The Ashes 2013/14

[Dr. Pain]

Kill us quickly or we'll start on how crap England bowling is for being unable to bowl out a bunch of hacks fast!

[DexterPunk]

I think this is good for Australian cricket in a lot of ways.


Sent from Han Solo using TK-421's phone.

[Bauer]

Clarke needs to bat at 3 and Watson needs to open the batting for his club side.

Full credit to the poms though. terrific innings by Root

[Johnny X]

Yay... 2 up

Great last wicket stand but I'm afraid the Aussies are just not up to it these days. Sort the dressing room quibbles out and get them up for the most important series an Aussie cricketer will ever be involved in. Where's the Aussie grit gone ?

[Big Kev]

Took an age to polish it off but

w00t

England: 361 & 349-7 (114.1 overs)
Australia: 128 & 235 (90.3 overs)

England win by 347 runs and lead the series 2-0

[norbs]

Stud nails it.

Watson's mentor is Alan Jones. Fuck me dead! This from the Fin Review this morning.

[Vilante]

No wonder he has such an inflated sense of self importance if he's montored by that twat!!

Spot on Bauer, he's been political nightmare in the team (alegedly) and has a serious fault in his batting style. We need someone that can see out the new ball.

[VTRacing]

This was posted after the first innings, but I think it's still relevant to the conversation:

[youtube] [/youtube]

[Bauer]

This was posted after the first innings, but I think it's still relevant to the conversation:

[youtube] [/youtube]

that was spot on I lol'd

[Dr. Pain]

There really isn't too much wrong with the team, they just need to have the right approach. Watson doesn't though.

[Vilante]

Legend haha

[DexterPunk]

Haha!


Sent from Han Solo using TK-421's phone.

[Hazelb]

hehe..i lol'd

[Dr. Pain]

We did something good, ended the test early for the royal currently being squeezed out.

[Jiminee]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/aus ... e-VN6xoLUI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That is an interesting article.
I like and agree with his point about it taking to long now for youngsters to go from junior cricket to Shield cricket. I think that change coincides with players being able to make a decent living from first class cricket and hanging around for 5 to 7 more years than previous financial realities would of allowed. I'm thinking guys like Cameron White, David Hussey, Mark Cosgrove, Jimmy Maher, Shaun Marsh, Martin Love etc who never quite made the step up so lingered in the first class system. I think we need a more ruthless shit or get off the pot type approach to see things improve or maybe an AIS style Centre of Excellence U23 team in the Shield. Even if that team would not be eligible for points at least they would be exposed to first class cricket earlier on and not be bombarded by short form stuff. Seems like it would be a pretty easy thing to make happen to.

Another little tidbit - Ricky Ponting is the most recent Aussie to play 100 Tests, Clarke is close with 93 (Gilly had 96) but 45 players have made their debut since Clarke now. Between Steve Waugh (335) and Ponting (366) though there were 9 inclusive of those two. We really did have an extraordinarily settled team and incredible run there during the 90s and that does not include guys like Damien Martyn, Jason Gillespie and Michael Slater. That has to be a contributing factor to our current cluster fuck.

[DexterPunk]

Ok... What?


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[Hazelb]

What joke the review system has become...a system that was put in place to stop howlers s now creating them...a fucking joke

[DexterPunk]

I can't even work out how they fucked that up.


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[Hazelb]

Looks like we will be fucked over again by a stupid umpiring mistake...

[DexterPunk]

"‪#‎ashes‬ 3rd umpire...should've gone to Specsavers." (Van Tuinen 2013)*


*Matt van Tuinen, 2013, Facebook.com.


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[Big Kev]

That is a shocker of a decision.

Nothing on hotspot, clear air between bat and ball, nothing either on the Sky Snicko, and he's still given out. I'd love to hear the 3rd umpires reasoning for that. I feel bad for you guys on that one (just briefly anyway )

[Hazelb]

Whole system needs reviewing... Take it out of the players hands, take it away from the umps, check every decision, or remove it from the game...

[VTRacing]

...should have gone to specsavers


Sent from Han Solo using TK-421's phone.

Haha...ahem.

[DexterPunk]

...should have gone to specsavers


Sent from Han Solo using TK-421's phone.

Haha...ahem.

Fixed.

[Big Kev]

The morning decision to give Usman Khawaja out caught behind has got plenty of people talking, including Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He tweeted: "That was one of the worst cricket umpiring decisions I have ever seen."