Pre Ashes Thread

[ravishingravi]

Broad - unfortunately for you the sun always shines in Australia. There is no cloud cover. :--D

:haha: So true.

[achilles]

I have a feeling that Australia will be running away with the Ashes this year. Its a battle among equals but I'd pick Australia.

[thevortex]

England is winning the Ashes easily. If they can blunt Bollinger, then they have the battle covered.

[cowboysfan]

England is winning the Ashes easily. If they can blunt Bollinger' date=' then they have the battle covered.[/quote'] seriously??.you think bollinger is the difference maker?.i think hauritz is more important to the aussies than bollinger.

[thevortex]

seriously??.you think bollinger is the difference maker?.i think hauritz is more important to the aussies than bollinger.

I am about 99% sure you are kidding :). Hauritz - if he is in the Aussie squad - will be more invaluable to the Englishmen :).

[Mamu]

I found this hilarious: "The Pakistan batsmen didn't enjoy facing the seamers this summer and there's no reason why the Aussies should in Australia."[/I]

This is exactly why they are going to fall flat on their faces!

[gaurav92]

Hauritz is low on confidence, its better they try out Steve Smith who can add more with the bat.

[The Outsider]

Broad is a clown. He has no idea what playing in Australia is like. The flat surfaces, the heat, the crowds, batsmen adept in playing huge innings in those conditions, the media. Broad would be wishing he never went on the tour by the time the Ashes are half way through. Not only is he a clown, he seems to have lost a marble or two when he is comparing the Australian batting line up at home with Pakistan in England. All these batsmen - Ponting, Hussey, Katich, Clarke etc. who were looking so vulnerable away become tigers at home as shown up in the huge differential in home and away average Australian batsmen carry. A comfortable 3-1 win to the Aussies, with Swann perhaps being able to win a test at Adelaide or Sydney.

[cowboysfan]

I am about 99% sure you are kidding :). Hauritz - if he is in the Aussie squad - will be more invaluable to the Englishmen :).

I think the english will handle bollinger.To me the key will be the bowling of MJ and hilfy.they should open with hilfy and bollinger and hopefully mj will never open the bowling.the key to the series is the middle order of both teams(can be very brittle at times).I also think Smith is not the answer as the spinner.they should go with hauritz for the entire series(he may enjoy pitches with more bounce)

[thevortex]

Broad is a clown. He has no idea what playing in Australia is like. The flat surfaces, the heat, the crowds, batsmen adept in playing huge innings in those conditions, the media. Broad would be wishing he never went on the tour by the time the Ashes are half way through. Not only is he a clown, he seems to have lost a marble or two when he is comparing the Australian batting line up at home with Pakistan in England. All these batsmen - Ponting, Hussey, Katich, Clarke etc. who were looking so vulnerable away become tigers at home as shown up in the huge differential in home and away average Australian batsmen carry. A comfortable 3-1 win to the Aussies, with Swann perhaps being able to win a test at Adelaide or Sydney.

I would love to compare notes after this series.

[thevortex]

I think the english will handle bollinger.To me the key will be the bowling of MJ and hilfy.they should open with hilfy and bollinger and hopefully mj will never open the bowling.the key to the series is the middle order of both teams(can be very brittle at times).I also think Smith is not the answer as the spinner.they should go with hauritz for the entire series(he may enjoy pitches with more bounce)

I am not entirely writing off Hauritz. But I really think Australia will be well served by trying out other spin options. If it is the erratic Bailey so be it. But Ponting will have to do better than just say that that was the field the bowler himself asked. Not after 2 whole Tests where the bowler has been ineffective....

[ravishingravi]

I would love to compare notes after this series.

There is nothing unique about what Outsider is saying. English bowlers have looked impotent in Australia in past without swing and cloud cover. There is nothing in their perfomance outside England to suggest that they have got any better. And traditionally, off spinner have a poor record in Aus. Seems like a safe bet, although this is the weakest Aus. side in ages.

[thevortex]

There is nothing unique about what Outsider is saying. English bowlers have looked impotent in Australia in past without swing and cloud cover. There is nothing in their perfomance outside England to suggest that they have got any better. And traditionally, off spinner have a poor record in Aus. Seems like a safe bet, although this is the weakest Aus. side in ages.

Precisely, Ravishingravi!

[ZodiaC]

Ozzies will thrash Poms at home. I will be supporting Ozzies for the first time ever in the Ashes... Go :punter:!!!!

++ Go :punter: thrash the Poms!!!

[ZodiaC]

Broad is a clown. He has no idea what playing in Australia is like. The flat surfaces, the heat, the crowds, batsmen adept in playing huge innings in those conditions, the media. Broad would be wishing he never went on the tour by the time the Ashes are half way through. Not only is he a clown, he seems to have lost a marble or two when he is comparing the Australian batting line up at home with Pakistan in England. All these batsmen - Ponting, Hussey, Katich, Clarke etc. who were looking so vulnerable away become tigers at home as shown up in the huge differential in home and away average Australian batsmen carry. A comfortable 3-1 win to the Aussies, with Swann perhaps being able to win a test at Adelaide or Sydney.

Agree Outy, English bowlers are much worser at Oz than Oz bowlers are at England. The way Aussies played against us, I can't expect anything but a 3-0 thrashing at home. It'd be also interesting to see how well Swann will fare in this series.

[King Tendulkar]

Andersons record outside of england is poor. He is averge without cloud cover. Finn is so overrated got all the hype for taking wickets on seaming paradises against bangla nd pakis for gods sake. He may well be decent but any tom dick and harry seamer would have caused havoc on those tracks against those hapless batters

[Cricketics]

Pre Ashes Thread I know plenty of us will be following the competiton regardless of the teams being no. 4 and no.5 in the competition, but should be a good series. I will be supporting Australia and would like them to kill England in the series. Though won't mind England wining a test to keep the series interesting. Aus might have been thrashed by India, but i don't see them getting owned by England. England is just having a field day after seeing Aus lose this badly to India. Whom you rooting for?

[punjabi_khota]

So who is gonna do the batting for Poms ? Strauss is looking shaky and Peiterson is all kinds of ****ed up right now. :dontknow: Class act is not gonna score another double, thats for sure :phehehe: Is England relying on Cook and Bell ?

[thevortex]

There are only two things going for the Aussies: 1) They are very badly smarting from their brownwash in India 2) They are playing at home. On the flip side they are under more pressure than ever before. Only Border has faced more pressure in the past. Just about everything else is stacked against them. The English bowlers have traditionally been not so good in Australia. Here is a chance for them to prove that the present is not necessarily the same as the past.

[Hindustani]

Assuies_in_Australia >= 3 * Assuies_in_other_parts_of_world I am gonna call this 2-2 , should be a great test series though