The Ashes won't be close

[Swervy]

well even now they are by no means brilliant are they? i dont think a tremendous deal has happened since then, england have improved no doubt, but with players like trescothick who dont move their feet they will still struggle against spin.

does tresco really struggle vs spin...

 

[sledger]

does tresco really struggle vs spin...

perhaps not, but his footwork is a cause for concern, and thats not mentioning the rest of the side either, thorpe is the best player of spin england have

 

[superkingdave]

Tresco is one of our best players of spin, his technique may not be one for the purest but its effective. I'd be much more worried about Flintoff and Jones.

 

[Swervy]

Tresco is one of our best players of spin, his technique may not be one for the purest but its effective. I'd be much more worried about Flintoff and Jones.

I think Flintoff has sorted out that thing where he played defensively vs spin really rigidly,with a rock solid bat (if you know what I mean),and too forward of his body...as i say I think he has sorted that....it will be a major test for him vs Warne thats for sure

 

[superkingdave]

yeah he's definately a lot better now than even a year ago but i still wouldn't say he is a 'good' player of spin, so im a bit worried about him v warne

 

[Swervy]

yeah he's definately a lot better now than even a year ago but i still wouldn't say he is a 'good' player of spin, so im a bit worried about him v warne

lets face it. ...i would worry about most batsmen in the world vs Warne

 

[superkingdave]

ha ha yeah no doubt

 

[Tom Halsey]

well even now they are by no means brilliant are they? i dont think a tremendous deal has happened since then, england have improved no doubt, but with players like trescothick who dont move their feet they will still struggle against spin.

I never said they were brilliant... and Trescothick is a decent player of spin.

 

[Tom Halsey]

perhaps not, but his footwork is a cause for concern, and thats not mentioning the rest of the side either, thorpe is the best player of spin england have

I'd say Tresco is one of our best players of spin.

 

[Tom Halsey]

ha ha yeah no doubt

I’m no longer worried about Warne’s googly against Peitersen though.

 

[superkingdave]

yeah i'm more worried about whether Pietersen will be fit now he's fractured his metatarsal

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yeah, bad news that. I’m not convinced if he’s ready for Tests yet, especially against Australia, but it’s bad news nonetheless.

 

[age_master]

injuries are never good

 

[marc71178]

His Test record doesn’t.

Look at the woeful County record (averaging about 10 more than Giles)

 

[tooextracool]

That may be true now, but at the time when MacGill played England (98/99), England were incredibly poor players of spin.

no they werent, they were only marginally worse than what they are now. certainly the likes of atherton, ramprakash, hick, crawley, hussain and thorpe were good players of spin. it was only stewart and butcher who were poor players of spin.

 

[tooextracool]

well even now they are by no means brilliant are they? i dont think a tremendous deal has happened since then, england have improved no doubt, but with players like trescothick who dont move their feet they will still struggle against spin.

just curious, have you watched tresco bat against spin?
tresco might not use his feet against quality pace bowlers, but hes certainly has some of the best footwork when he plays spinners.

 

[Craig]

MacGill is capable of taking wickets for few enough runs (turning pitch or not) only extremely rarely.
MacGill tends to bowl extremely poorly, regardless of the pitch, far more often than not.
And anyone who thinks he's better than Giles needs their heads seriously examined.

Seriously, MacGill is not that bad.

He comes in for some unfair critism on here.

 

[psxpro]

Look at the woeful County record (averaging about 10 more than Giles)

So what? Test players should be judged on test records, not county records.

 

[Scallywag]

MacGill is capable of taking wickets for few enough runs (turning pitch or not) only extremely rarely.
MacGill tends to bowl extremely poorly, regardless of the pitch, far more often than not.
And anyone who thinks he's better than Giles needs their heads seriously examined.

MacGill 33 tests 160 wickets @ 28.8
Giles 45 tests 127 wickets @ 37.1

 

[howardj]

David Gower - in Inside Cricket magazine - says he would be "very surprised, in fact absolutely shocked" if Australia wins the Ashes 4-0 or even 3-0. I will be mildly surprised if they dont.