They passed a ruling on it over the summer to say that it will always be 5 tests in future due to its standing. Unfortunately, it seems these rulings can be overturned as quickly as they're made.Do we really normally play 5 tests against SA? I thought it was normally three or four anyway.
Hmm, nah i'm not having that. A stray cricket ball, an inspired England attack, Freddie Flintoff, Michael Kasprowicz's glove, Warney dropping KP, Ponting having a bowl, reverse swing and Vaughan's captaincy I will accept. "We were over cricket and over each other", not a chance.Just me or are England showing severe signs of being over cricket and each other at the moment. The blow up with Pietersen and Moores, players seemingly demanding that tours away get shortened. Just reading Gilly's account of how the Aussie team was feeling in the lead up to and during the 05 Ashes and there seem to be some parallels...
Huh... oh well, I'm not too bothered. Four tests is good... it's the two-test series that really annoy me.They passed a ruling on it over the summer to say that it will always be 5 tests in future due to its standing. Unfortunately, it seems these rulings can be overturned as quickly as they're made.
Yeah i know, but i don't even think it was a legitimate factor. Who exactly should have "stepped it up"? Glenn McGrath was injured. Brett Lee played very well anyway. Tait, Gillespie and Kasprowicz weren't great players at that stage anyway, it's debateable whether they even had an extra gear to go to. Shane Warne was unreal. Gilchrist was done by a fantastically executed plan. Katich was new to tests. Ponting and Langer played pretty well. Hayden and Martyn were out of form. Katich and Clarke were still pretty new to test cricket. Which of those players would have responded better had there not been an "attitude problem" preceding the series? I don't believe any of them would have made a difference itbt.tbf, I'm not saying that Gilchrist said that they lost in 05 because they were over cricket. He said that it was a contributing factor that meant that they didn't respond well when things like reverse swing started happening. He was really just saying that that attitudinal problem meant that they were especially vulnerable when a team did step it up against them.
You can add in there that the BCCI asked for an extra test away in New Zealand whenEngland dropped a test vs. India
England are having a best of 7 ODI series with Australia
England dropped a test vs. South Africa
The irony is gold.