The Ashes.......

[DracoM]

What a MISERABLE showing!
I go to bed having seen last Oz wickets go down and then this next morning!
Pah!

[amateur51]

I should have known something was about to happen when in the pre-amble Simon Hughes was crowing about how Australia was close to the top of the list of the world's most obese countries (after USA, Mexico, and NZ I think); and he went on to ascribe Australian cricket's recent decline to this factor.

As we know England players' diet is closely monitored and balanced and so it was with an awful sense of chickens coming home to roost that I listened to the events of early this morning

Boycott was full of gloom and recrimination at the close but that aside it is hard to understand what went so badly wrong except that Mitchell Johnson is a lot faster even than Stuart Broad and that he is a man driven by the memory of the roasting he got from the Barmy Army & others in the last Australian Ashes series. England's batsmen may have been a tad undercooked but we have to hope that they will repeat the backs-to-the-wall second innings that they played last time in Brisbane. Much will depend on how quickly the Australians can build the lead that they'll feel is insurmountable and how the pitch plays thereafter. Mitchell Johnson must be a very happy chap

[aeolium]

As we know England players' diet is closely monitored and balanced and so it was with an awful sense of chickens coming home to roost that I listened to the events of early this morning

Is duck on their diet, am51?

Another first test overseas horror show from the England batsmen. One of the statisticians was mentioning (before the collapse) that England had rarely passed 200 in the first innings of their first test overseas in the last few years. It can only be down to poor preparation. Still, at least I can get some sleep tonight while Australia pile on the runs.

[hedgehog]

Early days yet. Australia won most the races to the bottom in batting in fine style in the first half of this double series

Mitchell Johnson is proving well with both ball and bat but there is always a question about his staying power. Whatever happens a result either way will set the series up nicely. Rain is forecast so a full 3 days of play is unlikely.

[teamsaint]

Is duck on their diet, am51?

Another first test overseas horror show from the England batsmen. One of the statisticians was mentioning (before the collapse) that England had rarely passed 200 in the first innings of their first test overseas in the last few years. It can only be down to poor preparation. Still, at least I can get some sleep tonight while Australia pile on the runs.

Good point.
The level of preparation that test teams get would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Its got to be a problem. I wonder if this is statistically significant in all test series?

[amateur51]

Early days yet. Australia won most the races to the bottom in batting in fine style in the first half of this double series

Mitchell Johnson is proving well with both ball and bat but there is always a question about his staying power. Whatever happens a result either way will set the series up nicely. Rain is forecast so a full 3 days of play is unlikely.

This is one of the reasons so many people don't rate cricket but I love it - thanks so much for the weather forecast, hodge

[antongould]

There it was gone....

[muzzer]

Yes, well, it's all gone 'orribly wrong now.

[aeolium]

I just heard the last hour, including Trott's shocker of an innings. He seems psychologically shot now, his technique all gone to pieces and seemingly unable to deal with the ball aimed at his body. Tremlett seems like an innocuous net-bowler compared with the powerful threat of 3 years ago, a sheep in wolf's clothing, and Swann who has been outbowled by Lyon has obviously been targeted by the Oz batsmen.

Hard to see the series being recoverable from this disaster.

[amateur51]

I just heard the last hour, including Trott's shocker of an innings. He seems psychologically shot now, his technique all gone to pieces and seemingly unable to deal with the ball aimed at his body. Tremlett seems like an innocuous net-bowler compared with the powerful threat of 3 years ago, a sheep in wolf's clothing, and Swann who has been outbowled by Lyon has obviously been targeted by the Oz batsmen.

Hard to see the series being recoverable from this disaster.

Cometh the hour - Broad will be opening the batting by the last Test and Trott's hitherto unsuspected googly will prove a match-winner

Oh dear!

[Sir Velo]

A good start by England but the Mitchell/Haddin partnership highlighted the risks of a four bowler strategy. When the quicks have tired after their opening spells, there is precious little firepower to break stubborn partnerships like this. We saw it briefly back in the summer when Agar and Hughes nearly won the first test for Oz.

This would be the same four bowler strategy that resulted in last Summer's 3-1 drubbing of the Australians? Some risk!

Rarely does an extra batsman make that much of an impact; whereas, with only five batsmen, each realises the value of their wicket and plays with a greater sense of responsibility. Four bowlers might be sufficient in England's cool, damp climate but conditions are different in oz: the Kookaburra stops swinging after 20 overs; the pitches are harder and flatter; and it's a darned sight hotter than back home. Time will tell who's right....

I hate to say I told you so, but...

[amateur51]

I hate to say I told you so, but...

Disingenuous to a fault

You could well be right - but Test cricket can turn up some extraordinary quirks, that's why I follow it avidly .

I'm off to check the weather forecast

[DracoM]

Genuinely think this could be 0-5 drubbing coming. Once Oz get on top....on their tracks....?
And actually it was time someone rumbled Trott. The fragility? Trott, Root, Carberry? All of whom can be sussed early and got at in Oz conditions. We've had it. The signs were on the wall at the end of last summer on OUR pitches, let alone now in Oz.

And I seriously wonder how long Alistair Cook will go on captaining and opening. He looks out of his depth tactically - compare him with Brendan McCullum / Graeme Smith?- BUT also he has been dealt a pretty poor hand in selection. Bowling resources very thin - four bowlers all of whom have just been taken to all parts.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

bloody bloody england

[amateur51]

Genuinely think this could be 0-5 drubbing coming. Once Oz get on top....on their tracks....?
And actually it was time someone rumbled Trott. The fragility? Trott, Root, Carberry? All of whom can be sussed early and got at in Oz conditions. We've had it. The signs were on the wall at the end of last summer on OUR pitches, let alone now in Oz.

And I seriously wonder how long Alistair Cook will go on captaining and opening. He looks out of his depth tactically - compare him with Brendan McCullum / Graeme Smith?- BUT also he has been dealt a pretty poor hand in selection. Bowling resources very thin - four bowlers all of whom have just been taken to all parts.

A five-nil drubbling would be a surprise but not unwelcome in the long term. However I don't think that Australia are that good or that England as a unit are that bad.

I agree about Trott and even about Cook - has he been terminally rumbled or is it a seam of poor form, just as this time last year he hit a rich seam of good form? Time will tell, dropping him won't. Who might replace him as captain? Prior, if he were fully fit?

I feel rather sorry for Carberry and Root, each experiencing a trial by fire.i hope that amongst the plethora of managers on the England coaching/support team there is someone well-versed in the psychology of change.