The Convicts Return

[PABBY]

What's the earliest time Ponting can admit defeat and agree on a draw?

[Scotty]

Asking rate of 7 an over if Australia skittle the last three next over.

I think we've won the Ashes.

346440[/snapback]

We won them over an hour ago.

[Lee]

Why is Ponting persisting with Warne now, give the poor lad a break!

[bellamy11]

Collingwood and Giles both justified their places now, when it mattered.

The knives were out for Giles after the first test. Look at how important he's been since then. Brilliant stuff.

[bellamy11]

KP brings up his 150 in style by battering Warne around. What an innings under the circumstances. He has been called into question lately but he has answered all his critics with this knock. The same cannot be said of Ian Bell, but that's a different question for a different time.

[Rovers_4_life]

Collingwood and Giles both justified their places now, when it mattered.

The knives were out for Giles after the first test. Look at how important he's been since then. Brilliant stuff.

346445[/snapback]

Agree about Giles but i'm not sure if Collingwood will keep in the team when Jones is fit. Personally i would play Collingwood instead of Bell who despite us winning the Ashes has had a very poor series.

Hail KP! He may not be able to catch but he can certainly bat!

Well done Gilo as well!

[PABBY]

"They're coming home ....."

[Flopsy]

I said KP owed us a big score - And Giles should be counted as an allrounder

All hail the king of Spain

[Flopsy]

Id just like to congratulate the Australians on an absolutely thrilling and great series - Neekoy time to change your signature.

Roll on Pakistan and India to bring us down to earth with a big bump

[Ste B]

KP has ended up as Englands top scorer in the series. Selections totally vindicated.. Could be the END for Ian bell though who, other than old trafford has managed to get out cheaply on too regular a basis.

[ABBEY]

partytime bud number three gone pub soon !!!!

5-0 glenn boy

up yer arse!!!!

oh yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[den]

Pietersens' just ruined Richie Benauds' farewell speech.

What a plonker.

[T4E]

C'mon Vaughan, declare now and lets win this is proper style.............

[Rovers_4_life]

Fair play to Brett Lee, it's all over for them and he's still charging in at 90+ mph, 100% effort throughout the series. If it wasn't for him and Warne it would have been all over long before now.

[Manchester Blue]

Neither Lee.

England will bowl a negative line reducing Australia's scoring abilities.

Balls normally called a wide in OD will not be in Test cricket.

346402[/snapback]

Swap that England for Tait and that was possibly the most accurate prediction you've made all summer Don.

[Blueboy Downunder]

how sweet this is....to be an englishman right now, but especially one that is in australia. all of my aussie mates over here have given me stick for the last 13 years about us not winning these ashes battles...no more needs to be said, for the time being!!!!

[PABBY]

Looks like Richie Benaud's going to miss out on one last session.

[Ste B]

YESSSSSS you can stick your 5-0 up your...

And Poor old farmer Giles gets his highest ever score as well. Farcical end to the game though, if this was boxing a decent ref It would have been stopped at the end of the innings.

Aussies taking the light on every opportunity, You've got 11 batsmen scared of the dark and Watson who thinks he has seen a ghost.

[Cheeky Sidders]

A genuinely magnificent series and both teams deserve enormous credit. Just a shame it fizzled out the way it did but such are the rules. I wouldn't want to be Ricky Ponting when he gets back to Australia though...

[grizfoot]

The Ashes are comin' home

[Shaddy]

Congratulations to all genuine (and I don't mean that in a snidey way) England cricket supporters, especially the messageboard members who have followed the series closely.

... I was going to say that I was gutted earlier, and then not gutted now... but as I type this, I do feel extremely disappointed again.

Anyway... England were the better team this series, and looking at the talent through the squad, they are definitely, without doubt, the *equal* of Australia. I'm not being mean-spirited about witholding the term better, but Australia had to win over a number of years before they could claim the worlds best title, without equivocation. England can do it by winning the series that are filler to the certifying series, in two and a bit years time in Australia.

The telling thing is, they, along with India half a decade ago, got over the aura surrounding the Australian team. It was pretty simple really, and this test is a perfect case in point. The performance of England's batsmen in this last innings has not been fantastic, and KP scored most of Englands runs. However, they've posted 300+ runs.

Now, you could say that it was on the back of a solitary individual batting performance... but that is how Australia has been so successful. At least one batsmen an innings puts his hand up, and bats a century. Then, a formidable bowling attack, of which England have nearly got (Harmisson and Giles have to improve, but that leaves three good bowlers) can defend reasonable targets.

As for Australia... in such moments, I want to lash out... blame them for throwing it all away. But fair dues, they tried very hard, fought all the way, preventing floggings and almost pulling of the remarkable. England out played them, and they were always trying to keep up with the better team. Beware those on this thread that intimated that Australia are a spent force... you may be developing an ignorance that you accused the Australians of. I expect them to get it together for the forthcoming series in preparation for the rematch downunder.

Again, I am quite disappointed with the series loss... however, and eventually, all teams and supporters end up making the forced, reluctant sacrifices that allow for renewal of interest in sport. Which means my summary, still relunctantly is...

England winning the Ashes is and will be great for cricket, and that is more important the Australian's rights to brag.

Edited September 12, 2005 by Shaddy

[Rovers_4_life]

All cricket fans are welcome and its great to see this series has captured the imagination of thousands who didn't care too much about cricket before it. Both teams gave everything and it was a delight to watch 8 weeks of fantastic cricket.

Only 10 minutes until the highlights are on Channel 4!!!

[Tris]

What a series, and what a final day.

The hour and a half we spent at Edgbaston that famous Sunday morning will live long in my memory, as will the stolen moments in front of the plasma screen and the internet at work, the moments on trains and buses when I relied on texts (cheers Claire ) and WAP to keep up with the never ending swings through each test match and the series as a whole.

In a summer which began with the farce of the Bangladesh test series, the enjoyable but plastic Twenty20 game and a seeming never ending torrent of one day matches, this extraordinary Ashes series has surpassed all expectations and put test cricket right back where it always belonged - at the pinnacle of sport, with the Football World Cup and the Olympic games - but for the first time I can remember, it's really caught the imagination of the entire public.

Finally, massive respect to the Australian players, especially to Brett Lee. Whilst Warne and McGrath clearly deserve the spotlight, Brett Lee has played this series with his heart on his sleeve and with aggression and passion, but as a proper sportsman. He hugged the victorious England players at the end of today as hard as he bowled at them, even in the final session when all was already lost.

It's been a fantastic couple of months, and I'm absolutely gutted it's all over. Where's the fun in watching this negative Rovers side in this crap league after living through that?!

[broadsword]

Chew on that, Terry Alderman, swivel on your Aluminium bat, Dennis Lillee, and look up to the skies and have a good blink Allan Border, because England got you beat, B'WANAS!

To paraphrase Darth Vader:

What a ###### fantastic day. It's seen the end of Kenobi and will soon see the end of the Aussie rebellion.

[brfcshabba]

"John Howard! Glenn McGrath! Bouncer The Dog! Rolf Harris! Lleyton Hewitt! Karl Kennedy! Kylie Minogue! Neekoy - can you hear me, Neekoy! Your boys took one hell of a beating! Your boys took one hell of a beating!"