The skippers exchange talks before the Ashes

[Guest gaurav_indian]

Bring on the Australians, says Strauss

London: After handing out a 2-o series defeat to the West Indies, England cricket captain Andrew Straus is ready to take on the Australians in this summer’s Ashes series. "Each time I think about the Ashes, I remember what it was like in the past. It certainly gets the heart beating a little faster and the juices flowing. It’s going to be a fantastic second half of the summer," The Sun quoted Strauss, as saying. The next time the Three Lions take the field in a Test match will be for the Ashes opener at Cardiff on July 8. Strauss, however, will try to prevent his side becoming engulfed by Ashes fever. He said: "The reality is that, when we step out in Cardiff, this win means nothing. It will be back to square one. "But the real positive to come out of this series is how clinical we’ve been. We’re in a good place. A couple of new players have settled in really well, there is a nice spirit, guys are enjoying each other’s company and we’re a pretty close-knit group."

http://cricketnext.in.com/news/bring-on-the-australians-says-strauss/40980-13.html :hysterical::hysterical:

[vvvslaxman]

Close-knit group.. hmm

[Macj]

Hes in for a rude shock - and once the shock of another easy defeat sinks in the English excuse mill will start .

[Sachinism]

[Mr. Wicket]

Philip Hughes. First class average nearing 70. Test average a bee's dick shy of 70 as well. Is going to chew up and sh-t out every Pommybastard bowler. Bring it on.

[Fontaine]

Usually I'm the first to ridicule the cricket clowns of England but that article is worse than trash. Not only does he say NOTHING of the sort (Bring on the Australians), but he actually tries to downplay the situation by saying we have to start from square one, and in other interviews (BBC) he's said it's not the right time to talk about the ashes yet. Maybe because he realizes that he's leading a badly inconsistent group of clowns.

[Mr. Wicket]

Ah, didn't see the article. Saw the link said cricketnext which is a joke of a website run by an idiot journalist for an idiot audience, so didn't bother. Not surprised it's so misconstrued. Thanks for the clarification Fontaine (and for taking one for the team and actually visiting that depository of idiocy.)

[Chandan]

Usually I'm the first to ridicule the cricket clowns of England but that article is worse than trash. Not only does he say NOTHING of the sort (Bring on the Australians), but he actually tries to downplay the situation by saying we have to start from square one, and in other interviews (BBC) he's said it's not the right time to talk about the ashes yet. Maybe because he realizes that he's leading a badly inconsistent group of clowns.

So very true. I can't believe how some of the sites post news as they deem fit to make it sensational for the viewers. The fact is that ever since England routed WI, Strauss has repeatedly warning its team that Ashes would be much tougher, much more stern test for them. In fact according to him Asges would be a different game altogether! England's Strauss warns of 'stern' Ashes test 6 hours ago CHESTER-LE-STREET, England (AFP) — England captain Andrew Strauss told England to expect "a very stern test" when they faced Australia in this year's Ashes following their series trouncing of the West Indies. Strauss's side proved far too strong in home conditions for their opponents from the Caribbean and won the second of this two-Test campaign by an innings and 83 runs at the Riverside here on Monday. That gave England the series 2-0 after they'd won the first Test at Lord's by a crushing 10 wickets and saw them regain the Wisden Trophy they'd lost earlier this year in the Caribbean after a 1-0 reverse in a five-match series. In a match where the whole of the second day was washed out, England made 569 for six declared with opener Alastair Cook's Test-best 160 the centrepiece of their total. Man-of-the-series Ravi Bopara helped Essex team-mate Cook add 213 for the second wicket with an innings of 108 that followed his Test-best 143 at Lord's. Lancashire swing bowler James Anderson, well supported by the rest of England's bowling attack, returned match figures of nine for 125 in a Test where the West Indies were made to follow-on. "The real positive is how clinical we were," Strauss told reporters. "Once we got on top, we stayed on top. By and large we took our chances," he added after England's first series win in their last four Test campaigns. England won the last Ashes on English soil in 2005 only to be thrashed 5-0 in Australia the last time they met their oldest Test foes in 2006/07. Strauss, who played in both series, was in no doubt about the scale of the task confronting England come July's first Test against Australia in Cardiff. "When we step out in Cardiff, this means nothing, but from the team point of view it was nice to remember what it is like to win. "Once we start the Ashes series, we are back to square one again," the opening batsman added. "This has got relevance but we can't just rely on the fact we've beaten the West Indies twice to carry us. "The Ashes are going to be a very stern test for us," insisted Strauss, appointed England captain in January after Kevin Pietersen was stripped of the role following the South African-born batsman's falling-out with then coach Peter Moores. Bopara, who has now scored hundreds in his last three Test innings and appears to have made England's problem position of No 3 his own, was delighted to have found form in the team's final Test series before the Ashes. "When I came into this side I said I wanted to make a difference, I hope I did that in this series," Bopara said. "I'm glad it's been in the series before the Ashes. This is a stepping stone." West Indies were only in England at this time of the season after Sri Lanka, England's scheduled opponents, pulled out because of their players' commitments in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Chris Gayle, the West Indies' captain who was criticised for turning up at Lord's two days before the first Test following a stint in the lucrative Twenty20 IPL tournament in South Africa, said he hoped his side could bounce back in the upcoming three one-dayers against England. That series starts at Headingley on Thursday and opening batsman Gayle said: "Congratulations to Andrew Strauss and his team but hopefully we look to the one-day internationals now. "Back home in the winter it was totally different but here we played some poor cricket, had some chances and didn't make the best of it." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- So Strauss has his feet firmly on ground and is helping his team mates in doing so too. Maybe all of them know that they don't stand a chance against Australia!

[Mr. Wicket]

Strauss is an incredibly mature, level headed man and it is a criminal shame that the idiots in the ECB actually removed the captaincy from him to give it to a drunken unprofessional at one stage.

[cowboysfan]

i think the English are quite capable of winning a match or 2 but they are NOT going to win the ASHES back.There was a reason why west indies are 7th in the rankings ,besides i really question their motivation for the series-they looked horrible(atleast on the highlights).The aussies appear to have solved their main problem(finding a capable replacement for the big doofus).Couple this with the English predilection for collapses and things dont too good for the them.

[Feed]

Ponting warns England Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has promised England that the upcoming Ashes series will be far tougher than its 2-0 series whitewash of the West Indies. More... Ponting warns England 20/05/2009 2:04 PM Luke Buttigieg Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has promised England that the upcoming Ashes series will be far tougher than its 2-0 series whitewash of the West Indies. Having lost 1-0 in the Caribbean earlier this year, England gained revenge for that series defeat in emphatic fashion when it recorded a 10-wicket win in the first Test and an innings victory in the second. But Ponting, speaking on Wednesday morning after Australia had named its 16-man tour squad, pointed to the fact that West Indies captain Chris Gayle's commitment to the cause was in question midway through the England series. Having been forced to cut short his stint in the lucrative Indian Premier League in order to head to England, Gayle admitted before the second Test that he wouldn't shed a tear if Test cricket was eventually abandoned in favour of one-day and Twenty20 competitions. With that in mind, Ponting was quick to warn the opposition that his team will pose a much bigger threat than the West Indies has recently, particularly having learned lessons from the shock 2-1 series loss in 2005. "They've obviously done everything very well in these last two Test matches against the West Indies but I can guarantee that they'll be facing a stiffer opposition than the West Indies when we arrive," Ponting said. "England will be a very stiff and tough opposition, we know that, they always are when we play against them. The last series out here in Australia was a 5-0 result to us but it could've been a whole lot different had we not done some exceptional things." "With 2005 we got off to a great start in that series and then things just slipped away from us from there. A lot of us have been there, learnt from our mistakes from last time and we're keen to obviously rectify that." "There's one thing on my cricketing resume that hasn't been achieved yet and that's being captain of a winning Ashes series in England. That's something very dear to my heart." Having described the squad as 'a very good blend of youth and experience', Ponting doesn't believe the fact that the squad contains several rookies including Phillip Hughes, Marcus North, Peter Siddle and Andrew McDonald will hurt Australia's chances. One of only six members of the squad, along with Michael Clarke, Brett Lee, Simon Katich, Brad Haddin and Stuart Clark, to have toured England previously, with Haddin and Clark not playing in 2005, Ponting is confident the youngsters can stand up. "I don't really think that's a great hurdle for us at all," Ponting added. "Going to South Africa we went there with a less experienced team because we've got an extra three Test matches into some of these guys now." "You don't face many tougher tasks than playing South Africa over there and our guys came through particularly well so that really excites me about what we've got coming up on this Ashes tour." "Inexperience, it can be something you want to steer away from but as I said we've got a great balance of youth and experience so hopefully when the big moments come around it will be all of us who stick up our hands and get the job done over there." With no Shane Warne in the squad for an Ashes series for the first time since the 1990/91 series, Ponting is nonetheless confident that there are enough options among the squad to get the job done with the ball. "If you look down our actual top-six batters we've got some guys there as well that can offer some really useful part-time spin options," he said. "Whenever you're picking a team you're looking for some flexibility, you're looking at guys being able to play different roles at different times for you through the course of a game." "There's no doubt through the last South African series it was a lot of those guys, all-rounder types, that really did a good job for us." "With Shane (Watson) in the squad as well, someone that can bowl 140-plus kilometres an hour and bat anywhere in the top six, it gives us great flexibility in our squad."

[DomainK]

There goes the stinking big mouth. England is already a miserable side. It really is shameless to threaten them.

[EnterTheVoid]

wooooooooooooooooo Go Ponting Go, for 3 - 2 result in favor of Australia Yeh Dhil Mangay Moar :yay:

[Dinx - the Jinx]

Around Oct/Nov last year we were all saying that Australia will get beaten by SA and England. Inbetween England and KP screwed up big time. Now there is no hope of England beating Aus even in Eng. This is pathetic

[King]

As usual, too much talk. I think he needs to score some runs in this series, there's no Hayden or Gilly to rescue if in trouble. I reckon England is capable of winning at least a game if not two.

[saikatmaity]

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has promised England that the upcoming Ashes series will be far tougher than its 2-0 series whitewash of the West Indies. Having been forced to cut short his stint in the lucrative Indian Premier League in order to head to England, Gayle admitted before the second Test that he wouldn't shed a tear if Test cricket was eventually abandoned in favour of one-day and Twenty20 competitions.

Old ways Ponting .. Bigtalks before a series .... and he must be all jealous of Gayle .. after all he missed the IPL ... Grapes are sour Ponty. :--D

[DomainK]

wooooooooooooooooo Go Ponting Go, for 3 - 2 result in favor of Australia Yeh Dhil Mangay Moar :yay:

I would prefer 5-0 in favor of Australia.

[maggot_brain]

Why all the hatred for England? The Aussies are a far more objectionable bunch.

[cowboysfan]

Why all the hatred for England? The Aussies are a far more objectionable bunch.

a close call-i hate the the ENglish and their"guardians of proper cricket" crap but the arrogance of the Aussies is too much to bear.I would support England because if they win then it will help India move ahead in the rankings.

[DomainK]

a close call-i hate the the ENglish and their"guardians of proper cricket" crap but the arrogance of the Aussies is too much to bear.I would support England because if they win then it will help India move ahead in the rankings.

And the English will earn the bragging rights for the next 10 years even if the lose everything else for the next 10 years. No.....they will be intolerable.