[Archived] The Ashes

[jim mk2]

The moralistic one-eyed tone of the Australian newspaper reporting is laughable.

Perhaps they need reminding of the "Most disgraceful moment in the history of cricket"

...... perpetrated by Australians of course.

[Beta Ray Bill]

The moralistic one-eyed tone of the Australian newspaper reporting is laughable.

Perhaps they need reminding of the "Most disgraceful moment in the history of cricket"

...... perpetrated by Australians of course.

Richie Benaud just oozes class in those summing up moments, unlike the Chappell brothers actions on the field.

Also funny to hear him say "we get a lot of letters and phone calls" ... obviously it's well before the internet/mobiles but when was the last time you didn't hear "texts and emails" in such a context? Seems rather quaint.

[ffan]

Anyone know what the pitch is like for Thursday?

[RibbleValleyRover]

Anyone know what the pitch is like for Thursday?

Well it won't be as dusty as Cardiff that's for sure. I believe the view is that it will be pretty flat but good bowling and patience will take wickets, the slope will play a part especially for those Batsmen who aren't used to facing it.

It will be interesting to see if any information does come out tomorrow about the pitch.

Oh and iirc we haven't beaten Australia there since 1934...

[RibbleValleyRover]

Siddle looking forward to bowling at Lord's

First time I've seen Siddle bowl and i have to say i was a bit impressed. It was a pretty lifeless wicket and i thought he bowled decently. Looks a real workhorse that will bowl at pace all day. Whether he has success at Lord's who knows, the slope will help him.

From an England perspective i see the press are calling for Harmison to be included:

England need Steve Harmison's pace to lift Lord's curse

I'd rather go with Onions personally, though I've made it clear I am not a Harmison fan.

[Flopsy]

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and mon

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

[nowthen]

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and mon

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'm not sure of where you stand on whether Freddie should play though.

[bellamy11]

You know what they say Flopsy, all work and no play...

[dave birch]

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and mon

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

You really mean that, don't you flops

(repeat three times)

[Flopsy]

bloody internet explorer

bloody internet explorer

bloody internet explorer

bloody internet explorer

bloody internet explorer

bloody internet explorer

bloody internet explorer

bloody internet explorer

Big news about Fred at about 11am Motherlandtime

http://www.cricinfo.com/england/content/story/414514.html

Looks like he's had enough

[AussieinUk]

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and mon

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

I'd leave Flintoff out and give him 2 weeks to recover, instead of pushing him to be fit to ply his normal brand of wicketless bowling and 20 runs per innings.

And although it pains me, I would play Onions and Harmlesson for fred and monty

Is that taking a quick opinion poll with yourself...? It looks like it is unanimous Flops

[Flopsy]

it's one way of bumping up the figures in my favour

[jim mk2]

Not surprising; sadly Flintoff's catalogue of injuries allowed him to play to his full potential only for a couple of blessed seasons when he was one of the best players in the world.

Love him because he is Lanky but not as good as Botham.

Returning to Australian sportsmanship (or lack of it), sensible words from Matthew Syed

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/col...icle6710974.ece

[Flopsy]

Will probably mean Lancashire will win the Championship this season though now

[AussieinUk]

The Flintoff press conference coming up sounds ominous.. Could he be retiring? Bloody shame, as he is a great player.

[Flopsy]

Aggers is saying that he'll be going at the end of the series.

[ffan]

If Flintoff actually worked at his game then he'd of been one of the best bowlers ever. Sad to see him go, he was a good player.

[Flopsy]

he did work at his game, unfortuantely his body couldnt cope with his bowling.

Booze has nothing to do with it, however much we'd like to blame it.

[ffan]

he did work at his game, unfortuantely his body couldnt cope with his bowling.

Booze has nothing to do with it, however much we'd like to blame it.

That's the total opposite of what I read and heard but I'd prefer to believe you.

[AussieinUk]

Aggers is saying that he'll be going at the end of the series.

Yep - bang on flops. Confirmed that his body cannot take anymore tests and will retire at end of this series. Timing is a little strange..

[Flopsy]

Booze doesnt affect your ankle bones or your knee muscles, especially looking at how trim and fit he is and has been for a while.

He's a big lad and his front foot (according to Allan Donald) lands in just the right way to cause maximum stress throughout his body.

Plus, as my 70 mile cycle ride proved the other week. Once you hit 30 your body is going downhill and wont recover anywhere near as quickly from injury

[DeadlyDirk]

Think it's a bad choice for the decision though when it's going to take some focus away from the second test, especially if he is't playing.

Could have announced it at the start or the end of the series, don't see the need to do it now if that is what the press conference is for, can't really see why else he'd be calling a press conference unless perhaps he's our new striker? I guess he does fit the big man mould.

Sounds more and more like Flintoff will miss the next test, the next one isn't back to back though is it so I'm not sure if he will need 2 tests to recover, I guess we'll see how bad the flare up is.

I think most people agree Onions will come in for Panesar and now it's looking the likely option that Harmison will come in for Flintoff, it does weaken the batting order a bit as I said before but then Flintoff is no master batsmen these days and Harmison can get 10-20 each innings hopefully.

It's up to the top order to get us some runs this innings, not 40's, 50's and 60's, we need big hundreds and then for the bowlers to try and get on top early on and attack from the off.

[ffan]

Booze doesnt affect your ankle bones or your knee muscles, especially looking at how trim and fit he is and has been for a while.

He's a big lad and his front foot (according to Allan Donald) lands in just the right way to cause maximum stress throughout his body.

Plus, as my 70 mile cycle ride proved the other week. Once you hit 30 your body is going downhill and wont recover anywhere near as quickly from injury

Aye, fair enough.

[Scotty]

Yep - bang on flops. Confirmed that his body cannot take anymore tests and will retire at end of this series. Timing is a little strange..

I think the timing could be inspiried. Fred will play with extra freedom knowing that its his last tests, the crowd will be behind him even more than before, and I expect the rest of the team will want to win the series for Fred.

[DeadlyDirk]

I think the timing could be inspiried. Fred will play with extra freedom knowing that its his last tests, the crowd will be behind him even more than before, and I expect the rest of the team will want to win the series for Fred.

That's true and I could see it happening but for me The Ashes should be about England vs Australia, that's big enough excitement for me, no need to make it Flintoff's fairwell tour, he could have waited until the end of the series and it wouldn't have changed anything but then in all fairness it sounds like a decision he's probably made on this latest setback and probably wanted to make an immediate announcement.

Still hope we get some big runs here from the top 6 because were going to need it.

They certainly didn't manage it in the last Ashes test at Lords!

ME Trescothick c Langer b McGrath 4

AJ Strauss c Warne b McGrath 2

MP Vaughan* b McGrath 3

IR Bell b McGrath 6

KP Pietersen c Martyn b Warne 57

A Flintoff b McGrath 0

Such a shame to see Warne and McGrath not playing these days

If anyone didn't know by the way Pietersen has passed a fitness test after an injection in his achilles (Not great news considering he has an injection before Cardiff too in his back) and Bell has been released from the squad, I'm sure he enjoyed his couple of days there again.