Cricket’s coming home!

KP is a gun, a lot better than I initially thought, but when batting with tail enders he needs to sharpen up his act. For one thing, he must farm the strike better. Certainly he should stop hitting singles off the first ball of the over. The cause may well have been lost, but I’m getting a faint whiff of “playing for red ink”.

Hussey’s the go-to guy here. Pietersen should have a look at how Shameless goes about batting with bunnies.

Congratulations to Australia!

I don’t think it’s going to take 17 years to get them back though…

By the way, that picture’s alternate text “The Ashes at the Herald on Sunday” is ever so slightly misleading.

You’ve got to read the BIG print.

And five reasons for Australia to worry a bit

1) Goodbye Langer, Hayden, Gilchrist, Warne, McGrath

Hello Johnson, Bracken, Tait, Voges, Cosgorve, Jacques oh and of course Michael Hussey has a younger brother

2) Brett Lee – pace may not be everything

One bad series does not an Englishman make. He’ll bounce back.

3) The all-rounder question is still open

We don’t need one. Our bowlers can pile runs on better than your middle order.

4) Now England will be motivated to respond again!

We endured 16 years of English ‘motivation’ you folded after 15 months.

5) And hopefully England will never again show up to an Ashes eo poorly prepared.

I’ll have to agree with that one.

Well I didn’t come here to gloat. There’s no need. We have the Ashes and I have a Tee-shirt, a black one, with the words “Five – NIL” printed in big white letters. I’ll wear it with pride. I’m happy with both.

What we all seem to have lost sight of in this series is that England really did nothing wrong except come to Australia with a roughly average Test team prepared to play Test Cricket.

What they didn’t realise was that they were about to be ambushed. The Australian Team that lost The Ashes went to ground after that defeat in England. Many ideas, theories, suggestions were bandied around, but basically it was “Danger Men at Work”. They trained, they practised, they dissected each English players strengths and weaknesses,,,,,,,,,and then waited in deep bush for the passing victims. All this happened in secrecy. There was never a whisper in any “Oz” newspapers let alone abroad.

Only those of us with a nose to the air in “Oz” had an inkling of what was about to happen. We said nothing. Loose Lips Sink Ships.

Add into this mix, a good dose of wounded pride, a hefty dollop of revenge and a whisp of good fortune.

The English Team arrived here thinking this was going to be a turkey shoot. It was indeed a turkey shoot. The English Team were the turkeys.

England you have a lot to be proud of. Your players served you well. Some were heroes. Some weren’t. But Australia had this in the bag before the English Team got on the plane to Australia.

What’s left of still wrigglng body of English Cricket will be decapitated in the next 2 remaining Test Matches.

As the Barmy Army would chant,,,,,,,,,

“Ding dong”

“Ding dong”

“Five nil”

“Five nil”

To the supporters of English Cricket I’d advise not to distress yourselves about this loss, don’t look to blame your team or it’s management. This defeat was simply unavoidable. There is more to cricket than individuals. Cricket is a game just like life. It needs deep thought, comittiment, a gambler’ nerves, a dedicated team effort and a belief in yourself, the nerve to back yourself to win. Australia had these qualities in spades. England had it, but not in spades. You had individuals and you banked on individuals. That’s dangerous. Australia had it in spades. That’s arrogance. Sometimes, the good guy doesn’t win.

Please pass on my sympathies to the following English players:

Flintoff

Hoggard

Collingwood

Strauss

Panesar

And the next Captain of England, a talented batsman, a leader, a perfomer under real pressure – Cook.

For they are the true heroes of English Cricket today.

Bilbo

I’ve just been reading again and again the comments posted by “Justcoz” at 5.48pm.

“Just”, You’ve left out a whole paragraph of why you were beaten and will continue to be beaten.

You never made one mention of a superior, united TEAM of cricketers, Not once. But the truth is there for all to see – if they want to see it. Cricket is after all a team game.

The English Cricket Team has been torn apart by internal division that resulted in an uncohesive mob of individuals – talented, yes, but not all on the same page of the hymn book. Fletcher saw to that. Divide and conquer and get your own way – the Fletcher family motto.

As for our future, you’ve looked at the obverse side of the coin. Our future for bowling is assured with the likes of Stuart Clarke -leading wicket taker for the series, young enough to continue and he actually “OutMcGrathed McGrath” His accuracy was laser like – consistently. Prior to this series, Clarke was regarded as a run of the mill State league bowler playing in New South Wales – nothing really special and yet he creamed the cream of Englands batsmen. There are more where he came from, all playing in State Cricket. All young and a bit raw, but we’ve got 3 years,,,,,,,

Batting? Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey (who has a younger brother, David, just like him playing in State Cricket), Voges will be tried out in the next test at the expense of one the best one day players in the world – Andrew “Roy” Simons. “Roy” just doesn’t have the temperament for Test cricket.

The biggest problem for Australian selectors will be who to leave out. That’s why Hussey couldn’t get a game until now. Hussey has been flailing runs in State Cricket for years. But who were we going to drop so that he could have a hit?

We are not in the least bit concerned because by 2009 you will have only just recovered from the bloodbath that will shape English Cricket when “Fletchers Failures” are held to account back in England.

Remember, this vendetta of Ricky Ponting’s has only just begun. It has 2 more Tests and several one day games to run yet. Your only chance is that “Warney” doesn’t play one day games.

Ponting’s anger knows no bounds. The humiliation will continue.

Bilbo

Blimey! Bilbo thinks cricket is just like life.I remember someone being severely chastised for saying cricket is a mircocosm of life,but he does overdo it a bit.

‘One swallow does not make a summer’ and one keeper does not make a team.
Off to work!Sigh.

Just want to say well done to the Aussies – England were outplayed in the key areas of the game, simple as that. Before the series started I thought Aus would win 3-1 (although to be fair I thought that last time too) but as soon as Adelaide happened 5-0 was odds on; you just don’t come back from that sort of mental scarring.

I don’t buy into the dodgy decisions, Justcoz. Look at the number of shockers Martyn and Katich had last time round; what goes around comes around IMO although Strauss does appear to be the chief victim this time round.

Well done Aussies you make a pretty decent side look very ordinary indeed. I just hope we come back from our beating as positively as you did yours.

Ref.Justcoz comments Dec.18th. Would you please cease your references to [English] convicts. surely our orginal
pioners are worthy of much kinder consideration. Their compulsoy presence in Australia. illustrated the predudices of the British Legal System of the time. Your comments indicate the expression of ‘Ridicule’ remains ‘Alive and Well’in the ‘Land of Mixed Content’.
What ‘Strangeways’ you have!