The Ashes 2010-11: Australia v England ** spoilers **

Evangelion said:
Tomorrow's forecast: 29°C and cloudy, with a strong thunderstorm and NNE winds at 19kph.
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LOL you lot want some divine intervention to get a draw. It won't come to save the game and it will be all over by the end of the first session. :D
 
simulatorman said:
LOL you lot want some divine intervention to get a draw. It won't come to save the game and it will be all over by the end of the first session. :D
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Hey, I have no illusions. I predicted we'd be bowled out for less than 300 today, remember? :)

It would be ironic if we managed to force a draw, but I can't see that happening. Australian thunderstorms are known for their cloud cover and oppressive humidity. I doubt we'll get much rain.
 
It's a neat gig you've figured out here Evangelion. Predict a crushing English win early on, and then:

a) England win by similar amount - "See I told you you'd win by that much. Nothing to get excited about."
b) England win, but not by as much - "Cuh, you guys can't even thrash this rubbish Aussie team, not very good are you?"
c) England lose/draw - No doubt incessant gloating.

Whatever happens, you can maintain a constant smugness without ever having to concede that maybe we're actually a decent team, whilst also ruining the chance of having any decent banter in the thread. Ingenious!
 
I don't know what Evangelion's talking about.

Australia aren't crap, they went to India (ranked no1 test team in the world), and lost 2-0. However, whilst the result might make it seem poor, in truth both matches could have easily gone either way. Especially the first test, where India won by just one wicket.

So actually, Australia are still a good test team. So for England to be so comprehensively on top of them is pretty remarkable imo.
 
Weebull said:
It's a neat gig you've figured out here Evangelion. Predict a crushing English win early on, and then:

a) England win by similar amount - "See I told you you'd win by that much. Nothing to get excited about."
b) England win, but not by as much - "Cuh, you guys can't even thrash this rubbish Aussie team, not very good are you?"
c) England lose/draw - No doubt incessant gloating.

Whatever happens, you can maintain a constant smugness without ever having to concede that maybe we're actually a decent team, whilst also ruining the chance of having any decent banter in the thread. Ingenious!
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I particularly enjoyed his sweet sweet statistical magic about Ponting's run rate in the last test. Don't know about you but he had me convinced. :p
 
Yeap - same time as usual as far as I can tell. Unless the rumoured about rain kicks in.

I think an early wicket will help decide things. Pietersen getting out Clark was a massive bonus at the end yesterday.
 
Weebull said:
It's a neat gig you've figured out here Evangelion. Predict a crushing English win early on, and then:

a) England win by similar amount - "See I told you you'd win by that much. Nothing to get excited about."
b) England win, but not by as much - "Cuh, you guys can't even thrash this rubbish Aussie team, not very good are you?"
c) England lose/draw - No doubt incessant gloating.

Whatever happens, you can maintain a constant smugness without ever having to concede that maybe we're actually a decent team, whilst also ruining the chance of having any decent banter in the thread. Ingenious!
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I guess you win the Goebbels prize for spin. :confused:

I don't recall predicting "a crushing England win." If you can find any place where I said that, please quote it directly. I simply said England would win. There is nothing smug about this. An Ashes loss is not something to be smug about.

Prior to the last Ashes series I said Australia was in decline and England would win. I was right: England won and Australia continued to decline.

At the end of the last Ashes series I said Australia would have to get used to losing for a few years because we'd started to lose some of our top players and would take some time to replace them. I was right; we still have no viable replacements for top players such as Warne, McGrath, Hayden, and Langer.

At the beginning of this series I said Australia's squad was under strength and England would win. That prediction is looking pretty solid right now. Your batsmen have performed superbly and your bowlers have ripped through our top order, while our bowlers fail to make any dent on your lineup.

I believe England will win because you currently have a superior cricket team and you're playing better cricket. I don't think that's a controversial statement, and I don't understand why I am being criticised for it. My views have remained utterly consistent for the past two years, as have my predictions about the current and future performance of the Australian team.

So where's the beef?

TheCenturion said:
I don't know what Evangelion's talking about.

Australia aren't crap, they went to India (ranked no1 test team in the world), and lost 2-0. However, whilst the result might make it seem poor, in truth both matches could have easily gone either way. Especially the first test, where India won by just one wicket.

So actually, Australia are still a good test team. So for England to be so comprehensively on top of them is pretty remarkable imo.
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In the leadup to this series Australia lost nearly every game we played, in every form of cricket. By contrast, England's warmup tour of Australia saw a string of comprehensive victories, often by very large margins. Yes, we are still a good test team (for a given value of "good"). But we are not good enough to beat England. That's all I'm saying.

The current Test has demonstrated that Australia's bowling attack is weak at best and hopeless at worst. Can you sit there with a straight face and claim that England is seriously threatened by the current Australian team? Honestly? After declaring at 5 for 620?

You played a world-beating Australian 11 in 2006/2007 and copped a 5-0 whitewash. Today you're facing a very different squad, and easily dominating the game. Viva la difference.

I believe England will win this series. My reaction will be no different if the victory is by a large margin or a small one. I do not believe Australia is capable of winning or drawing the series. Would you care for a little wager on this?
 
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Evangelion said:
I don't recall predicting "a crushing England win."
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You don't think a innings defeat would be particularly crushing? Because that's what you predicted.

As for my "beef", there is none. I thought I made my point pretty clear. You've managed to find a cunning way of being both pessimistic about your team's chances, AND demeaning to whatever England manage. It's inspired.
 
There's no doubt in my mind that the aussie squad is weaker now then it was a few years ago, but you must give credit to England too. The back-room staff, flower etc have worked exceptionally hard to pull this team in the right direction. And for the first spell in years as a unit we look together from the ground up, previous years we looked more like individuals then a team.
Strauss gets special mention too, love the guy tbh. Good player and just what England needed in terms of a captain. KP, colly et al.. good players, but not captain material.
 
I do wonder what we'd do if we had to move the captaincy from Strauss any time soon. Cook is evidently going to get the job at some point, but I definitely don't think/hope it'll happen any time soon. Pietersen's already tainted by his last failure in the role, and like you said, no-one else in the regular team is really a stand-out leader.
 
Broad potentially out for the series :( Being assessed now.
Stomach muscle injury.
Very important we win this game now, dont fancy us taking 20 wickets with one of our reserve options dropping into the attack.

-edit-
Aussies reporting Katich is out for the series too, for what its worth.
 
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You can't knock Ev too much - he's only doing what most supporters of teams playing Australia in the last decade have done :p

Losing Broad is a massive blow and makes it crucial we win this Test IMO. For Australia losing Katich is a blow too, I guess Hughes will step in now? As for their bowling I haven't a clue - whatever they do now they will look clueless tbh :p
 
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