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Loading ...its war alright.im looking forward to it.im sure alastair cook will make the pigeon eat his own words.
McGrath names his batting bunnies already
By Scott 4 years ago, at the start of August Add your comment below
It wouldn’t be cricket if Glenn McGrath wasn’t mouthing off, and he’s already doing it for the Ashes, naming Strauss and Cook as his ‘batting bunnies’.
I don’t mind him doing it so much, it’s not really taken entirely seriously by anyone now, I would have thought. It has become a tradition. However, it is only the start of August. I wonder what else he is going to say between now and November 23?
Tags: alastair-cook, andrew-strauss, glenn-mcgrath, mouthing-off, the-ashes |
17 Responses to “McGrath names his batting bunnies already”
August 1st, 2006 at 6.39 pm
August 1st, 2006 at 8.48 pm
Go on Glenn, get them Poms! 
I’m looking forward to him closer to 600 during the Ashes!
August 2nd, 2006 at 7.25 am
God love him. He really is full of shite. You think he might have learned to keep it shut after his incredible foresight before the last Ashes, to whit:
“I think I was saying 3-0 or 4-0 about 12 months ago, thinking there might be a bit of rain around. But with the weather as it is, I have to say 5-0.”
August 2nd, 2006 at 8.44 am
He has made these comments for the last 12 years always about the batsman who has a little form coming into the series. Look at your stats he always humbles the batsman he names before a series because it plays with their heads. That Galvo character is a moron and should be sent to Naru until he can swear allegance to Warny and the rest of Australian cricket.
August 2nd, 2006 at 9.40 am
I think I’d be a bit miffed if I were an English batsman who McGrath couldn’t be bothered targetting.
August 2nd, 2006 at 12.08 pm
He really is a pantomime villain, isn’t he? The psychological hold he used to have over the likes of Mike Atherton just isn’t there anymore. His predictions are becoming exercises in self-parody that we can all laugh at. In a few weeks time he’ll make a 5-0 whitewash prediction, and then he’ll say something derogatory about England riding their luck last year or only having the Ashes on loan.
In amongst all this, Warne will again name one or more of Strauss / Cook / Bell as his bunnies and then move on to chatting about his remodelled googly and (yet another, yawn…) mystery ball. I have to hand it to them, though, it is part of the act, and much more enjoyable than listening to that blockhead Hayden going on about how England are a one-man team, blah blah blah…
The pressure’s on the Aussies this time, and quite a number of them won’t be around for the next Ashes series – if they don’t win it back this winter, they could be in for a long wait. Let’s hope Pietersen, Flintoff and Harmison can reopen some old wounds at the Gabba.
August 2nd, 2006 at 12.45 pm
Relax people.
August 2nd, 2006 at 12.52 pm
I hope the aussies create new wounds on there bodys so they cant play for the rest of the series! 
August 2nd, 2006 at 3.29 pm
doesn’t matter too much if they do just that, Elliott, we’ve got plenty more queueing up for a place 
August 2nd, 2006 at 7.33 pm
I notice he didn’t target KP. Given that he normally targets the best batsmen on the team, what does his refusal to target KP say?
That he will be out of the attack by the time KP gets into bat, possibly……. or is it a triple bluff?
August 2nd, 2006 at 9.44 pm
Nice to know Cooky has got the Aussies worried! He should be honoured!
August 3rd, 2006 at 1.18 am
please Gentlemen and some of you that aren’t so gentle!
One writes off a player as Mcgrath at ones own risk.If this is what motivates him to play well, then good for him.Let the mental warfare begin….
August 3rd, 2006 at 5.00 am
I see Mike Selvey in the Guardian has been properly wound up on the same subject, although he does have the grace to admit that the statement was made in response to a casual question. Poor fellow seems to be quite bilious on the subject. He also gets himself into a frightful lather about the question of rehabilitation for England’s walking wounded in Australia. Again, (yawn), were there any guns held to collective heads of the counties employing Australians and others? Was Langer engaged by Somerset on a charitable basis? Of course not. There is no impediment to Freddie playing Pura Cup cricket. The real question is whether a State side would be tempted to do so and on what basis.
August 3rd, 2006 at 6.26 am
Michael, it makes me wonder whether columnists like Mike Selvey are really wound up about these things or whether they just feel obliged to be wound up about them in order to have something to write about. They have to fill their column-inches up with something.
And as you suggest, what may sound like a campaign of words from Aussie cricketers, may actually just be the media over there nagging them about it for quotes. McGrath may be getting it every day: “Glenn, Glenn, which of those Pommy batsmen will you be targetting?” In the end he has to say something.
Then again, what do I know.
August 3rd, 2006 at 9.00 am
Kathy, I think that you’re right. Most of them get so jaded with the intrusiveness of the media that they will say anything. Picking targets is a bit of a game, and in the scheme of things pretty harmless, I would have thought. I am sure that there is more tongue in cheek to it than anything else, but they must get a giggle when they see the journos frothing. The fact that it gets so much coverage, especially in the UK, is to me more an indication that the football season has yet to start than anything else. If they want to get indignant about what sportsmen say, rather than do, let them sound off about Lampard’s recent opus.
August 4th, 2006 at 12.19 am
Kathy was the name I coudn’t get-she seems to have it sussed. Ofcourse its bluff and double bluff re Rod.Marsh etc. Mind you Jones was LBW to Warne today for 35 today.Obviously I didn’t see it but was it a good decision? I’d say roll on the football season but just maybe we have had enough.Anyone for rugby? Reisha was texting[sorry].Time to grope to bed.
August 5th, 2006 at 8.51 pm
An ageing McGrath is still easily the best fast bowler on the planet. Yes, his prediction for the last Ashes series made him look foolish in the end, but that was only because he wasn’t at his best after the first Test. The scoreline could’ve been much different if McGrath was firing on all cylinders. It wasn’t exactly coincidental that Australia lost the only two Tests that McGrath didn’t play. Cook and Strauss should be concerned. And so should everybody laughing at McGrath, for they’re very likely to be eating their words this winter.
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