Well, folks, here it is. Supposedly the most anticipated cricket series of all times - Australia v England 06/07 and the First Test at Brisbane is well and truly underway.
And what an unmitigated disaster it has been for England. After a year and a half of shooting thier mouths off after their controversial 2005 series win, they have come out this morning in Brisbane and collapsed in a heap. The Aussies are totally dominant, the English attack is flaccid and unfocussed and the Aussies have been ruthless and relentless.
And the English captian, Flintoff, appears to be totally unprepared for the job and does not have a clue. No third man in the first hour for Justin Langer? Ian Bell and Kevin Petersen bowling on the first day in Brisbane? And how did Monty Panesar go from being what Duncan Fletcher described as “the best finger spinner in the world” to one not even as good as a fellow who takes his wickets at 39.6? And the first ball of the day from Steve Harmison? It had to be a joke, right?
The Aussie 300 is up in well less than 75 overs. They are brutalising the English.
I’ve heard 4 days have been sold out. I think a 4th day is optimistic. I don’t see the English having the heart for any kind of fight here.
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whoop! hit submit too soon - I was distracted by Ponting slapping Flinthoff down the ground for four!
Does anyone see the English making any sort of fight of this summer? What will the final series score be? 4-0 to Australia looks good - they may have to settle for a draw in Adelaide!
While much of what you say is true, what precisely was so controversial about England’s 2005 Ashes victory?
Also, eighteen months of ‘shooting their mouths off’ compares pretty well with the Aussies crowing (justifiably) for the previous eighteen years and you crowing (unjustifiably) after one days play out of a possible twenty five.
Ah, I wasn’t crowing, I was calling it just as it was going down. Even now, Flinthoff is displaying his ineptitude. It’s late in the day, the two best batsmen in the world have been there for a long time and he’s just letting them grind out the last 7 overs with no pressure at all.
Last time we won the series in 11 days. This time it may take us 12. The BIG thing I am disappointed in is that the Aussies didn’t play Mitchell Johnson. The English top order is seriously underprepared to deal with him both as a left armer and as a wicked quick bowler.
Controversial about 2005? The Duke balls, the use of substitute fielders, the Kasporwicz dismissal at Edgbaston, the Ponting run out and, from an Australian POV, some of Pontings decisions caused eyebrows raised and tongues clucked
It’s going to be a long summer for the Englishmen!
mamboman, my guess is that you are distantly related to Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager reknowned for his ability to offer a balanced view on every Chelsea defeat. But first:
Along with many other Poms, I have been seriously impressed with Australian cricket over the past 18 years or so. You have produced a succession of teams which have been a credit to the game. Well done. Your superiority has been unquestioned during this period of time. Except for the 2005 Ashes series which, I regret to remind you, Australia lost. This:
is priceless. Presumably the balls and the use of substitute fielders was agreed before the series started. Correct me if I am wrong. Also, if you wish to go into individual dismissals, I am happy to go back in time and discuss with you other contentious decisions upon which matches have turned in Australia’a favour. As for Ponting’s captaincy, that is an Australian problem. England had nothing to do with it.
It seems to me that England’s victory last year was controversial in your eyes for one reason only. You lost. Get over it.
Most England supporters don’t give their side much of a chance for 2006/7. Neither do the layers who, before the first test, were offering 2/9 Australia and 6/1 England to win the series. We hope but we do not expect.
Personally I believe that Flintoff is the wrong choice for captain, Giles should not be playing in this game and Harmison is off the boil. That said, I didn’t see much in the wicket to help the bowlers. After day 1 England are playing catch-up already and are likely to struggle to save the match. I hope I’m wrong.
I fully understand that Pom bashing is a national sport in Australia, probably more so than cricket itself. However, you don’t seem to understand the concept that less is more. If you are going to criticise English cricket (and other sports) at every available opportunity, regardless of whether the criticism is deserved or not, it simply becomes tiresome and predictable. You would do well to emulate the grace shown in defeat last year by your own cricketers and give some credit where that credit is due.
This thread could go one of two ways. You could continue to ignore the situation when England do well (please God) and carry on with the blinkered view that you have thus far shown. If so, even if you win every game by an innings I personally will refuse to acknowledge your victories and your posts. Instead I will come here and shoot my mouth off about Hoggard’s excellent 15 not out or Harmison’s superb display in getting 1 wicket for 97 runs.
On the other hand you could demonstrate the Aussie sporting instinct and offer a balanced view, not only for the current series but for 2005 as well.
The English win was only as controversial as every other test series between any other nations (trumped of course by India v Pakistan). As much as it hurt, they deserved the win, and whats more cricket needed the win. Unfortunately for the poms, it unleashed Hussey.
Being without Vaughn and Simon Jones this series made me fairly confident, but Monty was the x-factor. Giles did ok in terms of containment yesterday, but never really looked like threatening to get someone out (Martyn got himself out, as he often does). I think they would do ok with both Giles and Monty and dropping Anderson (or even Harmison after yesterdays effort), but no one ever seems to want to pick two spinners (poor poor MacGill).
Johnsons strength is in his swing (thats where it is, oh yeah!</Cher>), and there wasn’t much swing out there yesterday. I think Stuart Clark was the right choice, but we’ll see how he does with the older ball as I’m assuming McGrath and Lee will open.
In the poms favour, we were always going to win the Gabba test. We haven’t lost a test against anyone there in twenty years or more. Bring on the rest of the series, and please please bring on Monty.
Another rough day at the office for the Englishmen, especially Steve Harmison who was ragged up unmercifully by the crowd and bowled, at times, dreadfully (he did get some form back right at the death and touched Lee up a little - which is just plain dumb as Lee will pay him back with interest)
A worrisome stutter for the Aussies when Gilchrist got routed, Hoggard finally having grown a pair, but the two Clarkes and Lee got on with adding insult to injury.
The English batting looked brittle and hesitant and if McGrath looked at times mortal, he at least produced a few beautiful party-piece balls which showed he can still take wickets - the one which stitched up Cook was priceless.
So, the best day’s batting in the pitch behind us, and despite the prospect of Warne operating on a wickets starting to crack and fray, the sheer enormity of Australia’s total means this game could go into the 4th day - but the screws are clearly being turned on England and, judging by Ponting’s fury at his dismissal for 196, they are going to be turned a lot more before summer is over.
Oh, and the Barmy Army have threatened to take their trumpet and go home - yay! Two great days of circket down!
Eh, we’re screwed. Three down and five hundred and plenty behind at the end of Day Two is not the stuff of which heroic rearguard actions are made. Already the fat lady is doing her vocal exercises in the dressing room.
I personally cannot understand why MacGill has not been selected alongside Warne many, many more times. It’s not like Grimmett and O’Reilley served Australia badly.
And yes, we could have done with Simon Jones. We were winning the Ashes handily last year as long as he was fit; without him, we just barely held on throughout the last match and a half. A bit like the rugby team without Wilko, but let’s not open that can of worms.
McGill and Warne will play at Perth, where it will turn square. McGill is very much a square peg in the round hole of Australian cricket - like Ian Chapple, Dean Jones, Michael Slater and Stuart Law before him he’s a cricketer who speaks his mind and the powers that be do not like that. I’d like to see him get his 200th wicket - he’s a ferocious character and he’s a very different kind of bowler from Warne.
It will be good to see Shane Watson back for Adelaide, too. He is an exciting cricketer - his bowling needs some variety but his batting has come on wonderfully well.
England don’t seem to have adjusted to the demands of the international schedule. There is a lot (too much, IMHO) of international cricket being played these days. It’s hard to keep your top blokes fresh. But England looks underdone. Harmison in particular looks like he should have played a dozen first class matches before playing a Test. Whilst getting a wicket today will help, it’s not clear how he is going to find form. There aren’t any serious matches apart from the Tests on the tour. And if you bring in another quick for him (or Anderson), that guy (presumably Mahmood) won’t have had any match practice since not being good enough to get into the team for this Test.
Still I think “touching up” Lee was a good idea. Harmison needs to get angry so he can forget about what’s wrong with his rhythm and just bowl.
As for MacGill, I don’t think his attitude has anything to do with it. Australia has been winning with Warne in the side for a long time. They often win with just MacGill in the side, and they win with both of them. If Australia was struggling to finish teams off on the fifth days of Tests, there’d be a compelling case to include MacGill - who, in case it’s not clear, I think is a superb bowler. But they haven’t been struggling to finish sides off.
I expect England will fight hard in this match and in the series. But I think it’s going to become very clear just how well their attack performed in England. Flintoff and Jones were great. Harmison and Hoggard had their good patches and were never worse than serviceable. Giles was solid. They were a disciplined, balanced attack and they didn’t let Australia get away.
Even the most rabid England cricket supporter would have an uphill task finding much balance in the play on day 2. A thoroughly professional performance by the Aussies led from the front by Ponting. Somehow I don’t think England are going to win this test.
OK, this may be an unlikely excuse but it’s the only one I can think of right now. The entire England squad must have been abducted by aliens from the planet Pomgolia en route to Brisbane. They were all cloned but, Pomgolians being Pomgolians, they didn’t do the job properly. Batting skills were omitted from the required profiles and Harmison in particular was left without any directional functionality.
One of two important matters needs to be addressed before the second test. England must improve out of all recognition or the Pomgolians need to upgrade their cloning machine software to version 5.1.
Well,t he Aussies heap indignity after indignity on the Englishmen today, cementing the second biggest ever first innings lead in test history - Glenn McGrath, mocked by the English for being too old, taking 6 for 50. Apart form a dropped catch by Stuart Clarke, a flawless performance - especially the second ball rubbing out of Flintoff, a crucial part in the Australian policy of destroying the oppostion captian psychologically.
Harmison is conspicuous by his absence from England’s opening attack.
The one ray of light for England today was Ian Bell’s sensible batting to Warne - he seemed to have a plan and stuck to it. The downside is that he will need a whole new plan to play McGill, and he became very frustrated by McGrath and the relemntless Clarke. Also, only three english players came out to applaud him when he made his 50 - Panesar, read and a glum looking Hoggard. Has Flintoff lost his dressing room already?
Is there any way forward for England? Can this all magically turn around like it did after the 329 run loss in 2005?
A woeful display - Australia’s carefree approach to the second innings clearly shows it’s not the pitch at fault but the lack of application by one side and the ruthlessness of the other. Not good.
However, let the controversy begin here:
Two massive wickets in the space of a few balls and one run. :dubious:
(Might not have made a huge difference in the context of that enormous score, admittedly.)
KP being hit on the back pad, on the knee roll - you’d have had a hard time finding an umpire to give that not out. It looked awful.
As for Flinth\off - gee if we started splitting hairs over no balls and dismissals, there’s a guy in Sri Lanka who’d have to give back about 500 wickets!!
Interesting things happening off the pitch, too. The Aussie press is ramping up the psy-ops, playing up the Andrew Strauss’ ambition to captain the side, much the same way the English press did with Warne and Ponting as well as really milking the “whining pom” angle for all it’s worth, especially on the “Barmy Army”.
So what’s Punter going to to tomorrow? Bat til he and JL have their hundreds, go the slap and set’ em 750 to win? I greatly admire his “play to break 'em” approach. Steve Waugh was always too soft to take this and occasionally we paid for it.
You’ll get few arguments from me over Murali, but “some third party does it too” isn’t much of a justification. And there’s no h in Flintoff - why make it harder to spell? (Of course I realize you may barely have heard of him, what with last year’s series and all.)
Of course. Pom-bashing is the national sport in Australia. The entire continent’s still got a chip on its shoulder. As to the Barmy Army, I believe there’s another side to the story - something along the lines of no rowdy, drunken, ignorantly partisan support allowed unless it’s pro-Australian. Psy-ops? I guess Oz can’t feel comfortable unless it’s the entire country against eleven Englishmen. Enjoy it.
Well, England once had a good go at chasing down 696 and were within 50 of the target when the (timeless) match was called off through rain and having to go back to England, but I think anything over 250 would be a triumph on their performance to date. We may be praying for McGrath to tread on another cricket ball. :rolleyes:
Don’t be so precious. Pom’s have no special staus in terms of bashing by Aussies -Kiwis, Yanks, other Aussies from interstate, they all cop it. It’s just that the Poms are the ones who can’t take it and squeal like little girls.
As to the Barmy Army I am as mystified as you. They were held in high regard here before this tour. In Sydney the SCG used to keep them a section of the ground where Aussies couldn’t book seats. The BA arranged charity contests against the Aussie supporter group the Fanatics and it was all good fun. Before ticket sales for this series began the ACB changed the manner of allocation and tried to shut out the BA from getting block bookings. Why I don’t know, because the are a really popular group here and they manage to cut down many of the worst aspects of modern cricket spectatorship.
In fact I would go so far as to say, from my experience, that “rowdy, drunken, ignorantly partisan support” is usually pro-Australian, the BA are too busy having fun.
Isn’t it just in Brisbane that they have been split up and segregated? This is what happened here last tour, too. If it’s happened all across the test venues, then a very good thing it is indeed. They certainlydon;t seem to be that popular a group up in these parts!
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I don’t much care for the Barmy Army - and I certainly don’t like their sense of entitlement. I’ve got no problem with spontaneous crowd actions that happen to lift a side or make for a good atmosphere. But premeditated attempts by sections of the crowd to influence events are presumptious. Members of the crowd are supposed to be there to watch the game. They are not participants.
Mexican waves, blokes paid to play the trumpet, cheerleader, exhortation from ground announcers to cheer a particular happenning - I dislike them all. Go the the cricket to watch. Clap good things. Cheer if it gets exciting. Boo if something unsporting happens. But don’t lose sight of the idea that you are going to watch them.
Anyhoo, the game. Today was pretty damn cruel. I expect England to fight in this series. They will need to. By the look of it the Australians want to wreck some careers.
