Australia vs England 1st test match thread

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

First topic message reminder :

The Ashes - 1st Test, Brisbane
21-25 November, 2013

Australia:
CJL Rogers, DA Warner, SR Watson, MJ Clarke*, SPD Smith, GJ Bailey,
BJ Haddin†, PM Siddle, MG Johnson, NM Lyon, RJ Harris.

England:
AN Cook*, MA Carberry, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, IR Bell, JE Root,
MJ Prior†, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, JM Anderson, CT Tremlett

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and HDPK Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)
TV umpire: M Erasmus (South Africa)
Match referee: JJ Crowe (New Zealand)
Reserve umpire: P Wilson (Australia)

[JDizzle]

To be fair, I think England's absolute peak was in Australia in 2010/11. A lot of players like Trott, Swann and arguably KP, Prior and Jimmy might never reach the level of performance they showed over that period of time again. That's not to say that they still aren't fine, fine players who are in the middle of a slump (Prior especially) but I don't think this England side will reach those levels again. A rebuilding phase is just round the corner IMO.

However, we are so, so much better than how we played in this Test it is unreal. And I have faith in these guys in that they have the ability and experience to turn it around.

[Guest]

It's amazing how similair Johnson and broad are in terms of how they gain confidence...If they score runs then it leads to confidence when they are bowling...Johnson everytime he scores runs he takes wickets, it happens all the time! Same with Broady...when broad is out of form with the bat then he tends to struggle with the ball..

[KP_fan]

They will try . But it isn't as simple as that.. 

I agree...changing pitch character completly is not easy...there is grass and watering, and compaction and scruffing as the variable to play with to take it one way or the otehr.
they will try to make it as fast and as bouncy as above techniques might permit

here is what Dobelle write in CI about the Adelaide pitch......bad news...they are bringing a new drop-in pitch


By reputation, Adelaide, the location of the second Test, is something approaching a batting paradise. It might, in normal circumstances, be expected to provide a tonic for England's beleaguered batsmen. But no-one is quite sure how the fresh drop-in pitch will play and it would seem oddly hospitable of Australia to offer anything other than another pitch of pace and bounce. There may be no respite in store

[ShankyCricket]

Alfie. England is on the slide. Get the youngsters in quicker so we will get back to the top quicker. Otherwise it will be a slow death

One loss and we're on the slide. #headsgone

I do think the team has been in steady decline for a while even when they were winning. Weren't all that convincing at home, admittedly.

[mystiroakey]

We are deffo on the way down. It's been clear for a year or so

[gboycottnut1]

Alfie. England is on the slide. Get the youngsters in quicker so we will get back to the top quicker. Otherwise it will be a slow death

One loss and we're on the slide. #headsgone

I do think the team has been in steady decline for a while even when they were winning. Weren't all that convincing at home, admittedly.

But there aren't any obvious English youngsters in the county game at present who have that quality needed to immediately step up to cope with the demands and standards required for Test Match Cricket V Australia, SA, India etc. Then again if England are desparate to find a few batsmen to replace the likes of Strauss, KP, etc they can try searching through SA and Australia for ready-made players!

[mystiroakey]

I think we are fine with root, ballance, Bairstow and Taylor tbh mate

[ShankyCricket]

Well, I never said there need to be any changes to the team. As JD said, this team peaked 3 years ago and has been in steady decline since but still good enough to beat most sides in the world.

[alfie]

Disagree about steady decline there Shanks. Have been a bit up and down but apart from that horrible UAE tour their only real failure was against SA: which will have disappointed them but that was a seriously tough opponent ! Who were arguably at their own peak...and the win in India was full of merit.

Will see how this tour goes before considering whether the team is being sensibly refreshed or just rearranging the deck chairs...

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