The Ashes 25/26

[Super_horns]

27 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

Hatch had also played club cricket.

 

He's been awful but was also sold short by his bosses. Sat in a cold studio in London at 3am, watching a sport that's not his speciality, with only a foreign feed he has no idea about, is about as horrendous as it could get for a sports commentator.

 

In short, it's TNT's laziness amd unwillingness to invest in one of sport's most historic events that's to blame, not the people they put up as front men. The parallels with how the ECB approached this tour are quite something...

I think he was in Australia for the last few tests probably because there is a cycling tour down under coming up !

 

Probably didn’t help we were so rubbish and there wasn’t much to get excited about .

 

Maybe next time the team won’t be hyped up so much beforehand and allowed to be complacent which I think played a part .

 

Basically thought they could just turn up with limited numbers and not much effort (with a few exceptions) and beat this “old and past it “ Australian side with their injuries.

 

Congratulations to them (again !) 

 

Some respectability shown by those picked later on but obviously not good enough with bat , ball or in the field .

Edited 8 January by Super_horns

[leicsmac]

Oz is a difficult place to tour, but this team and setup did themselves no favours with their preparations or their style. 

 

That being said, Agnew saying this is the most disappointing tour he's covered in 10 of them is a mite hyperbolic given the way the last three have gone. 

 

Bring on the summer, this year and next. Need Smith to find form or get a better keeper, to get a world class spinner from somewhere (would be a miracle but there you go) and both the leading batters and bowlers need some county time playing red ball cricket. 

[Super_horns]

3 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

 

 

That being said, Agnew saying this is the most disappointing tour he's covered in 10 of them is a mite hyperbolic given the way the last three have gone. 

 

 

I suspect it’s because like so many he expected us to be competitive and even beat the Aussies this time .

 

Looks like Harry Brook got himself into some trouble before they even got to Australia.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c70lewdre24o

Not a great look or timing for it to come out .

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

I suspect it’s because like so many he expected us to be competitive and even beat the Aussies this time .

 

Looks like Harry Brook got himself into some trouble before they even got to Australia.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c70lewdre24o

Not a great look or timing for it to come out .

Man really doesn't do himself any favours, does he?

 

Hopefully this might be the catalyst that causes him to knuckle down a bit and make the most of the serious talent that he undoubtedly has. 

[winteriscoming]

Imagine what a player Brook would be if he wasn’t brainwashed by bazball. 
 

[SpacedX]

45 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Oz is a difficult place to tour

 

Reckess 'Bazball' doesn't help in view of this. 

 

46 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

get a world class spinner from somewhere (would be a miracle but there you go) 

That would be nice. The calibre of Underwood or Swann is a long distant memory. 

 

49 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

and both the leading batters and bowlers need some county time playing red ball cricket. 

Agree entirely. We knew ahead of this Ashes that the top order was frail and questionable at best. The long-term potential is undeniable, they just didn't produce...again.

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

Imagine what a player Brook would be if he wasn’t brainwashed by bazball. 
 

The trick is addressing that while leaving the attacking intent that he has alone, because that's a large part of the reason why he's so good. 

 

Like KP, he has enough of that factor to intimidate opposition. 

Edited 8 January by leicsmac

[RonnieTodger]

Am I right in thinking every single Snicko controversy has gone Australia’s way?  

[winteriscoming]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

The trick is addressing that while leaving the attacking intent that he has alone, because that's a large part of the reason why he's so good. 

 

Like KP, he has enough of that factor to intimidate opposition. 

Agree. But just bat sensibly. 
I don’t get his logic of coming out in tests and trying to hit boundaries in his first few deliveries. It’s not T20s. 
Build an innings. 
When you’re coming in at 30-3 it makes no sense in that approach. 

[Vacamion]

 

Personally, I enjoyed watching the India tour last year a lot more than this Ashes.

 

The India tour was a right old ding dong battle, with a fair bit of needle, the pitches made for competitive games and there was no trouble with the technology.  

 

 

[Aleksz]

40 minutes ago, RonnieTodger said:

Am I right in thinking every single Snicko controversy has gone Australia’s way?  

Yep, Carey, Jamie Smith, Stokes all spring to mind. There's a few more. 

[Wymsey]

Wrong thread, sorry.

Edited 8 January by Wymsey

[filbertway]

33 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Wrong thread, sorry.

Was it you suggesting Southgate should get the job again Wymsey?  

 

[trabuch]

The Sydney test was probably the best of a bad bunch - at least it got into the 5th day, which would have been more interesting if we had a decent spinner. We aren't going to get a decent spinner (on wickets like that) so long as July and August are taken up in the main by white ball cricket.

[AKCJ]

5 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

Am I right in thinking every single Snicko controversy has gone Australia’s way?  

Harry Brook was out to a massive no ball as well.

 

[Izzy]

Can't recall an Ashes series over there with so little needle in it. There's hardly been any aggro between the teams from what I've seen and it's all been very pleasant.

 

I guess this is partly becuase it's been so one sided but both teams need to raise their sledging game for next time please.

[STEVIE B]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

Can't recall an Ashes series over there with so little needle in it. There's hardly been any aggro between the teams from what I've seen and it's all been very pleasant.

 

I guess this is partly becuase it's been so one sided but both teams need to raise their sledging game for next time please.

I suppose as so much franchise/T20 &  cricket in general is played all year round, they know each other fairly well & formed friendships etc.  

Most of the aggro was directed towards Snicko, from both sides ! 

 

[AKCJ]

2 hours ago, Izzy said:

Can't recall an Ashes series over there with so little needle in it. There's hardly been any aggro between the teams from what I've seen and it's all been very pleasant.

 

I guess this is partly becuase it's been so one sided but both teams need to raise their sledging game for next time please.

Very surprising too considering there's a few chirpy Aussies and a lot of the England lads have proven to be complete tossers when things aren't going their way.

[Finnegan]

Gotta love the fans voting for their combined team of the series on the BBC with 6/11 England players haha. 

 

[CL Fox]

11 hours ago, winteriscoming said:

Imagine what a player Brook would be if he wasn’t brainwashed by bazball. 
 

Hes been pretty good under baseball tbh....averages 55. 10 hundreds already.

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

Gotta love the fans voting for their combined team of the series on the BBC with 6/11 England players haha. 

 

I wonder what English players actually would get in. I think something like;

 

Head

1 of a bad bunch

Smith

Root

Brook

Carey

Starc

Neser

Boland

Tongue

[winteriscoming]

3 minutes ago, CL Fox said:

Hes been pretty good under baseball tbh....averages 55. 10 hundreds already.

Not saying he’s a bad player just think he could improve those stats even more without playing the bazball way. 

[Voll Blau]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

Gotta love the fans voting for their combined team of the series on the BBC with 6/11 England players haha. 

 

Absolutely wild, that. Can only imagine the voting system was deeply flawed and you were given "either or" for every single position in the batting order.

 

Root and Archer get in a combined XI if you're talking about the whole series. Annoyingly, there's probably just about a case for Crawley over Weatherald.

 

Head

Crawley

Labuschagne

S. Smith

Root

Carey

Starc

Archer

Neser

Boland

Lyon (Because the XI needs a spinner)

[Ted Maul]

10 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

Am I right in thinking every single Snicko controversy has gone Australia’s way?  

You can tell why there was so much resistance to it being used for so long. What happened to hot-spot? 

[Silebyfox_89]

Will be interesting to see what the changes to the setup they'll do post Ashes.

 

Can see additional coaching support and changes to the schedule to support better acclimatisation on away tours. 

 

Got a feeling Pope, Bash and possibly Jacks will be dropped from the next squad. Think Crawley needs to go too but he's the type of player Key/Mcullum like.