Ashes thread - England vs Australia * SPOILERS *

Pigeon_Killer · 10 Jan 2007 at 00:13

Didn't know they were playing this game. 20-20 is my favourite type of cricket to watch and I thoroughly enjoyed the highlights. I thought the commentators were quite amusing at times as was the audio link to Gilchrist. Unfortunately the winner was about as predictable as Pietersen dropping a catch

sedm1000 · 10 Jan 2007 at 00:46

Mad old tory said:
Only thing that bothers me is that our players refuse to play themselves in. Ok it's more difficult in twentytwenty, but better to play a bit conservatively for the first few balls and then go for it, rather than go for the big shots right from the off, 6 singles in an over is better than a six first ball and out second!!

Maybe play the percentages with attacking shots early, but 6 then out at least gives the next guy 4 balls to score from

lemonkettaz · 10 Jan 2007 at 01:08

Anyone know how much a ticket would be to see england vs west indies this summer?

ive never been to see a "proper" cricket match... so never had to buy tickets or anything..

where is the best place to get the tickets too?

cheers

Yas786 · 10 Jan 2007 at 11:53

e36Adz said:
It is yeah, but only when its two evenly matched sides. If England and Australia had ten 20-20 games I think England would be lucky to win one tbh.

Highest ever 20-20 score set today by Australia. The highlights were good, 6'ers all over the show, from the Australian innings ofcourse

Was an amazing game tbh, 14 6's the Aussies hit, think thats a new record.

What made my day was KP spilling that catch, cant stand him tbh...he may be good but god hes such an arrogant ******.

Mad old tory · 12 Jan 2007 at 10:47

Spawn said:
Was an amazing game tbh, 14 6's the Aussies hit, think thats a new record.

What made my day was KP spilling that catch, cant stand him tbh...he may be good but god hes such an arrogant ******.

Like hell he is, actually listen to his interviews and you'll realise he's just very confident in his abilities. In fact, he's no worse than any of the Aussies and tbqh he has a lot of talent to back his confidence up.

Match today wasn't great from England, but not exactly a disaster. Aus won it by 8 wickets in the 46th over, but at least we posted a score over 240, rather than getting skittled for under 200. What is worrying is that KP is now out for a few weeks with a rib injury

Yas786 · 12 Jan 2007 at 11:50

Mad old tory said:
Like hell he is, actually listen to his interviews and you'll realise he's just very confident in his abilities. In fact, he's no worse than any of the Aussies and tbqh he has a lot of talent to back his confidence up.

Match today wasn't great from England, but not exactly a disaster. Aus won it by 8 wickets in the 46th over, but at least we posted a score over 240, rather than getting skittled for under 200. What is worrying is that KP is now out for a few weeks with a rib injury

Sorry mate but i think he is, theres a big difference between having faith in your abilities and being arrogant..which imho i think KP is tbh but theres no doubt hes a great player...he just needs to calm down a tad and play with some sense instead of trying to bat every bowler out of the ground. I mean was there any need for him to run down the pitch and get himself injured in the process??...well done KP...he may be Englands only bright spark but to get himself injured like that is and was pathetic...had a good innings before trying to get on top of McGrath.

Was an interesting match though to say the least, Flintoffs 11 wides had me laughing though...not a great start for the lad but im sure he will come good in the next few ODI's. As for KP??, a nice knock by him and a shame hes injured as there goes Englands chances of making any sort of impact on the Aussies in the ODI's.

As for the Aussies, i had no doubt that they would easily get past Englands score and not only that they did it with plenty of wickets in hand. Looks like the Aussies are simply unbeatable at the moment..perhaps NZ will give them a better run for their money...cant see England beating Aussies tbh.

Mad old tory · 12 Jan 2007 at 12:49

I'd say it was unfortunate more than anything. England's runrate was low and he needed to start accelerating. Don't think you can really blame him tbh, Mcgrath just pitched it slightly fuller than he was expecting.

Big Kev · 12 Jan 2007 at 13:36

Spawn said:
Sorry mate but i think he is, theres a big difference between having faith in your abilities and being arrogant..which imho i think KP is tbh but theres no doubt hes a great player...he just needs to calm down a tad and play with some sense instead of trying to bat every bowler out of the ground. I mean was there any need for him to run down the pitch and get himself injured in the process??...well done KP...he may be Englands only bright spark but to get himself injured like that is and was pathetic...had a good innings before trying to get on top of McGrath.

Jeez, you really do hate England don't you, any chance to get a dig in and you're there in a flash. Which team do you support by the way??

I've never seen an interview where Pietersen has been overly arrogant, I must have missed the ones that you obviously saw. Having said that, if an Aussie comes down the wicket hitting sixes, it's great play, KP does it and it's pathetic, even though it was obvious that we needed to up the runrate and as MOT pointed out, McGrath just outfoxed him this time, which is no disgrace.

As for the result, no surprise really and if KP is out, we're in for more of the same.

Chimpdaddy · 12 Jan 2007 at 14:23

Spawn said:
Sorry mate but i think he is, theres a big difference between having faith in your abilities and being arrogant..which imho i think KP is tbh but theres no doubt hes a great player...he just needs to calm down a tad and play with some sense instead of trying to bat every bowler out of the ground. I mean was there any need for him to run down the pitch and get himself injured in the process??...well done KP...he may be Englands only bright spark but to get himself injured like that is and was pathetic...had a good innings before trying to get on top of McGrath.

I think it is important for KP to be a little arrogant. That is the way he naturally plays, and it adds another dimension to the English side. Why should he change, when he really is the only batter to look like who can take it right back to the Aussies? I think it works for him, and he is better off sticking to this style of play.

I don't blame KP for advancing down the pitch. McGrath relies on his deadly accuracy. He hits the same spot over and over again until the batsman makes a mistake. Pietersen was trying to counter that by advancing down the pitch and changing McGraths length and line. I think, fair enough! KP could just stay there, and let McGrath bowl ball after ball in the right area until he eventually gets out. Or he can take it right back to the bowler to unsettle him from his rhythm. Granted that it didn't work, but at least he is playing better than the other gooses in the English side who just give their wicket away. :rolleyes:

I agree with Big Kev statments above. What about Matty Hayden or Gilchrist advancing down the pitch to fast bowlers and plundering them over the boundary? 9 out of 10 times it probably comes off, Peitersen was just outfoxed by McGrath.

Anyway with the loss of Peitersen, this is going to really hurt England's already fragile batting line up. Hopefully, Flintoff can get some more form after playing well today.

platty · 12 Jan 2007 at 15:57

Spawn said:
Sorry mate but i think he is, theres a big difference between having faith in your abilities and being arrogant..which imho i think KP is tbh but theres no doubt hes a great player...he just needs to calm down a tad and play with some sense instead of trying to bat every bowler out of the ground. I mean was there any need for him to run down the pitch and get himself injured in the process??...well done KP...he may be Englands only bright spark but to get himself injured like that is and was pathetic...had a good innings before trying to get on top of McGrath.

Well thats gotta rank up there with the deverstating Watson being better than Flintoff comment.

What wasn't calm about him, he'd been there for 34 odd overs so had played pretty sensibly throughout. 44th over he's injured, slowing things up in his opinion, had Flintoff out there and plenty of wickets in hand so why not. Managing to hit it that far and on mostground that would have been 6 with a broken rib was a good effort.

I wouldn't say he's arrogant either, hes just confident in his abilities. Bell and co sat there against McGrath all series like people have for years and it was just a matter of time until they got out. Pietersen did something about it thats not arrogant its being a special player.

As for the rest of the team, how Anderson is in that team at the moment is beyond me, he needs time in county cricket before playing for England.

Strauss needs looking at, his attacking shot today was a dab to third man rest of the time he left it. You could see it coming him just giving slip catching practice to Hayden. Bell the same, 15 from 29 balls and 4 of them was an edge that was dropped, he just didn't look like he knew what to do.

Time to get Mal Loye over for a try, highest scoring county player last year and can hardly do any worse. Him or Benning or just someone who can play a shot or two and not just sit there.

On a plus note Flintoff looked comfortable batting, maybe with the captaincy pressuer taken off him he can express himself some more.

Rotty · 13 Jan 2007 at 00:06

lemonkettaz said:
Anyone know how much a ticket would be to see england vs west indies this summer?

ive never been to see a "proper" cricket match... so never had to buy tickets or anything..

where is the best place to get the tickets too?

cheers

£40-50 but I would expect most, if not all, to be sold out now

scott.holmes · 13 Jan 2007 at 09:48

I think when i looked a few months ago, days 1 to 4 were sold out on everything, and Rotty was right they are around £40 :/

Yas786 · 13 Jan 2007 at 11:58

Rotty said:
£40-50 but I would expect most, if not all, to be sold out now

They are indeed, my bro just got back from barbados the other week with his missus and i asked him about tickets etc, as he got me a ODI Pakistan and Aussie top..official ones i might add.
Basically he said it would be near impossible to get any tickets as all are sold out...which is a bugger because his mum in law has a house out there and me, my bro and a few mates were thinking of spending a few weeks out there to catch a few Pak games and Aussie games.

Looks like im stuck at home/office watching it on sky

. Still might go to the WI to see if i can blag a few tickets though...

Mad old tory · 13 Jan 2007 at 23:52

think rotty and co are on about the series over here in the summer.

Mad old tory · 14 Jan 2007 at 10:40

Maybe England aren't doing too badly against this aussie lot after all. They just thumped NZ completely. 289/8 off their 50 overs and then bowled out the kiwis for 184.

Chimpdaddy · 14 Jan 2007 at 11:03

Mad old tory said:
Maybe England aren't doing too badly against this aussie lot after all. They just thumped NZ completely. 289/8 off their 50 overs and then bowled out the kiwis for 184.

Agreed. Australia are just an awesome team. To beat them, you have to bat, bowl and field extremely well. Even then, there is no gaurentee.

However, without Peitersen's useful batting, I don't see us beating the Aussies any time soon.

I really hope England beat New Zealand. They have been beaten 5 - 0 in the tests, lost the Twenty20 comprehensively, and lost their ODI against Australia. I believe they really need a win, in order for them to keep their spirits up, and to make them more competitive. At the moment, it seems they've forgotten how to win, and you can see it when they go out to play.

-Chimpdaddy-

e36Adz · 14 Jan 2007 at 14:32

Mad old tory said:
Maybe England aren't doing too badly against this aussie lot after all. They just thumped NZ completely. 289/8 off their 50 overs and then bowled out the kiwis for 184.

NZ wernt doing too bad at around the 41 over mark, Aus were only passing 200 then but Symonds and White just went for it, quite devasting they were. They are a quality side, I really hope they don't win the world cup!

ringo747 · 14 Jan 2007 at 14:35

e36Adz said:
NZ wernt doing too bad at around the 41 over mark, Aus were only passing 200 then but Symonds and White just went for it, quite devasting they were. They are a quality side, I really hope they don't win the world cup!

yeah same here.. if england dont win the world cup im going for west indies. Chris Gayle is a total legend!

Yas786 · 14 Jan 2007 at 16:23

Mad old tory said:
think rotty and co are on about the series over here in the summer.

LOL oops my bad

Good win by the Aussies against the Kiwi's, who i think are number 2 in the world in ODI's...mind you the Kiwi's got thumped by the Sri Lankans as well so i dont expect the kiwi's to put up much of a fight.

As for England i expecct they will struggle against NZ as well, they are the 2nd best odi team in the world since the last time i checked. But im hoping that England do beat NZ though, its about time they won a game..

e36Adz · 16 Jan 2007 at 01:47

NZ are 151-7 and they don't look like reaching 200 tbh.

England look like they are going to win....!!! :eek: