*Official* Road to 2013 Ashes

[uvelocity]

so, ashes tests are increased to 3 innings each in order to last at least 4 days hey

battle of who's worse?

[GingerFurball]

Originally Posted by uvelocity

so, ashes tests are increased to 3 innings each in order to last at least 4 days hey

battle of who's worse?

Not taking into account the English summer. It's why Watson loves England, it the only country where he can bat for 2 days solid.

[Pothas]

Got tickets for the 5th day at Lords. It will be fine right?

[uvelocity]

Originally Posted by GingerFurball

Not taking into account the English summer. It's why Watson loves England, it the only country where he can bat for 2 days solid.

just generally causing mischief, as is my wont

[Mr_Ronan]

Originally Posted by Jono

There were plenty of Mr Ronans years ago.

Speaking of Ronan, lack of posts in India series thread is disappointing. Was hoping for more complaints about biased umpiring and no LBW decisions going Australia's way.

Hahaha jeezus christ guys, relax! Could I have made my trolling efforts any more lame and tongue-in-cheek? Just having a joke.

And Jono I'm travelling across Europe at the moment having a ball which explains my lack of posts the past few days. There's plenty of characters around to whinge about supposedly biased umpiring but I'm not one of them...Aussies were rat****, plain and simple.

[Howe_zat]

https://twitter.com/warne888/status/310533895835746304

Shane Warne ‏@warne888
My ashes team 1 Watson 2 Warner 3 Marsh 4 Clarke 5 Wade 6 Henriques 7 Faulkner 8 Maxwell 9 Coulter-Nile 10 Pattinson 11 Lyon / Siddle

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

https://twitter.com/warne888/status/310533895835746304

Shane Warne ‏@warne888
My ashes team 1 Watson 2 Warner 3 Marsh 4 Clarke 5 Wade 6 Henriques 7 Faulkner 8 Maxwell 9 Coulter-Nile 10 Pattinson 11 Lyon / Siddle

And this is just one example why nobody has taken him seriously in years.

[NUFAN]

The 17 man Ashes Squad

Cowan Warner Khawaja Clarke Smith Burns Cosgrove
Wade Haddin
Henriques
Pattinson Starc Siddle Bird Hilfenhaus
Agar Lyon

[morgieb]

Cosgrove? Really?

Not that he doesn't deserve to be picked mind you.

[Spikey]

ahahahahahahah no harris ok whatever

[Adders]

Originally Posted by uvelocity

just generally causing mischief, as is my wont

So nothing much has changed then hey Uvo

Finally made my way over here following your recommendation yonks ago......so any room here for a mad English supporter who has the fortune to live in the sun in paradise but the misfortune to do so with a nation of Cons

[GotSpin]

No

[Dan]

Originally Posted by NUFAN

The 17 man Ashes Squad

Cowan Warner Khawaja Clarke Smith Burns Cosgrove
Wade Haddin
Henriques
Pattinson Starc Siddle Bird Hilfenhaus
Agar Lyon

I won't name my 17 because it's far too early, but I'd nominally be picking from this group of 27:

Clarke, Watson, Warner, Cowan, Smith, Hughes, Burns, Bailey, Khawaja, Doolan
Wade, Haddin
Henriques, MMarsh
Pattinson, Starc, Siddle, Bird, Hilfenhaus, Harris, Johnson, Faulkner, Sayers, Copeland
Agar, Lyon, O'Keefe

Bolded are guys playing in the CC, so if they perform in that they could bolt into contention pretty quickly. Sayers a massive long shot, given how untried he is.

And FFS, we need to get more blokes over there on County contracts. Faulkner, Bird and MMarsh (when fit), in particular, could benefit from it.

[Spikey]

it's very very hard to get a county contract nowadays. i doubt Faulkner or Marsh can get one. You need to have played test cricket, or have a British passport, and stuff like that, to get past Home Office/The ECB

[morgieb]

These players are safe IMO:

Warner
Cowan (who's really better?)
Clarke
Smith (good innings yesterday, should save him)
Haddin
Wade (dunno who else would be in contention out of keepers)
Henriques (new Watson?)
Pattinson (handled himself better than others involved in homeworkgate)
Siddle (still the attack leader)

Not even 100% confident on Lyon or Starc.

Options for other players:

Batsmen:

Watson (vice-captain, but has lost a lot of respect due to homeworkgate)
Khawaja (****ty attitude but a talent)
Hughes (good attitude but horribly out of nick)
Doolan (best Shield season out of the guys not in the side)
Burns (seems like a good young talent, but when is he playing in England?)
Bailey (crap Shield form but seen as next in line)

I'd like to see Rogers and Cosgrove play, but it won't happen

Spinners:

Lyon (has been crap lately but still probably the leading spinner)
Agar (has been good at Shield cricket, can bat, young)
O'Keefe (see above but apparently people don't rate him)
Doherty (the fact that he's in India means his name will still be in the selectors thoughts unfortunately)

Quicks:

Starc (has been awful in India, could be theoretically left out)
Bird (looks gun. Really should play, but not enough confidence to mark him down as a certainty)
Hilfenhaus (bowled good in England last time, still took wickets against SA although looked meh)
Harris (comes down to his fitness. Our best bowler when fit IMO)
Johnson (bowled decently recently but lost points for homeworkgate, the end?)
Faulkner (good in FC cricket, and has played internationals recently)
Coulter-Nile (hyped for some reason)
Sayers (rated as a bolter, been good in Shield cricket)
M Marsh (seen as the golden child for some reason, outside bet if he finds form)

I'd like to see Bollinger and Butterworth in contention, but again it won't happen.