
Cardiff - slow and terrible

[Spark]

Trent Bridge has always looked fairly pleasant for batting whenever it's been a sunny day and I've been watching.

[flibbertyjibber]

Since they have rebuilt the ground the ball seems to move a lot more even on sunny days. Taken over as the hardest of our test grounds to bat on for me as Headingley is increasingly becoming flatter flatter as the years go by.