***Official Ashes Thread***

[Richard]

recent form is irrelevant McGrath is still the best fast bowler in the world by some way..

Recent form is never irrelevant if that form is poor.

 

[benchmark00]

Only a complete fruitcake would take McGrath over Jones on the type of pitches later in the last Ashes series. Jones was taking 5-fers in no time whilst most other bowlers were struggling just to keep it tight without offering a wicket-taking threat - Warne and Flintoff being the other exceptions.

No one is denying Jones is a good swing bowler, but the pitch has nothing to do with swing.

 

[benchmark00]

Yes, this, STILL - in fact it NEVER went away.

So it can easily be said that McGrath has been unlucky in his last 8...

 

[Slats4ever]

with the mcgrath issue I think he's passed it... I think come ashes time the jones v McGrath battle will be closer than a lot of you seem to be thinking. However I also think that Lee might get up over his rivals and be the bowler of the series (after Warnie maybe)...

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

You who are normally the "he's performed 3 or 4 times, he's already proven himself" type...

I am? I never realised. Care to enlighten me with an example?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

But say, what about his last 10 tests?

Selective stats are ridiculous.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

As anyone who watched McGrath during the Australian summer would know, he was in fairly poor form in the tests against South Africa, but rediscovered it somewhat in the VB Series, where he was quite unlucky.

People have written McGrath off plenty of times before and he always comes back well. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had 2 or 3 more good years of test cricket in him.

 

[marc71178]

Yes, this, STILL - in fact it NEVER went away.

It never came anywhere near being true though, and NEVER will.

 

[Richard]

So it can easily be said that McGrath has been unlucky in his last 8...

Obviously it can, but I don't see any truth in it.

 

[Richard]

I am? I never realised. Care to enlighten me with an example?

Err... this one?

 

[Richard]

But say, what about his last 10 tests?

Quite irrelevant - clearly he bowled exceptionally well in these 8 Tests, but his 8 after that have been pretty average.

Selective stats are ridiculous.

In which case all stats are ridiculous.
Because all stats are selective.

 

[Richard]

It never came anywhere near being true though, and NEVER will.

Not possible for it to be either true or untrue - it's simply opinion.

 

[Richard]

As anyone who watched McGrath during the Australian summer would know, he was in fairly poor form in the tests against South Africa, but rediscovered it somewhat in the VB Series, where he was quite unlucky.

People have written McGrath off plenty of times before and he always comes back well. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had 2 or 3 more good years of test cricket in him.

I'd not be astonished, but I certainly wouldn't put money on it either. McGrath has a good action, a strong body and has never shown any signs of losing the hunger for the game, but no Australian born in the 20th century has played a Test against a Test-class team aged 40 or over except Bobby Simpson in exceptional circumstances (WSC).
McGrath obviously bowled well in the VB Series, even if he was unlucky he still got excellent figures.

 

[Gottaluvcricket]

To suggest Lee is better than Hoggard and that either McGrath or Kasprowicz are better than Jones is frankly stupid.
Yes, all 3 are better than Harmison but that says little or nothing.
With any luck Bell, not Collingwood, will line-up - I simply can't see Collingwood scoring runs against a full-strength Australia, even with dropped catches.

Nice call, Dick. To entertain the thought that Jones even comes close to McGrath shows your lack of judgment, as does your call on Collingwood. I was there when Jones did his knee in 02, btw, and it was more to do with poor feilding technique then the hardness of the outfield. If soft outfields caused knee problems, most english players would have knee reconstructions by now.

 

[steds]

And what does how he did his knee in have to do with how good a bowler he is?

 

[PhoenixFire]

Nice call, Dick. To entertain the thought that Jones even comes close to McGrath shows your lack of judgment, as does your call on Collingwood. I was there when Jones did his knee in 02, btw, and it was more to do with poor feilding technique then the hardness of the outfield. If soft outfields caused knee problems, most english players would have knee reconstructions by now.

What the hell has this got to do with Simon Jone's fielding technique?? Plenty of Australians playing in State games have injured themselves at the Gabba fielding, not just English people.

Clearly BLE.

 

[Gottaluvcricket]

....
Jones then suffered an injury which had more to do with soft outfields than hard pitches.....

Just commenting on some of the rediculas babble i read. I was refering to the softness of english outfields.

 

[PhoenixFire]

What Richard said was 100% true in my eyes.

 

[steds]

Just commenting on some of the rediculas babble i read.

Quite a "rediculas" statement imo.

 

[Gottaluvcricket]

What Richard said was 100% true in my eyes.

What, you agree that Collingwood won't make runs, and that Jones is a better bowler?

Sorry, spelling error, Re-dick-you-lass.