The Ashes - 2010/11

[PlainSimpleJoel]

So with a week and a half until the first cricket test starts at the GABBA, in Brisbane. Australia has named a squad of 17 men for the first test.

Australian squad: Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke (vice-capt), Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Callum Ferguson, Mike Hussey, Marcus North, Usman Khawaja, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Ryan Harris, Xavier Doherty.

If either Ferguson or Khawaja scores a lot of runs and either Hussey and North fail, Ferguson and/or Khawaja could make their debuts.

I'm predicting an Australian win. Probably 2-1.

 

[Botany Bay]

Australia
Ricky Ponting (C), Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Callum Ferguson, Mike Hussey, Marcus North, Usman Khawaja, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Ryan Harris, Xavier Doherty.
​

England
Andrew Strauss (C), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Steve Davies, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Chris Tremlett, Monty Panesar.

First Test: Brisbane 25 - 29 November 2010
Second Test: Adelaide 3 - 7 December 2010
Third Test: Perth 16 - 20 December 2010
Fourth Test: Melbourne 26 - 30 December 2010
Fifth Test: : Sydney 3 - 7 January 2011

Time for some thoughts, hopelessly wrong predictions and some player sledging before a ball has been bowled.

England's XI picks itself. Nothing to see here, move along.

Australia's selectors however, seem to have picked a Wallabies squad rather than a cricket team, so we can safely infer there are a few spots up for grabs on the home side.

Somthing is iffy in the world of cricket down under. For example, someone decided to turn the team announcement yesterday into a public PR event by Sydney Harbour. It pissed down with rain and 25 people turned up to watch the Aussie selectors name half the country in the squad.

I really feel for Nathan Hauritz at the moment. He was announced in the squad yesterday alongside Tassie left arm spinner Xavier Doherty, so when Hapless Haury was paraded out to the press, the first question thrown at selection boss Andrew Hilditch was the inevitable "So does this mean Hauritz will play?".

The reply? "Well...umm..we see Nathan as the ummm...best Right Arm Offspinner in Australia, but umm...playing the lefty could an option too."

That oughta do wonders for the guy's confidence! And to add to his woes, he is playing against his Captain (who supposedly wants him gone) in a Shield game tomorrow. Talk about pressure. Anyway, it's safe to say Hauritz is a doubtful starter at the Gabba.

There's a few in that camp, but it seems the only batsman under genuine threat is Hussey, who really needs some runs or uncapped NSW bat Usman Khawaja slots straight in. There will be mutterings about North as usual, but word is he is in line for the captaincy if he can become more consistent, so he'll be there in Brissy.

The rumour mill is spinning that Mitchell Johnson may be a shock omission for the Gabba. Could be one to watch, his radar just seems to get worse each game.

The Aussies look ripe for the plucking this summer unfortunately. A campaign of press leaks from senior players against Michael Clarke is apparently causing a junior/senior rift in the side. The older guys despise him, and the juniors are apparently keeping their options open should Ponting step aside at the end of the summer. Word is, he is no certain starter at the Gabba by the way - his back is playing up again. The middle order is unsettled, and the only injury free, in form, test quality bowler we have is Hilfenhaus.

The key for England is their classy spinner Graeme Swann. I can see him destroying our lefties this summer. Broad will be a star, and all they need is support from either Finn or Anderson to make it a very long summer for us locals.

3-1 England.

 

[Orac Zen]

It's on in a bit over a week and I couldn't care less.



I'll repost a reply I made in the captain's lounge to explain why:

My interest in cricket has been waning for some time; our current (largely self-inflicted) woes have little to do with it. Too much cricket; too much completely meaningless cricket (eg. our recent 3 one-dayer series against Sri Lanka - totally pointless); players who are all about the money; an utterly gutless, incompetent and grubby administration who have allowed corruption to flourish, ignore their own rules when it suits them (the fiasco surrounding John Howard's non-appointment to the ICC, for example), throw out anyone who tries to change things for the better, are too terrified and too busy counting the money to stand up to the Indian cash cow... Yeah, our present lack of form doesn't bother me nearly as much as that stuff. I'm pretty much over the sport at this point.

Maybe my interest will return at some stage; maybe it won't. But I really don't care about cricket just now.

 

[Botany Bay]

Couldn't agree more, OZ, but I suspect you'll be back if the Ashes start showing a bit of promise . I hope so, we need your sharp insights on here.

Just got to savour whatever 5 day cricket gets served up these days. Even if we cop a thumping, the cricket has to be better than what was served up by the insipid Windies and corrupt Pakistanis last summer.

I think that dire last summer with its stench of corruption and dull, sub standard play has really turned quite a few people off. It was the year to blood the Khawaja's, Smith's and Hugheses, not paper over the cracks by letting our struggling side flog rubbish opposition - and here the blame lies squarely at the feet of Hilditch and co.

It's a perfect storm really - the two of the most visible players media-wise (M. Clarke and Watson) come across as complete wankers, obscene ticket prices are keeping families away, Nazi private security guards who will eject you for looking at them the wrong way put young people off going in groups, and the team is losing and lacks drawing power. No wonder CA is rumoured to be facing a huge hole in revenue at the moment.

I have the week off, and was planning to go watch a bit of NSW v Tassie today, but once again it's hammering down rain here in Sydney. Summer looks like it's going to skip this part of the world. I know we're 6 weeks out, but I'd say the SCG test might be in a bit of doubt this year - it seriously hasn't stopped raining in weeks.

The news elsewhere is not good for Australia - Hussey made a duck against the Vics today. Normally, I'd say its "game over" for Huss, but his two imminent replacements in Ferguson and Khawaja both failed against a second string England attack today for Australia A, so what do the selectors do? They've really painted themselves into a corner here.

 

[Lor'Vela]

Well, speaking as an English fan, I'm excited about our chances. This has got to be our greatest chance in recent times to win a series in Australia.

I've been keeping tabs on the warmup matches and I'd say England are in relatively good form thus far. Good contributions from all the batsman and the bowlers taking regular wickets. The main worry would be Cook in this series with his questionable technique and low scores as of late, but no doubt that century he made in the last warmup would have filled him with confidence. I just hope he can maintain it.
Looking at our bowlers, Swann and Broad have been highlighted as potential stars, but there's concern over Anderson and Finn that they may not be all that effective given the conditions. Time will tell at least, but England have taken with them a pretty good reserve bowling unit. Tremlett has improved since last time I saw him in action.

Troubles aside in the cricketing world, I'm hoping this series will provide tense and entertaining viewing.

Predicition: 2-1 England.

 

[Jono]

Prediction: England win 5 - 0

 

[Botany Bay]

Feeling good about our chances eh Jono?

5-0 wouldn't surprise me, but I reckon we'll lose a game to weather and/or the Aussie selectors will make wholesale changes for the final test, and an enthusiastic Aussie generation-next side will pick up a dead rubber game at the end.

The squad has been trimmed, with poor hapless Nathan Hauritz likely having the curtain drawn on his career. He always seemed to play with a lot of guts, but never could finish teams off on the final day - which is the the main job of a test spinner, and to be fair, the selectors showed a lot of faith, sadly never repaid.

Also cut were Harris (disappointing - he's one of our best quicks when fit IMO), Khawaja (all he needed was one decent score against England A, but his time will come) and Ferguson (ditto).

England did it all too easy against Australia A. The two best bats for us (White and Hughes) aren't even in the squad, and our bowlers all looked short of test standard from what I saw.

Steve Smith is an interesting selection. I'm not sure he's a test bowler yet - handy, sure, but not ready to bowl test batsmen out. Maybe he'll come in as a batsman if Clarke's back fails to get right in time?

Hussey scored a second innings ton against the Vics, and once again has saved his career just as the axe seemed certain to fall. The cricketing gods sure like 'Mr. Cricket'. Let's hope he can turn back the clock five years and give us one last solid season.

Likely team :
1. Shane Watson
2. Simon Katich
3. Ricky Ponting (c)
4. Michael Clarke or Steve Smith
5. Mike Hussey
6. Marcus North
7. Brad Haddin (wk)
8. Mitchell Johnson
9. Xavier Doherty
10. Ben Hilfenhaus
11. Peter Siddle or Doug Bollinger

Hard to see that side challenging a rampant England though.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Hussey scored a second innings ton against the Vics, and once again has saved his career just as the axe seemed certain to fall. The cricketing gods sure like 'Mr. Cricket'. Let's hope he can turn back the clock five years and give us one last solid season.

The Commendators were saying his fielding also helps him retain his place. Was quite happy he is still there in the team.

Rethinking my thoughts on the series. I'd love Australia to win the series, or even it being a draw. But England to deserve to be favourites.

 

[Jono]

Feeling good about our chances eh Jono?

Not cricket, but last weekend destroyed my faith in Australian sporting sides.

Plus anything but a whitewash will be a positive result given I've set the bar so low! I'm sure there is an appropriate Simpson's quote about aiming so low that blah blah.

On Hussey, it also helped that guy whose name I can't pronounce let alone spell didn't do anything against England minustheir main bowling attack.

 

[Lor'Vela]

All this pessimism. If it wasn't for your location fields I'd say you were all English in disguise.

I'm pleased with England's performance in the warmup matches. Two victories and a draw can't be too bad.

As for the Aussie squad, I don't know anything about Xavier, but I agree with what some of the Channel 9 commentators said... Two fairly even batting lineups, but England with a slightly stronger bowling attack. Should be interesting. I think good bowling is always more interesting than good batting.

 

[Botany Bay]

I guess it's our turn for some cricketing misery. Ahhh...the good old days when our state sides would murder you in warm up games...when batsmen would have mental breakdowns and the first ball of the series would end up missing the centre square and flying to second slip...sweet memories

Latest news :

M. Clarke is in serious doubt for the Gabba, with Khawaja flown in as a stand by. Which begs the question : what is Steve Smith doing in the squad? He should be playing Shield cricket if he's considered 'not quite ready'. Having him carry the drinks is utterly pointless.

Speaking of pointless things - what on earth was that 20/20 crap at the Gabba all about last night? Who were we supposed to cheer for? Now our reserve keeper is likely out for the season thanks to a broken hand picked up in a game that was so meaningless not even the players' families bothered to turn up.

What happens now if Haddin injures himself? Three debutants in the first test of an Ashes series?

England must be laughing their heads off by now

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

^ I have no idea what that 20/20 match was about. Watched one team bat, before I went on a long walk. My exercise plan is more important than watching the some 20/20 game.

Anyways onto the test, Clarke will play tomorrow, and Siddle is the third seemer for Australia. Bollinger and Khawaja send back to NSW.

I reckon who ever wins the toss will choose to bowl.

 

[Botany Bay]

Very, very harsh call on Bollinger. He's been our only bowler who has looked threatening all year. If he's been dropped due to fitness, then why aren't Clarke and Katich being rested too?

Big pressure on Siddle to get it right in his first game for almost a year.

Interesting that our side (with the exception of S. Clark, replaced by Doherty) is the same XI that lost the Ashes at the Oval last year. I wonder what the XI will look like by the Sydney test?

If the mail about a greetop and wet weather is true, then yes - it's a big toss, and maybe a good one to lose (Nasser Insane will be on both captains' minds for sure).

Plenty of talk that the Gabba might be one of the few 'result' tests of the summer if England struggle to get the ball moving in the air, and our bowlers continue their 4th innings woes, there is a feeling that bat could dominate ball.

Will be very interested in the performances of Anderson and Johnson tomorrow. If Jimmy is bending it around, we are pretty screwed I'd say, but he is a big unknown, as is Johnson. Will the deadly left armer who swings it back into the right handers turn up? Or will it be the pie chucker of the last 12 months.

Big first session is only hours away...

 

[donners22]

Wicket off the third ball; rather memorable start! England look to have stabilised now, at 2/102, with Johnson sending down a stream of pies...

 

[Jono]

Go Siddle! A birthday hat-trick!

7/215

Looks like Siddle might have his sixth now...referral pending...he is gone!

Siddle is having a barnstormer. He is paying back the selectors for their faith in him. Hopefully when it comes time for the batsmen to come out the Australian middle order can do the same.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

At the end of day 1, Australia 0 for 25, after England all out for 260. Siddle was on fire.

 

[Orac Zen]

Well, here I am. Not with any genuine enthusiasm as yet, but still.

Speaking of pointless things - what on earth was that 20/20 crap at the Gabba all about last night?

I read an interview with Tim Paine somewhere this week where he claimed the match was important for "charity" and to "support the Cricketer's Association". Well, charity is fine - I have no problem with that - but screw the Cricketer's Association. (Useless aside: If Tim May had displayed a fraction of the aggro as a bowler that he brought to that body he'd have taken more Test wickets than McGrath and Warne combined.) Absolutely pathetic. It's nice that Paine can rationalise being injured in an utterly pointless match but I doubt many other people can.

Anyway.

I remain less than impressed with our selection for this Test, but then again I've been less than impressed with the selectors for some time now. (Another aside: I'm glad Greg Chappell is involved in Australian cricket again but Hilditch should have been the one to go, not Merv. Having an ex-bowler on the panel was a real novelty and a welcome step forward; now we're back to batsmen - and from only two states to boot. Not a good move, IMO.) The middle order should have been turned over long before this and if these same people end up failing all over again it will be a completely wasted however many months since we so meekly handed over the urn in England. The ongoing infatuation with Johnson, the most overrated cricketer on the planet at this time, continues to boggle my mind. The selectors will be preening themselves over choosing Siddle but it was still a very harsh call on Bollinger. As for the spinner situation...don't get me started.

Having got all that out of the way... Not a bad first day, and regardless of my doubts about his selection I'm stoked for Siddle.

It's only the first day and I'm still not feeling my usual enthusiasm about cricket in general and an Ashes series in particular, but it's a pleasant start. Now to see if our increasingly crap batting lineup can muster up a decent performance for a change.


Edit: *** waves a teddy bear, hoping Revd K will show up ***

 

[Botany Bay]

Cracking day of test cricket - hope the rest of the series can live up to Day 1

It was a funny day, because Australia are well on top, but apart from Siddle's burst after lunch, and the hat-trick after tea, I thought our bowling was pretty awful.

Johnson in particular must be skating on thin ice - there was some talk he'd be dropped for this game. He was just dreadful today, and Hilfenhaus was far from his best as well. A Bollinger for Johnson swap is a no-brainer unless something Siddle-like happens for him in England's second dig. I'm sure part of the reason for Johnson's continued selection is the insurance provided by his handy lower order slogging against the continued troubles of our middle order.

I'll give the selectors a wrap for their decision to throw Siddle in at the deep end after being out for so long. Must have been a tough call, but he's given us a golden chance to win this game, with some sensible bowling in the conditions. Pity the idea of bowling full and straight seemed beyond Johnson and Hilf, or we could really have gone through them.

It was good to see Doherty get a couple of wickets - all anyone can ask from him is to tie an end up against the top order and knock over a few tail enders, which he did nicely today.

England looked like taking the game from us at times. Pietersen and Bell had me a bit worried - both look in fine touch to me, and Cook wasn't pretty, but showed plenty of grit.

You never know the true state of a wicket till both sides have had a go on it, so I'm not popping the chanmpage yet, but Australia's middle order owe it to Siddle, the selectors and a frustrated public to dominate tomorrow and set Australia up for a win. If they can't, it's time to show some of the ruthlessness they showed Bollinger by despatching Clarke, Hussey or North back to Shield cricket.

 

[Lor'Vela]

I'll be watching the highlights later on, but I'm less than thrilled at reading the scoreline. Expected far more given the hype surrounding the England team. If there's one thing that still gives me optimism is that in a game like this, the tables can turn pretty quickly. England can still bounce back. Hopefully Swann can work his magic.

Other than that, yeah... A good day's test cricket. Far more intriguing that those flat roads in the subcontinent I've been reading about recently.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

At tea, Australia are 5 for 160. It's up to Hussey and Haddin for Australia. Even first session, and England dominating second session.