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Rambler

Awanturnik
I dunno, I think I'd have edged Flintoff over Strauss anyway, and Ricky Ponting's immediately defensive reaction just confirmed for me that this was not what the Aussies wanted us to do. He's scared of Flintoff, so that's why he should be captain.
 

withnail

Active member
Flintoff is the obvious choice for captain. I can't believe you English supporters are even debating this.

This is the (correct) way Ian Chappell sees it:

"Imran Khan makes a good point about captaincy. He says a good captain has to understand bowling. It's so bloody obvious. What does a captain do with batting? He basically just picks the order. The important side is out on the field. Imran is dead right: who better to understand bowling than a bowler? There haven't been many bowling captains and that's probably been a mistake.

"There's no reason Flintoff can't do it. The danger is that he's coming back from serious injury and needs to find his form as a bowler. He might overbowl himself in a bid to lift the team. One thing his appointment shows is the change in England's attitude. They could have gone the safe route and made Andrew Strauss captain. But they won the Ashes by taking the aggressive route and picking someone like Kevin Pietersen. Logic says that to retain the Ashes, they've got to keep taking risks and they've done that by making Flintoff captain."
I would like the Australian side to be something like this

Jaques
Hayden
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke / Cosgrove
Watson
Gilchrist
Warne
Lee
Clark / Johnson
McGrath

MacGill for the Clarke / Johnson spot, should they desire a second spinner. For example in Sydney (where I will be by the way).
 
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benjybars

village elder.
good point about a bowling captain i suppose.

i've been busy celebrating worcestershire's double promotion in domestic cricket.. c'mon you pears!:) :)
 

benjybars

village elder.
what, is no one excited about the ashes??!!!:eek:

looks like panesar ahead of giles, which is good.

And what is going on with tresco?:slanted:
 

jenks

thread death
Can't wait!!

i'm seriously thinking about getting text alerts for the first time in my life so that i can keep up. I hate that feeling when you wake up to hear that an excellent day's play has taken place whilst you slept. BBC have got the highlights here.

shame tresko will be missing but maybe not such a big loss (see discussion upthread). I think Cook will come good and Monty will shine - but if we're to win Harmison must rediscover some form.

Jones back behind the stumps seems a sentimental choice - all those partnerships with Flintoff.

it'll take my mind off England's shit rugby team.
 

don_quixote

Trent End
lack of tresco only makes it easier to not make a selection fuck up. i reckon they'll go for giles over panesar, although im not sure i agree with it. not too bothered about geraint jones although the rest of my family will be fuming as theyre all notts lovers.
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
Very excited. But series in Oz are always a bit weird when the morning papers aren't able to give you the day's final score so you end up in weird time warp thing for five days. But then, cricket's a bit like that...

I don't think it'll be a classic series like the last one, but could be very interesting - both teams are a mixture of the elderly/crocked and the raw/completely untried. There's a lot hanging on the young players on both sides. Plus, with Michael Vaughan no available, neither side has a tactical genius as captain.
 
S

simon silverdollar

Guest
i actually think that overall the england side is stronger than last year: cook's come in, as has panesar (if he plays), and pietersen, strauss and bell are all playing better than they did last year.

of course, the australians also look a bit stronger than they did last ashes too- no useless gillespie and mcgrath hasn't stepped on any cricket balls yet...

but i reckom it could be a close contest. so much depends on harmison though- if he has one of those 4-wides-an-over shockers, then it's all over...
 

benjybars

village elder.
but i reckom it could be a close contest. so much depends on harmison though- if he has one of those 4-wides-an-over shockers, then it's all over...

oops! who saw the first ball of the series?? huge wide straight to second slip!!

not looking too good at the moment...:slanted:
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
oops! who saw the first ball of the series?? huge wide straight to second slip!!

not looking too good at the moment...:slanted:

it was just horrific, wasn't it?


heaven help him.

it's been so depressing watching england bowl these last two days, with the exception of flintoff, they look toothless, and even bored. never thought i'd say this, but i miss mahmood. he may be a bit rubbish sometimes, but at least he can frighten batsmen a little bit. i don't really know what duncan fletcher was thinking going into this test with two bowlers (hoggard and anderson) who rely so much on early swing when everyone seemed to be saying that the ball basically won't swing.
 
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I've been depressed about NZ cricket for years. I'd be all up for cancelling their passports and refusing them entry home til they win 3 tests in a row. Most of our team is entrenched and there is no new blood snapping at their heels to keep them honest for their contracts and positions. I have a plan to fix that but I can't see it being adopted for cultural and traditional reasons. Namely set up recruiting and training programs within polynesian churches. It figures that if we can dominate other sports then why not cricket ???
 

don_quixote

Trent End
a lot better today, but i'll still be suprised if we avoid defeat. good to see our players actually getting some metal rather than rolling over. would definitely bring saj and monty in for anderson and giles for the next test.
 
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