RMweb Gold griffgriff Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2014 What did Nasser Hussain write the other day "England haven't played 5 tests they have played the same test 5 times" How very true but in truth the last 2 series have disappointed, not 'who dares wins' but rather who chucks it away most - loses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Lambton58 Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2014 At least no Australian player took a leak on the ground!!! ... yet, but the night is but young! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Lambton58 Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2014 Once the euphoria has worn off, I suspect that this series hasn't really told the Australians anything. In the same way as England won the summer series because of Ian Bell, they've got away with a few dodgy starts this winter because of Haddin, who I hope has been named Man of the Series. They aren't as good as 5-0 suggests, nor are England that bad. The 3-0 in the summer was equally misleading. Personally I'd rather we beat a good side playing well or lost to a side who played better than losing as we have done here to a fairly average side with one or two players at the top of their game and our own side in a collective mental slump. Australia play South Africa next. That will tell them how good they really are and if they do well good luck to them. My own opinion is that they only have three or four really top class players. England may have got to the end of the lifespan of the current coaching/leadership team in the way Australia did at the start of our summer and I'm sure that will be looked at when they get home. Andy Flower is enough of a realist to know if the time has come to stand down and some of the senior players need to take a hard look at themselves as well. For me the loss of Swann - not this winter, but when he had his first elbow operation and stopped being the real force he had been up to then - was the start of the downturn for this side and there is no sign of a replacement for him. Whether Prior comes back in the summer - Bairstow isn't the finished article yet - and Pietersen gets motivated again - and who else stands up and makes a case for selection - all remain to be seen. I think the schedule also has to be looked at as a lot of our players looked as if they'd rather be anywhere else a lot of the time. If they've lost the motivation then it doesn't matter how good they are. We all know these things go in cycles and it's taken Australia a long time to get over losing the core of the great side they had in the early part of this century. If i were them, though, I'd be looking hard at the ACB's fixation with the Big Bash and wondering how many 5 day Test players that will produce when the leading lights of this side move on. Edit - forgot to say well done Darren Lehmann. A top bloke, great servant for Yorkshire when he was here and deserves just as much credit for this revival as anyone who was out on the field. Mostly agree with that summary. I think Australia wanted it so much more and their aggressive style worked on a fragile England team. I still find it weird that so many of England's top order lost form and confidence. I suspect the loss of Trott probably upset them more than they've let on. I'm not sure that the time has come for Flowers to move on though and I don't see anyone in the current England set up in a position to replace Cook as Captain yet, though the obvious choice might have been Prior. I think Cook is still learning the art of on field captaincy and he missed the input from the likes of Prior. There were some interesting comments on TMS during the Melbourne test along the lines that we don't have any mechanism for grooming / preparing future captains. As for players the future definitely lies with with youngsters like Stokes, Bairstow, Ballance & Borthwick. I suspect Root will come good too. The Saffirs at my Club are looking forward to the next round of South Africa v Australia. I suspect our antipodean urn minding cousins will get a rude awakening from Messrs Morkle, Steyn & Philander. Looking on the bright side, winter nets start next month and I'm looking forward to getting to grips with my new bat - presented to me by the other coaches at our club and signed by one A Cook of England Ralph Lambton58 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chameleon Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Oh I soooo wish I'd put a bet on Australia winning 5-0. Would have gotten odds between 66-100/1. Guess that's the benefit of hindsight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiebrfan Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 1. The Saffirs at my Club are looking forward to the next round of South Africa v Australia. I suspect our antipodean urn minding cousins will get a rude awakening from Messrs Morkle, Steyn & Philander. 2. I'm looking forward to getting to grips with my new bat - signed by one A Cook 1. We'll see, maybe you should start recruiting down there. Just call it a Commonwealth team and be done with it. 2. Just dont use it like him - ie. holding it in the air and letting ball smash into yer pads. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Lambton58 Posted January 6, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 6, 2014 1. We'll see, maybe you should start recruiting down there. Just call it a Commonwealth team and be done with it. ECB already tried that... 2. Just dont use it like him - ie. holding it in the air and letting ball smash into yer pads. Should be ok, I never see the ball in time to lift the bat that far out of the way Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted January 6, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 6, 2014 Stand back and take a good look at what went on... England bowlers - poor - having got the aussies at a low score letting them off the leash - England batters - well remove the scores of individuals in a number of Oz innings then they were about the same. There were some very strange umpiring decisions - and there are at least two bowlers in the series who were allowed to bowl front (and back) foot no-balls at will - which didn't help anyone... England have somewhere to go and things to do but there are a lot of younger cricketers here ready to have a go - Oz have had a reasonable series but have a lot of older players with less in the way of new talent coming through. Should imagine that the South Africans may be a tougher series for Oz -good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium t-b-g Posted January 6, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 6, 2014 I don't have Sky and have followed the series via radio and internet. It seems that the Australians won by being slightly less bad than the English. How many times were the Aussies not very many for 4 or 5 and were saved from a low score by Haddin and Smith? One more wicket at crucial times could have easily changed things. When batting England got themselves out more often than the Aussies did. I recall one innings where every single England wicket was taken by a ball that didn't need to be played. Every single time there was a moment that could change the course of a game it went Australia's way, whereas on another day those catches will stick and the edges will carry for us instead. So I really don't think that 5-0 is a fair reflection on the differences between the quality of the teams. I do think it is a fair reflection on the quality of the discipline, team spirit and never say die attitudes of the two teams. Australia seem to have got their mojo back and we seem to have lost ours! A lot of credit has to go to Lehmann, who seems to have got the same bunch of individuals that we got the better of last time and turned them into a team. We seem to have gone from a team to a bunch of individuals. In any series, there will always be a few players who, for whatever reason, have a bit of a dip in form. For us, it seemed that almost the whole team had that dip in form at the same time. I do wonder if it was a "happy" England camp or if there have been some behind the scenes goings on that we don't know about. The departures of Trott and Swann make me wonder about that. OK, so the pitches didn't suit Swann but that was what you would expect from the groundsmen there. But to retire on the spot after a couple of bad games on unsuitable pitches seemed a bit extreme to me and I can't help but think that there was more to it. Right from the start, the team just didn't look as if they were actually enjoying being there. And when the going got tough, there was nobody to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and turn it around, like Haddin did for the Aussies. I don't think our team have become bad players in a few weeks but I do think that the team needs to get some spirit and discipline back and then we can hopefully be proud of them again. Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tase Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 England. The less said the better! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 On the contrary I think there's a great deal needs to be said. This is the core of the same side which comprehensively walloped Australia in 2010-11. While Australia are undoubtedly a much better bowling side now, that doesn't explain why England fell apart repeatedly. It's not as if you could point to most of the England side and say they weren't first choice for their place, so as Tony suggests the suspicion has to be that there's something wrong off the park. I'm sure it will all come out in autobiographies in due course, but for the moment someone needs to identify what's wrong and sort it out. Hopefully that will all have been done come May, or we might have a few more long days in the field because SL know how to bat all day and then some. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I've just caught up with Australia's first Test in South Africa. I think that puts the Ashes result into some context, although one victory does not a series make. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iak Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hurricane Johnson strikes again. Ach the fickle nature of fate and fortune... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold griffgriff Posted February 18, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 18, 2014 It's all a bit doolally out there in test match land at the moment, the stars must be in some strange alignment (apologies to Ted Dexter)... whats this New Zealand giving India a hiding? A Kiwi scoring a triple? I will have to go go and lie down Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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