MERGED - The 2010/2011 ASHES tour thread...all Ashes related chat here please!

[Raees]

Been pissing myself laughin with these... 'Mushy is that adidas stripes on your beard".. great banter. Don't know if they've already been posted.

 

[Plechazunga]

10 reasons Poms WON'T win
By Will Swanton, November 19, 2010

1 Overrated
They walked around The Oval after their dominant home summer like they were God's gifts to Wisden. Here's who they really beat. No one. Nuffies and cheats. England clean-swept the worst team on the planet, Bangladesh, and then won three out of four Tests against rotten Pakistan. Now they're portrayed as superstars.

2 Kevin Pietersen
He might be growing a moustache for a very good cause but he's still getting around looking like Dirk Diggler out of Boogie Nights. His most recent Test efforts have been the biggest joke. John Buchanan was right with his assessment of Pietersen. Buchanan was panned because the truth hurt. There's more than one 'I' in Kevin Pietersen and it hurts morale.

3 No top speedster
Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steve Finn are respectable quicks. But they lack the fear factor. Every truly great attack has someone pushing 150km/h, like Mitchell Johnson does for Australia. None of the touring fast bowlers are frightening. Away from swing and seam-friendly England, that doesn't leave them with much.

4 Passive captain
Andrew Strauss has to lead by example because his introverted demeanour doesn't get the blood pumping too much. Only his scores do. He leads with quiet assurance when things are going well. But he comes across as introverted and submissive when things start going pear-shaped.

5 No superstars
Pietersen is as good as anyone when he's in the mood, but he hasn't been in the mood for a long time. He couldn't make a hundred against Bangladesh – his 99 was close but no cigar – and Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus and Johnson can smell blood. Graeme Swann is the only Englishman to make a world XI right now. England are successful because they know their limitations. Which means there are limitations.

6 Over-analysis
They've faced bowling machines with footage of Australian speedsters running in at them – and still didn't want to know about Mitchell Johnson. They've given themselves three weeks in Australia to acclimatise but haven't played on pitches like the monster they'll encounter at the Gabba. Every breath they take is a part of a suffocating plan. There's no freedom, nothing instinctive or adventurous. Paralysis by over-analysis.

7 No depth
In such a cramped schedule, injuries are bound to hit both camps. England are in serious strife if they lose any of their first XI. There's a vast gulf between their top-tier players and those on the standby list. Australia can only hope and pray that off-spinner Monty Panesar is called in for Graeme Swann. Australia have eight Test-standard speedsters in the queue.

8 Chokers
This is England we're talking about. Losing is a tradition. Think soccer World Cups. Think Tim Henman at Wimbledon. Think every cricket tour of Australia since 1986-87. They always arrive talking themselves up, vowing they won't wilt under the heat and pressure and scrutiny, then wilt under the heat and pressure and scrutiny. They've hired a self-described Yips Doctor – because they need one.

9 Warm-ups
Everyone keeps rattling on about England's perfect preparation. They must be having a laugh. A few of them made runs at Adelaide Oval. It's like batting on the Hume Highway. Anyone seen the scorecards? Western Australia rolled England for 223. South Australia dismissed them for 288 on the Hume. And Australia A ripped through their top order in Hobart A yesterday. Perfectly prepared? Piffle.

10 Scars
Five of their top six batsmen are the same lot who stumbled and bumbled through the 5-0 loss on England's last trip to Australia. The scarring is deep and real. Jimmy Anderson's memories of Australia are all nightmarish. He averaged 45.16. Broad and Finn are yet to play a Test series in Australia. Hard surfaces jarring bones and muscles, oppressive heat – they won't know what or who has hit them.

 

[Fiskey]

Ashes gloating, anyone? How one Australian journalist called the series in November ...
As Matthew Norman pointed out in this morning's Daily Telegraph, it would be inelegant to gloat over England's Ashes triumph over a ragtag Australian side. There is still room for some fun, though.


By Mike Norrish 10:14AM GMT 07 Jan 2011


Throughout the series, the Australian media shown less mercy than the Barmy Army when taunting Ricky Ponting and his team. However, before the start of the series, the mood was a considerably more bullish.

Here, printed in its full glory, is how Will Swanton, cricket writer for the Australian Daily Telegraph (no relation), saw the series on November 19, 2010. A lot can happen in two months ...

10 reasons Poms WON'T win
By Will Swanton, November 19, 2010

1 Overrated
They walked around The Oval after their dominant home summer like they were God's gifts to Wisden. Here's who they really beat. No one. Nuffies and cheats. England clean-swept the worst team on the planet, Bangladesh, and then won three out of four Tests against rotten Pakistan. Now they're portrayed as superstars.

2 Kevin Pietersen
He might be growing a moustache for a very good cause but he's still getting around looking like Dirk Diggler out of Boogie Nights. His most recent Test efforts have been the biggest joke. John Buchanan was right with his assessment of Pietersen. Buchanan was panned because the truth hurt. There's more than one 'I' in Kevin Pietersen and it hurts morale.

3 No top speedster
Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steve Finn are respectable quicks. But they lack the fear factor. Every truly great attack has someone pushing 150km/h, like Mitchell Johnson does for Australia. None of the touring fast bowlers are frightening. Away from swing and seam-friendly England, that doesn't leave them with much.

4 Passive captain
Andrew Strauss has to lead by example because his introverted demeanour doesn't get the blood pumping too much. Only his scores do. He leads with quiet assurance when things are going well. But he comes across as introverted and submissive when things start going pear-shaped.

5 No superstars
Pietersen is as good as anyone when he's in the mood, but he hasn't been in the mood for a long time. He couldn't make a hundred against Bangladesh – his 99 was close but no cigar – and Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus and Johnson can smell blood. Graeme Swann is the only Englishman to make a world XI right now. England are successful because they know their limitations. Which means there are limitations.

6 Over-analysis
They've faced bowling machines with footage of Australian speedsters running in at them – and still didn't want to know about Mitchell Johnson. They've given themselves three weeks in Australia to acclimatise but haven't played on pitches like the monster they'll encounter at the Gabba. Every breath they take is a part of a suffocating plan. There's no freedom, nothing instinctive or adventurous. Paralysis by over-analysis.

7 No depth
In such a cramped schedule, injuries are bound to hit both camps. England are in serious strife if they lose any of their first XI. There's a vast gulf between their top-tier players and those on the standby list. Australia can only hope and pray that off-spinner Monty Panesar is called in for Graeme Swann. Australia have eight Test-standard speedsters in the queue.

8 Chokers
This is England we're talking about. Losing is a tradition. Think soccer World Cups. Think Tim Henman at Wimbledon. Think every cricket tour of Australia since 1986-87. They always arrive talking themselves up, vowing they won't wilt under the heat and pressure and scrutiny, then wilt under the heat and pressure and scrutiny. They've hired a self-described Yips Doctor – because they need one.

9 Warm-ups
Everyone keeps rattling on about England's perfect preparation. They must be having a laugh. A few of them made runs at Adelaide Oval. It's like batting on the Hume Highway. Anyone seen the scorecards? Western Australia rolled England for 223. South Australia dismissed them for 288 on the Hume. And Australia A ripped through their top order in Hobart A yesterday. Perfectly prepared? Piffle.

10 Scars
Five of their top six batsmen are the same lot who stumbled and bumbled through the 5-0 loss on England's last trip to Australia. The scarring is deep and real. Jimmy Anderson's memories of Australia are all nightmarish. He averaged 45.16. Broad and Finn are yet to play a Test series in Australia. Hard surfaces jarring bones and muscles, oppressive heat – they won't know what or who has hit them.





I just loved this - Any OZ resident see this prat eating humble pie now in his writing

Just

 

[Sassy Colin]

Latest tour news, warm up for the T20/ODIs

An unbeaten century from opener Ian Bell led England to a seven-wicket win in a rain-affected one-day match against the Prime Minister's XI.

Bell continued his superb Ashes form with 124 off 102 balls as England eased to a revised total of 223, after the home side had posted 254-9 in Canberra.

Jonathan Trott, batting at number three, added a useful 48.

Earlier, Michael Yardy and Ajmal Shazhad were the pick of the England bowlers, taking three wickets each.

The match, which featured only four of the successful Ashes-winning Test side, enabled a number of players to stake their claim for selection for the first Twenty20 international against Australia, which takes place on Wednesday in Adelaide.

BBC Sport - Cricket - Ian Bell's century steers England to tour win

T20s start in a couple of days, surely we should be up for this as T20 World Champions?

https://www.redcafe.net/f12/international-t20-series-england-vs-australia-318229/

 

[Sassy Colin]

Cook comes over as a pretty decent guy...lets hope he can carry this form into the summer...

BBC Sport - Cricket - Ashes win is just the start for England - Alastair Cook

Sorry, couldn't work out how to embed it...

 

[ha_rooney]

Back-to-back Ashes confirmed for 2013

England and Australia will play each other in ten consecutive Tests across two series home and away in 2013-14, and that could be followed by a further five-match series in 2015, after it was confirmed that the dates of the next Ashes series Down Under have been brought forward by a year.

The situation, which last occurred in 1974-75, has been forced upon the two boards by the competing demands of the 2015 World Cup, which is also scheduled to be held in Australia and which, had the 2014-15 Ashes gone ahead as planned, would have required England's cricketers to remain in the country for five months.

A proposal to bring England's next home series, in 2013, forward by a year was thwarted by the competing demands of the London Olympics. England's subsequent home Ashes summer is now expected to take place in 2015, a year earlier than the 2016 date originally proposed, with the traditional four-year home-and-away rotation expected to kick in from then on.

"It's always been our aim to break that cycle of two huge events in the same winter," Steve Elworthy, the ECB's marketing director, told ESPNcricinfo. "To ensure that the teams have better preparation time for the World Cup, this is the only solution, but I also think it's absolutely manageable. I believe the brand is strong enough, as we've seen this year. The home series is critical from our perspective to make sure our grounds are full, but when England head Down Under, they will be trying to replicate the performance that they've just produced."

Although the new dates have yet to be included into the Future Tours Programme, the proposed shift of England's home series to 2015 is potentially significant, as it takes the series away from the competing interests of football's Euro 2016 tournament, which would overshadow the build-up in June and July. Instead, the only other major sporting event in 2015 is the Rugby World Cup, set to take place in England at the end of the cricket season in October.

A major consideration for CA was the prospect of a new round of TV rights negotiations, as the current deal is set to expire in May 2013. With India due to tour in 2011-12, followed by South Africa, England and the World Cup, the board is anticipating four consecutive seasons of high-quality international cricket.

''The Ashes have an x-factor element that excites the Australian public," CA's spokesman Peter Young told The Sydney Morning Herald. "The Ashes make turnstiles spin and they drive the ratings up. In terms of the next media contract, it's an ideal starting point because it's a lucrative blue chip series and all the networks would give their eye teeth to get hold of it."

Bad idea imo, devalues the first series and essentially makes this a 10-match series.

 

[phelans shorts]

Was obvious months ago, makes sense in terms of making the ashes a non world cup year.