The Ashes

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Axver said:


Good point. I do wonder if any heads are going to roll or not. If Australia win the final test and retain the Ashes, definitely not, even though they've played some utterly shit cricket. Australia needs to fix its top order and fast! It's people like Brett Lee and Shane Warne who seem to be scoring the bulk of the runs, not the people who are meant to! And Ponting's captaincy is a joke and he needs to go.

Yes, the Australian batting line up is not doing what they should but look at what happened to England last night. Top score was 27 (I think, see previous post very tired). I think the difference in these tests has been Flintoff. He is England's first All-Rounder in a long time. He is a smart cookie in that he has learnt not to throw the bat around and he is a very clever bowler. The good thing for the English team is that he is inspiring their other bowlers. I think he will be man of the series.
 
Tania said:



For what? Because he is stupid idiot off the field and everyone knows about it? That has nothing to do with his cricket and while I believe he should be kicked really hard where it hurts it doesn't have anything to do with his job.

For bringing the game into disrepute.

Any other country would've tossed him out years ago.
 
Tania said:


Yes, the Australian batting line up is not doing what they should but look at what happened to England last night. Top score was 27 (I think, see previous post very tired). I think the difference in these tests has been Flintoff. He is England's first All-Rounder in a long time. He is a smart cookie in that he has learnt not to throw the bat around and he is a very clever bowler. The good thing for the English team is that he is inspiring their other bowlers. I think he will be man of the series.

England's top order has generally been performing well, though. Australia's top order has been bad and getting worse for some time and the tail's not going to wag forever. They have to sort this out and fast if they plan on staying on top. New coach, new captain: though like Tim, I've no idea who could come in as a new captain.

Flintoff has been exceptional. Simon Jones has been rather devastating with the ball too.
 
No they wouldn't have. He served out his penalty.

He is a good spin bowler and that's what all cricket teams want.
 
I don't think they will change the team much before the next test. After that will be another matter. I would like to see someone like Steve Waugh coach (but that's because I think he's a cool guy :wink: ) but I don't know. The captaincy is a tricky one, there really isn't anyone who I would say stands out at the moment.
 
Tania said:
No they wouldn't have. He served out his penalty.

He is a good spin bowler and that's what all cricket teams want.

I believe Australia is the only country in the world that would've kept Warne on. He's a disgrace and embarrassment to the game and no amount of talent could make up for that.

I also think his bowling is over-rated, but I think we've had this discussion before.
 
Tania said:
No they wouldn't have. He served out his penalty.

He is a good spin bowler and that's what all cricket teams want.

Warne would have been penalised by other countries heavily (i.e. in a match suspension sense) for incidents in 1994, 1999, 2000 & 2003.
 
Axver said:

I also think his bowling is over-rated, but I think we've had this discussion before.

He is probably pushing his luck to claim a top 5 spot in the world atm. Murali, Vettori, Saqlain, Harby & Anil all out bowl him regularly. His career is based on a handful of performances at his peak in 1994-5 and has only held his spot against McGill because of his (illogical) marketing appeal. The only thing keeping in the side before this run of good figures has been his improved batting. His inclusion as one of the top 5 cricketers of last century amazed me.
 
timothius said:


Warne would have been penalised by other countries heavily (i.e. in a match suspension sense) for incidents in 1994, 1999, 2000 & 2003.

Combine those together and I'm sure any other country would've had enough and banned him for life at some point. After all, in other sports, the more transgressions against your name, the harsher the punishment is when you commit one more wrong.

I would have to say that right now, I think Vettori may just be one of the best cricketers in the world, not just spin bowlers. The man can bowl amazingly well, his batting has improved by leaps and bounds, and even when NZ have had their backs against the wall, he's never given in. Possible captain material down the track?

(Though maybe that is more suited to the NZ/Zimbabwe thread. But give me a chance to praise Vettori and I'll take it for all it's worth!)
 
Palace_Hero said:


I thought you boys would like it, hence the change. :)

I'll say this quietly though..

I'll give Aussies one thing, they can take a joke. If that avatar had been of an equivalent joke towards our friends in the U.S., I might not have kneecaps anymore. :giggle:

That is so wonderfully true. I'm tempted to try it. :wink:

Actually, it seems in our cricket/rugby threads, we can slam the US with immunity - or at least their sports! I absolutely slagged gridiron (I believe in the thread about NZ winning the Aussie Rules world championship) and not a single Yank made a peep!
 
Axver said:


That is so wonderfully true. I'm tempted to try it. :wink:

Actually, it seems in our cricket/rugby threads, we can slam the US with immunity - or at least their sports! I absolutely slagged gridiron (I believe in the thread about NZ winning the Aussie Rules world championship) and not a single Yank made a peep!

Yes I saw that but keeping it in prespective, would many yanks bother to read it? :wink:
 
timothius said:


He is probably pushing his luck to claim a top 5 spot in the world atm. Murali, Vettori, Saqlain, Harby & Anil all out bowl him regularly. His career is based on a handful of performances at his peak in 1994-5 and has only held his spot against McGill because of his (illogical) marketing appeal. The only thing keeping in the side before this run of good figures has been his improved batting. His inclusion as one of the top 5 cricketers of last century amazed me.

It is not Shane Warne who decides who will be in the top five cricketers of the last century, nor is it me or you. So, really that argument falls down.
 
Palace_Hero said:


I thought you boys would like it, hence the change. :)

I'll say this quietly though..

I'll give Aussies one thing, they can take a joke. If that avatar had been of an equivalent joke towards our friends in the U.S., I might not have kneecaps anymore. :giggle:

It's called having a sense of humour and not needing to take the "game" of cricket to seriously:wink:

And here is a question for you all:

Horse racing is a sport and cricket is a game (those are the only two I can think of at the moment) but why? (This is a serious question).
 
Tania said:

Horse racing is a sport and cricket is a game (those are the only two I can think of at the moment) but why? (This is a serious question).

I'd guess the difference is whether or not you 'play' it. For example, you 'play' cricket but you don't say 'playing' for horse riding, you'd just say riding. So you 'play' a game but not necessarily a sport.


As for The Ashes. Trust us to screw up what should have been a figure that ONE partnership should have reached! (Just grateful we got there in the end!) Well done to the Aussies for a great batting performance that day. A fantastic cricket Test. Just hope there'll be many more like it :up:
 
gr8 win... england sure made hard work of it..but then again lee was swinging the ball at 96 mph and warne looked like he could have even spun the ball on a cement pitch...the english are gonna be playing here next..hopefully we'll be upto the challenge:|
 
Tania said:


It is not Shane Warne who decides who will be in the top five cricketers of the last century, nor is it me or you. So, really that argument falls down.

My argument is that Shane Warne is overrated...the fact that the was voted one of the 5 greatest cricketers of the century, while statistics and performances on & off the field prove otherwise, backs up my argument even more.

Sir Donald Bradman
Sir Garfield Sobers
Dame Shane Warne
Sir Vivian Richards
Sir Jock Hobbs

Pick the odd one out.
 
Palace_Hero said:
Are you asking why because you don't know or do you know and want to see if we do too?

:eyebrow:

I'm asking because I was wondering, that's all, no hidden agenda, just having a conversation.
 
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