Will it be a 5-0 drubbing for Aussies?

[Desi Cartman]

enough of calling this Aus B :hitler: this is the best they have at the moment. As for RP, I dont think they afford to drop him even if he continues to fail as there is nobody to replace him at this stage.

[Serani]

Aus B that defeated India last year, even better with Tait in the team.

[thevortex]

Many times before I have mentioned that the Aussies are and have been on the decline. This should not come as a surprise. Bradman99 - what are your thoughts? Do you still believe that the Aussies are not on a decline? That apart I really take my hat off for Bollinger's bowling prowess. However I think he has a very bad attitude about him and needs to give more respect to the umpires. I dont rate Ponting as a good leader in part because he does not really cultivate good spirit among his team members. Hardly ever have seen him pull a player out and calm him down for irate conduct on the field.

[Bradman99]

Many times before I have mentioned that the Aussies are and have been on the decline. This should not come as a surprise. Bradman99 - what are your thoughts? Do you still believe that the Aussies are not on a decline? That apart I really take my hat off for Bollinger's bowling prowess. However I think he has a very bad attitude about him and needs to give more respect to the umpires. I dont rate Ponting as a good leader in part because he does not really cultivate good spirit among his team members. Hardly ever have seen him pull a player out and calm him down for irate conduct on the field.

Well I think that it was always going to be difficult given the amount of quality players that retired in the same period of time.. However, I think that where we are now is an improvement of where we were a year or 2 ago. We have some new younger players blended into the team who are ready to keep their spot there. I think that we are suffering from the poor form of Ponting and Clarke (in shorter forms). I think the result of the Ashes will tell us whether or not we are on the decline. I still think we are the best country at producing young talents and plenty have and will continue to get the opportunity.. On that note, O'Keefe got called in to replace Hauritz for the upcoming test series.

[Lord]

Well I think that it was always going to be difficult given the amount of quality players that retired in the same period of time.. However, I think that where we are now is an improvement of where we were a year or 2 ago. We have some new younger players blended into the team who are ready to keep their spot there. I think that we are suffering from the poor form of Ponting and Clarke (in shorter forms). I think the result of the Ashes will tell us whether or not we are on the decline. I still think we are the best country at producing young talents and plenty have and will continue to get the opportunity.. On that note, O'Keefe got called in to replace Hauritz for the upcoming test series.

tell us about him

[The Outsider]

Michael Clarke is a parasite for Australian limited overs cricket. His ODI strike rate is below 70 over the last 3 years. That is comical for a top order batsman in ODI cricket these days. Not to forget the superb innings he played in the T20 final. The English team is being overrated though. The team gives the impression of batting deep, but if you get them 4 wickets down early enough in the match, the rest of the batting is full of bits and pieces players. The likes of Yardy, Wright, Bresnan, Swann, Broad are good enough to give you a few quick runs, but if they have to score anything substantial they'll be found out. They're enjoying a good run at the back of some good bowling performances on pitches with a little bit of assistance in them. On subcontinent pattas the likes of Anderson, Wright and Bresnan will be mercilessly by all forms of cowlashers.

[putrevus]

Michael Clarke is a parasite for Australian limited overs cricket. His ODI strike rate is below 70 over the last 3 years. That is comical for a top order batsman in ODI cricket these days. Not to forget the superb innings he played in the T20 final. The English team is being overrated though. The team gives the impression of batting deep, but if you get them 4 wickets down early enough in the match, the rest of the batting is full of bits and pieces players. The likes of Yardy, Wright, Bresnan, Swann, Broad are good enough to give you a few quick runs, but if they have to score anything substantial they'll be found out. They're enjoying a good run at the back of some good bowling performances on pitches with a little bit of assistance in them. On subcontinent pattas the likes of Anderson, Wright and Bresnan will be mercilessly by all forms of cowlashers.

you are spot on in regards to england team.If they think based on these performances they are good enough to win Ashes they will be sadly mistaken. In regards to clarke whats more amazing is they are not utilizing fully the talent of Hussey by moving him down the order for this guy who simply is not fit for odis and t-20s

[Fontaine]

That’s gross misrepresentation of the situation. The English Cricket Board didn’t send scouts all over the world to poach talented cricketers by dangling alluring prospects. It’s the players themselves who choose to migrate and play for England.

Ultimately yes, the players chose. But it's the system in place in county cricket that allows some one with any sort of family link plus one year in domestic cricket to qualify and play for England. Robert Pattinson, that guy who lived most of his life in Australia, came back to England, barely a season of county cricket and he's got a test cap for England. When you leave the door open for just about anyone to come in and THEY DO it's pretty obvious your own, local, and home grown domestic talent sucks balls. So no, I don't think we can learn anything from the England team. The last time these guys toured India all of their overhyped bowlers from Broad, Flintoff, Anderson, and Harmison were destroyed in a whitewash with totals in regular excess of 300. I find it hilarious that with all the media hype James Anderson is touted as one of the best swing bowlers in the world. The last time this guy toured in India he went wicketless in what 4 ODIs? Our own, highly criticized bowlers outbowled this lot in India. And the last time we toured there our Bowlers, lead by Zaheer outbowled theirs. So no, I don't think we should be learning anything from these clowns.

[Bradman99]

tell us about him

I haven't seen too much of him, but he is an all-rounder.. He's got 26 wickets in 8 matches in first class cricket at an average of 27. Also, his batting average is 52 so he is handy with both bat and ball, a bit like Smith except he is not as good with the bat but better with the ball. About 25 years old, so I think he's worth a punt, see how he goes. Not expecting too much from him.

[Fontaine]

And Fontaine, to add to this, England has won the series against pretty much the same Australian B team which visited us (now don't temme that ABC was there and XYZ wasn't). So they've done something right, isn't it? We've gotta appreciate their effort and not attribute it to 2-5 players. Its not like ECB gave them a red carpet welcome and their qualifying period for England was cancelled. They earned their place just like any other Englishman or for that matter, any cricketer would. Gotta hand it out to England for the way they have tackled Australia :hatsoff:

Yes, they've done very well. But there's a big difference in giving them credit and saying that the Indian team needs to learn from them. You know what most English cricket pundits and former coaches say about Indian batsmen? They say that guys like Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Gambhir, etc are much more evolved than English batsmen because in Indian cricket these guys play with tremendous batspeed which allows them to generate so much power without having a high backlift. In England, that's not how batsmen are taught from any early age so you have guys like Collingwood, Cook etc. They actually say that English coaches at the grass roots need to learn from our batsmen. Not the other way around.

[Sid]

so looks like aussies going to win the match,its not easy to do a clean sweep against them

[f.b.m]

his home' date=' his wife, his child all english.[/quote'] Ya but he's not.

[mastana]

Why has Pietersen got the three lions tatood on his arm then? He loves england' date= his home, his wife, his child all english.

Thats a washable tattoo. :hehe:

[b555]

Thats a washable tattoo. :hehe:

:cantstop:

[gaurav92]

Well not a 5-0 drubbing but a series loss is good enough for us isn't it ? I hope its 4-1 :cheer:

[thevortex]

Well I think that it was always going to be difficult given the amount of quality players that retired in the same period of time.. However, I think that where we are now is an improvement of where we were a year or 2 ago. We have some new younger players blended into the team who are ready to keep their spot there. I think that we are suffering from the poor form of Ponting and Clarke (in shorter forms). I think the result of the Ashes will tell us whether or not we are on the decline. I still think we are the best country at producing young talents and plenty have and will continue to get the opportunity.. On that note, O'Keefe got called in to replace Hauritz for the upcoming test series.

I keep hearing this - wait till the Ashes byline. We can only judge a team based on the present. What does it look like now to you? Is Australia in decline or not? The reason I say this is because England have a way of tightening up when it comes to crunch situations. You saw how they made mistakes when it came to them winning 4-0. Australia still has a few people who remember what it is to win and that can come in handy. Over and above talent and performance in a few odd scenarios. The reason I say they are in decline is that they dont have anybody to replace the seniors who are seemingly on their last legs. Of course same is the case with the Indian setup. Like it or not, the situation is going to become grim for both the teams in Test matches.