Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 07-08-2015, 12:00 AM:
It has been 539 days since the last post.
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-08-2015, 12:00 AM:
Welcome back to the greatest contest on earth ladies and gentlemen... ![[beer]](graemlins/beer.gif)
LINK
AUSSIE Test great Glenn McGrath says the scars of last year’s Ashes series in Australia are real and England will still be nervous about facing Mitchell Johnson.
The Australian spearhead remains England’s chief concern, according to McGrath, because he has the power to induce the entire team into a state of panic by bringing back all the memories of the carnage he inflicted on the Poms during the most recent Ashes series.
McGrath said England’s only hope is to hold its ground against the left-arm quick right from the start of play when the first Test begins tonight in Cardiff.
“England have tried to say that series is in the past and that they have moved on but Mitchell Johnson knows he can bring back bad memories,” McGrath told The Telegraph in London.
“There are a few England guys still around who struggled on the last tour.
“Joe Root has been playing wonderful cricket recently but he had a terrible tour and ended up being dropped for the Sydney Test, so perhaps that will be in the back of his mind when he faces Johnson.
“If Johnson comes out and gets the batsmen jumping around, hitting the seam, then the 5-0 whitewash could soon come flooding back for England.”
McGrath says if the home side struggles against Johnson early tonight they will be cannon fodder for a fired up Johnson.
He says if Johnson starts strongly tonight he could again prove to be the most decisive player of the series.
“The first session of any Test is crucial but even more so in this Ashes series,” he said.
“There are a couple of old wounds that could reopen today if Australia get off to a flyer. “England will start thinking again about what happened in the last series because regardless of what they say, it is very difficult to put a 5-0 whitewash out of your mind.”
McGrath says Johnson is not invincible, though, and still produces his best bowling when his confidence is sky high.
The 45-year-old from Dubbo, NSW, reckons that is the small gap in Johnson’s armour that England must attempt to take advantage of right from the first ball bowled tonight.
“Cricket is a confidence sport and he in particular thrives on a positive mindset,” McGrath said of Johnson.
“If he gets off to a really good start and bowls well then he will be away, but if he struggles a little bit, does not hit the seam and is not happy with the way it comes out then memories of that 2009 tour could come back pretty quickly.
“In that series Johnson could not hit the seam regularly, but since then he has done a lot of work with Dennis Lillee and Troy Cooley and sorted his action out. So now, for the first time in an Ashes series in England, he is feeling comfortable with his action and his run-up.
“He got off to a great start in the last Ashes series in 2013-14 and went on to blitz England with 37 wickets at 13.97, so the stakes are high on this first day.”
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 07-09-2015, 06:58 AM:
Hi John
Here we go again
I think I will be glad if we win 1 this year.
First innings looked as if it was going to turn in to a disaster.
Thanks to Root and Ali we managed to post a respectable score.
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 07-11-2015, 08:43 AM:
But then again ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-14-2015, 02:28 AM:
1-0 to you. You win this round Mr. Worthington, but we'll be back. Bwahahahahahahaha....
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 07-19-2015, 10:14 AM:
1 - 1 ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
The second test went the way I was worried the whole Ashes was
going to be.
I hope it was a glitch and we can play better the rest of the series.
To be fair the Aussie bowlers were on fire.
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 07-29-2015, 09:58 AM:
But then again
Can you see a pattern.
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 07-30-2015, 11:17 AM:
What are we going to watch on TV tomorrow ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 08-06-2015, 06:42 AM:
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 08-06-2015, 08:24 AM:
Hi John
Is it only me here
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-06-2015, 05:04 PM:
Here you go Jonathan...well played. Maybe next time we'll actually turn up for more than one test out of five, eh?
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 08-10-2015, 03:55 AM:
Thanks John
I will accept it and keep it Safe until 2017.
Or maybe until 2090
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-24-2015, 12:46 AM:
What a bizarre series of five test matches. Not once did both teams turn up to play. Each match was always a one sided affair. Never seen a series like it.
See you in a couple of years then...
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 11-15-2017, 09:16 AM:
It has been 814 days since the last post.
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 11-15-2017, 09:16 AM:
Hello again John
It is that time again.
Are you ready for the poms to upset your Christmas.
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 12-04-2017, 03:37 AM:
Or then again ![[puke]](graemlins/puke.gif)
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 12-18-2017, 08:39 PM:
Hi Jonathan
For some reason or another, I have been thinking about you these past couple of weeks. How have you been? ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Now, let me see if I can remember how to post a link here...
Ah yes...I remember now...
Ashes 2017: Australia have reclaimed the urn after victory in the third Test in Perth
AUSTRALIA has won back the Ashes in emphatic style after Josh Hazlewood farewelled the WACA with the trait the ground will forever be linked with – outstanding fast bowling.
Ben Horne
News Corp Australia NetworkDECEMBER 19, 201711:17AM
Australia won back the Ashes in emphatic style on Monday night after Josh Hazlewood farewelled the WACA with the trait the ground will forever be linked with – outstanding fast bowling.
England are on their knees with several senior players on the ropes and now facing the stark realisation that they could suffer a third 5-0 humiliation on Australian soil in the past 11 years.
Former England star Kevin Pietersen has already declared that one of Stuart Broad or James Anderson should be axed for Boxing Day, after Australia stormed to a 3-0 advantage on the back of a Hazlewood five-wicket haul and a batting masterclass from man-of-the-match Smith and prodigal son Mitchell Marsh.
For England it’s the third time in 12 months they’ve been in relative control of a Test match having scored 400 in the first innings, only to collapse to an innings defeat.
Smith can smell blood in the water, but on Monday night the emotions poured out of an Australian captain determined to lead from the front, who has achieved part of a life-long dream.
“I was crying in the sheds a bit a minute ago,” Smith said.
“Everything just came out.
“We have worked incredibly hard. It has been a great couple of weeks and I am really proud of everyone back in that room.
“I’d love to do that (win 5-0). I was part of the series obviously back in 2013-14 when we did that and it was an amazing part of my life and everyone else’s who was involved as well
“I’d love to do that again but we’ll just take it one step at a time at the moment and first of all enjoy the success we’ve had over last couple of weeks and have a good celebration.”
Smith was full of praise for his bowling attack who have taken 60 wickets in the first three Tests – despite losing the toss and having the worst of the conditions in all three.
Australia defied the embarrassing fiasco of groundstaff having to get rid of wet patches on a length before play could resume on day five – but the loss of 28 overs didn’t affect them as Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins ripped in.
Smith’s side started the series a lowly No.5 in the world, but the skipper believes they can be on the road back.
“I’d like to hope this team can keep growing and getting better and keep working our way up the rankings and just try and get better and gelling as a team,” he said.
“We’ve still got a long way to go but this has been an incredible couple of weeks and one I’m sure we’ll look back on in time and just be so proud of what we’ve achieved.”
England captain Joe Root said: “It’s very difficult to take. Fair play to Australia they outplayed us in all three games and we’ve got to be better.”
Speaking about the pitch, he said: “When we got here this morning definitely it wasn’t fit to play. It did dry up and by the end there it was probably fit to play.”
On the second morning of the match England were in control at 4-368.
The final damage was a mammoth loss by an innings and 41 runs with more than a session to spare.
Hazlewood immediately exploited the very patch that groundstaff had been so feverishly trying to dry and harden up with industrial leaf blowers, and the ball appeared to stay low as it cleaned up Jonny Bairstow’s off-stump.
An over later Hazlewood hit the giant crack that lay adjacent to the soft patches and the ball deviated 6.14 degrees from the point of impact and ended up a Steve Harmison-like distance to the left of the first slip.
Nathan Lyon trapped bunny Moeen Ali plumb lbw when there was no turn to click things into gear.
When Hazlewood managed to sneak an edge down the leg-side from a brave Dawid Malan (54) the fight was virtually over.
Cummins, who barely pitched a ball up all day, removed Stuart Broad, who had little idea about a short one whizzing past his chin and edged behind.
Then Cummins ripped in first ball to No.11 James Anderson and struck him viciously on the helmet, leaving a visible mark.
Play stopped as the Australians ran to his aid, another sign that Australia has mentally got inside the heads of the English tail with their sheer pace.
Anderson padded up again but the end was nigh, with Cummins finishing the job by taking the edge of Chris Woakes and sparking huge celebrations.
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 12-20-2017, 07:55 AM:
Hi John
I see what you did then.
Wait until we made a complete mess of it and then you reply.
Well done to you and your countrymen on a thorough thrashing.
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 12-28-2017, 06:46 PM:
Very happy for Alastair Cook on his unbeaten 244. Master class...
Alastair Cook carries his bat...
The Ashes: Alastair Cook rediscovers Australia as Test
greats fall in his wake
By Catherine McGregor
Sadly, I am old enough to recall vividly the highest Test match score on the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The large honour board bears the name of Robert Maskew Cowper, who batted for an eternity in February 1966 to score
307.
Cowper was a tall, handsome left-hander whose physique and lineage equipped him to also play against the All Blacks
for Victoria before he concentrated on cricket.
As a left-handed kid, in an era when teachers still studiously and unsuccessfully tried to make us conform to righthandedness,
Cowper was my first cricketing hero. None ever really replaces the very first subject of a cricket fan's
adoration.
Cowper's epic innings occupied more than 12 hours. He came in on the evening of Saturday, February 12, 1966 when
Australia still possessed a derivative of English currency, pounds shillings and pence.
This reflected our British origins and the European discovery by James Cook. When Cowper departed on the February
16 the nation had adopted decimal currency, disparaged by my Mum as a sign of creeping Americanisation. Britain
announced its withdrawal from East of Suez the following year.
We had already joined the Americans in Vietnam. Cowper's long innings coincided with the end of an era. White Australia
and Aboriginal invisibility were both being cast into the dustbin of history. Cowper's punishment of our former colonial
masters perhaps epitomised the dawn of a new geo-strategic era. Though the Barmy Army rejoices in reminding us of
'our gracious Queen' in their ditties, Australia's transformation into an American ally and Asian nation was gathering pace
and irreversible momentum.
Cowper was much on my mind yesterday as another, former captain, Cook, rediscovered Australia.
Alastair Cook played the innings of a lifetime to salvage his Test career and the honour of his nation. The large crowds
saw the immovable Cook of 2010-11 return in all his majesty.
This was his fifth Test double century and, in personal terms, the most vital and satisfying.
He defied time, tide and the pundits.
And in negotiating the path from cricket's Gethsemane to the peak of Olympus, he eclipsed the great Wally Hammond as
the highest scoring English player on this ground.
Eight runs later the great Isaac Vivian Richards drifted into Cook's wake as the highest scoring visiting batsman at this
venue.
Other legendary names, while not erased from the record books, were relegated down history's batting order.
He passed Mahela Jayawardene's career aggregate late on Wednesday evening. Yesterday, Shivnarine Chanderpaul
and Brian Lara were surpassed.
At his best Cook has always possessed extraordinary powers of concentration. But he has rarely set the pulses of crowds
racing.
Yet a glance at his wagon wheel for this innings revealed that his prolific flicks off the pads and crisp square cuts were
embellished by a hitherto rare profligacy though the covers.
Some of his straight drives were simply sublime. The shape has returned to his batting and he is playing later, with eyes
over the ball.
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 01-08-2018, 06:38 AM:
4-0 need i say more.
We have been outplayed by good (I hate to say outstanding) bowling and solid batting.
Well done again.
I need it lie down for a bit and have a good cry.
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 08-01-2019, 01:11 PM:
It has been 570 days since the last post.
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 08-01-2019, 01:11 PM:
Hi John
Here we go again.
Taking on cricket world champions
who's turn is it to play ![[bs]](graemlins/bs.gif)
Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 08-03-2019, 03:40 AM:
whose ashes are they fighting over?
Posted by James Biggins (Member # 8574) on 08-03-2019, 04:42 AM:
The Ashes of English Cricket.
(try wiki.)
Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-05-2019, 04:20 PM:
One of the very few things I miss from pre-emigration is that cricket is simply not played or followed, at least in the south-west of the USA. Soccer is gradually gaining popularity (hence the phrase "soccer mom" to describe a stay-at-home parent who is constantly driving her kids to organized events), but cricket hasn't gained any sort of a foothold. Maybe that's because the large immigrant population from Central and South America brought soccer with them, but cricket is played mainly by Commonwealth countries, and none of them have a cohesive diaspora in these parts. According to Wikipedia, around 200,000 Americans play or watch cricket regularly, which, out of a population of 300 million or so isn't many; and most activity happens on the East Coast.
Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 08-05-2019, 08:37 PM:
I'm friends with an Indian gentleman who plays in this league ... https://www.sccacricket.org/
Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 09-09-2019, 10:27 AM:
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
