Eoin Morgan maiden test century, If only....

The Highwayman

Eoin bashed the Pakistan attack all over Trent Bridge today. If only himself and Ed Joyce could play in an Irish test side .
Are we to loose the O'Brian brothers aswell? After great performances against England in Belfast 1day game and also a great day in Clontarf against the Aussies I think of what could have been.
When you look at the English batting line up you have to think Morgan is the best chance they have in the ashes.

d'Oracle

The Highwayman wrote: »

Eoin bashed the Pakistan attack all over Trent Bridge today. If only himself and Ed Joyce could play in an Irish test side .

Are we to loose the O'Brian brothers aswell? After great performances against England in Belfast 1day game and also a great day in Clontarf against the Aussies I think of what could have been.

When you look at the English batting line up you have to think Morgan is the best chance they have in the ashes.

Indeed.

No chance.

I disagree, I think England have a strong batting line-up now.
Cook is a bit hit and miss and Pietersen is certainly struggling to live up to his own high standards, but there are potentially high scores all the way down the middle order and two bowlers who on a good day can chime in with handy scores.

djimi

England have the strongest batting line up they have had in years. 9 of the 11 batsmen in the current team are capable of scoring at least 50 or better, and when you consider the bowlers on the fringe such as Bresnan and Rashid are also very strong lower order batsmen it bodes very well for Englands chances in the Ashes I think.

Personally I think their Achilles heel at the moment is not having a genuinely quick strike bowler, a Flintoff replacement if you will, who they can bring on for that short burst of fear inducing fast bowling. Someone who can consistantly be up at or over 90mph. There are times when you watch the England bowlers, especially when they are struggling, and think that any change Strauss makes is going to make no difference whatsoever.

Corsendonk

djimi wrote: »

Personally I think their Achilles heel at the moment is not having a genuinely quick strike bowler, a Flintoff replacement if you will, who they can bring on for that short burst of fear inducing fast bowling. Someone who can consistantly be up at or over 90mph. There are times when you watch the England bowlers, especially when they are struggling, and think that any change Strauss makes is going to make no difference whatsoever.

I don't think Flintoff was ever a quick strike bowler, accurancy and aggression was more his game. Harmison and Simon Jones were the pure speed guys for England.

djimi

Corsendonk wrote: »

I don't think Flintoff was ever a quick strike bowler, accurancy and aggression was more his game. Harmison and Simon Jones were the pure speed guys for England.

He mightnt have been at the Lee/Akhtar level in terms of speed but he was quick (on form he was regularly up around 90mph if Im not mistaken?), and I think his agression made his bowling feel quicker than it probably was. He was the kind of bowler you would toss the ball to if you needed to try and blast out a batsman, and I dont feel England have anyone like that at the moment.

Beasty

djimi wrote: »

He mightnt have been at the Lee/Akhtar level in terms of speed but he was quick (on form he was regularly up around 90mph if Im not mistaken?), and I think his agression made his bowling feel quicker than it probably was. He was the kind of bowler you would toss the ball to if you needed to try and blast out a batsman, and I dont feel England have anyone like that at the moment.

He was often in the low 90s for England - what they do really miss now Freddie is off the scene is a genuine all-rounder - fortunately the tail end has been sticking around recently (today not being a good example however), which has allowed the likes of Collingwood (and Bell) to accumulate runs in the lower middle-order. Morgan (and Collingwood) may find himself running out of partners if the likes of Swann and Broad don't deliver something with the bat.

The Highwayman

I think you would call Freddie a battering ram the in-your face aggression that all test teams need and England very much miss.

With a very out of sorts Pietersen and an attack I feel will wilt in the australain sun the England ashes push will flounder. Let us not forget that Australia are a very different animal at home and have only lost once there in what 40 years? England have won 2 of the last 4 but in 2005( the most fun the ashes were in years) only for a few runs here and there it would have been a very different story.
This will (maybe) be Pontings last ashes certainly at home and I just can't see anything but a clear victory for the Aussies 3-1. Taking all bets

But back to my point about our lads playing overseas to make it in the game. Cricket Ireland is doing a great job and yes funds are tight but when do we get the chance to step up? Could the ICC maybe give us a 5 day challange test against the likes of Bangladesh?
After all there is no challenge at the level we are playing now even our A-teams is beating national sides.
Dunno if this a bit rambeling had a few beers watching the highlights of todays test

djimi

The Highwayman wrote: »

I think you would call Freddie a battering ram the in-your face aggression that all test teams need and England very much miss.

With a very out of sorts Pietersen and an attack I feel will wilt in the australain sun the England ashes push will flounder. Let us not forget that Australia are a very different animal at home and have only lost once there in what 40 years? England have won 2 of the last 4 but in 2005( the most fun the ashes were in years) only for a few runs here and there it would have been a very different story.
This will (maybe) be Pontings last ashes certainly at home and I just can't see anything but a clear victory for the Aussies 3-1. Taking all bets

I think Englands chances of winning the next Ashes lie entirely inside their heads. The talent is there in the team, if everyone plays to their potential, finds reasonable form, and the team as a whole doesnt bottle it then I think they have a chance against what is one of the weakest Australian sides in a long time. However the not bottling it part is key; how often have England gone to Australia and folded under the pressure? KP needs to find form in the next few weeks and needs some big scores. If he can find that form and Morgan can kick on then I think the team as a whole will feel pretty confident. Its all about believing they can win. I think from the moment Harmison bowled that wide to second slip with the first ball of the first test in 06-07 they were on the back foot and stopped believing they could win. A good first morning, first day, first test this time around could make a huge difference.

The Highwayman wrote: »

But back to my point about our lads playing overseas to make it in the game. Cricket Ireland is doing a great job and yes funds are tight but when do we get the chance to step up? Could the ICC maybe give us a 5 day challange test against the likes of Bangladesh?
After all there is no challenge at the level we are playing now even our A-teams is beating national sides.
Dunno if this a bit rambeling had a few beers watching the highlights of todays test

We need to be playing 5 day cricket against the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. There is absolutely no excuse for the ICC not to sanction test matches between the better associate members and the weaker test nations, creating an almost second teir of test cricket. Surely it would serve cricket as a whole better if Bangladesh used some of their time playing the likes of Ireland and helping strengthen the associate members rather than being kicked off the park match after match by the full test nations? Im not saying drop them back to associate level or anything, but have them, as well as Zimbabwe, split their time between playing full tests and associate tests. Would benefit everyone involved and the game as a whole.

I think our biggest stumbling block against us getting test cricket is the fact that cricket is always going to be a minority sport in this country, we would more than likely struggle to sell out 5 day test matches to anything like a decent capacity, and the potential for TV audiences just isnt here in Ireland. Im not for a second saying that any of this should be preventing the ICC from developing the game in countries like Ireland, Scotland, Holland etc, but its always going to be an issue, and when you consider that the ICC have made it very clear for the longest time that they have very little interest in developing the game of test cricket outside the current test playing nations and are only really interested in maintaining the elitist status quo which currently exists with the test nations, I dont think well be seeing test cricket in Ireland for a while... All we can do is keep doing what we are doing, keep beating everyone around us, making it look ridiculous, and eventually the ICC will have no choice but to do something.

The Highwayman

how do you do the split qoute?

djimi

Put each part of the quote in {Quote=Djimi}Quoted Text{/Quote} (replace {} with [])