Precambrian
Banned
I was critical appointment of Venky Prasad as the Indian bowling coach. Glad I was proved wrong.
Word out, was 12 during that summer also..Anyone under the age of 20 (that is, as of the start of that series, not now) I defy to have not believed England had a damn good chance in 2001 (I was 15 that summer BTW).
Sadly, no-one ever budgets for injuries, nor the number of dropped catches there were in the opening 2 Tests of that series.
Australia may have just still won, but it wouldn't have been one-sided.It might very well have been a very close series had England actually had the same players that had been the pillar for the success for the previous 4 series before that summer. Thorpe missed the entire series (he was safely our best batsman at the time), Vaughan was injured, Captain Hussain missed a number of tests, White was effectively useless with the ball and Giles missed a chunk of the series. I do think England get a lot of bad rap for this series, and I dont honestly think that Australia were as good a side as the one that toured India in 2004. If England had perhaps played the Ashes the summer before, things might well have been very different IMO.
Almost as bad as my call on LaraIan Healy. I saw his sub-standard performance in 1989 and thought that he was never going to make it.
Oh and Shane Warne. I watched his debut at Sydney in 92/92, saw him get spanked by Shastri and Tendulkar, and thought he was doomed to failure.
Yeah Gough and Caddick went to pieces at just the wrong time (and it wasn't because Australia made them do it or played them massively differently - both had bowled far worse in the previous match against Pakistan than they had for a long time). Cork and White at least had the excuse that they'd had serious injuries since bowling brilliantly the previous summer (and in White's case winter), though both were still a huge disappointment. But Gough and Caddick just couldn't sustain themselves for what could potentially have been the biggest series of their careers. And indeed neither ever came close to the heights they'd recently been achieving again afterwards either. Gough of course was basically finished after that series, which was such a shame.Australia may have just still won, but it wouldn't have been one-sided.
One of the biggest disappointments besides the injuries was how ineffective the Gough/Caddic partnership was with the new ball expect againts an Slater.
When McGrath/Dizzy had the ball it seemed a different pitch & condtions..
You were far from alone on either count.Ian Healy. I saw his sub-standard performance in 1989 and thought that he was never going to make it.
Oh and Shane Warne. I watched his debut at Sydney in 92/92, saw him get spanked by Shastri and Tendulkar, and thought he was doomed to failure.
Remember your posts prior to the 06/07 football season too.(Anyone remember my posts prior to the 06/07 Ashes? )