posted Dec 28, 2006

all this discussion flying around about 2009 concerns me. I think we should worry about 2007 and 2008 first!

After the World Cup, we face the West Indies and India - and it is imperative England's test form improves. My fear is that England will view the West Indies in exactly the same way they did Sri Lanka last year - and look what happened there. India will (as ever) be tough opposition.

Forget 2009 - concentrate on how to move forward from the current situation. If this is managed correctly, we will be in much better shape when 2009 does come around.

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posted Dec 28, 2006

The Aussies wont take a nose dive in form, but there will definately be a drop, as the more experienced players start leaving. And it appears the exodus has started.

Currently in the team there are only two players under thirty (going by the Melbourne test), hardly bursting at the seams with 'young' talent. in comparison england have already Cook, Bell and Pietersen as young established batsmen.

Technically speaking the Austrailians are not subjects to the queen at all, they may have been in the past but this is no longer the case the Austrailia Act of 1986 was the end of any British influence in this country check this ink for confirmation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Act_1986, maybe the truth of the matter is that MBE's should never have been awarded in the first place.

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posted Dec 28, 2006

I don't think the Aussies will slump, my interest is more in how much Cook, Panesar, Bell, Mahmood, Read/Jones/Foster/Davies, Pietersen, Collingwood and Strauss might improve over the next two years given that most of the above have had promising starts to very young careers. Also, I am interested in the state of Freddy and Hoggard's fitness come 2009.

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posted Dec 28, 2006

Looking at the pitches in the ashes so far it doesn't suprise me that the PURA cup averages are so high are as they have been generally flat and true and the quality of attack will not be that deep. The problem England had was that every single over was hard to score from. You could not just see of a dangerous spell then plunder the second and third change.

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posted Dec 28, 2006

I agree with YS. This test series has been very disappointing for supporters. Not simply because England lost the Ashes (which I kind of expected), but because they haven't seemed to offer any real resistance. The team is in a slump at the moment (if we feel bad they must be feeling terrible), and of course we want to offer our support, but we shouldn't expect them to role the Ozzies over in 2009. However, what I do expect to see from the England team in 2009 is the same tenacity the Australians showed in this series and put up a real fight to regain the Ashes.

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posted Dec 29, 2006

"Technically speaking the Austrailians are not subjects to the queen at all, they may have been in the past but this is no longer the case the Austrailia Act of 1986 was the end of any British influence in this country check this ink for confirmation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Act_1986 ..."

Thanks for the link! That Act certainly ended the power of the British Parliament and the British Courts to override decisions by the Australian Parliaments and Courts. But it did not remove the Queen as Head of State. She has that position under the Australian Constitution. (However, the Queen would not award MBE's to Australians without advice from the Prime Minister or Premiers, and Australia no longer recommends imperial honours - we have our own.)

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posted Dec 29, 2006

Currently in the team there are only two players under thirty (going by the Melbourne test), hardly bursting at the seams with 'young' talent. in comparison england have already Cook, Bell and Pietersen as young established batsmen.
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Yipee. Job done then.

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posted Dec 29, 2006

Sure Australia will come back to the field slightly when Warne and McGrath go and yes it will be an opportunity for sides like England to bridge the gap.
Hyping up 2009 is OK if you want to keep applying pressure to some very 'brittle' English payers. The other fact some are failing to consider is that there is a pool of talent in Australia and whilst there may no tbe a Warne or McGrath I would bet that whoever is selected will be as good (if not better) then the equivalent English opponent.
What this proves is the English mind set is all wrong. You should strive to improve your own performance - not wait for others to reduce theirs.

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posted Dec 29, 2006

Good point - we need to sort our own house out, not wait for Australia's to come down.

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posted Dec 30, 2006

What are the odd's on england's key bowlers all being fit in three years?

You could be looking at an attack lead by anderson and mahmood

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