Ashes 2013 - see mod warning in post 689

booth70

djimi wrote: »

Haddin deserves to top score in this series though; he has been absolutely immense. Any holes they have found themselves in he has dug them out of. Toss between himself and Johnson for man of the series, but Id give it to Haddin.

Easy choice....Haddin's made the runs that Johnson's been able to defend

Haddin for me as well

Hard to believe that a year ago Wade was in the side and Haddin's career was all but over

Jonny_Darcy

I think it will go to Johnson but Haddin has been fantastic. Fair or not, it could be a long time before Rankin gets another chance in a Test match

KevIRL

djimi wrote: »

Haddin deserves to top score in this series though; he has been absolutely immense. Any holes they have found themselves in he has dug them out of. Toss between himself and Johnson for man of the series, but Id give it to Haddin.

Fortunately my local bookmaking office doesnt do 'deserves to' and just relies on actual scores instead:pac:


Still have quite the sweat on now for it all the same

kryogen

djimi wrote: »

Every time they have had some sort of upper hand in this series they have managed to throw it away. Confidence is absolutely shot. I wouldnt back them to chase 150 to win a test right now, let alone 300+.

I personally think at this stage they all just wanna go home and get this over with as soon as possible, they have been humiliated. Wont take much for a collapse again in the second innings.

kryogen

KevIRL wrote: »

Ya 280-odd I believe

Aussies should get at least 400 ahead and more than likely more

Hoping Haddin gets less than 50 though so Warner finishes top batsman for the series

For the sake of your bet Ill go along with you, would have no issue with Haddin getting it other then that though, he has been the glue that held the middle and lower order together when the top failed, as it often did in truth.

Warner scoring the big runs with the series on the line should not be ignored though even though now he is playing some questionable shots, he is entitled too at this stage of the series I guess

booth70

They should have all gone home after the 3rd test

Hopefully the ODI's that follow will be a bit more competitive

Beasty

A couple of points

1. Lehmann has got to take a lot of credit for the way the Aussie team has been turned round, pretty much starting as soon as he took over last summer
2. Although the English batsmen have been (rightly in a lot of cases) berated for the way they have surrended their wickets on occasions, the bowlers have not exactly shone. That stat about the lower order runs scored tells me more about the ability of Australia (and particularly Johnson) to sweep up the lower order wickets. In the past the likes of Botham and Gough would have been chomping at the bit to snap up the lower order cheaply, but the current English attack seems to lack that killer instinct.

kryogen

I would have no issue really with Haddin taking the MOTS award but I think it would be incredibly harsh on Johnson who has been the catalyst for the way the Aussies have played this series. He has intimidated and battered the batsman, he has incredible figures and you would have to say that he does deserve the award.

His wicket haul by the end is going to be very impressive, he ensured the English lower order/tail did not contribute many runs in the series, he lifted the whole Australian team and made them play better as a result of his form and attitude

spiralism

KevIRL wrote: »

Ya 280-odd I believe

Aussies should get at least 400 ahead and more than likely more

Hoping Haddin gets less than 50 though so Warner finishes top batsman for the series

I'm a big fan of Warner but i hope Haddin does get that, time and again he's carried them and has been immense all series. He'd be man of the series only for Mitchell Johnson who is absolutely nailed on for the reasons in the post above imo.

Gillespy

Johnson has to get it. It is such an impressive and exciting sight. There would be no complaints if they shared it though. We keep hearing about the famous WI pace attack, that's Johnson multiplied by four. If only they had today's cameras to capture that. Cricket needs more Mitchell Johnsons.

djimi

Gillespy wrote: »

Cricket needs more Mitchell Johnsons.

Couldnt agree more. Serious lack of exciting fast bowling these days.

One thing England really need to find is a proper fast bowler who can consistently get up to over 90mph. A proper fast bowler would have made a big difference to them on this tour.

mike65

Not followed this tour it being on the wrong side of the planet and not having SKY but England have ALWAYS struggled against aggressive bowling. When the windies were still a force the likes of Ambrose, Holding and Richards would skittle them, two summers ago South Africa got at them well.

Who was it declaring England would win 10-0 in 2013? Which idiot? :pac:

Moist Bread

djimi wrote: »

Couldnt agree more. Serious lack of exciting fast bowling these days.

One thing England really need to find is a proper fast bowler who can consistently get up to over 90mph. A proper fast bowler would have made a big difference to them on this tour.

They had one, Finn, but somehow managed to completely ruin his confidence. Questions need to be asked about Saker.

riffmongous

Rankin desperately needs to take at least 2 wickets tomorrow if he's to ever be considered again. I just hope he gets a decent opportunity to bowl first, same for Borthwick, not much point in giving him a debut if Cook never bowls him.

kryogen

I think Rankin needs to up his speed if he wants to have a career in the Test side, this may not be possible for him either. If he could get it up another 5mph or so he would be a very threatening bowler, as things stand he isnt going to be a huge threat to good, Test level batsmen on a regular basis.

As I said, he may not be able to up his speed without injuring himself anyway

spiralism

Lot of people talking about where England go from here but where Australia go from here is just as interesting. They would be well served not to overreact to a 5-0 win here as it will have been everything clicking at the right time while England repeatedly capitulated.

Looking at the lineup, their top order is still suspect. Rodgers and Warner are a good opening pair but Watson is all over the place, only seems to get runs when they dont matter half as much and often gets out stupidly. Would be better served moving to 6 to suit the allrounder aspect of his game and may do so. Bailey is more than likely out tbh. Leaves a big question mark at 3 then however, Clarke has resisted moving up before even though its the position for him as captain and best batsman. It's tricky though because Aus are in a position that if Warner has a bad showing (which is very possible as he bats at ODI speed all the time) they're in trouble if Clarke does likewise, against sides playing better Haddin is not going to chip in with match changing innings each test.

Bowling attack has been excellent, if Mitchell Johnson can sustain a bit of form they'll be in decent shape, though they have to be nervous about Harris and his body breaking down. Siddle and Lyon are always good at taking quality wickets.

For a test series in South Africa they'll still need to change quite a bit up if they don't want to be badly beaten though, their bowling attack is largely fine if Harris holds up but you'd wonder would they be able to hold off a collapse if their top order struggles against Steyn and co and you assume it may unless something is done about their top order.

Gillespy

Why would they change a winning side? Smith, Amla, DeVillers, Peterson are quality but so are Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell. England went there in good shape and have been smashed and demoralized so much it's actually hard to watch. Yeah, England have been poor but credit to Australia.

Bailey is there on merit of his ODI form but I suspect he will make way. Watson at 6 would be a good move.

How is Huges doing? He has good memories of batting in SA. Time to bring him back?

kryogen

Its a winning side, but one with obvious flaws, I wouldnt change it too much though.

Rjd2

Gillespy wrote: »

Why would they change a winning side? Smith, Amla, DeVillers, Peterson are quality but so are Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell. England went there in good shape and have been smashed and demoralized so much it's actually hard to watch. Yeah, England have been poor but credit to Australia.

Bailey is there on merit of his ODI form but I suspect he will make way. Watson at 6 would be a good move.

How is Huges doing? He has good memories of batting in SA. Time to bring him back?

Amla and AB are a level above all those English players at the moment and South Africa's attack is much superior to England's especially in their home conditions.

If I was South Africa I would go with 4 quicks and get JP to act as the spinner, Elgar can bowl as well if selected.

Alviro

Smith

Amla

FAF

AB

Duminy


Elgar/ De Kock


Philander

Abbot/ Mc Claren

Steyn

Morne


Going to be a superb series and praise the lord we get 3 tests.

Rjd2

Gillespy wrote: »

How is Huges doing? He has good memories of batting in SA. Time to bring him back?

I think Doolan may be ahead of him at the moment with the selectors. Outisde bet that Marcus North may get called up as a cover as he started the Shield batting like a God, and maybe Jordan Silk if he impresses in The Shield before the tour squad is announced.

Bailey needs at least 80 or so here and even then I would be doubtful that he will tour, this England attack could give up very early tomorrow thus cheap runs wont save him.

KevIRL

Super ton for Chris Rogers

Gillespy

Brilliant from Chris Rodgers again.

England aren't going to chase this so why not give Borthwich a go rather than Pietersen.

kryogen

Id just declare during lunch tbh, try and end it today

Can you imagine if he did that and it went wrong though!

manafana

kryogen wrote: »

Id just declare during lunch tbh, try and end it today

Can you imagine if he did that and it went wrong though!

will let tail bat out cricket australia want some action for day 4 punters

spiralism

manafana wrote: »

will let tail bat out cricket australia want some action for day 4 punters

Also, giving England two and a half days to bat would be nearly enough time for them to crawl to the winning total :pac:

kryogen

Borthwick ended up doing alright, 3 big wickets in Rogers, Johnson and Haddin

Well, England have loads of time to chase this down, should be no problem

Hats off to Nathan Lyon, remains unbeaten for the series

riffmongous

I only got home a few minutes ago and I've seen 3 wickets so far, good work australia

kmart6

This is great stuff from Australia after Tea, serious fielding from Bailey and Clarke

kmart6

Delighted, skittled them!!

booth70

Well played Australia.....the signs were there in England towards the end of the series there but to turn this around in such a short space of time is remarkable

Only Ben Stokes can come out of this series for England with any credit at all
All the rest should hang their heads in shame

One of the most one-sided 5-0 whitewashes in the history of Test cricket

How Flower and Cook are going to turn this around is beyond me.....lucky for them it's SL and India at home coming up next.....both teams are generally pretty poor outside of the subcontinent

As for Australia who have themselves been dreadful overseas in the last year or so , a big series coming up against SA which will serve as a tester of how much progress they have really made