The Ashes
 

Had $10 with a guy at work today that the Poms would win the test series.......

Re: The Ashes
 

You may as well have had it on Qatar or Iran to win the next football World Cup!

:D

Re: The Ashes
 

The Pommies will narrowly win the first Test which will enrage the Ozzies into destroying them in the next four.

Result 4 - 1 to Australia.

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Are you seeing what the Aussies are doing to the Kiwis at the moment in the one dayers, and the Kiwis are suppose to be the 2nd best team in the world at the moment.

There is no way the Aussie will lose the first test, they know that that will be the most important one to set up the whole series.

Re: The Ashes
 

Ponting, Hayden, Langer, Martyn, Gilchrist, Clarke, McGrath, Warne, Gillespie, Lee, Kasprowicz. Does anyone (least of all England) have any chance of beating this lot over a full test series? :D

England (like in the rugby) got a bit carried away with a good run against second rate opposition (not in the case of the RWC!) and thought they were world beaters.

I wonder if the likes of Lehman, Symonds, Watson, McGill et al who can't get a regular green baggy would get a cap for anyone else? I've got an idea now, why don't we send Australia A to defend the Ashes - which they would.

I'm just stirring a bit you understand (I anticipate replies that England won the last one day game - swallows and summers, just like the last soccer match).

I loved the sign at the Davis Cup match between Australia and GB - "The Poms used to come down under over 200 years ago to be flogged - nothing's changed". :D

OzTennis :)

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You might as well have just set fire to your 10 buck note. :rolleyes:

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Wouldn't it just melt!

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Your right aussie money is made of plastic.

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The best odds are not on England winning but on a drawn series. I think you can get about $6 at the TAB. Aus to win is about $1.50 and England $2.50

Re: The Ashes
 

England has lost the last 8 Ashes series. The current English team is no better then any of the previous losing teams so of course they have no hope of winning or even drawing in my opinion. The Aussie team are professionals the poms are second rate amuatures. l would'nt want to be the English Captain because after most Ashes humilations the Poms use him as the scapegoat and sack him, then replace him with someone thats even more incompetant.

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Yes I expect you to win, but your wrong about the quality of this English team

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Well let them prove me wrong in the coming Ashes series.

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Perhaps to make the Ashes series slightly more even we should send the under 18 Aussie side to play against England. But then the humilation would be even worse if England was defeated by a bunch of Aussie high School kids. :D

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Let the battle commence :cool:

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A would'nt call it a battle more like a massacre or a one sided slaughter.

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I grudgingly agree with most of what you've put. Apart from I can't see the ECB getting rid of Michael Vaughan.

Re: The Ashes
 

Well, I'm thinking back to 1997 when an 'average' England team beat an excellent Australian team (Taylor, Elliot, Blewett, M. Waugh, S. Waugh, Bevan, Healy, Gillespie, Warne, Kasprovicz and McGrath) in the first test at Edgbaston to go 1-0 up.

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Well I predict that England will win the first three to take the series, the last two will be a draw. Anybody who says different is insane. Remember it's my ten bucks riding on it.....

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Quick ! Hide!, the men in white coats are coming to take you away :eek:

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I'd love it if we beat the aussies u need to be brought down a peg or two - England will have to win the ashes back at some point - but I suppose when that happens all Australians will be in denial and blame it on injuries or England were lucky - pull your heads out - most of your best players are the wrong side of 30+ and your youngsters are no ware near as good as them - Even Rod Marsh says England have better talent coming through :D

Re: The Ashes
 

Thats ODI's - England are ranked number 2 in the test rankings!!!!

Re: The Ashes
 

Rod Marsh would - his job is to bring through English youngsters. :D

I agree that the likes of McGrath and Warne are going to be tough to replace but Michael Clarke is touted in some quarters as the 'next Bradman' and will do very well in this series. The likes of Ponting, Martyn, Lee, Gillespie etc have many more years left in them. I thought Steve Waugh would be impossible to replace but now it's Steve who?, Mark who? Alan who?

Oh, and the likes of Butcher, Thorpe, Trescothick, Vaughan etc are getting on a bit themselves aren't they? It won't be the current English team which plays the next Australian team. England have some very good SA's coming through too!

OzTennis :)

Re: The Ashes
 

[QUOTE=OzTennis]Rod Marsh would - his job is to bring through English youngsters. :D

We both know no Australian would say something like that unless they meant it - besides he's leaving the job at the end of the sorry

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Somehow I feel that Australia will always have the talent coming through due its superior domestic game.
The likes of Border, Healy and the Waughs (the list could continue) have left over the years and the team just gets stonger. Michael Clarke has recently entered the scene just as another batsmen was needed.
In a few years a new generation of Australian cricketers will come through to hound England through the ensuing decade - that's just how life is!

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Every team has a bad period and Australia's will come at some point thats all I'm saying

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True, I hope it's not while I'm living in England though, the ammount of stick I've given out over the past few years would come back tenfold.

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LOL - please, please. please let it be England that brings them back to earth!!!!! :D

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especially at Edgbaston, 2nd day, 'cause I will be there :D

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I'm sure the Aussies players are trembling in their boots. :D . :D . :D . :D

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Mate I cant wait to hear your excuses or will u disappear with the shame of losing to the poms?????

If we lose its expected but if we win............... :D

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If England won, it would'nt be just me the whole country would be in a state of shock, they would probably fly the Aussie flag at half mask and make it a national day of mourning. But the only way England could win is if the entire Aussie team is killed in a bus or plane crash :eek: and are replaced by a dreadful inexperienced team. :( that plays England in their place.

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IF IF IF IF.... no if's Aussies will win and the Poms will lose.... simple

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Bring it on - you guys are gonna be surprised how much England have improved even if we dont win I expect it to be a bit closer then normal

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Well hope they have improved cos last time it was pathetic

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I agree but everyones pathetic when they play Australia!!!!!1

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Well at least we can better the Aussies in the sledging stakes.
Anyone remember this?? -

"Oi Steve, best batsman in the world? You ain't even the best batsman in your family!"

Re: The Ashes
 

I do love a good bit of sledging - anyone remember these?

Glenn McGrath & Eddo Brandes
McGrath was bowling to the Zimbabwe number 11 - who was unable to get his bat anywhere near the ball. McGrath, frustrated that Brandes was still at the crease, wandered up during one particular over and inquired:
"Why are you so fat?"
Quick as a flash, Brandes replied:
"Because every time I make love to your wife, she gives me a biscuit."
Even the Aussie slip fielders were in hysterics.


Merv Hughes & Robin Smith
Smith played and missed while facing Hughes in the 1989 Lord's Test between England and Australia. Hughes, never short of a word or two, told the Hampshire star:
"You can't f***ing bat, mate."
Smith then smashed the next ball to the boundary and replied:
"Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can't f***ing bat and you can't f***ing bowl."

Re: The Ashes
 

I watched the SA vs England series on Austar; I was surprised how the Poms didn't chuck it in once. They held their heads up well, even at Cape Town.

They were ripped off in Durban, but what can you do?

SA aren't the easiest team in the world to beat in their country (unless you're Australia) and I was impressed by England overall.

Still, Vaughan had no idea how to bowl Simon Jones, he overbowled Freddy and Harmison just wanted to be home (he's a confessed bad traveller).

SA made some odd selection choices too. Tsolekile should never have come ahead of Boucher, they're not even on the same page. Amla's stance at the wicket just cries out leg before wicket and his inclusion ahead of van Jaarsveld was baffling.

There must be at least 5 bowlers in SA who are faster/better than Steyn. van der Wath comes to mind.

Anyhow, 3-1 Australia. England will win at the Oval in a dead rubber match.

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This is what I've been saying England have come on leaps and bounds since the last Series and are the only side other then Australia to have won a series in South Africa since the proteas were re admitted to the test arena

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Yep, Eddo Brandes takes the Oscar for the best quip. Ponting had another good one with a bowler. He played a missed a few times and the bowler said sarcastically, 'it's round and red just in case you don't know what you are looking for' (or words to that effect). Ponting hit him for six next ball and said 'you know what it looks like, go and f*****g find it'. :D

OzTennis :)