Ashes 2013

[Guest]

Yep. Praying for rain now. Another day discussing controversial Umpiring and DRS decisions then

[marko]

guess I was right we're terrible under pressure.

 

C'mon rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We really aren't. 

 

There's a number of matches in recent times where we've been under pressure to save a Test on the final day and we've done it.

 

Couple of times in NZ last tour. Cardiff against the Aussies. Centurion against SA.

 

They Aussies have bowled well and it's not like we've thrown wickets away with rash shots. It's a new ball pitch and once we're through that it should be easier to survive.

[purpleronnie]

We really aren't. 

 

There's a number of matches in recent times where we've been under pressure to save a Test on the final day and we've done it.

 

Couple of times in NZ last tour. Cardiff against the Aussies. Centurion against SA.

 

They Aussies have bowled well and it's not like we've thrown wickets away with rash shots. It's a new ball pitch and once we're through that it should be easier to survive.

How many have we lost though?

 

And we rarely ease to a draw its usually hanging on usually making it tougher than it should be.

 

I just think wherever there is room for improvement we should work on it.

 

Its like the aussies back in the 90's not just content with winning but winning in style, we need that if we want to become the best.

[marko]

How many have we lost though?

 

And we rarely ease to a draw its usually hanging on usually making it tougher than it should be.

 

I just think wherever there is room for improvement we should work on it.

 

Its like the aussies back in the 90's not just content with winning but winning in style, we need that if we want to become the best.

 

Not many at all. Hence we were #1 after thumping India 4-0 at home.

 

Yeah, of course we should, but it's pretty tough to bowl us out twice in five days.

 

Well it's a hell of lot easier to win in style when you've got two bowlers who took a combined 1250+ Test wickets, backed up by a couple of bowlers who took close to 600 Test wickets between them. Not to mention the second highest run scorer in Test history, as well as having 4 batsmen that would be in the top 10 of England's leading Test run scorers of all time. Sadly we don't have talent like that at the minute.

[Captain...]

How many have we lost though?

 

And we rarely ease to a draw its usually hanging on usually making it tougher than it should be.

 

I just think wherever there is room for improvement we should work on it.

 

Its like the aussies back in the 90's not just content with winning but winning in style, we need that if we want to become the best.

 

England's strength since we became number one a few years ago has been our bowling, we've lost the knack with the bat to make huge scores, when we beat India and got to number 1 in the world we were regularly making big hundreds and posting scores of 400+ now we seem to be posting scores around 300 and getting away with it as our bowlers are so good. Our lower order has also papered over the cracks.

 

Our batsman aren't bad, they just aren't making the big scores and more importantly the massive partnerships whether batting first or second, it isn't about being under pressure, it is just they aren't that good.

[purpleronnie]

Not many at all. Hence we were #1 after thumping India 4-0 at home.

 

Yeah, of course we should, but it's pretty tough to bowl us out twice in five days.

 

Well it's a hell of lot easier to win in style when you've got two bowlers who took a combined 1250+ Test wickets, backed up by a couple of bowlers who took close to 600 Test wickets between them. Not to mention the second highest run scorer in Test history, as well as having 4 batsmen that would be in the top 10 of England's leading Test run scorers of all time. Sadly we don't have talent like that at the minute.

well exactly thats what we should be aiming for to get the best bowlers and batsmen.  Only history will say whether we have the talent or not.

 

When I talk about being under pressure I dont mean hanging on after the opposition has made a big score, I mean making a big score in response, not 2 smaller innings and hanging on with a wicket or 2 at the end, that isnt responding well to pressure.

[Corky]

How come Smith wasn't given out when no mark on HotSpot and a clear noise was audible, yet KP is?

[purpleronnie]

How come Smith wasn't given out when no mark on HotSpot and a clear noise was audible, yet KP is?

Dharmasena said there was nothing on Hotspot but he could hear a noise that couldn't have been anything else.

[Guest ttfn]

Dharmasena said there was nothing on Hotspot but he could hear a noise that couldn't have been anything else.

Which is exactly what happened with Smith.

Once a decision is referred, the original decision should be completely discounted IMO.

[Corky]

Dharmasena said there was nothing on Hotspot but he could hear a noise that couldn't have been anything else.

 

Exactly the same with Smith in their first innings.

 

Bat nowhere near the pad, definite noise, couldn't have been anything else other than a thin edge.

[marko]

well exactly thats what we should be aiming for to get the best bowlers and batsmen.  Only history will say whether we have the talent or not.

 

When I talk about being under pressure I dont mean hanging on after the opposition has made a big score, I mean making a big score in response, not 2 smaller innings and hanging on with a wicket or 2 at the end, that isnt responding well to pressure.

 

We didn't bowl particularly well in the first innings which let them post a big score. If we'd bowled a touch fuller some of those balls that passed the bat would have taken the edge and we'd have been much closer in terms of first innings total. 

 

With regard to your suggestion we don't respond to opposition's big scores isn't supported by facts.

 

2nd Test 2012 SA posted 419, we posted 425.

3rd Test 2012 SA posted 309, we posted 315.

 

2nd Test 2012 India posted 327, we posted 413.

3rd Test 2012 India posted 316, we posted 523.

4th Test 2012 India posted 326, we posted 330.

 

1st Test 2013 NZ posted 460, we had a poor first innings but backed it up in the 2nd innings wit 421-6.

2nd Test 2013 NZ posted 254, we posted 465.

 

Also, the only time I can remember us being forced to follow on was in the 1st Test against India in 2012. Can you remember any others? If we weren't that good at responding to big scores we'd have had to follow on more often.

 

Edit: Spelling mistake.

[ScouseFox]

Classic purpleronnie managing to focus all his attention on the negatives in this series, despite the fact we're about to win the Ashes for a 3rd time on the spin and will probably do so without even losing a test.

[Captain...]

We didn't bowl particularly well in the first innings which let them post a big score. If we'd bowled a touch fuller some of those balls that passed the bat would have taken the edge and we'd have been much closer in terms of first innings total. 

 

With regard to your suggestion we don't respond to opposition's big scores isn't supported by facts.

 

2nd Test 2012 SA posted 419, we posted 425.

3rd Test 2012 SA posted 309, we posted 315.

 

2nd Test 2012 India posted 327, we posted 413.

3rd Test 2012 India posted 316, we posted 523.

4th Test 2012 India posted 326, we posted 330.

 

1st Test 2013 NZ posted 460, we had a poor first innings but backed it up in the 2nd innings wit 421-6.

2nd Test 2013 NZ posted 254, we posted 465.

 

Also, the only time I can remember us being forced to follow on was in the 1st Test against India in 2012. Can you remember any others? If we weren't that good at responding to big scores we'd have had to follow on more often.

 

Edit: Spelling mistake.

 

I would only class one of them as a big score, the 460 against India, all the others are standard first innings scores.

[goose2010]

Went on Friday was a cracking day wallet took an absolute beating though! Some great banter with some Aussies new by always up for a laugh. The game of Cricket that broke out in the fans village at lunch was more exciting that the test its self  

 

The Boo's that Warner got were the loudest i've heard at any sporting event was crazy! 

 

Best Beer Snake i've seen to  

 

[marko]

I would only class one of them as a big score, the 460 against India, all the others are standard first innings scores.

 

Eh?! 460 against India?

 

So you don't think 425, 413, 523 or 465 are big innings? They're not massive, massive innings, but they're certainly big enough. An average first innings score is around the 350 mark - after checking, according to Cricinfo since 1990 the average first innings is 328. So on that basis I think there's a strong argument to say we've had good or very good innings in 5 out of the 7 stats I've posted.

 

I posted them purely to illustrate to Purpleronnie that on occasions when the opposition has posted a good score we go past it on the majority of occasions, and that we aren't weak under pressure when an opponent bats well.

[Captain...]

Eh?! 460 against India?

 

So you don't think 425, 413, 523 or 465 are big innings? They're not massive, massive innings, but they're certainly big enough. An average first innings score is around the 350 mark - after checking, according to Cricinfo since 1990 the average first innings is 328. So on that basis I think there's a strong argument to say we've had good or very good innings in 5 out of the 7 stats I've posted.

 

I posted them purely to illustrate to Purpleronnie that on occasions when the opposition has posted a good score we go past it on the majority of occasions, and that we aren't weak under pressure when an opponent bats well.

 

I meant opposition score and NZ not India.

 

We don't seem to be as good at batting on flat tracks as we should be, we saw South Africa post some big scores on flat wickets and Australia in this test, and we just don't seem to have that knack any more of posting a really big score, Root made a great knock, but there were regular wickets at the other end, same with Bell's 2 tons. Fortunately we have some of the best bowlers in the business.

[marko]

I meant opposition score and NZ not India.

 

We don't seem to be as good at batting on flat tracks as we should be, we saw South Africa post some big scores on flat wickets and Australia in this test, and we just don't seem to have that knack any more of posting a really big score, Root made a great knock, but there were regular wickets at the other end, same with Bell's 2 tons. Fortunately we have some of the best bowlers in the business.

 

You say that but without Clarke Australia would be in massive trouble with their batting. At least with our line-up there's 5 players who could fire if someone fails.

[Swarles Barkley]

MATCH DRAWN ENGLAND RETAIN THE ASHES!!!

[cambridgefox]

Shame we weren't 9 wickets down.This would have made the draw and retention of the Ashes sweeter!

[Captain...]

You say that but without Clarke Australia would be in massive trouble with their batting. At least with our line-up there's 5 players who could fire if someone fails.

I agree that we have a better batting line up than Australia, but to reclaim number one spot in the world we need to get back to scoring regular daddy hundreds and posting monstrous first innings scores especially on a flat track.

[Voll Blau]

Back home. Decent day, few folks were pissed off about them doing the presentations inside though. Probably wouldn't have killed them to come out, it was hardly bucketing it down at that stage.

 

Still, Ashes comin' home... 

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Typical, we get ourselves in a good posistion only for the bloody English weather to spoil it. Either way apart from the 2nd test i've been happy we have been competitive. Happy with our bowling they work hard and have generally been good. Our batting obviously still needs work tho.  

 

 

Back home. Decent day, few folks were pissed off about them doing the presentations inside though. Probably wouldn't have killed them to come out, it was hardly bucketing it down at that stage.

 

Still, Ashes comin' home... 

 

You already held it.

[Voll Blau]

 

You already held it.

 

I know, but I'm relatively certain the Aussies fans chanting "show us your visa" at KP yesterday weren't really immigration officials either.

 

Fair play to them by the way, great numbers and good chirp. Had a photo with Merv Hughes yesterday too, nice bloke.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

I know, but I'm relatively certain the Aussies fans chanting "show us your visa" at KP yesterday weren't really immigration officials either.

 

Fair play to them by the way, great numbers and good chirp. Had a photo with Merv Hughes yesterday too, nice bloke.

 

Ermm not too sure what's that got to do with you already holding the ashes.

 

Most Aussies only like 2 things sport and beer.....and we love combining the 2  I've done a few things with the fanatics, world cup, presidents cup golf and Oktoberfest and trust me it's all about the drinking and having a good time win or lose.....but the later seems to be happening more and more.

[Guest]

You already held it.

 

'Ashes staying home' just sounds like they're having a shit friday night in though