Today is the 8th of June. Australia plays its first tune up game against Sussex at Hove starting June 24. That's 16 days of nets, time that could have been better used getting match ready by pitting their skills against the world's best.
And this has bigger ramifications for the Ashes.
Australia played its last Test in February. England played its last test in May. England are in the Super 8's. Australia are left to lick their wounds, being eliminated in the group phase itself.
England is getting necessary match practice in high pressure situations. Australia is left to get its bowlers ( and batsmen) acclimatized to English conditions.
And there are questions - of form. Brett Lee has been carted all over the place, Mitchell Johnson hasn't really brought the ball in to the right handers, can Mike Hussey make runs, can Australia play spin?
Suddenly, the Ashes don't seem so dull!
Monday, June 08, 2009
Bye bye bye
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10 comments:
Quick Q... Er.. who will you be supporting during the Ashes?
;-)
England still won't stand a chance in the Ashes.
Aussies suck at T20..
Leela/Q,
A prediction made 4 months ago.
And I am sticking to it.
Cheers,
I say the Ashes would be a good contest this time...England are in a much happier place than the Aussies at the mo...but the Aussies are, well, the Aussies...
I'm sitting on the fence for now :)
As much as it would hurt the Aussies to be out of the T20 WC - the two weeks break might not be that bad at all !
Picture this - England's supposed bowlers would most likely get plastered all over the park by S Af ( definitely!!), Ind ( most likely!) and West Indies ( yeah I'm sticking my neck out and say that another Gayle awaiting them )
So much for bowling confidence coming into the Ashes.
As to the problem with playing tests - ahem Aus last played a test against South Africa. England have played West Indies to death - enough said on the competition each has faced.
Barring a bloody miracle, England are on a hiding to nothing in the Ashes. 3 - 0 to Aus.
lol Megha :)
Cheers,
TG,
There is something to be said about the merits of competitive cricket, irrespective of the competition. England are playing competitive cricket, Australia are spending time at the nets.
Cheers,
I hate to say it Homer, but this will only inspire them more to take it out on England. And this English team under Strauss just doesn't seem to resemble the one under Vaughan. Getting past Hughes and Katich will be tough enough, then you have Ponting, Clarke, Hussey and Haddin to worry about and just when all else fails there's Johnson. And I don't see any real threats apart from Swann and Anderson. This tour is just going to improve a lot of people's stats, and Australia's like most Ashes do.
Oh and whats going to be really humiliating for Eng-er-land is that they're going to do all this with Bonnie McDonald in the team. Oh the humanity!
Achettup,
Conversely, Cook, Strauss, Bopara, Pieterson, Collingwood and Prior wont be pushovers ether.
And a 7,8,9 of Broad, Flintoff and Swann is as good as, if not better than a McDonald,Johnson and Lee.
Throw in a Rashid there or a Panesar and England have a lot more variety in their bowling that Oz do.
And if it is going to be a high scoring contest, I like the odds of Ricky Ponting running his bowlers into the ground before either team secures a win :)
Cheers,
Ache,
Not sure why you would include Mr. Cricket in that list - he hasn't been scoring in the last two years has he? The big problem Australia have are that not too many of the current team have played in England before. Most of their experienced guy previously had stints with counties before they made it to the team but that is lacking in this team which might have the biggest impact....
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