1st Test: England v Australia

[piriyanth]

tweaking Panesar I can't belive the aussies couldn't get him out.:

 

[sitarsolomon]

I think the Aussies will win

 

[smssia0112]

Very unlucky, England really got let off the hook there, we should've won a match we dominated. Fortunately, we are still the better team and should still be able to take the series without it.

 

[pcfan123]

Hauritz was the best spinner in the end. Swann got better and better throughout the match, Monty maintained his consistent level of crap. I would be very surprised if Hauritz was dropped.

 

[Left_Hander]

I stayed up till 4am to see Anderson and Monty hang on by the skin of their teeth. Even though Australia drew the game it was kind of worth it. Well done to Collingwood, if it wasn't for him the game would of been over before tea. One of the Fox commentators after the game said "that even though there wasn't many runs or wickets for an hour and a half, it was still fascinating cricket. This is something that you don't get in Twenty20". I defiently agree with that.

Who said Test cricket is dead?

 

[RoboRocks]

I have to question Andrew Strauss in this match. Not only has his captaincy been terrible and negative but he is not getting across to the other players, otherwise we would have approached this match with a lot more intensity.

Regardless of what anyone says, England are a good side and are capable of beating this Australian team, and with the right intensity and the right leadership, we certainly can win this series. England a lot more from Strauss. He needs to be firm and get these players to gel together as a team or else this will be another ashes series down the gutter.

I would also like to see a lot more communication from the captain and the rest of his players. The likes of Pietersen, Collingwood and Flintoff have all been captain and they should be there offering advice to Strauss because I'm sure he would need it at the moment. Also I would like to see Cook get involved as well, since he is the vice-captain, he would be the next in line to the post and he should communicate plans to Strauss a bit like Michael Clarke does for Ricky Ponting at times. Plus, Swann has been around the county circuit for a long time now and both Broad and Anderson have good cricket brains, especially Broad, who many claim could go on to become England captain some day. I hope that then doesn't stop in the middle but in the dressing room as well such as declarations. Ponting's declaration yesterday was a perfect example of a positive declaration and it set the game up for Australia. If the captain, coach and the 10 other player all think you need over 500 or only 2 sessions to bowl out the opposition on the last day, then there is a big problem, which I doubt there is.

 

[pcfan123]

I have to question Andrew Strauss in this match. Not only has his captaincy been terrible and negative but he is not getting across to the other players, otherwise we would have approached this match with a lot more intensity.

A prime example of Strauss's negativity was when Colly was bowling. You would think he would but a slip in after Colly beats Katich the first time, but the second time and the next day? still no slip because we had people saving runs at third man instead. He needs to identify which one of his bowlers is attacking well and who is getting a pasting.

Boycs says that captaincy is innate. "you either have it or you dont" and I am inclined to agree with him. Strauss is not a good captain.

 

[Flintoff Rocks]

What a hard-fought draw.

Collingwood truly showed Cook, Bopara, Pieterson and the like, what it means to play in The Ashes, and how important it is to fight and fight and fight, no matter what the scoreline.

Collingwood, Anderson, Swann and Monty. :hpraise

England to go on and win the 2nd test now IMO.

 

[aditya123]

The Ashes are the pinnacle of cricket. More than the World Cup, more than any other nation. Every sport has its main event and for cricket it is the Ashes.

Who cares about India Pak anyways besides Indians and Pakistanis? Who cares about the Ashes? the whole cricketing world, ie all you Indians and Pakistanis discussing it in this thread.

EDIT: Will beat me to it!

It is just that we in the subcontinent love the game of cricket and hence almost always keep track of most games of cricket, even Ban v WI.
That is not to say that we mean to say that the Ashes is not significant. It is definitely an iconic event and in terms of test cricket, just because of its history. If you go by competitive nature of the contests, India v Aus and SA v Aus have been far better for sometime now.
If you go by the passion involved, India v Pakistan would at least stand on par with the Ashes.

I do not agree with the attitude that `Nothing else matters to us, its just the Ashes that we care about.' You would not see an Indian or a Pakistani saying things like, 'As long as we beat Pakistan/India it is ok.That is all we care about' because every series is viewed as equally important by us. It does not take anything away from the rivalry but just shows how much we love the game.

Absolutely, Ashes is important even than world cup. Becasue Ashes has some history where world cup has nothing. Just fighting for the top spot.

This one is the most hilarious of them all. The World Cup is`Just fighting for the top spot` ! What matters then, the bottom spot ?

aditya123 added 10 Minutes and 0 Seconds later...

Talking of yesterday`s game, I was quite surprised that Ponting threw the ball to North and not Clarke. Clarke is someone who fires it straight and famously took 3 wickets against India in the final over at Sydney.

 

[pcfan123]

Talking of yesterday`s game, I was quite surprised that Ponting threw the ball to North and not Clarke. Clarke is someone who fires it straight and famously took 3 wickets against India in the final over at Sydney.

monty > all of India's tail

infact Monty > Yuvraj , did you know Monty once hit 8 sixes in an over.

 

[mattfb]

Stuart Clark should get in. Btw ........ Watson was inclued in this tour ?? When he will play ?? Johnson was really poor, no concistency, nothing.

If Watson plays we will lose 4-0 easily because theres no chance he could hit 125 no let alone 25 no.

Every dismissal today Ponting was having a word with the batsmen and sending them on their way. It's just little things like that which get the people against you.

And I maintain that Peter Siddle is one masisvely ugly and annoying man.

Pete Siddle is a legend. Gotta love his passion.

Woah, this thread has over 16,000 views. That's impressive for 1 Test.

Onions for Panesar. That is all we should change.

It's in the top 40 replied threads ever in PC. We it was at like 3 hours before the end of the match, it's probably in the top 30 now. That's just for 1 test.

Fair imo, Apart from Hilfy, no one was impressive. Cant even take out the tailenders.

Siddle was excellent. Easily our second best bowler. Did you by any chance just look at the scoreboard before you came on here?

I respect the Ashes and find it very entertaining, but it is ████ compared to India V Pakistan.

And it's just downright hilarious that people think the Ashes is even on par with the World Cup.

Test cricket >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ODI. Hence The Ashes > World Cup.

Check the replies section of this thread and see how many non-English/Aussie members have posted bearing in mind the first match finished today. Try telling me it's not that significant when you keep posting in the thread.

Yeah Howise is like 3rd top poster or something and there are others with over 50. Pretty good, shows that it is the best Test Series going around.

I still honestly believe we should of chucked in Hilfy to one of those final overs. We overused Siddle in the end when we didn't need him most. Plus, what was with North bowling wide and short.

Yeah Siddle looked tired after he got the wicket, maybe should have got Hilfy back on. I thought Siddle was really good though but he just couldn't keep performing at that peak. He was bending his back and trying the hardest out of all our bowlers, which you could see by his passion, all Test Match.

Lords is not cardiff, Where Hauritz will get aid. Clark is quite experinced and he can turn the tables anytime. If Clark is fit to play, I am sure he will play. Personally i feel Johnson to sit but for his batting power he is quite needed. Siddle can be lethal with his swing and speed than Hilfenhaus. As far i remember Lee was out of 2 weeks. Today, we really missed Lee he would have taken those tails with quite ease.

Why would you take Siddle out? It'll look like this at Lords:

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
North
Haddin
Johnson
Clark
Siddle
Hilfy

We should easily take about 16 wickets with the main bowling attack and the part timers might get a few. I think the pace could get all 20 but it won't be easy.

 

[aditya123]

Is it just the English fans or even the team which thinks of every series other than the Ashes as a warmup to the Ashes? If that is so, other fans would feel cheated because it would feel as if England do not rate opponents other than Australia and hence aren`t putting up their best on other tours.
Its time people realize that cricket is`nt just India v Pakistan or England v Australia. The history and all that sort of stuff is great but to suggest that other series do not matter or that the World Cup is pointless is absolute thrash.

aditya123 added 2 Minutes and 29 Seconds later...

monty > all of India's tail

infact Monty > Yuvraj , did you know Monty once hit 8 sixes in an over.

India have remained unbeaten against Australia in 6 tests since Sydney 2008, having won 3 and drawn 3. Shows how little we have relied on our tail against the Aussies.

 

[mattfb]

Is it just the English fans or even the team which thinks of every series other than the Ashes as a warmup to the Ashes? If that is so, other fans would feel cheated because it would feel as if England do not rate opponents other than Australia and hence aren`t putting up their best on other tours.
Its time people realize that cricket is`nt just India v Pakistan or England v Australia. The history and all that sort of stuff is great but to suggest that other series do not matter or that the World Cup is pointless is absolute thrash.

My local optometrist has some glasses cheap, want me to pick you up a pair?

We never said the other series were useless (which you would know if you read). We just said that no series comapres to the importance, significance and rivarly of the Ashes. Plus we never said the World Cup is pointless (which you would know if you read), I just said Test cricket > ODI and seems the best test series is The Ashes and the best ODI series is the World Cup it means The Ashes > The World cup.

So what colour glasses do you want? I think red would look nice...

 

[irottev]

Part time bowlers shouldn't be bowling when pushing for victory. I can understand a few overs before lunch or tea or whatever or when things aren't working for the main men. Maybe just before a new ball also. But bowling them to try win you a game is stupididy. I remember back to when Clarke I think was bowled against India? late in the day and helped take wickets and did really well, but that seemed like a freak occurrence. Get the main bowlers on, the ones posing the threat.

 

[shravi]

My local optometrist has some glasses cheap, want me to pick you up a pair?

We never said the other series were useless (which you would know if you read). We just said that no series comapres to the importance, significance and rivarly of the Ashes. Plus we never said the World Cup is pointless (which you would know if you read), I just said Test cricket > ODI and seems the best test series is The Ashes and the best ODI series is the World Cup it means The Ashes > The World cup.

So what colour glasses do you want? I think red would look nice...

Yes and our point is that that is simply not true. I'm a cricket fan too and I can safely say that isn't true for me. Putting The Ashes above all other series' is an opinion, and a choice. It is not a fact, or an obligation. Once again, it is entirely subjective.