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

[@mwooly63]

Dolly dropped. Cheers Cook

[Posh Red]

Courtesy of Mr M's twitter account:


Is that your tweet Posh?

Not me.

And another catch goes down. I'm not sure they could catch a cold at the moment.
Schoolboy fielding

[sonicyouth]

Can we forfeit the next test?

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

This team is a joke. They have to be binned or retire after this series.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Dolly dropped. Cheers Cook

Cook is a waste of space. If he doesnt resign the captaincy after this series then it will be a travesty.

[Nemo]

Mind those jerky knees gentlemen.

If we have to lose a rest to the Aussies, I'm glad it's Rogers and not Warner scoring the runs. Really good bloke who's served his time and done it the right way.

That said, England clearly want to be on the plane home. 5-0 looks all but definite.

[NZrobin]

MADE MY MIND UP...GOING TO TRY AND CHANGE MY BERKSHIRE ACCENT. 

BEING BEATEN BY THE ALL BLACKS IS ONE THING.....BUT THE AUSTRALIANS IS TOTALLY SHIT.    

[Batch]

Here's a little ditty about an even worse test series, just to cheer you up

[kerry red]

At least when we were pissing all over the Aussies they showed some fight.

Our useless bunch of limp- wristed tossers couldn't muster a fucking thing.

The majority of the senior players must have totally gone, confidence wise. Time to get rid and start again.

[Oaksey Moonraker]

The turnaround from a winning team in the summer to a rubbish one in the winter reminds me of the turnaround between the 2009/10 Swindon play off team and the 2010/11that got relegated. Just shows that losing a couple of key players, players believing their own hype and losing form can turn the fortunes of a team.

[sonicyouth]

Mind those jerky knees gentlemen.

Indeed.

Complete this series and look to rebuild. Not wholesale changes and dropping players who have had one poor series after many excellent performances.

[fittons_coaching_badge]

Just woke up and hoped it was all a nightmare but it appears not ....

It patently clear Cook/Flower don't trust Monty so I think his days are numbered. To leave him out the attack for 1hr 45 mins on a 4th day pitch and then bowl Root ahead of him I think I would have walked off, got a cab back to the hotel, grabbed my stuff and gone to the fucking airport.

It's not that long ago Monty bowled England to victory in India.

I expect either Tredwell or Borthwick to play at Sydney which is a shame because in spite of his fielding Monty is second best spinner in England by a distance. Tredwell can do the steady eddie, a bit of everything but nothing that well. Borthwick is talented and bats at 3 for Durham but last time I saw him bowl he served up a series of long hops and full tosses that suggest if he plays and gets it wrong we could have a another Kerrigan on our hands!

In Sydney, I'd drop Carberry, shift Bell to 3. Ballance to 5 (Hasnt played any cricket, but cant get much worse). Anderson looks shot so i'd drop him and bring in Finn and i'd porbably drop Bres and i'd Rankin a burst to.

[Only Me]

In Sydney, I'd drop Carberry

I would go to Bondi beach or Sydney harbour

[Nomoreheroes]

For the final test I think smart money is on:

Cook
Root
Bell
Pietersen
Ballance
Stokes
Bairstow
Borthwick
Bresnan
Broad
Rankin/Finn

[TheMajorSTFC]

If the series wasn't all ready a joke before Melbourne, it's completely something else now. I really don't get how we've managed to completely fuck up this test after being in a strong position at lunch on Day 3. Poor batting and good/pressurised bowling is the answer I keep coming up with - and it's been exactly the same now for 4 test matches. There were glimpses of what England COULD have done during the test match, but a truely pathetic effort has seen us a shoe in to lose the series 5-0 now. Anything else will completely shock the pants off me. It's a shame as I like Carberry, but he hasn't got the score he needed to cement his opening spot and therefore I think England should look to the future and the 2015 Ashes series. Cook is on a poor run of form, that will change, but there seems to be no fire behind his captaincy, Root, young and will get better, first tour to Australia and will learn from it, KP, well frustrating but showed what he can do in this test, Bell, after having such a great home series has completely gone the other way, Stokes, as per Root, Bairstow, thought he had a good game with the gloves but batting really needs to improve. Anderson looks drained and running on empty, and has looked so since the 1st test at home where he took 10 wickets in the match, Broad has looked good to me with the ball, Bresnan, I like but looks to have been rushed back, and Monty, I felt a bit sorry for but bowled OK.

I'm rambling now...anyways I'd pick the same team as NMH for Sydney but Finn would deffo be in my XI.