*Official* First Test at Trent Bridge

[3703]

England will win the toss and bat, be 5/50 after a slice of alright from patto_man

 

[3703]

I didn't say all of them.

We're not England btw. This is not the 1990's. The sporting landscapes are different and have changed. Cricket is different now than it was then.

Cricket is very unhealthy in Australia right now and its just about to get sicker. But lets just pretend nothing is wrong and hope it will somehow all work out in the end. That's much better.

As I've said before, the trouble is the uniqueness of Australian rules football as a product. There is no equivalent situation anywhere else in the world. It steals athletes of all types, from all sports, and is a stunning spectator sport (though they're doing their best to hurt it with dumb rule changes) with eye-catching athletes and highlight reels. There is no precedent for it. There is no precedent for what it is able to do to a market. Ffs, we've just seen Israel Folau explode onto the international rugby scene - because his Aussie rules career was an absolute trainwreck, so he quit while he was ahead. This is the sort of talent lost to the world stage. This is what is eating aussie international sports from the inside out right now, and the meat of the discussion belongs in another thread. It's not all CA's fault ffs. It is a unique challenge, and it is affecting everyone.

 

[The Battlers Prince]

England will win the toss and bat, be 5/50 after a slice of alright from patto_man

winning the toss is a hard one to predict. I guess we'll see how that goes.

 

[Cabinet96]

Australian Ashes squad profiles: Meet the men looking to reclaim the old urn from England - Mirror Online

well this happens to be the worst article i have ever seen, why research when you can make stuff up?

there's also

• "nathan lyons"
• apparently doherty is a regular warner
• hurr hurr warner loves bars hurr
• cowan didn't make a ton on debut
• watson/khawaja weren't sent home
• nobody knows anything about faulkner, he has never played a cricket match in his life and therefore it is impossible to know anything about him
• harris has never set the world alight when fit?
• siddle and starc are the main threats
• starc is our best bowler
• mitchell johnson comparison

wait does that sign being held in front of warner say "all rounder"? good grief

There's also:

- Phil Hughes short ball problem
- Starc playing for Yorkshire for the past two seasons, when it was just the 2012 season
- Not realising Steve Smith got drafted into the squad
- Can't really think of a time Clarke thwarted England with Hussey. Probably have to go back to the WACA 06 for the last one. Think they're confusing England with South Africa and India

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Red Tops, got to love them.

 

[Flem274*]

I didn't realise how big AFL was in Australia. I thought it was mainly a Victorian thing.

 

[Daemon]

- Siddle will be the main threat to England alongside Mitchell Starc
- Mitchell Starc: Probably Australia's best bowler

wot

 

[The Battlers Prince]

I don't like the way that Stark finds thimself in the team ahead of guys like Bird or Harris, I hope that 2 guys with abilities for sub 25 averaging series and high wickets won't lose out to a guy who talks himself up based on "technique changes". That's exactly what Hughes said, I watched Hughes after those comments, still hanging his bat at an angle in defence, footwork the likes of legside frontfoot and hits to offside, blew my mind to watch him make runs against a second string Sri Lanka outfit and then say "see what I did!".
Well, I hope Stark bowls well if he has the chance, I just simply don't want a repeat of the Hughes situation.

 

[The Battlers Prince]

hours counting down though!!

 

[Burgey]

I don't like the way that Stark finds thimself in the team ahead of guys like Bird or Harris, I hope that 2 guys with abilities for sub 25 averaging series and high wickets won't lose out to a guy who talks himself up based on "technique changes". That's exactly what Hughes said, I watched Hughes after those comments, still hanging his bat at an angle in defence, footwork the likes of legside frontfoot and hits to offside, blew my mind to watch him make runs against a second string Sri Lanka outfit and then say "see what I did!".
Well, I hope Stark bowls well if he has the chance, I just simply don't want a repeat of the Hughes situation.

**** yeah, I'm Iron Man.

 

[Spark]

I didn't realise how big AFL was in Australia. I thought it was mainly a Victorian thing.

It mostly is but at the junior level in particular, it's seriously dominant and sucking up huge swathes of the young athletic talent in this country.

 

[Spikey]

(mainly cricketers)

 

[Furball]

yeah think Australian test cricket would die if it happened. Public support of the team is already waning, so it would take an absurd amount of high profile victories to win back favour. But that just wouldn't happen because, aside from the fact the confidence levels of the players would be absolutely shot, we just don't have the talent to be that good. World cricket would probably take a bit of a blow too considering it's very important for there to be a competitive Australia.

Why's that?

That's just arrogant, self entitled crap.

 

[hendrix]

I just think backlash and Adders are perfect for each other

 

[Spikey]

Ashes 2013: Nasser Hussain, David 'Bumble' Lloyd, Michael Holding and Ricky Ponting discuss the upcoming series | Mail Online

ctrl+f "Smith" no results found shut tab

 

[social]

As I've said before, the trouble is the uniqueness of Australian rules football as a product. There is no equivalent situation anywhere else in the world. It steals athletes of all types, from all sports, and is a stunning spectator sport (though they're doing their best to hurt it with dumb rule changes) with eye-catching athletes and highlight reels. There is no precedent for it. There is no precedent for what it is able to do to a market. Ffs, we've just seen Israel Folau explode onto the international rugby scene - because his Aussie rules career was an absolute trainwreck, so he quit while he was ahead. This is the sort of talent lost to the world stage. This is what is eating aussie international sports from the inside out right now, and the meat of the discussion belongs in another thread. It's not all CA's fault ffs. It is a unique challenge, and it is affecting everyone.

Folau was an international rugby league player before signing to play AFL for 2 years at a million bucks a year

His signing was basically a marketing stunt to help establish a new team in western Sydney and in that respect it was somewhat of a success

Having said that, he never should've switched to that code as his physique was all wrong

Anyway, fact is that he was a brilliant "rugby" player before AFL and is proving to be again but it's debatable how many pure AFL players could do the same as it is a totally different game with different physical requirements

As to its impact upon cricket, there are a few well documented cases of potential AFL players giving up cricket

 

[Adders]

As I've said before, the trouble is the uniqueness of Australian rules football as a product. There is no equivalent situation anywhere else in the world. It steals athletes of all types, from all sports, and is a stunning spectator sport (though they're doing their best to hurt it with dumb rule changes) with eye-catching athletes and highlight reels. There is no precedent for it.

Hmmmm, I wonder since it is such a "stunning spectator sport" with "eye catching athletes" how come the rest of the world hasn't wanted a piece of it?? Just saying.

It's all relative, that's what you see in a game that you obviously follow......not everyone will see what you see in a sport.

 

[Burgey]

Hmmmm, I wonder since it is such a "stunning spectator sport" with "eye catching athletes" how come the rest of the world hasn't wanted a piece of it?? Just saying.

Because they haven't seen it live, maybe.

 

[hendrix]

Hmmmm, I wonder since it is such a "stunning spectator sport" with "eye catching athletes" how come the rest of the world hasn't wanted a piece of it?? Just saying.

What are the countries in which cricket is popular?

hmmm, India, Aus, NZ, West Indies, South Africa....England

What historically do these countries have in common?

Now I personally think AFL is completely unenjoyable to watch or play but the reasons sports have fan bases often has nothing to do with how "eye catching" they are.

Of course, eye catching sports are tending to become more popular because of the age we live in, but that's another story.

 

[biased indian]

after a long time an ashes where i will like Australia to dominate