Swarley Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Well done to him. Isn't this only his 2nd match? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booitsme7 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 (edited) Well Done Ben Stokes on his maiden century in only his 2nd match and England's first this series. Edited December 17, 2013 by booitsme7 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swarley Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Is it approaching twitchy bum time for Australia yet? They need to get Stokes out asap. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booitsme7 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 332-6 at lunch. 172 behind 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 All over 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluenose5 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Let's all laugh at England Get it up ya Broad! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandmagyar Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Bruised, battered and bewildered! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reynard Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 A slightly better fist of it towards the end by England. Stokes played extremely well but he pretty much gave his wicket abeing ruffled by the previous ball. He batted really nicely though and Clark was definitely getting a little bit twitchy. Australia thoroughly deserved to take the Ashes back this time, their bowling in particular has been magnificent. They have worked brilliantly well as a group of bowlers, identified the areas to bowl and more crucially, not to bowl to each batsman and carried this out with ruthless discipline. The main difference has been the introduction of Johnson who was hostile and accurate in the first two tests. He was marginally less effective in this test against the top order but he was good enough to run through the rabbits as a fast bowler ought to. His reintroduction made all the difference and if he can keep himself in this zone he will be a huge player for the Aussies for a few years to come. A big if when you look at his career, but he is older and maybe knows his game a bit better now. As for England, there are one or two of the established guys that look shot through now and might never recover. Swann has gone I reckon, Anderson was always liable to struggle in Australian conditions but he needs to be rested up for the English summer and see if he can do it in another series. Broad did fine, Stokes looks like he will be able to hold an end up but what happened to Tremlett,Finn etc. Bresnan had a fucked back and was heaved back into the team and although he didnt let anyone down, it was a bit desperate. Onions wasnt included on the tour bizarrely. I suppose the next two test will be career defining for a few English guys now and we will see if the Aussies really want to tramp on English throats and keep the sort of discipline they had in the first three tests now that they have done what they wanted to. I dont suppose they will relax right enough but you never know. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papad Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I suppose the next two test will be career defining for a few English guys now and we will see if the Aussies really want to tramp on English throats and keep the sort of discipline they had in the first three tests now that they have done what they wanted to. I dont suppose they will relax right enough but you never know. The Australians will want the whitewash, you can be sure of that. Especially as it will be done by the 'worst ever Australian team'. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Brightside Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Most pleasing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin_Nevis Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 The Australians will want the whitewash, you can be sure of that. Especially as it will be done by the 'worst ever Australian team'. Agree with this. The Aussies have been humiliated over the previous three series and will want to utterly destroy England, in all three formats. Glad to see this, as it was watching the test team of the Warne-Lee-McGrath era that got me interested in cricket in the first place. As Reynard rightly says, this series will be a career definer and probably a career-ender for some. KP in particular should be binned until he learns how to play a patient innings. His attitude, as usual, has been dreadful and entirely self centred. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reynard Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 The Australians will want the whitewash, you can be sure of that. Especially as it will be done by the 'worst ever Australian team'. Oh yeah that should be motivation enough. It certainly is a fairly limited side but they have done a great job on this England top order and they have been brutal to the likes of Swann. That's impressive. I doubt very much this Australian side would have lifted themselves to these heights for anyone other than England either, the series being back to back has been a big help to them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny jacko Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 All this talk of binning the "old guard" is fair enough but what happens to these guys ? Do they all retire and reflect on past glories or do they got back to county cricket and either try and force their way back in or start playing for the enjoyment of the game ? Some of them probably don't even know what county they play for as they are so rarely allowed to play non-international cricket. The whole English team has seemed joyless since the start of last summer's Ashes campaign and their whole attitude seems to be to bore Australia into submission rather than take the game to them. It worked in England but the Aussies have been too attacking in batting and bowling to allow them to play the negative stuff in this series. Once this series is over maybe the likes of Joe Root can be encouraged to play positive cricket as he will be around for years. At the moment he's playing like a veteran of the past and trying not to score (as is Carberry) but batting out time. Maybe a new coach will help although they'll have to ask the great KP what he thinks first seeing he chased away the last non-African guy. Talking of KP, has he actually made a worthwhile contribution since he spat the dummy out after deservedly losing the captaincy ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmothecat Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Looking at the current Australian side they have a few players who were dropped for not performing, who have come back to be integral parts of the team. Haddin, Harris and Johnson were all dropped, but have become three of Australia's top performers. I think England are declining, and they have suffered three poor defeats consecutively, but I don't think it's suddenly all over for the bulk of the team. All in all, positives from Stokes and Root in this series and Bell's performance in the last show positives. The 3-0 win in the summer flattered England, they are declining, but I think some of the media reaction about how far England have fallen is premature. I'm optimistically going to predict that this series will finish 3-2 with some stand out performances from some of the players the media have declared finished. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WullieBroonIsGod Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Alistair urr Cook doesn't interview, urr, very, urr well. Urr. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 but I think some of the media reaction about how far England have fallen is premature. Definitely, a classic example that you should never believe how good or bad the media say you are. Certainly has to be questions about the squad that England took, and the lack of depth in batting cover. Also, why take the bowlers they did then not play them? Are they all really that bad? The two biggest positives for England have been Carberry and Stokes, but you could say that was down to circumstances as much as planning. Would Carberry even have played in the first warm up match, and subsequently in the Tests, if Cook hadn't got off the plane with a stiff back? Stokes only got his chance because Trott went home, you can bet he wouldn't have taken part in the second Test if Trott had stayed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Half Rice Half Chips Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Pietersen should have never played for England again after been caught out giving tips to his South African buddies. Letting him back must have damaged morale within the rest of the squad. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CambCelt Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 0-3 .... horrible stuff. It's been ages since we've been this shite, and to play like that in the Ashes ... !! Dire. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AberdeenBud Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Here is some classic Geoffrey to cheer you all up. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nm3jr Cheers for that Ted, grinning like a Cheshire listening to the master at work. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorlomin Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 The two teams are not that far apart, after Trent Bridge the momentum was shifting towards Australia, since Brisbane it has been shifting back. Clearly Aussie lost 3 nil and England are already 3 down, but I am willing to bet against a 5 nil whitewash and even suspect a half decent chance of an England win in one of the two remaining. Australia are still a patchwork side, Johnstone not taking as many wickets and English batsmen are starting to fire. Too much hype masks easy to fix problems like getting their fielding back up to scratch by relaxing a bit more and adjusting their length for the style of pitch. England are now the hurt and out for vengeance team while Aussie are likely to be mentally unwinding. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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