Wow, never knew Wales were part of the England set up. Was about to say you'd think it would be mentioned more but then I guess as they play a very minor role in England squads theres not much point
Pretty good start to the final test for England. Put Aus into bat and have them 94-4 at lunch with their top order all gone. As I go to bed now I can't begin to imagine how England will contrive to fook this position up but I fully expect to find them following on at the close as Australia hit 350-0 in the next session and declare.
97/5... Haddin and Smith will be crucial here Bailey looks like he belongs in the England squad hasn't had a great series
How on earth we've let them off the hook again is beyond me. Smith is not a test player yet we've managed let him score 2 hundreds in this series. Does anybody know if we attacked when they were 97/5 or did Cooks terrible captaincy take over again to allow them back in the game. Cook needs to be replaced as captain after this as he is far too negative and it has also affected his form as it has done to many captains before him. Let's his bowlers dictate fielding positions far too much. Bring Prior back and make him captain
That's like saying that someone the best thing to come out of someone ****ting in your mouth is that none of it went in your hair.
Gave up at 5 down, just plain awful. Cook must go, if he doesn't fall on his sword, he needs to be sacked. From his poor defensive fielding positions to his appalling batting displays, he had had a nightmare. He should have dropped himself than rather than Root. His farm is not too far from where I live, I am tempted to pay him a visit once he is back!
Another awesome day for the aussies. Stokes is the only positive to come out of this tour for you; only Englishmen to score a ton and second Englishmen to take 5 wickets in an innings. Rankin was lacking match fitness and doesn't look threatening. Hoping Rogers can get his 100 tomorrow (currently the highest run scorer across the 2 series) then we can work on getting the 10 wickets for the whitewash.
Should you complete the expected rout this will apparently be the first ever Ashes series where Australia have taken all 100 England wickets. Farce.
We were favourites. That's the thing. It's an utter disgrace. Every single one of the players (Stokes excepted) should be made to stand in front of a panel of travelling fans and listen to the hurled abuse for as long as people can throw it at them. We should remove their passports and not let them back into the country. They have disgraced the whole nation. Scum.
There isn't a word of this that isn't 100% justified. They ought to be given the same treatment as the Iraqi football team back when Hussein was in charge.
Total capitulation after tea, losing 4 for 8 in the first 2 overs. These 5 tests have been like watching replays of each other; Australias top order struggles, Haddin and someone get us to a competitive total then England go out and collapse with each one more spectacular then the last. England were clearly the better team in the earlier series but 3-0 was flattering for them and many people thought they would improve over here. Anderson and Swann were not the same bowlers in unfavourable conditions, the third seamer was an issue and the batsmen couldn't find form as well as stopping Bells dominant form from the England series. Johnson was a man on a mission this series, was a totally different beast to the one England encountered last time. Australias top order is still a concern, Haddin can't save us all the time.
The best commentary I've read about this tour was talking about how cricket is such a cruel game when you're out of form, since you're forced to continue embarrassing yourself, long after the result has been confirmed. Take golf - if you play badly in a golf tournament, you quite simply don't make the cut and take no further part. They don't force you to continue hacking, slicing and mis-putting your way round the course for a further five rounds while the whole world laughs at you. This tour should have been stopped after Perth.
Tell me about it. I went into 'Next' and 'River Island' the other day and they were selling stripy shirts, bland cross-neck jumpers and chino trousers - but the quality of the stitching was dreadful.
Whilst some of the commentary has been scathing, I still think it's relatively mild, because pundits are still in shock about how awful it's been. I expect the inquest to be worse once people really analyse just how appalling and shameful this has been. Head must roll, things must change and some people need to be hung out to dry as a warning to future teams to understand that this level of underperformance is never acceptable for an England side, let alone when it's in the Ashes.
I see Flowers seems to still be in a job and is predicting more bad times before it gets better. Getting his excuses in early it seems.
He is an excellent coach despite the debacle and he will turn it around in time. New blood is needed and there certainly isn't a shortage of talent in the county game. Speaking of which Jacques Kallis has retired from Test cricket. He scored a century in his last Test against India to help win the second Test after an enthralling First Test in which Virat Kohli has probably cemented his reputation as India's leading batsman. Kallis was a pretty nifty round arm medium pacer who could cut the ball but shoulder injuries curtailed his bowling speed although he did pick up 292 Test wickets at a very decent average of 32.65 while scoring 45 Test centuries at an averageof 55.37 which surpasses the little Master Tendulkar. All in all he's a pretty decent all rounder if not one of the best but his exit from the Test stage seems to have gone virtually unnoticed which is a shame. But given his introspective nature perhaps not that unsurprising. And Corey Anderson who did rather well against India A last year smashed the fastest ODI hundred (who would be a bowler in limited overs cricket) in 36 balls against a rather poor West Indies in the third ODI. I expect the older Windies players must constantly shake their heads in dismay at the performances of the current generation. I expect Queenstown is a rather small ground but 14 sixes and six fours is not to be sniffed at: [video=youtube;7KxgnYo4I5o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KxgnYo4I5o[/video]
Matt Prior and Stuart Broad rescue a man trying to jump off a bridge. Probably because he should have got in line... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/25650615
That's an unbelievable display of batting and even though it's a small ground a lot of those would have been six anywhere
Interesting to see that the reason for us being utterly smashed in Oz seems to be Pietersons fault! I know he didn't have a great series but neither did anybody apart from Stokes. He always seem to be at fault when things don't go well but there is Cook, who scored no runs and who's captaincy is suspect at best, Bell who scored no runs, Carberry who scored no runs and dropped two of the biggest dollys you're ever likely to see, Prior who hasn't scored any runs in over a year, Anderson who unless the the ball seams everywhere is just a standard bowler, Swann, who when the going got tough bottled it completely (I lost all respect for him at that point), the selectors for taking Tremlett, Finn and Rankin when clearly Tremlett is a nowhere near the bowler he once was and thay happily admit that so why take him, Finn, who has lost all form and Rankin, who only got a chance in the last test out of desperation when he should have played at Perth where the pitch is always quick and bouncy. Why take all 3? Only Broad of the established players comes out with any credit at all so a lot of questions need to be asked. Replace Carberry who is 33 and replace him with the future which is Root Keep Cook but replace him as captain, maybe Bell Stick with the youngsters like Ballance and Borthwick I know Trott is struggling but if it's like Trescothicks illness he will probably not be able to tour again so may well be the end for him. Keep Pieterson as he offers us something different and still ended up the top run scorer. Cook Root Bell (C) Pieterson Ballance Stokes Bairstow (WK) still not sure about him but not sure on any of the other options as a wicket keeper Borthwick Broad Anderson Onions. It's criminal he doesn't even get in the squad
I think the reason Pieterson gets so much stick is the whole package which comes with him and his ego. The Kevin Pieterson show is all well and good when he's scoring runs, as someone with his talent should, but when he lets his sideshow demolish the actual quality of his game, then he's more destructive than other players. He's one of those "luxury" players, a Fabrinni of cricket if you will. If he's scoring and helping you win, then you don't mind it, but when he's utter toilet, then you just want to throw him in a cesspit.
I agree that Bell could do a job as captain, I think he would be more aggressive than Cook. I would like to see what James Taylor could do and also like to see Cowdry given another go. The only reason he was dropped was to keep Root and to try and develop Bairstow, which at the moment hasn't worked. As much as I like Onions and yes he should have gone, no one else managed to get any real swing so would have he ? We need something different to a 85mph up and down bowler. Someone with real pace and bounce. I would like to go to the West Indies with, but look at brining Pieterson, Oinions, Root, Kiesweiter (sp), Jorden and Morgan through for the summer against India. Cook Cowdry Bell Ballance Taylor Stokes Prior Borthwick Broad Anderson Finn
