The Ashes

[The Proper Chap]

All done. End for Ali and Broad?

Ali has had a very poor tour however I still believe he has a lot to offer.

Broad's best days are behind him, time to say thank you and move on.

 

[HH12]

Oh Dear - That's that then - very comprehensive - might aswell experiment for the final two tests

 

[IndoMike]

Oh Dear - That's that then - very comprehensive - might aswell experiment for the final two tests

Totally predictable, I'm afraid. Players at the wrong end of their careers, inexperienced captain, and playing away. Just seemed to be a lack of solidity and lack of belief. With Cook departing quickly in every innings it automatically put us on the back foot. Back to the drawing board.

 

[geoffwp]

I can sense another 5-0 coming on. Wish that was City v West Brom.
Back to the drawing board yes but I'm not sure if it isn't already full of squiggles and doodles. Like HH I would like to see some changes for the next one to see if we can find some alternatives.

 

[Boyo]

I don't know much about the grassroots game in England. However two things keep cropping up in conversations. 1) There's a massive gap in standard between the County Championship and the International stage. Compare to Australia where the Sheffield Shield consists of the six states and the standard is so much higher than our County Circuit. 2) There's very little cricket on terrestrial TV now. This Ashes series has been so low key. The ECB sold out after the euphoria of 2005 (when the Ashes were live on C4). Cricket, by selling TV rights to the highest bidder, is on the verge of becoming a minority sport in England (and Wales). That cannot be good for the future.

 

[IndoMike]

I can sense another 5-0 coming on. Wish that was City v West Brom.
Back to the drawing board yes but I'm not sure if it isn't already full of squiggles and doodles. Like HH I would like to see some changes for the next one to see if we can find some alternatives.

Of course we need to make some changes, Geoff. What on earth would be the point of playing the same team? Wipe the slate clean and try some of the others.

 

[Alistair20000]

It would not surprise me to see much the same team played in the 4th Test.

 

[geoffwp]

With much the same result I'd say Alistair. I read somewhere recently that English cricket never has a revolution. It just changes degree by painful degree, just like a gentleman's old boys club.
Also I don't think boyo is far wrong about the vastly more competitive nature of the Australian system. We seem to be a slave to something that no longer works.

 

[The Proper Chap]

I don't think the Australian system is any better than ours, it's just different, it's worth remembering that we have been beating them regularly on home soil. It's also worth remembering that we beat South Africa in the summer. That same South African side would have probably put up a much stronger fight against Australia than we have, Australia away seems to carry such a fear factor for English players.

This current Australian has a very good bowling attack however their batting is nothing special, to state the obvious they are heavily reliant on Smith, take him out, are their other guys any better than ours ??

What they currently have is three quality quick bowlers and a good spinner, their attack is strong.

 

[Bittners a Legend]

A little bit of an over reaction. Our team is probably slightly unbalanced for a tour of Australia - too many players either at the beginning or end of their Test careers.

As TPC says, the difference has been the Aussie pace attack and perhaps also the willingness of the Aussie batting line up to be a little more patient and thus support Smith in scoring mega runs.

In England our bowling attack would be considered fairly strong, in Australian conditions it isn't as good. Broad has a terrible average in this series, and in 2017, but he actually bowled reasonably well in the first two matches without reward.