The Ashes,where do England go from here ?

[Hamilton]

Down to the lake I fear

Aye yai yai yai yai yai yai yai
Aye yai yai yai yai yai yai yai

 

[Hamilton]

So embarrassing really. What has depressed me is that we have put no thought into the performances. It's been lazy and there's been a lack of concentration and effort.

Was so excited by this. Now just hiding.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Given all the recent problems with match fixing and the staggering turnaround in form since the summer Ashes series it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what is going on here. My bet is that it's fixed!!

Bizarrely if it was fixed I don't think England would play that poorly it would almost look too obvious, clearly you don't become bad players overnight but I'm struggling to ever recall a bigger collective loss of form and confidence. Even at lunch yesterday the Aussies we were with still felt England had a glimmer of hope, okay it was before news had filtered through about Broad, but one bloke sitting next to us thought if we could knock Australia over for under 200 it would at least make an interesting run chase on Day4/5. It's as if the cricketing gods throw some kind of switch, as on this 'terror track' the Aussies then pile on the runs!

 

[Mellotron]

They "fixed" it to make Mitchell Johnson unplayable? How does that work?

 

[Pavilionaire]

1. I think 2 Ashes series in one year has proved too much for the senior players.
2. The Trott selection and subsequent withdrawal has sapped morale.
3. The players coming in are not as good as the ones departing. Carberry is no Strauss, Root is no Trott, we haven't replaced Collingwood.
4. We've selected 4 players in Tremlett, Finn, Rankin and Ballance that are unselectable.
5. Australia have got much better, but then they couldn't get any worse.
6. There were warning signs in New Zealand, and with our batsmen over the summer (except for Bell). Some complacency has set in.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Anyone up for some cricket nostalgia?

Here's 'Mark Steel vs the MCC', a comedy programme about the crisis in English cricket which I taped off Radio 5 back in 1993:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/isfpwu4ujrnzx3e/01 Mark Steel v the MCC.m4a

 

[Pavilionaire]

First over from Swann. 4-4-6. Should be another good day then...

 

[Lenny Rider]

England look totally deflated.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Yep, Australia will slog their way to a 500 run lead then declare. In about an hour then.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Root just botched a run out, had more time to set himself. I should go to bed but seeing this shambles get worse is compelling. The cracks in the wicket are wide enough to stick a mobile phone in, and you KNOW Harris and Johnson will hit them every over.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Root just botched a run out, had more time to set himself. I should go to bed but seeing this shambles get worse is compelling. The cracks in the wicket are wide enough to stick a mobile phone in, and you KNOW Harris and Johnson will hit them every over.

Michael Vaughan just said on Channel 9 that England have the ability to bat out 5 sessions, but do they have the desire? Touch of sunstroke Vaughanie?

 

[Pavilionaire]

What I see is a fast, bouncy pitch with massive cracks and an Aussie attack with a 500 run lead and an urn within touching distance. I could see us being bowled out for under 100 today. Swann's been replaced by Root now after being hit for 22 in that last over.

 

[Lenny Rider]

I don't know whether the Channel Nine commentary team are under orders but they still continue to talk up England's chances of survival. Either that or they are taking the piss?

 

[Pavilionaire]

So Watson gets his ton, skies one, Bell drops it, Watson assumes he'll be caught so is run out by quick-thinking Bresnan, who moments earlier had caught one but fell over the boundary. Comedy stuff in the field.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Yep, Australia will slog their way to a 500 run lead then declare. In about an hour then.

I was wrong. It was an hour and 4 minutes. 28 off that last Anderson over, a test record. And yet I sense the Pomnishambles hasn't even started...

 

[Pavilionaire]

0-1 Cook first ball. Beauty from Harris.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

They have to stick on the same path that has served us well the last ten years. Dropping our match-winning bowlers, changing captain - isn't going to take us anywhere other than back to the 90's. Sometimes you just have to accept certain truths - Johnson is unplayable in this form, losing three straight tosses on deteriorating pitches, Trott's illness, the heat, the exhaustion of non-stop cricket - they're all excuses but taken together they are tangible. To get out of this mess we have to go back to basics. Bresnan's place is questionable. They totally messed up Finn's action last year and they have to help him get back to where he was because he should have been the fourth seamer on these pitches. He should replace Broad for Melbourne. They have to replace Strauss somehow but should leave Carberry where he is until they find a young opener with aggressive intent. Compton and Root both too defensive to compliment Cook. Bell should have gone to three, but whether they change that I doubt. And the revolving door at 6 will continue, I expect it will be Ballance's turn next. Of the long-termers, Prior may well need a break and Bairstow should get the nod. But Cook, Swann, Anderson, Broad, Pietersen have to stay.

 

[Hamilton]

Oh dear. 3 wickets down.

Come home boys. Just let 'em skittle you out and you can be on the tea time flight back and home with your families.

 

[vegster]

They have to stick on the same path that has served us well the last ten years. Dropping our match-winning bowlers, changing captain - isn't going to take us anywhere other than back to the 90's. Sometimes you just have to accept certain truths - Johnson is unplayable in this form, losing three straight tosses on deteriorating pitches, Trott's illness, the heat, the exhaustion of non-stop cricket - they're all excuses but taken together they are tangible. To get out of this mess we have to go back to basics. Bresnan's place is questionable. They totally messed up Finn's action last year and they have to help him get back to where he was because he should have been the fourth seamer on these pitches. He should replace Broad for Melbourne. They have to replace Strauss somehow but should leave Carberry where he is until they find a young opener with aggressive intent. Compton and Root both too defensive to compliment Cook. Bell should have gone to three, but whether they change that I doubt. And the revolving door at 6 will continue, I expect it will be Ballance's turn next. Of the long-termers, Prior may well need a break and Bairstow should get the nod. But Cook, Swann, Anderson, Broad, Pietersen have to stay.

After today's performances ?

 

[maltaseagull]

They "fixed" it to make Mitchell Johnson unplayable? How does that work?

I don't think he has become unplayable - It's just our batsmen can't play him.
After the first test, the Aussies confidence has gone as high as it can and England's players have lost all theirs. Some of the shot selection is awful too. (A common problem with England batsmen when under pressure.)