2009 Ashes Series - England vs. Australia **Spoilers**

[oli collett]

Thought I'd start this thread early for a bit of discussion on selection.

Fixtures

• 1st Test - Wed 8 - Sun 12 July
  Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

• 2nd Test - Thu 16 - Mon 20 July
  Lord's, London

• 3rd Test - Thu 30 July - Mon 3 August
  Edgbaston, Birmingham

• 4th Test - Fri 7 - Tue 11 August
  Headingley, Leeds

• 5th Test - Thu 20 - Mon 24 August
  Kennington Oval, London

Thoughts on team selection? My 14 would be:
Strauss
Cook
Bopara
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions
Sidebottom
Panesar
Bell

I don't know if anyone else saw Atherton/Langer/Broad/Tresco discussing their 14 yesterday during the lunch break of the test match but they basically came out with a very similar team. Langer thought that England should play only 4 bowlers - we'd certainly have a strong batting lineup but would we be able to bowl Australia out? The two tests against the West Indies might have made our bowling look good but the Australian batting won't be such a pushover. Having said that, having Flintoff come in at 8 with Broad at 9 and Swann at 10 we should be able to put a fair few runs on the board. I might consider Harmison for Sidebottom depending on how the 2 perform in county cricket over the next few weeks.

My prediction: 1-1. I can see a few draws because I don't think either sides bowling attacks are as good as they were 4 years ago and pitches seem to be much flatter now as well (especially Lords). If a team were to win I'd have to go with Australia - they might not be the 2005 side but they've got a lot of talent and we simply don't have the same quality of bowling attack we did 4 years ago.

 

[a1ex2001]

Australia will be seriously concerned about there lack of a decent spinner, but will be supremely confident that they have the batting strength to keep England at bay. For me England will struggle with both bat and ball the team isn't settled particularly the bowling where nobody seems sure of a our best 4 or 5. If England want to win I think they need to be bold and go with 5 bowlers as they need to knock the aussies over to stand a chance.

 

[Mad old tory]

I don't think 5 bowlers is a bold option, it's the standard England setup and with the way Prior is batting along with the relative strength of Broad and Swann, we don't have that much of a tail anyway imo

 

[Yas786]

First test in Wales?? thats pretty shocking to take away the most important test of the Ashes from Lords and give it to Wales

Well the Aussies have named their squad and have left out Symonds which was a bit of a surprise...the lack of a decent spinner will affect the Aussies but they did pretty well against SA back in Feb without a decent spinner.

Anyways pretty hard to tell who will win the Ashes, i have my money on the Aussies to retain the Ashes...they definitely arent the powerhouse when they completely destroyed England 5-0 down under but they still are a force especially if Ponting makes a lot of runs and Lee gets plenty of wickets. I think it will be a close series though...maybe going down to the wire.

On a separate note Chris Lewis ex England bowler has been jailed for 13 yrs for smuggling cocaine...silly idiot..how in gods name did he think he could get away with that...he will spend at least 6 yrs behind bars. Such a shame that he felt he had to resort to such measures to make money.

 

[Nursie]

First test in Wales?? thats pretty shocking to take away the most important test of the Ashes from Lords and give it to Wales

It's the first ever test to be held at Sofia Gardens as well.

 

[Gooner14]

They felt it gave the tourists an advantage playing at Lords in the first test and set them up for the series, as they where really up for it, like in the last ashes in the UK. (although the convicts lost )

 

[oli collett]

It's the first ever test to be held at Sofia Gardens as well.

I'm baffled by the decision. Haven't been to the ground but from what i've seen it doesn't seem to compare to some of the other grounds.

Trent Bridge has just had a big redevelopment and is a fantstic looking ground - I might be a bit biased since it's now my local ground but Sophia Gardens doesn't look anywhere near as good.

Some capacity info too:
Sophia Gardens - 15,000 (after redevelopment, it was 5500 before)
Edgbaston - 21,000
Headingly - 17,000
Lords - 30,000
Oval - 23,500
Trent Bridge - 17,000
Old Trafford - 19,000

It's great there's been some redevelopment at the ground for this summer but it still seems a farce to me. Neither Trent Bridge or Old Trafford have any tests this summer which seems a shame given their history.

Having said that - playing Swann and Panesar at Cardiff could be a good bet given it's prone to turn at the moment.

 

[Yas786]

Its a shame and a shocker because the amount of history that goes with Lords...fair enough they have given the 2nd test to Lords but im hindsight i think it would have been better to leave the first test to Lords and have the second played in Wales.

 

[Rich_L]

They felt it gave the tourists an advantage playing at Lords in the first test and set them up for the series, as they where really up for it, like in the last ashes in the UK. (although the convicts lost )

Thought it was more simply that the Welsh Assembly dangled £££s in front of the ECB and, much like the Stanford affair, chasing the money appears to be a bigger priority over tradition or the game itself.

 

[king-core]

Personal Opinion after having a dreadful series at west indies, i think australia are gona absolutely anihlatee the english squad.

 

[Yas786]

Personal Opinion after having a dreadful series at west indies, i think australia are gona absolutely anihlatee the english squad.

Funnily enough England just happened to annihilate WI a few days ago...beat them twice by an innings.

So tbh i think the Ashes is gonna be a close one...i cant see Aussies doing a whitewash like they did to England a couple of winters ago.

 

[Mad old tory]

I wouldn't take much interest in the series in the WI, we were poor in the first test but batted well in the other three, didn't bowl toooo badly either just the pitches were ridiculously flat. The last couple of tests were good news imo as the bowling attack looked much sharper, and substitute Freddie in for Bresnan and it looks stronger again.

 

[oli collett]

I wouldn't take much interest in the series in the WI, we were poor in the first test but batted well in the other three, didn't bowl toooo badly either just the pitches were ridiculously flat. The last couple of tests were good news imo as the bowling attack looked much sharper, and substitute Freddie in for Bresnan and it looks stronger again.

Aye, the Windies tests were meaningless. We lost the series based upon one absolutley shocking session in which we fell apart in the first test while the team were still feeling the aftershock of Pietermooregate. The rest of the series was pointless - I could have scored runs on those wickets.

 

[Nursie]

Thought it was more simply that the Welsh Assembly dangled £££s in front of the ECB and, much like the Stanford affair, chasing the money appears to be a bigger priority over tradition or the game itself.

With the current system where grounds bib for the test matches, Cardiff with backing from the welsh assembly through the welsh tourist board bid £3 million pounds to stage the test match far more than any of the other grounds could afford to bid.

 

[a1ex2001]

With the current system where grounds bib for the test matches, Cardiff with backing from the welsh assembly through the welsh tourist board bid £3 million pounds to stage the test match far more than any of the other grounds could afford to bid.

Cricket really needs to loose this obsession with money it is ruining the game for me.

 

[oli collett]

Interesting news today that John Buchanan, Australia's coach during their winning 2006-2007 ashes whitewash, is going to be working with the ECB on the run-up to the ashes:

Cricinfo Story

 

[ringo747]

Just resurrecting this thread as the ashes gets closer. I see freddie had a good knock the other day and is raring to go. Hope they can get off to a good start and put the aussies under lots of pressure. I think it will be a pretty tight series to be honest!

 

[JohnnyG]

Aussies v the Lions is live on SS1 at the moment, Harmison's bowling really well, bit late though
24-2 with Onions just getting Ponting...

I think it's a good move having the first Test in Cardiff, it'll turn there big time and they don't really have a spinner, the stadium will be packed and vociferous and anywhere but Lords for the opener has to be a good idea.

My team would be:

Strauss
Cook
Bopara
KP
Collingwood
Freddie
Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Panesar

Which is the team playing Warwickshire today

 

[ringo747]

Nice to see Hughes and Ponting out cheaply and Harmison bowling well. Typical that he bowls real good after the selection!

 

[Bubo]

Didn't there used to be 6 tests in an ashes series? What year was it changed to 5?