The Winter Cricket Thread 2013/14 - The Ashes Down Under

[Summerof69]

I think a slight change will be needed for the Mitchell Johnson song :

He bowls it to the left,
He bowls it to the right,
When Mitchell Johnson bowls it straight,
The England batting goes to shite !!

[LucienSanchez]

Not with that many syllables

[TheMajorSTFC]

Right here we go again tonight, will it be another test of pure Aussie dominance and in doing so reclaiming The Ashes for the first time since 06/07 OR will England make good on their promise to shake things up and come out fighting? They couldn't have picked a harder ground to do it at: Perth. Winning only 1 test match their, and even that was against a below par Aussie side in 79/80 (top Aussies were playing for Packer in the 'World Series').

It's anyone's guess what England turns up, but the likes of Cook, KP, Bell and Prior have to score runs if England are to have a chance, along with Joe Root at 3 and whoever bats at 6. Big rumours on the net suggest Ballance will come in, but don't count out Jonny Bairstow returning after scoring a 100 for the EPP.

My team: Cook (c), Carberry, Root, KP, Bell, Ballance, Prior, Broad, Swann, Finn, Anderson.

What the bookies say: SkyBet have England at 5/2 to win, Australia (expected favourites) at 4/6 with the draw at 9/2.

Major Prediction: Expect a shock...whether that's England winning and getting themselves back in the series, or the Aussies completing a dramatic turn around from the Summer here to go 3-0 up and win The Ashes.

I'll be swapping my sleep pattern around with the start time of 2.30am in Perth, I'll wake up at 6.30 to watch the final session.

[RedRag]

Appetite coming back but as Fergie might have said "Perth, bloody hell!"

Good tip about getting up early for the final session.

Opening session on the sofa at  2.30 would be a nightmare.

[@mwooly63]

116 for 3 as I type. Slow over rate despite swann operating very early on day one but its paid off. Warner is playing well but Skith looks like he is ready to give his wicket away v the seamers. Oh well off to work . 121 for 3 now

[kerry red]

Woke up to 164-5

excellent!

[slinky]

265-5.  Not looking so good now.  A very similar Aus 1st innings as the first test.  Hope this one doesn't go the same way!

[DMR]

Knock them over for 320, go big 450-500 and we're in. Come on lads.

I appreciate the 450-500 part will be difficult with our bunch of clowns.

[Nemo]

We're still in this. We've lost three pretty big tosses in a row, which is a bit shit.

[TheMajorSTFC]

At 140odd-5 we had them on the ropes again, but Smith/Haddin and now Smith/Johnson appear to be taking Aus towards 400. Woke up at 7am to watch, was pitch black but by time I left for work at 8.45 it was light...incidentally the last ball was the Haddin wicket. Looking forward to seeing if England can bat and get themselves in with a chance of winning the game! btw Cook is a useless tosser!

[Nomoreheroes]

Not sure why Cook is a useless tosser? Think he is the best batsman in the team. Not a great captain, but then he doesn't have a lot of options around him.

Surprised not to see Finn, Rankin or Tremlett playing. Think Perth is the only place I would consider them all seriously.

Who would I have dropped for them? Well, for me, Broad & Stokes should be fighting for the all rounder spot. On current form, I would take Stokes in that position.  Swann & Anderson shouldn't be immune to being left out. Neither has bowled particularly well. At Perth I think I might have rested Swann (I know he took 2 wickets!). Bresnan is a negative choice. Workhorse bowler who can (allegedly) bat. But I think we need to take 20 wickets. Bressie aint gonna do that.

[DMR]

I think it was a reference to heads or tails...

[DMR]

I'd also interpret your post to imply that you are advocating dropping Broad. In which case, you are mental.

[fittons_coaching_badge]

Hmmm ... Where to start ...

Id have gone Finn instead of Bres but no surprise England opted to strengthen the tail.

The pace is an issue. On wickets that do nothing you need an X factor. I hope England take note here. This is a bang average Aussie side and well .... England aren't much better. In fact really the standard of test cricket isn't very good at all ATM.

Watching Smith and Johnson was like watching Prior/Broad/Swann a while back when they come in and take games away from the opposition and for England to totals of 400+

I think Prior has to bat above Stokes.

I also find it utterly bizarre that neither Finn, Tremlett or Rankin played in this EPP game that Ballance and Bairstow played in. A terrific chance to give them some time in the middle up the swanny. Leads me to believe we won't be seeing them again this tour and if we do how unfair on Finn or Rankin who wouldn't have had any middle time for the best part of a month.

[kerry red]

The problem isn't the bowlers. Even if the Aussies were bundled out for 250-300 we look so fragile batting anything above 200 heaps pressure on the batsmen.

It's like role reversal in the Ashes.

Can see a number of players having their last hurrah on this tour