The Ashes - Australia vs England 2010/11 Test Series.

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Now that the ashes series is looming to an abrupt end I'm getting ready for the upcoming ODIs.
Can we bounce back and win the CB series or not? Who has everyone got in their side?

Mine is:
Watson
Haddin
Hodge
Clarke
White
Hussey
Smith
Johnson
Doherty
Lee
McKay

Hodge could come into consideration for the game in Melbourne at least, he's been picked in the World Cup squad and with Ponting's finger, this might his time to strut his stuff. Ferguson may also be given a go in the middle order and move Clarke or Huss up the order.

Harris would have been a certain starter with the ball hadn't he got injured, but I've got Lee in there who has bowled with good pace and McKay who can change his pace.
 
I am going to go with

Watson
S Marsh
Clarke
White
Fergie
Hussey
Haddin
Johnno
Doherty
Siddle
McKay

With nothing of meaning really left in the ashes I'm going to put in a quick review of the side.

Watson B+: It's a harsh marking for a guy who has averaged around the 50 mark whilst opening the batting and at different times looked to be our most likely bowler. Unfortunately for big Watto we just need to see more for him. He has to start to be able to turn some of the 40's and 50's into hundreds, he has the game and he is probably our best batsmen right now and for that very reason we need him making big hundreds. You can't imagine how different this series may have been if Watto converted that 90 into a massive ton and another one of his starts too a big hundred.

Hughes D: Worked hard, showed promise and most importantly showed improvement and fight. It was really unfortunate that he had that mental lapse before lunch on day one. I am not sure whether they will stick with him but I hope they do. He has the game and has shown improvement. It's a shame their isn't another test match because I reckon he isn't far away. Ultimately thought 3 failures and a couple of 30's isn't good enough.

Punter F: At the end of the day all that matters is the runs scored and he didn't score them. He actually looked in pretty good touch at the gabba and in perth but got a couple of corkers early and a couple of unlucky dismassals and then looked too be trying to hard. Cricket's a tough game when it's not going your way and it certainly didn't go Ricky's way this series. He is one of the all time great batsmen and still has plenty to offer but this would have been the toughest time in his test career at least in the last 5 years.

Clarke F: Worse then Ricky for mine. Ricky had the added pressure of captaincy and batted at 3 often coming in at 3 for sweet fa and as I mentioned above got a couple of pearlers early and a couple of unlucky dismassals. Clarke looked to be in worse form at most times and then when he did look to be batting well simply threw it away with poor shot selection. I can't figure out why he is still talked about as the captain in waiting.

Hussey A: Was Mr Cricket at his best, patience, mental strength, class, technique and counter attack. Brilliant reliable batting. Would have liked a stronger finish to the series but you can't be carrying the load from 5 every match.

Smith D-: Unlike Hughes, Smith hasn't shown any improvement. I thought he's batting game was more solid then it is, I was given a rude shock. The damning thing for him today was when he was batting with Siddle, the two in contrast, Siddle looks the batsmen and Smith the lower order slasher. His technique is so poor that he has to play very aggresive because if he was to try to occupy the crease and accumulate runs he would end up nicking one and going out cheap anyway so the only way he is going to make any half decent score is to take them on and get away with it.

Haddin A: Great series for a wicket keeper batsmen, was asked to do too much to often in this series. I am a massive believer in the guy gunning for his spot (Paine) and would love to see him in there but you can't fault Hads. Superb series for him.

Johnson C: Hardest to grade his best has been A grade and the rest has been well off. Some flattering figures in this test get him up to the C grade, well below what we need from him. Needs to be able to apply pressure when things aren't going his way.

Siddle B: I know it's strange that I have give a higher mark to Sids then Johnno when Johnno has A) Taken more wickets and B) made a couple of 50's but my view is this. Siddle is your first change work horse bowler and he has played that role perfectly this series. Johnson is the strike bowler and he hasn't played his role well enough, often enough. Add to that the when Johnson bowl poorly he releases so much pressure and makes it hard for whoever is at the other end.

Harris B+: Much the same as Siddle but more dangerous. Our line up clearly looked it's best with Rhyno in the side.

Hilfenhaus D: Not good enough. He was our swing bowler, our Anderson and the gap between the two was a huge part in the difference between the side. I know he has bowled well without luck but there is a reason he has been unlucky. 1) He swings the ball from the hand making it much easier to predict the balls flight path. 2) He doesn't get much cut off the deck. Meaning once you pick the swing that's all you got to worry about. 3) He only swings it from off further away, anytime he attempts to swing it from middle and leg to around off stump if goes straight on, meaning most balls he swings are leavable. 4) He balls too short. 5) He hasn't bowled a good ball that goes the other way again making him predictable and easier to read.

The others

Katich B: Really reliable batsmen got us off to a start on most occasions even when injured.

Doherty D: Bowled flat and defensively, would have been good for the one dayers but not a test match bowler.

Dough UG: Can't grade him one match bowling in adeliade in an innings where they made 600, would be unfair to give him a grade off the back of just that.

Usman C: Good debut, looked composed and sound. Is a top talent couldn't ask for too much from a guy asked to bat at 3 on debut.

Beer C: Again showed lots of promise, tossed it up, flighted it, got a bit of curve in the air and got the odd one to spin as much as anyone else in this test. Really troubled Cook. Has a lot to work with.
 

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Guys, where's the Tait at?

Is Doherty really ahead of Haury at keeping it tight?

Johnson is about as dangerous as Harbison from the previous Ashes (might take a few on the way, but please meanwhile have these runs/wides for free).

Like SMarsh, maybe Fergie, but even at 33 DHussey might supplant his brother for an ODI place? Clarke/White and Haddin/Paine might be other close calls?
 
twaters said:
Guys, where's the Tait at?

Is Doherty really ahead of Haury at keeping it tight?

Johnson is about as dangerous as Harbison from the previous Ashes (might take a few on the way, but please meanwhile have these runs/wides for free).

Like SMarsh, maybe Fergie, but even at 33 DHussey might supplant his brother for an ODI place? Clarke/White and Haddin/Paine might be other close calls?
Click to expand...

I think Tait's just back from injury. Doherty v Hauritz is a close one. Johnson has always been a decent ODI bowler by some strange force of nature.

I suspect that the selectors will use the ODI's to try to give guys who are a shot for a test selection more international exposure. Both Fergie and S Marsh have done the job in the past and I suspect will be backed again probably over the likes of D Hussey.

Both Clarke and White are safe as houses, Clarke won't be dropped because he is still seen as the captain in waiting. White is close to our best ODI player.

Paine is IMO probably a better player then Hads, but Hads has done so well it's his spot and his alone for now. Certainly if he goes through a tough patch Paine will be putting the pressure on but you can't really make a case for Haddin not to be in the side. I am not totally against having both in the same side for example from this test side that played today I would have much rather had Paine play as a batsmen then Smith.
 
May aswell keep the cricket talk in here with the 20/20's, I may be old fashioned but it is certainly my least favourite form of the game, it's fun to watch but hard to take seriously, the degree of luck involved aswell as the fact that the game is 100% geared towards batsmen make it hard for me to take seriously at all.

What a performance by Watson insane efforts. Eoin Morgan looks like a genuine superstar and probably a name we will see a lot more of including in the longer form of the game.

Our selection panel got it wrong again, it's all good and well to pick pace bowlers for excitement but the balance of that attack was all wrong. If your going to go down that road at least include some new faces. I am happy (thrilled) to see Tait unleash in Aussie colours in the 20/20 but there is no need for Mitch to be playing 20/20 nor the reinclusion of Lee. I am not a fan of using 20/20 as a format to blood batsmen or spin bowlers but there isn't any harm in it for pace bowlers (at least IMO)
 
How Brett Lee gets a game in 20/20 cricket ahead of Nannes and Hilfenhaus is beyond me.

Lee was finished 3 years ago, and has never been economical, while Hilfy is a great 20/20 bowler, and Nannes is regarded as one of, if not the best 20/20 bowler on earth.

Great selection again by the Aussie selectors.
 
mattys123 said:
How Brett Lee gets a game in 20/20 cricket ahead of Nannes and Hilfenhaus is beyond me.

Lee was finished 3 years ago, and has never been economical, while Hilfy is a great 20/20 bowler, and Nannes is regarded as one of, if not the best 20/20 bowler on earth.

Great selection again by the Aussie selectors.
Click to expand...

On Nannes took up cricket late on a whim, imagine what a beast he would have been had he played cricket his whole life.

On England do they have a genuine tail ender in their entire tour party? Every bowler they have doubles as a handy batsmen. Shazad as far as I know is the worst of them and he still looked tidy enough.
 
Agree with Morgan, Shawthing. You will probably see him take Collingwood's spot in the test side. Very good batsman and even has a test hundred already to his name.

Their are two things that stand out at the moment between England and Australia. England can call up their reserve players you could say and they can/will instantly perform at the highest level. The depth is amazing and almost Collingwood like.

Secondly, England have ready made teams in all formats. Australia for a long time (not recently) have been playing their ODI players and Test players in the 20/20 format and i cant understand it. They are finally playing a side suited to the format which provides so much more of a challenge. If they could leave Lee in the ODI arena, or maybe leave him out for good, we might have had a W tonight.
 
Awesome_Dane said:
Agree with Morgan, Shawthing. You will probably see him take Collingwood's spot in the test side. Very good batsman and even has a test hundred already to his name.

Their are two things that stand out at the moment between England and Australia. England can call up their reserve players you could say and they can/will instantly perform at the highest level. The depth is amazing and almost Collingwood like.

Secondly, England have ready made teams in all formats. Australia for a long time (not recently) have been playing their ODI players and Test players in the 20/20 format and i cant understand it. They are finally playing a side suited to the format which provides so much more of a challenge. If they could leave Lee in the ODI arena, or maybe leave him out for good, we might have had a W tonight.
Click to expand...

I think your bottom point is the most disappointing. If you look at the England 20/20 side there is very let overlap into their test side and as I mentioned earlier even if they where to play guys like Anderson and Tremlet in their 20/20 side I think it's negative impact probably least effects fast bowlers in a technical manner.

On the other hand Australia continues to try and pick similar sides to all formats, continues to use 20/20 as a training ground for young up and comers as recently as dropping Haddin to blood Paine, who should be the next test keeper. Whislt Paine is an old enough and good enough player to do this with it's the line of thinking that stinks. It means we aren't getting enough test cricketers and infact one day cricketers and our sides just lack that balance.

There really needs to be more seperation between the squads for each form, obviously the ODI squad is likely to be a mix of the test and T20 but I think there should be a fair bit of seperation between T20 and test cricket.
 
Australia win a game, finally, it felt like a while since that Perth test miracle, and now this, a win in a 20/20 game at the MCG.

And who got man of the match? Well of all people, it was a Victorian who 3 days ago had never played a game for Australia. AARON FINCH.:thumbsu::thumbsu:
 

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Awesome match, as good as one day cricket gets really, huge run chase, and a great individual innings to chase it down.

Bring on game 2, the Poms aren't easy to beat in anything anymore, that's for sure.
 
I thoroughly enjoyed being at the ground and watching the Aussies belt the Poms. The whole crowd were behind Australia, in particular Shane Watson, the roar when he brought up his ton was electric. Well done Shane, one of the finest knocks I've seen in ODI cricket. :thumbsu:
 
As great as last night was I am far from convinced with our bowling line-up.

Lee? Bollinger? Doherty? Even Smith?

Interested in peoples thoughts on who we should pick in our bowling attack?

I think ODI's suit Hilfenhaus better than Tests. He always swings the ball early and white balls swing more also.

I also like Johnson - gets wickets and handy with the bat.

Whatever happened to Bracken?

I'd like to see O'Keefe given ago as a spinner. Can wield the willow a bit as well. Hauritz might also make a good selection as an ODI specialist.

McDonald as an all rounder at Smiths expense might be a consideration.
 
Quicky said:
As great as last night was I am far from convinced with our bowling line-up.

Lee? Bollinger? Doherty? Even Smith?

Interested in peoples thoughts on who we should pick in our bowling attack?

I think ODI's suit Hilfenhaus better than Tests. He always swings the ball early and white balls swing more also.

I also like Johnson - gets wickets and handy with the bat.

Whatever happened to Bracken?

I'd like to see O'Keefe given ago as a spinner. Can wield the willow a bit as well. Hauritz might also make a good selection as an ODI specialist.

McDonald as an all rounder at Smiths expense might be a consideration.
Click to expand...

It's unfortunate Harris got injured in the test series. He would have been in my line-up, look at his career record in ODIs, his figures are as good as anyone going around.

Tait is an option at the World Cup. He can be erratic but he bowls a good in-swinging yorker at the death. His 2007 World Cup performance in the Caribbean was undersold, took wickets at a good rate while still being relatively economical.

Bracken hasn't played any cricket for a while so he's got no chance of playing for Australia.

As for the spinners I'm happy with Doherty, Hauritz and part-timers Smith and D.Hussey.
 
We can't even consider Tait for the World Cup, he can't even bowl 4 overs in 2 games back to back, let alone 10 overs in a World Cup, in which you play 3-4 games in a row at some points of the tournament within a few days.

Dan Christian should be the all rounder, Hilfy should be our opening bowler (even the Poms couldn't score off him in the ashes), and Johnson, Siddle and Watson can do the support.

Smith keeps showing he's not up to international cricket, it's just a shame McDonald has been injured all summer, or else I would have him ahead of Christian.

Whatever team we select though, as long as Hilfy is in the bowling attack, and we keep playing a spinner each game (Doherty or Hauritz), we will be hard to beat in the WC, don't worry about that.
 
Quicky said:
As great as last night was I am far from convinced with our bowling line-up.

Lee? Bollinger? Doherty? Even Smith?

Interested in peoples thoughts on who we should pick in our bowling attack?

I think ODI's suit Hilfenhaus better than Tests. He always swings the ball early and white balls swing more also.

I also like Johnson - gets wickets and handy with the bat.

Whatever happened to Bracken?

I'd like to see O'Keefe given ago as a spinner. Can wield the willow a bit as well. Hauritz might also make a good selection as an ODI specialist.

McDonald as an all rounder at Smiths expense might be a consideration.
Click to expand...

Our bowling effort was horrible, we are very lucky we saw such an amazing innings from Watson won the match off his own bat. If only he could convert like that in test cricket. That needs to be his building block though now it was an amazing effort to not just make the ton but make it huge and be there at the end.

Lee I am fine with, he is a decent one day bowler and a prefered option to Tait IMO, as Matty mentions the fact that Tait is pulling up stiff after a couple 20/20's doesn't look good.

Happy with Doherty as a spin option with D Hussey (if he holds his spot in the side) I am of the view that there isn't a great deal between he and Hauritz. O'Keefe would be the other option.

The more I see of Smith the less I see in him, seems to be getting carried awayed and going backwards in terms of his batting. Horrible and certainly looking less like a test batsmen and more like a slashing tale ender. I think Christian for Smith makes a lot of sense and really adds late order power hitting to our line up, which we are lacking a bit.

As Coin Toss mentions our two best ODI bowlers from last year in McKay and Harris are out which makes it tough. I agree Hilfy is more suited to ODI's then test. Mitch should be dropped again that was a really poor showing, he needs to work it out.

Our side looks pretty fragile still. Don't like Haddin opening would much prefer to have his clean hitting later down the order. I think Clarke needs to open if he is playing in the ODI side. Horrible and selfish performance with the bat, if he had batted to the end we probably would have lost.
 
Why the selectors didn't use this series as a build to the world cup is beyond me. Tait surely won't be going to the World Cup if he doesn't play a game in this series. And i disagree with the perception that Hilfenhaus is better in the ODI arena. He bowls in some poor areas for a swing bowler and his length towards the end of an innings has been known to be quite erratic.

On yesterdays performance, Lee looks alright and will play a major role at the WC but Johnson can cost us a game or win us a game in a blink of an eye and thats risky at such a big tournament. Hauritz has to be the spin option and how in the hell is Steve Smith getting a game? Three or four diving stops in the outfield does not keep you in any international side (well it shouldn't)

The batting is fine, just the bowling which needs a bit of ironing out in the series.
 
Wonder which way the selectors will go with Hussey out? I'd be tempted to open the batting with Finch and push Haddin down the order.

Michael Clarke has got to be under the pump IMO. Everytime he has been a captain of a short form game he has seemed far to prepared to put aside the needs of the team in the match in search of personal performances. On Sunday he was dotting up looking for form when we needed over 6 an over, he he was struggling with intent I'd be fine but he seemed perfectly prepared to block rather then looking to rotate the strike, it's no wonder he was asked to step down as T20 captain he did much of the same as a batsmen in that form too.
 
It seems most of the English cricket team are Collingwood supporters also, and not surprisingly it's been Paul Collingwood pushing our cause.

In the Herald Sun today, there's a quote from ex captain Michael Vaughn saying that he and some of his team mates were/are regular viewers of Collingwood game's back in the UK on TV, and that Collingwood himself was a regular Collingwood watcher.

(Wow, so many "Collingwoods" in that sentence:D).

Now we know why the Poms won the ashes, it's because they used the "side by side" motto that we did, why the Aussies played more like the Western Bulldogs or Stkilda, with a more individual approach.:)
 

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The Ashes - Australia vs England 2010/11 Test Series.

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