dAVe80 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 As good as Mitchell Johnson has been, let's not get carried away. He's not as good as Lillee, Thompson or McGrath. This is the first time he's shown any consistency in an Ashes series. Devastating as he may have been, England's batman have helped him no end. Where do we go from here, is the question? How do we turn this around? I think we can forget any chance of retaining the Ashes now, but we need to at least show some green shoots of improvement. Do we stick with what we have now, and hope they can live up to past reputations, and regain some form? Do we blood all the new boys and give them some experience at the top level? Do we stick with Cook? Do we stick with Flower? All we can hope for is a better display in Perth, and that we don't give the Aussies the easy ride that we have. We need to show we're together (even with the rumours of discontent in the camp), and show some bloody guts. Start standing up to the Aussies, and play them at their own game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 As good as Mitchell Johnson has been, let's not get carried away. He's not as good as Lillee, Thompson or McGrath. He doesn't need to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 As good as Mitchell Johnson has been, let's not get carried away. He's not as good as Lillee, Thompson or McGrath. He doesn't need to be. A sad but true statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 No he's not in the same league as Thompson, Lillee or Steyn. Its just that England haven't played him well, particularly the tail who got scared. We stick with Cook. Theres no better opening batsman around and look at the runs he has got in test cricket and he's still only 28. Think Giles will replace Flower soon. Natural progression. Anderson and Swann maybe coming to the end of their careers. You only have so many years bowling in you and Anderson has been playing international cricket for over 10 years. Steyn is only a year younger but he hasn't played as much and started his international career a little later. He played for Warwickshire in 2007 and it wasn;t until 2008 he really brole through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 No he's not in the same league as Thompson, Lillee or Steyn. Its just that England haven't played him well, particularly the tail who got scared. Nail on the head. Most of his wickets have come from the mid to lower order. Root, and Bell have shown that you can bat against him. The English batsmen have got to find and answer for him in the next test. Even if the odds and history are against us winning in Perth, they can not lie down and die, every time he bolwes one up around their grills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunRickyRun Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Congrats to the Aussies. Blew us away over 2 tests. I think South Africa are top of the tree by a long way. The others are all much of a muchness with individual form and winning instinct counting more than class. Most of England's players are out of form and most of the Australians are in form. Couple this with Australia's new found winning attitude (which was lacking in the summer) and it's no surprise to see them dominate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Yes I agree with that RunRickyRun. Its hard to see much changing at Perth. Just hope they are brave enough to make a few changes ie. Ballance , Finn and Rankin. If they just bring in Bresnan for Monty then I don't see much changing. Just another bowler who bowls low 80s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Need to buy more South Africans. Lerner OUT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Need to buy more South Africans. Lerner OUT!!! rather better at cricket than football i think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Poor effort from England's bowlers today. A lot has been made of how poor we've been with the bat, but while Mitchell Johnson and co. have ripping through the England lower order, the Aussie tail has wagged. I think David Saker has more or less admitted that they've picked the wrong team, this after day one, and it is utterly bizarre that they would take Finn, Tremlett and Rankin on a tour of Australia, and not play any of them at the Waca. Australia heading to a score of 400 plus, and with that goes any remaining hope of England salvaging anything from this series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 100% agree with you. They talk about making changes and make one Bresnan for Panesar. Such a negative move! Only way back in the series was to win this game and so we had to pick Rankin and Finn. Tremlett no because he's no ,more than a medium pace bowler these days and should never have been picked ahead of Onions. 350+ will be too much for us, especially with being a batsman light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 I was gob smacked Onions didn't get picked in the tour party. Saw a lot of him at Durham last season, and he'd been brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 your one game away from being dropped a bit rich of Prior making them comments to Smith when he came out to bat. though I love when a sledge backfires Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Biro Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 As if any england player has the cheek to say that at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Yeah, Broad chirping at Johnson too. I was thinking, don't tell him, show him! Pretty embarrassing really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 I was gob smacked Onions didn't get picked in the tour party. Saw a lot of him at Durham last season, and he'd been brilliant. yes probably the main reason Durham won the title and they pick a guy who took a handful of wickets for Surrey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Biro Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Its all been a bit of a shambles really hasn't it, wouldnt how many days after the last test it will take flower to leave? My guess is 2-3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Its all been a bit of a shambles really hasn't it, wouldnt how many days after the last test it will take flower to leave? My guess is 2-3. Yes i don't think he's going to be around much longer. Giles to take over after the ashes! Well he will do for the one day stuff anyway but I expect he'll get the test job as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 How can a team go so far backwards, so quickly? Did Randy Lerner buy the England cricket team while nobody was looking?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 It's like Manchester United's current situation really. The team are a couple of years past their prime and have been relying on good ringcraft to get by ever since. Eventually they were going to be exposed though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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