Why Australia have lost the Ashes

[The Maestro]

# 1st reason….. simply has to be stated how bloody good this English unit is. Not only from a talent and cricketing ability standpoint but the way they have refused to be psychologically dominated like many teams facing the Aussies have other the past 6 years or so. Hayden and Gillies stand and deliver batting styles, pre-series shows of arrogance via bold predictions and Lees menace of 150 KMHR bouncers and beamers have had little affect here

# Dropped catches. I cant remember seeing so many catches put down by an Australian team in a series. And in their most important series for some is a strange time to start dropping them. Not sure whats up with that. Suspect an abhorrance of being stood up to at last

# Bad fast bowling.. Tait is rubbish and wont be seen again. Gillespes days of talent less but gutsy bowling have reached its end. It’s a credit to him he got as far as he did. Im still a fan of Kaspa but I suspect hes a player that feeds off confidence. McGrath talked himself up as usual and delivered 1st test then has done little. Rested on his laurels and then arrogantly played injured in a test just because he wanted to and no one had the balls to stand up to him. Absurb

# Not playing Stuart McGill…Is it just me or is it obvious that England's possible only Achilles heel is legspin.

# Sheer arrogance of Australian cricket in general. Turning up in England and talking about 5-0 was LOL. They are lucky its not 1-3 now and England would have just a good a chance of winning this test as Aus. 1-4 did you mean Glenn?

# The following players have played like Apes.

Gilchrist--wants to wallop the ball everywhere no matter what style of batting his team requires. Will score a quick 20 if hes lucky then get out, His attitude with the bat has let Australia down badly and once again at what a critical time. Average keeping by his standards. Only thing I can think of is the years of cricket have jaded him, wouldn’t be surprised if he declared his retirement soon

Ponting. One great knock but totally lost his cool. Was never a captain of any ability anyway. Warne should have been skipper years ago

Hayden. A bully who cant stand up when bullied back. Career is over

Martyn. Unlucky at times but still poor returns> Career is over

Katich/Clarke. Not up to it

 

[sqwerty]

# 1st reason….. simply has to be stated how bloody good this English unit is. Not only from a talent and cricketing ability standpoint but the way they have refused to be psychologically dominated like many teams facing the Aussies have other the past 6 years or so. Hayden and Gillies stand and deliver batting styles, pre-series shows of arrogance via bold predictions and Lees menace of 150 KMHR bouncers and beamers have had little affect here

# Dropped catches. I cant remember seeing so many catches put down by an Australian team in a series. And in their most important series for some is a strange time to start dropping them. Not sure whats up with that. Suspect an abhorrance of being stood up to at last

# Bad fast bowling.. Tait is rubbish and wont be seen again. Gillespes days of talent less but gutsy bowling have reached its end. It’s a credit to him he got as far as he did. Im still a fan of Kaspa but I suspect hes a player that feeds off confidence. McGrath talked himself up as usual and delivered 1st test then has done little. Rested on his laurels and then arrogantly played injured in a test just because he wanted to and no one had the balls to stand up to him. Absurb

# Not playing Stuart McGill…Is it just me or is it obvious that England's possible only Achilles heel is legspin.

# Sheer arrogance of Australian cricket in general. Turning up in England and talking about 5-0 was LOL. They are lucky its not 1-3 now and England would have just a good a chance of winning this test as Aus. 1-4 did you mean Glenn?

# The following players have played like Apes.

Gilchrist--wants to wallop the ball everywhere no matter what style of batting his team requires. Will score a quick 20 if hes lucky then get out, His attitude with the bat has let Australia down badly and once again at what a critical time. Average keeping by his standards. Only thing I can think of is the years of cricket have jaded him, wouldn’t be surprised if he declared his retirement soon

Ponting. One great knock but totally lost his cool. Was never a captain of any ability anyway. Warne should have been skipper years ago

Hayden. A bully who cant stand up when bullied back. Career is over

Martyn. Unlucky at times but still poor returns> Career is over

Katich/Clarke. Not up to it

Bit of an ill-informed rant this.
Agree with about 10% of it though.

 

[Simon]

you my friend are a dimwit...

 

[The Maestro]

oh the bitterness ..........who would have thought Aus would make bad losers

 

[aussie]

you my friend are a dimwit...

word out...

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

oh the bitterness ..........who would have thought Aus would make bad losers

Who'd have thought you'd make a stupid thread with no worthwhile content in which you bait Australians?

If you paid attention you'd notice that most of the Australian fans have taken it pretty well considering we haven't lost anything outside the subcontinent for 12 years.

 

[Pratters]

Why have Australia lost the Ashes? Well they havent yet and the glorious uncertainties of the game should be ruled out at one's own peril.

Why the score has been in the advantage of England:

1. England are a good team and played well
2. Australia has found themselves trailing in test matches, some thing England should be given credit for.
3. The batting of Australia has not been able to cope the bowling of England
4. The absence of G.McGrath in crucial tests (I am not discrediting England but Glenn McGrath would have enhanced Australian performance to some degree. I dont think even England supporters will deny that.)

 

[The Maestro]

?

If you paid attention you'd notice that most of the Australian fans have taken it pretty well considering we haven't lost anything outside the subcontinent for 12 years.

errrrrr no. The Ashes thread is full of accusations of Englands "dirty tactics" and other wailing and teeth gnashing. And I didnt say anything about the fans its the team and its culture I am referring to

You think my thread is pointless huh. So you think McGrath should have played a test injured, Australias catching has been good and Gillies cavalier attitude with the bat has been appropriate?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

errrrrr no. The Ashes thread is full of accusations of Englands "dirty tactics" and other wailing and teeth gnashing. And I didnt say anything about the fans its the team and its culture I am referring to

You think my thread is pointless huh. So you think McGrath should have played a test injured, Australias catching has been good and Gillies cavalier attitude with the bat has been appropriate?

McGrath played as appropriate, yes. Australia's catching has been very poor indeed. Gilchrist's attitude isn't the problem, and in fact he has attempted to curb that throughout the series, it's his poor form and his problems facing Flintoff around the wicket that have caused him to struggle this series.

 

[sqwerty]

Gillies cavalier attitude with the bat has been appropriate?

errr......seems to have worked for the last 5000 runs he's scored...........oh no I've just been suckered again....flame bait

 

[Shoaib]

Australia have lost the Ashes because the reverse swingers of Flintoff & Harmison were too good for their batsmen to play.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Australia have lost the Ashes because the reverse swingers of Harmison were too good for their batsmen to play.

I think it's Jones and Flintoff you're looking for. Harmison isn't a big reverser of the ball.

Anyway, the excellent reverse swing bowling of Jones and Flintoff is indeed one of the major reasons that Australia have lost, coupled I think with some poor planning (especially when compared to England's excellent planning), the poor form of several key players, the injury to McGrath, poor catching and a bit of bad luck.

The next Ashes will be England's chance to cement themselves as the best team in the world, so it should be a fascinating series.

 

[Shounak]

That post can't just be written off as flame bait bulls**t. He makes some decent points.

But not the ones about careers being over.. Not gonna happen..

 

[SJS]

Why Australia have lost the Ashes

Because England beat them to it

 

[The Maestro]

errr......seems to have worked for the last 5000 runs he's scored...........oh no I've just been suckered again....flame bait

Those 5000 runs have mostly been scored batting when Aus have been the kings of world cricket and often in a good position already.

My point is not Flame-baiting, its that under these circumstances which their most treasured trophy at stake not to mention their undisputed no 1 ranking Gillys batting has been utterly selfish and reckless. He doesnt always bat that way. Ive seen him many a time take a reasonably measured approach (stil 30 off 45) to play himself in before producing those highly effective heaves and strong arm slashes

In this series......under the gun and out of form.....hes tried it from the start

I honstly think he's lost real interest which may also explain his walking thing. Gilly to retire

 

[Simon]

Those 5000 runs have mostly been scored batting when Aus have been the kings of world cricket and often in a good position already.

wrong, he averages above 50 when coming in with Australia 5 down for under 250. that suggests hes plyed quite well when coming in under pressure, this series everyone knows hes been down on form, but this is not the Gilchrist we know. To suggest this is the real gilchrist and his previous 70 tests were "a fluke" you would have to be kidding...

 

[sqwerty]

Those 5000 runs have mostly been scored batting when Aus have been the kings of world cricket and often in a good position already.

My point is not Flame-baiting, its that under these circumstances which their most treasured trophy at stake not to mention their undisputed no 1 ranking Gillys batting has been utterly selfish and reckless. He doesnt always bat that way. Ive seen him many a time take a reasonably measured approach (stil 30 off 45) to play himself in before producing those highly effective heaves and strong arm slashes

In this series......under the gun and out of form.....hes tried it from the start

I honstly think he's lost real interest which may also explain his walking thing. Gilly to retire

Disagree with all of that. If you're going to start claiming that Gilly has had an easy ride every time he bats you've lost me.

He's bludgeoned attacks whether or not Australia have been on top and has pulled them out of the Sh!t many times by batting that way.

He's scored 15 tons which is 12 more than any other test keeper so I'd say his record speaks for itself.

You remind me of an old team mate of mine who used to captain Gilly and Mark Taylor in the same team. He always said Gilly had been spoon fed all the way into the test side.

I still bag him about that call.

 

[andyc]

[Richard mode]

# Bad fast bowling.. Tait is rubbish and wont be seen again.

I disagree, he's going to be a regular in the test team a few years down the track, I'm sure of it.

McGrath talked himself up as usual and delivered 1st test then has done little. Rested on his laurels and then arrogantly played injured in a test just because he wanted to and no one had the balls to stand up to him. Absurb

I think McGrath playing while injured was anything but arrogant-- he did what the team needed him to do, and ended up taking a five-for in the second innings. Hardly absurd

Gilchrist--wants to wallop the ball everywhere no matter what style of batting his team requires. Will score a quick 20 if hes lucky then get out, His attitude with the bat has let Australia down badly and once again at what a critical time. Average keeping by his standards. Only thing I can think of is the years of cricket have jaded him, wouldn’t be surprised if he declared his retirement soon

I can't really defend his keeping, but it has been better than Gerraint's. But the attitude of Gilchrist's batting is exactly what has made him the potent force he is, in that Australia could be 5/100 and he'll still be looking for boundaries. No one really expects much else from him.

Hayden. A bully who cant stand up when bullied back. Career is over

Were it not for his gutsy first innings, I'd agree with you.

Katich/Clarke. Not up to it

Hardly the case. Both have performed well and shown the way for the more experienced members of the side.

[/Richard mode]

 

[The Maestro]

wrong, he averages above 50 when coming in with Australia 5 down for under 250. that suggests hes plyed quite well when coming in under pressure, this series everyone knows hes been down on form, but this is not the Gilchrist we know. To suggest this is the real gilchrist and his previous 70 tests were "a fluke" you would have to be kidding...

Yeah Ive heard that stat before, but 250-5 isnt "struggling" when you have already rolled the opposition for 150-200 is it? And doesnt he average above 50 anyway? That stat alone does not prove anything

Anyway I never said anything about an easy ride you two....I said that he should have batted like his life was at stake in this series. And yes he has bludgoned attcaks all over the world who would deny that. the point is I have also seen him bat a little more subtely to begin with, when it was important or the conditions have demanded it, and here was the time to do exactoy that and he instead batted like a lunatic

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Yeah Ive heard that stat before, but 250-5 isnt "struggling" when you have already rolled the opposition for 150-200 is it? And doesnt he average above 50 anyway? That stat alone does not prove anything

Anyway I never said anything about an easy ride you two....I said that he should have batted like his life was at stake in this series. And yes he has bludgoned attcaks all over the world who would deny that. the point is I have also seen him bat a little more subtely to begin with, when it was important or the conditions have demanded it, and here was the time to do exactoy that and he instead batted like a lunatic

He tried being circumspect. Remember the 40 odd he made at quite a sedate pace for him? It didn't work.

If he'd mucked around and tried to get set and failed people would be berating him for not playing his natural game. The fact is he tried several things throughout the tour but aside from that one game at The Oval where he smashed a century he's struggled in both the ODIs and the tests due to poor form and some excellent planned bowling from Flintoff.