Ashes 2013/2014

[Biffa Bacon]

The speculation is that Swann was told he was going to be dropped so he threw his toys out and gave up, such fighting spirit!

 

[Joe_Fox]

I was at the G yesterday. Was gutted that we gave up all our wickets late on day three in gutless fashion. Could have been an interesting day four had we still had a few wickets. Nevertheless, its something I've always wanted to do so I can now add ashes at the mcg to the list of great sporting events I've attended (euro 96 final and world cup 2006 final are in that list).

 

[Joe_Fox]

Guess what? Another collapse by the English batsmen. Unbelievably shite. Embarrassing. Send them home economy.

 

[Joe_Fox]

And another one goes. Flop.

 

[Joe_Fox]

Cook has to be dropped as captain now. He's tactically inept.

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

Massive changes now needed, far too many of the established players seem to have lost their motivation whilst some of the other selections have boarded on desperate. This would be my team for the next test with a view to building for the next Ashes series. I would potentially remove the captaincy from Cook although not too sure there is any other stand out candidate to replace him.

Alistair Cook
Alex Hales
Joe Root
Ian Bell
James Taylor
Ben Stokes
Jos Buttler (wk)
Stuart Broad (C)
Scott Borthwick or Simon Kerrigan (spinners spot)
James Anderson
Steve Finn

 

[bocadillo]

Send them home economy.

Leave the useless ****ers out there. We have no further use for them.

 

[glyn]

This series was remarkably like following Leicestershire County championship matches from last season.

 

[Real Sharapova]

Massive changes now needed, far too many of the established players seem to have lost their motivation whilst some of the other selections have boarded on desperate. This would be my team for the next test with a view to building for the next Ashes series. I would potentially remove the captaincy from Cook although not too sure there is any other stand out candidate to replace him.

Alistair Cook
Alex Hales
Joe Root
Ian Bell
James Taylor
Ben Stokes
Jos Buttler (wk)
Stuart Broad (C)
Scott Borthwick or Simon Kerrigan (spinners spot)
James Anderson
Steve Finn

I'm not sure if Kerrigan has got over his mental breakdown at the Oval last year TBH. It could take decades.

 

[Brown Nose]

I've lost too much sleep over recent weeks watching that bunch of gutless, inept tossers.

Always believed that the problem with cricket in England is the fact that it is a middle class sport. Seriously, what has Alistair Cook got from his background as a chorister and public schoolboy that gives him guts when it's required? He's a terrible, clueless captain.

I know Bell and Broad went to public schools but not sure about others. Then you've got Trott, Prior and Pieterson who are South Africans anyway.

Strauss was both a public schoolboy and South African but somehow was a good captain. His team and his era are now over.

Time to start again with some players who've got the stomach to graft. Also, might be an idea to have some cricket pitches in schools. Precious few in state schools nowadays.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

I've lost too much sleep over recent weeks watching that bunch of gutless, inept tossers.

Always believed that the problem with cricket in England is the fact that it is a middle class sport. Seriously, what has Alistair Cook got from his background as a chorister and public schoolboy that gives him guts when it's required? He's a terrible, clueless captain.

I know Bell and Broad went to public schools but not sure about others. Then you've got Trott, Prior and Pieterson who are South Africans anyway.

Strauss was both a public schoolboy and South African but somehow was a good captain. His team and his era are now over.

Time to start again with some players who've got the stomach to graft. Also, might be an idea to have some cricket pitches in schools. Precious few in state schools nowadays.

The captain problem is that with centrally contracted players from a young age there is no time for players to learn captaincy skills by captaining their county, of the current senior players none have any real experience of running a team so the choice of captain comes down to next one in line, Bell, Broad et al might be looked at as next captain but with no experience. Let players spend more time playing county cricket and they might be more ready for the fight but with modern international cricket schedules and an untouchable core of players it's unlikely.

 

[Brown Nose]

The captain problem is that with centrally contracted players from a young age there is no time for players to learn captaincy skills by captaining their county, of the current senior players none have any real experience of running a team so the choice of captain comes down to next one in line, Bell, Broad et al might be looked at as next captain but with no experience. Let players spend more time playing county cricket and they might be more ready for the fight but with modern international cricket schedules and an untouchable core of players it's unlikely.

Very fair point and one I'd not considered. So in some ways it actually boils down to cash (surprise, surprise).

Michael Clarke is nothing special in my opinion. He simply engages his average brain in the field and doesn't just let time drift by. One of the most frustrating things about the last few weeks is how average the Aussies were.

You may just as well have a clothes horse standing in the field as Cook. He's certainly never picked up anything about captaincy from his experiences to date. And with a brain dead coach like Gooch telling everyone to 'work harder', he's not going to get any help there either.

 

[Joe_Fox]

Agree, you should see the enthusiasm for cricket here. Everyone plays it in the park.

 

[glyn]

Interesting to see that Australia, and Mitchell Johnson in particular, are doing the same to S.Africa as they did to England.

Amazing how quick their fortunes have turned.