The Ashes won't be close

[tooextracool]

How about belief? It is just as important IMO.

Trescothick, Thorpe, and Butcher have played in at least two losing Ashes series (Iknow Butcher and Thorpe have played more, but you know what I mean), and to an extent Ashley Giles.

Hoggard, Harmison, Vaughan, Robert Key have all played in one losing Ashes series each (maybe more but I forget and not really counting Simon Jones who bowled only 7 overs), and really only Strauss, Flintoff, G. Jones, and Anderson yet to play in an Ashes series.

They also have to belief that is Australia get a good start, or dominate a period of play, that they must believe that they can fight back and dominate. and when in the field they must look to make it 11 on two and put pressure on Australia and keep it on them. It only takes a nick through the slips etc. to go for a four and the pressure has gone. And anybody who has read Steve Waugh's tour dairies will know he has talked about his.

England can win, they just have to believe in it enough (and play well enough), and have the desire and hunger to do it, then I shouldn't see why they can't. Look at Greece in Euro 2004 despite having really no hope of winning by the experts (not even the players thought they could win it before the tournament).

I would like to see England win it for once, just so we have somebody else to dominate.

oh they believe they can win this time i can assure you, ask any cricketer in the english side and they'll tell you they think they can win. but you know precisely what happens if england starts off poorly, all off that belief just crashes. this english side seems to be one of the more resillient sides of recent times, but players like harmison, trescothick, giles etc really will have problems if australia gets on top of them.
the thing that i didnt capture which is almost essential is fielding, hopefully this time we finally hold on to our catches. this is easily one of the worst australian catching outfits we've seen for a while, and if england can capture that aspect of the game(unlike all other ashes series in the past), and with butcher probably not in the starting lineup that looks pretty likely, we can really put up a fight.

 

[Craig]

Really apart from Flintoff or maybe Trescothick, are there really any good slippers in the England team?

I have Key there and he is no better then Butcher. I will be interested in how time England put into their slip catching work, and in general catching and fielding, because unless the catch is really difficult, it usually is a sign of a lack of work put in.

Greg Chappell did wonders with Sri Lanka improving their fielding, and Australia have a baseball coach to oversee their fielding practice, if England don't have one, maybe bringing in one on a short term contract for this series may help?

 

[tooextracool]

Really apart from Flintoff or maybe Trescothick, are there really any good slippers in the England team?

I have Key there and he is no better then Butcher. I will be interested in how time England put into their slip catching work, and in general catching and fielding, because unless the catch is really difficult, it usually is a sign of a lack of work put in.

Greg Chappell did wonders with Sri Lanka improving their fielding, and Australia have a baseball coach to oversee their fielding practice, if England don't have one, maybe bringing in one on a short term contract for this series may help?

no they arent too many actually, thorpe you can say whatever you want about him, but he has everything except a safe pair of hands. key certainly makes a decent forward short leg, but hes nothing special everywhere else. im not especially sure about pieterson or bell, but it would be a bonus if either of them were slippers.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Really apart from Flintoff or maybe Trescothick, are there really any good slippers in the England team?

I think two world-class slippers are enough for any side.

 

[Zinzan]

I think two world-class slippers are enough for any side.

Unless edges consistently fly to 3rd or 4th slip.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I think two world-class slippers are enough for any side.

That's true, but the very best slipping sides that almost never drop anything have more. The Australians in the 90s for example, had two of the best ever in Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor, and they also had Shane Warne and later Ricky Ponting who are widely recognised as very good slippers today. That's the difference between a decent slipping side like England now and a great one.

 

[tooextracool]

I think two world-class slippers are enough for any side.

except when flintoff bowls, you get down to 1 world class slip fielder, and the other 2 or 3 are rather poor.

 

[Craig]

Unless edges consistently fly to 3rd or 4th slip.

And often there isn't a person there to catch (not early on in the innings) and it runs off for four, because the captain doesn't have a 3rd man.

 

[marc71178]

I would like to see England win it for once, just so we have somebody else to dominate.

Even if England win it, and it is a big if, I can't see them dominating Cricket in the way Australia have.

 

[marc71178]

I have Key there and he is no better then Butcher.

He's better use under the helmet IMO but I don't think he'll be in the team.

 

[marc71178]

im not especially sure about pieterson or bell, but it would be a bonus if either of them were slippers.

I think Bell would go in at 3rd or 4th - remember the catch he took at the Oval?

 

[Zinzan]

I think Bell would go in at 3rd or 4th - remember the catch he took at the Oval?

One shallow doesn't make a summer.

 

[Smudge]

One shallow doesn't make a summer.

Won't the swallow feel leftout?

 

[Zinzan]

Won't the swallow feel leftout?

Possibly. You'll need to ask him?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Everyone knows swallows don't have feelings.

 

[marc71178]

One shallow doesn't make a summer.

Well, the way he SWALLOWED the catch was very impressive, but I was thinking more of the position he'd been put in as an indication of where he'd field for England.

 

[Richard]

Hogg's not better!

Look at his record last season!

Look at his record full-stop, all seasons!

 

[Richard]

I don't see how. If Kumble, Harbhajan and Murali couldn't beat Australia on raging turners last year I can't see how Giles will, especially considering Warne will dominate and Australia can always call up Macgill. Who of quality do England have to back up Giles?

MacGill is quite capable of being every bit as poor as anyone England might call-up to back-up Giles.

I think as far as pitches go the best thing England can do is prepare green seamers. Australia have some good players of seam bowling, but also some who might be a little suspect or at least unproven like Clarke. At leas then England's bowling strength will be catered to, and it should nullify Warne somewhat. I think Australia will win whatever the pitches are like, but I would predict a whitewash if the matches were played in India or Sri Lanka, whereas if they were played in the West Indies in 1984 I think England would have a better shot.

Green pitches certainly won't nullify Warne.
Green seamers won't, either, make any of our bowlers much better; Hoggard's a swing-bowler and doesn't really get that much better with a seaming pitch; Anderson, Harmison and Jones are rubbish regardless of the pitch so even if they're rubbish 32-33 instead of rubbish 50, the result is the same because whatever they do is relative to McGrath, Gillespie and Kasprowicz.

 

[Richard]

For me their batting line is better then their pace attack, well more consistent. If they produce seaming tracks then McGarth and co will run through them. A balanced pitch that offer asstaince to pace and is good to bat on after u get in is the way to go.

No, that's the worst option of the lot IMO - our batsmen will likely crumble no matter what, and a flat pitch gives none of our bowlers a chance to knock-over Australia.

 

[Richard]

I hardly call having your wrist broken by not wearing an arm guard as a freak accident. Freak accident would be slipping down some steps, tripping up something. It was his own fault (surely he could have borrowed one?).

At the time he was having a new one measured.
It was careless, yes, but it was also exceptionally unlucky timing.