The Ashes 2021-22

Gillespy · 16-01-2022 3:29pm

One wicket away from another five nil whitewash. To be fairer to Australia it was really one shower of rain away from it. Only Broad and Wood can leave with their head held high. Anderson and Robinson were fine too. Bairstow the only hundred in ten innings. No score over 300. Such a contrast to India last year.

VillaMad · 16-01-2022 9:34pm

Predictable series in many ways in that Australia won easily and England's batting was trash, but the surprise to me was the way Australia won it.

Going into the series, the expectation was of Laubaschange and Smith to share huge partnerships but that never happened at all as a mixture of the pitches favouring the bowlers and their dips in form. Both had their good moments at times but were fairly muted by their high standards. Smith averaging just 30 in a series is almost unbelievable considering how teams debated for years how to bowl to him. Australia though, had run scorers somewhere when they needed it. Travis Head in particular was terrific.

As for their bowling, we expected the same four of Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc and Lyon to dominate and once Hazlewood dropped out, it seemed like England had an opening but the find of the veteran Boland (who will have many a county team lining up trying to sign him) was a revelation. Lyon in my eyes had a fairly quiet series and yet ended up with 16 wickets for an average of 23. Lyon remarkably didn't even bowl a ball in Hobart. Starc and Cummins were excellent as expected but Cameron Green is the future of this side. Seen as more of a batting all-rounder coming into the series, he made sure that Australia never let up on England and taking the first 3 wickets today summed up his series.

As for England, they really are at rock bottom now. Hard to see many if any at all will be in Australia again in 4 years time and this side should really be ripped up. Lots of firings ahead and many structural changes are now needed. They seem to do well at Test cricket and then struggle in limited overs cricket and so all resources go into the short form and then the test side crumbles. Why? I don't know. New Zealand with much less resources seem to compete very well in all formats.

Gillespy · 16-01-2022 10:43pm

Root will be 35. He should make it. It would be an awful shame if he isn't playing then. It's a long time four years. I remember when Cook had Tendulkar's records in his sights. Kohli hasn't made a hundred in two years and captains nothing now. Smith's been quiet. Changes fast.

Others in the squad? Crawley has age on his side. Robinson maybe? Doubt Hameed will play again. Bess might mature into a good off spinner by then. That's it I think.

VillaMad · 16-01-2022 11:23pm

All about desire with Root and he has a bit of a dodgy back which won't help in the coming years.

Everyone else is a question mark at best. Having the likes of Archer back would be a huge help but there has to be a lot of surgery done and things may get even worse before they improve if that is even possible.

Richard Hillman · 17-01-2022 11:30pm

https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/the-ashes/trying-to-fat-shame-him-poms-ashes-mess-laid-bare-as-culture-problems-exposed/news-story/d4f456a607f7f84eecc69af8174f846e

Absolute shambles. The "fat shaming" stuff is hilarious.

Gillespy · 18-01-2022 1:54am

A complete circus.

I want to know who said the fat shaming line. Classic from a professional athlete. Best guess is Robinson. Bairstow can appear chunky but that's his build. His fitness can't be questioned. Robinson needs an attitude change if he is going to fulfil his talent. He's not 21 where that stuff can be understandable.

George Dobell had said the management and senior players weren't happy with Dan Lawrence's attitude, maybe that's the drinking one solved. Drinking culture is hardly breaking news though. All this stuff is only an issue when you lose so badly.

Strumms · 18-01-2022 2:37am

Fat shaming ? If a professional sports person turns up for duty and are not in shape… I’d be surprised if the team doctor wouldn’t say it to them but I’d be also surprised if they did not convey their views professionally….same with the captain…. But no surprise that somebody in this day and age gets upset when something is queried about their performance either on or off the field….

18-01-2022 11:32am

I thought the newspaper pieces hinted at it not being Robinson as they were fairly critical of his fitness anyway and named him. Bairstow maybe, Burns I thought too, but apparently part of the reason he was dropped was because he doesn't speak up in meetings. So maybe not.

More coming out now, the assistant manager filmed and leaked a video of Root, Anderson and some Aussies being told to stop drinking at 6am. Why would you film that, and second send it around?

Royale with Cheese · 18-01-2022 12:15pm

Lol, fat shaming. I thought Robinson looked a bit overweight in the 5th test alright. I also thought Bairstow looked like he had a little bit of a belly on him but he's not a fast bowler and I wouldn't fault his running between the wickets or fielding really.

"More coming out now, the assistant manager filmed and leaked a video of Root, Anderson and some Aussies being told to stop drinking at 6am. Why would you film that, and second send it around?"

I'm guessing the management team think the players had too much power and weren't doing what was asked of them (if the fat shaming story is true then you can see where they're coming from) and wanted them taken down a peg. Though drinking with the opposition til 6am after a long tour and then going to bed when you're told to is hardly a news story.

Richard Hillman · 18-01-2022 12:27pm

https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1483290941981143040?t=1OYzvJGMIM32JRomwOMZWA&s=19

Graham Thorpe the cameraman. What was he thinking 😂

ECB will love it. A couple of scapegoats

Gillespy · 18-01-2022 1:50pm

Not making 300 once in ten goes was already a good enough reason to lose his job. And any number of pitiful collapses in the last few years. Too bad as he speaks well about batting and had all the attributes as a player the current lot are missing.

Stokes with a whole new coaching setup is the only way after all this stuff leaking out. Root could survive another heavy defeat on the field if behind the scenes wasn't such a mess. He's responsible for that as much as anyone.

The Ashes 2021-22

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