View Poll Results: Who's gonna win The Ashes?
Australia
26
36.62%
England
37
52.11%
Draw (Australia retain - not win)
8
11.27%
Voters: 71. You may not vote on this poll
Who's going to win The Ashes?
Aug 9th 2009 | 9:22 pm
#361
I'm Old Gregg!
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 8,460
From: A Former Bogan Colony in QLD
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
The difference between the two teams in this Test has absolutley nothing to do with leadership.
Australia played very well and every player contributed while England played very poorly with no one really contributing at all.
You can be the greatest leader in the world, but if your team have a shocker and the opposition has a blinder there aint alot you can do about it.
It's really is as simple as that.
Australia played very well and every player contributed while England played very poorly with no one really contributing at all.
You can be the greatest leader in the world, but if your team have a shocker and the opposition has a blinder there aint alot you can do about it.
It's really is as simple as that.
Aug 9th 2009 | 9:23 pm
#362
.
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 21,376
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
The difference between the two teams in this Test has absolutley nothing to do with leadership.
Australia played very well and every player contributed while England played very poorly with no one really contributing at all.
You can be the greatest leader in the world, but if your team have a shocker and the opposition has a blinder there aint alot you can do about it.
It's really is as simple as that.
Australia played very well and every player contributed while England played very poorly with no one really contributing at all.
You can be the greatest leader in the world, but if your team have a shocker and the opposition has a blinder there aint alot you can do about it.
It's really is as simple as that.
I concur
Aug 9th 2009 | 10:03 pm
#363
Fighting my corner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 11,948
From: Adelaide, South Australia
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
Oops, I said that Australia hasn't won an Oval Test for more than 20 years, but it's not true; we won an Ashes Test there in 2001. Still, that's only two Test wins since 1968... not a great track record.
Aug 9th 2009 | 10:43 pm
#364
I'm Old Gregg!
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 8,460
From: A Former Bogan Colony in QLD
Aug 9th 2009 | 11:46 pm
#365
Fighting my corner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 11,948
From: Adelaide, South Australia
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
England went to Headingley with their hands on the reins and every prospect of success; Australia turned up with three embarrassing results and every prospect of defeat. One captain had already decided he would take control of the game, and it was not Strauss. I don't believe he has the killer instinct.
Ponting: "It's amazing how things can change, I'm proud of everyone for sticking with him and supporting him through it," the captain said.
"We knew that with just a little bit going his way that [Johnson would] be able to turn things around and I think in the last couple of games in particular he's just showing his class as an all-round cricketer.
We knew this was a big game for us, I knew England would be under some pressure going into this game but we played really well and we can take that into the next game.
[...]
We've been trying to find our best cricket over the last three or four weeks and I said to the boys right the way through that I know if we play our best we are going to win."
Strauss: "We didn't really turn up in this game and it's pretty disappointing. When you're bowled out for 102 in the first session you're always struggling to claw the game back. So we've got to recover as a batting unit and figure out where we went wrong and make sure we don't repeat the mistakes at The Oval.
It certainly wasn't a 450 wicket, so both the batters and the bowlers didn't acquit themselves quite as well as we could have done, but we've got to take it on the chin."
Aug 10th 2009 | 10:32 am
#366
I'm Old Gregg!
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 8,460
From: A Former Bogan Colony in QLD
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
I agree. Strauss isn't responsible for batsmen who flail at bad balls and get themselves out with silly shots to well placed fielders. He's a great batsman and a good captain. But I do believe that there's a difference in the quality of leadership.
England went to Headingley with their hands on the reins and every prospect of success; Australia turned up with three embarrassing results and every prospect of defeat. One captain had already decided he would take control of the game, and it was not Strauss. I don't believe he has the killer instinct.
Ponting: "It's amazing how things can change, I'm proud of everyone for sticking with him and supporting him through it," the captain said.
"We knew that with just a little bit going his way that [Johnson would] be able to turn things around and I think in the last couple of games in particular he's just showing his class as an all-round cricketer.
We knew this was a big game for us, I knew England would be under some pressure going into this game but we played really well and we can take that into the next game.
[...]
We've been trying to find our best cricket over the last three or four weeks and I said to the boys right the way through that I know if we play our best we are going to win."
Strauss: "We didn't really turn up in this game and it's pretty disappointing. When you're bowled out for 102 in the first session you're always struggling to claw the game back. So we've got to recover as a batting unit and figure out where we went wrong and make sure we don't repeat the mistakes at The Oval.
It certainly wasn't a 450 wicket, so both the batters and the bowlers didn't acquit themselves quite as well as we could have done, but we've got to take it on the chin."
When all you can say is "we didn't turn up", there's definitely something very wrong. And to claim that "it wasn't a 450 wicket"?! Australia hit 445 in their first innings!
England went to Headingley with their hands on the reins and every prospect of success; Australia turned up with three embarrassing results and every prospect of defeat. One captain had already decided he would take control of the game, and it was not Strauss. I don't believe he has the killer instinct.
Ponting: "It's amazing how things can change, I'm proud of everyone for sticking with him and supporting him through it," the captain said.
"We knew that with just a little bit going his way that [Johnson would] be able to turn things around and I think in the last couple of games in particular he's just showing his class as an all-round cricketer.
We knew this was a big game for us, I knew England would be under some pressure going into this game but we played really well and we can take that into the next game.
[...]
We've been trying to find our best cricket over the last three or four weeks and I said to the boys right the way through that I know if we play our best we are going to win."
Strauss: "We didn't really turn up in this game and it's pretty disappointing. When you're bowled out for 102 in the first session you're always struggling to claw the game back. So we've got to recover as a batting unit and figure out where we went wrong and make sure we don't repeat the mistakes at The Oval.
It certainly wasn't a 450 wicket, so both the batters and the bowlers didn't acquit themselves quite as well as we could have done, but we've got to take it on the chin."
Aug 10th 2009 | 11:04 am
#367
Fighting my corner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 11,948
From: Adelaide, South Australia
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
If what you say is true and Strauss was not approaching the game in a positive manner he would have replaced the injured Flintoff with a specialist batsman to try and grind out a draw. Instead he went for the kill and chose a bowler to finish it there and then. If that is not trying to take control of the game I don't know what is. The truth is, the game got away from him quicker than he could blink because of not bad batting but quite possible the worst batting display of all time.
If he was planning to beat us down fast with a bowling attack, why the hell did he choose to bat after winning the toss? How do you "go for the kill and finish it there and then" by putting your opponent in the field for your first innings?
Look at Strauss' record:
Cardiff: wins the toss and chooses to bat.
Lords: wins the toss and chooses to bat.
Headingley: wins the toss and chooses to bat.
Seems to me that he simply played it safe and simply followed his usual formula: straight in to bat after winning the toss. Was he hoping to set a high first innings target and use his extra bowler to stop us reaching it? I don't know. But any way I look at it, Strauss just did what he'd always done.
There was no radical change of plan; he just swapped a batsman for a bowler. Then, having reduced his batting lineup, he inexplicably chose to bat first! What was that all about? I just can't see the logic.
Last edited by Vash the Stampede; Aug 10th 2009 at 11:08 am.
Aug 10th 2009 | 11:39 am
#368
I'm Old Gregg!
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 8,460
From: A Former Bogan Colony in QLD
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
You may (although I doubt somehow by your post) remeber in the Edgbaston test in 05 how Ponting won the toss and sent England into bat. The Aussie media and ex players were in uproar about this decision and he is still getting stick to this day for sending us in and taking the test away from Aus
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/291192.html
http://www.thefanatics.com/ashes/index.php?id=364
Seems to me that he simply played it safe and simply followed his usual formula: straight in to bat after winning the toss. Was he hoping to set a high first innings target and use his extra bowler to stop us reaching it? I don't know. But any way I look at it, Strauss just did what he'd always done.
There was no radical change of plan; he just swapped a batsman for a bowler. Then, having reduced his batting lineup, he inexplicably chose to bat first! What was that all about? I just can't see the logic.
There was no radical change of plan; he just swapped a batsman for a bowler. Then, having reduced his batting lineup, he inexplicably chose to bat first! What was that all about? I just can't see the logic.
Last edited by Broad Shoulders; Aug 10th 2009 at 11:47 am.
Aug 10th 2009 | 5:38 pm
#369
Demi-God
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,812
From: Far North Queensland
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
The same way he did at Lord's
Do you follow cricket much or do you just jump on the bandwagon everytime Aus play England and suddenly you're an expert? You will probably find that most captains when winning the toss will send their own team into bat 80-90% of the time. What Strauss did was not defensive just the norm for most Captains. By winning the toss and sending your opposition into bat is considered most of the time to be a very big risk.
You may (although I doubt somehow by your post) remeber in the Edgbaston test in 05 how Ponting won the toss and sent England into bat. The Aussie media and ex players were in uproar about this decision and he is still getting stick to this day for sending us in and taking the test away from Aus
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/291192.html
http://www.thefanatics.com/ashes/index.php?id=364
Like most captains, he was probably looking to post a high first innings total and therefore only bat once and bowl Aus out cheaply. That's what most captains who win the toss aim for
Do you follow cricket much or do you just jump on the bandwagon everytime Aus play England and suddenly you're an expert? You will probably find that most captains when winning the toss will send their own team into bat 80-90% of the time. What Strauss did was not defensive just the norm for most Captains. By winning the toss and sending your opposition into bat is considered most of the time to be a very big risk.
You may (although I doubt somehow by your post) remeber in the Edgbaston test in 05 how Ponting won the toss and sent England into bat. The Aussie media and ex players were in uproar about this decision and he is still getting stick to this day for sending us in and taking the test away from Aus
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/291192.html
http://www.thefanatics.com/ashes/index.php?id=364
Like most captains, he was probably looking to post a high first innings total and therefore only bat once and bowl Aus out cheaply. That's what most captains who win the toss aim for
But as any bowler knows, if the ball is swingning, it doesn't matter how good the batsman is. If you put it in the right places you'll get him. Australia bowled well. And England were certainly going to lose wickets.
If England had bowled first they would have been aiming to bowl Australia out for less than 300 instead of trying to save the game by bowling them out for 150. They lost their heads at the beginning. in fact 445 was probably only 100 more than Australia should have got. It was the wild bowling at the beginning that let them get away.
Even so, with all the hassle Strauss had before the start of play he would have been wise to bowl.
Anyway, what's done is done.
Aug 11th 2009 | 10:25 pm
#370
Peace Frog
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 175
From: South London orginally from Manchester
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing...But England didn't bat very well and the Aussie bowled better than they have done all series.. But then when you see onions trying to bounce Ponting out and onions is our best line bowler you have to wonder..
Aug 13th 2009 | 9:48 pm
#371
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,717
From: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
One word "RAMPRAKASH"
Aug 13th 2009 | 10:44 pm
#372
I'm Old Gregg!
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 8,460
From: A Former Bogan Colony in QLD
Aug 14th 2009 | 12:58 am
#373
Peace Frog
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 175
From: South London orginally from Manchester
Aug 14th 2009 | 3:08 am
#374
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 20,821
From: Brisbane
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
My money is on Oz now. Can't see England having a blinder now, but cricket is a funny game and anything can happen.
Aug 14th 2009 | 10:12 am
#375
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,717
From: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Re: Who's going to win The Ashes?
my team.
Strauss
Cook
Ramprakash
Trott
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Swan
Anderson
Sidebottom
Harrimson
Strauss
Cook
Ramprakash
Trott
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Swan
Anderson
Sidebottom
Harrimson
