Ashes predictions!?

[TheRealTomJones]

It's time for the debate, with the start of 'The Ashes Series 2009' just 2 days away, all cricket followers are hugely excited knowing this series could be one of the most tightly contested Ashes series ever!

So I'll be the first to predict... 3-1 to England!

[Ni-Crusader]

Want England to win but i reckon 2-1 Aussies

[Deanology]

England to win. Come on.. hha!
Hopefully.

[ToffeeBlue]

2 -1 to the good guys (australia of course)
Will be much closer than 06/07. Wouldn't be surprised if we lose in Cardiff.

[TheRealTomJones]

haha, no Brett Lee for first Test!

[Ftbll123456780]

2-1 England.

[supahmann]

No Brett Lee for the first two tests*

2-1 to Australia

[viditbhargava]

The series is going to be a thriller, it will be too close to predict a winner as both teams have their highs and lows. May be we see a drawn Ashes this time!

I would say that England might just have an edge over Australia this time coz, a bit more experience and better spinners which seem to do a quite much in any format of the game. But Ausies are powerfull even though they lack a bit experience in bowling with lee out!

[TheRealTomJones]

A very even first day, Engalnd had a great afternoon session but then lost it a bit towards the end. After the first day, taking into consideration the england bowling line-up, England should win this first test!

[supahmann]

Australia pulled a shocker in selection, Hilfenhaus over Clark. Hilfenhaus is lalalala where I believe Clark is pretty good in these predictions. He did take two wickets though which was good. Bowler of the day for us IMO.

England currently and will be bowled out for 7/336

[Ni-Crusader]

England struggling atm Bring on the rain

[Deanology]

impressive batting by oz to bring the game right back..
Looks like Oz will take a bit to beat this test.

[viditbhargava]

Originally Posted by Ni-Crusader

England struggling atm Bring on the rain

The match his heading towards an unexpected draw! unless the aussies get england all out! btw gud weather prediction by you Ni-Crusader

[Ni-Crusader]

Originally Posted by viditbhargava

The match his heading towards an unexpected draw! unless the aussies get england all out! btw gud weather prediction by you Ni-Crusader

The prediction was more in hope than expectation lol

[TheRealTomJones]

The best country in Britain (Wales) has just hosted one of the greatest ever first test finishes I've ever seen in a test series!

[supahmann]

England deliberately wasted time.

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has accused England of not playing in the spirit of the game after England grabbed a heart-stopping draw in the opening Ashes Test.

The drama came on an ill-tempered final day in Cardiff that climaxed when the last-wicket pairing of James Anderson (21no) and Monty Panesar (7no) batted out the final 69 balls of the contest.


http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/getfile.aspx?Type=image&ID=311901&ObjectType=3&Obj ectID=321858BLOG: Will the Aussies return with the Ashes intact?

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/getfile.aspx?Type=image&ID=311899&ObjectType=3&Obj ectID=321858Ashes 2009 homepage
The home side were inspired by Paul Collingwood, who produced one of the innings of his career with nearly six hours of defiance that rescued England from disaster.
Collingwood came in when England had slumped to 3-31 in the 11th over and did not depart until the 94th when England had moved to 9-233 and within just six runs of making Australia bat again.
They ended the day on 9-252 in their second innings to head to Lord’s for the second Test starting on Thursday all square.

But Ponting was fuming over England sending out 12th man Bilal Shafayat and physiotherapist Steve McCaig with three overs to play for what appeared to be no other reason than to waste time.

Anderson changed his gloves but Ponting didn’t believe there was any need.

“I don’t think it was required, he changed it the over before, I don’t think they’d be too sweaty in one over,” he said.

“I’m not sure what the physio was doing out there, I didn’t see anyone call for the physio to come out. As far as I’m concerned, it was pretty ordinary really.
“But they can play whatever way they want to play.
“We came to play by the rules and the spirit of the game; it’s up to them to do what they want to do.”

Ponting expressed his frustrations on the field to Shafayat and McCaig and expected authorities to take up the matter.

England skipper Andrew Strauss defended his side’s actions in the nail-biting end to the day.
“There was a lot of confusion to be fair. We sent the 12th man out to let Jimmy and Monty know the fact there was time left, rather than the (number of) overs,” he said.
“Then there were drinks spilt on his gloves and Jimmy called to the dressing room and we weren’t sure whether Jimmy wanted the 12th man or the physio, just a lot of confusion.”
It was just one of many moments in an emotion-filled final day that ignited before a ball had been bowled when Mitchell Johnson and Kevin Pietersen had a heated exchange while preparing for the day’s play on the field.
“It was just a few guys on the ground taking each other’s space,” Ponting said.
“Mitchell was trying to bowl and Kevin walalalalaing some tennis balls towards him. That’s where it started to get a bit messy.
“They had a few words after that, there was Test cricket to play from there on.”

Back on the field, things became feisty as well during the day’s play.
In one brutal over that took 10 minutes to complete just before tea, Graeme Swann (31) needed two separate trips from the now famous McCaig after being pinged on the finger and just above the elbow.
Slalalalaept at it and was more than prepared to respond in kind to Siddle’s verbals during the ferocious spell.
Siddle also had a clash with Stuart Broad after they earlier bumped shoulders after the left-hander had squeezed a shot to the vacant third man boundary.
They then again rubbed shoulders as they both turned around to take up their respective positions.
Ponting said umpire Billy Doctrove had spoken to both players at the end of the game.
Yet despite the frustration of not forcing the win, Ponting believes his side will gain motivation going into the next Test at Lord’s where Australia have not lost since 1934.
The capacity crowd erupted into loud cheering when the final pair of Anderson and Panesar got through the final over but Ponting was certain the draining result would give his men extra reason to bounce back.
“From the time we started batting there was only one team that could have won the game and that was us,” Ponting said.
“We have done everything in our power to give ourselves a great chance of winning.
“With an hour left in the day’s play, every one here would have thought we were about to do that.
“I am disappointed about that, everyone in the Australian team is disappointed about that, but we have to look at the positives and there were so many of them.
“Now we have to be ready to go again on Thursday morning and do the same thing over the five days.”
The most eventful day of the first Test which started with the ugly spat between Johnson and Pietersen, saw a political protest on the field and ended with Anderson and Panesar defending grimly for 40 minutes.
Amid palpable tension in the last session, the kind rarely experienced in Twenty20 cricket, Panesar (seven in 31 balls) could not be dislodged while Anderson, who held the Test record of 49 career innings without a duck, remained 21 not out from 63 deliveries.
The equation was critical in the final moments and remained so until Panesar square cut a boundary to confirm the result.
Collingwood saw partners come and go but finally succumbed to the enormous pressure when he sliced the tireless Peter Siddle to gully.
England were in danger of losing by an innings as wickets fell regularly throughout the day but Collingwood found support from Swann, the ebullient off-spinner who had failed to live up to his billing with the ball but proved he could offer plenty with the bat.
Swann was struck three times in four deliveries during a fierce Siddle barrage, needing remedial work on a finger and elbow after consecutive blows, but was a lively contributor to the stand of 80 before the pressure got to him and he was trapped lbw playing across the line at Ben Hilfenhaus.
As the pair took England towards the target of 239 required to make Australia bat again, the Sophia Gardens crowd swelled to capacity and started to cheer every run scored and delivery survived.
Australia had made the early running by having England slump to 4-46.
England’s trump card Pietersen suffered his second batting implosion of the match when he was bowled not playing a shot at Hilfenhaus, the Tasmanian swing bowler who has made a splendid fist of his late call-up as a replacement for the injured Brett Lee.
Pietersen looked shaky throughout his brief innings as he survived a tight lbw appeal, edged on the bounce to second slip and drove airily though the covers before misjudging the line of the Hilfenhaus delivery.
When Strauss fell attempting to cut Hauritz, England were in disarray and looked to the ever-present Welsh rain to help them survive the final day.
Hauritz was far removed from the timid trundler he has been portrayed throughout the early part of tour as he got the ball to spin and bounce sharply.
Strauss cracked him for four through point then fell trying to repeat the stroke next ball while Matt Prior, who lived dangerously for 40 minutes or so, paid the price for trying to cut a leaping delivery that spun rapidly back into him.
The pressure on England to save the game has been compounded by growing calls to restore paceman Steve Harmison to the team after he claimed five wickets in a county match for Durham as England’s preferred bowlers were put to the sword by Marcus North and Brad Haddin as Australia moved to 6-674 declared.
Play was stopped for several minutes during the afternoon when two men ran onto the field to protest at airline Ryanair’s employment policies.

[viditbhargava]

It's a dissapointment that Andrew Flintoff is retiring from test cricket! He still could have carried on for a few years, if he would have been a bit more carefull about his injuries recently

[vickystormo]

I feel Flintoff still had some test cricket left in him.But if he is in full form in ODIs and T20s then he will be hard to stop.

And I support England. =)

[shefellover93]

Australia will tie the series 1-1 in the 4th test. Whoever wins the first day of the 5th test will win the series

[supahmann]

Originally Posted by supahmann

No Brett Lee for the first two tests*

2-1 to Australia

I think this can happen. Either that or it stays 1-1 and we retain the Ashes. We clucking steamrolled you poms in the 4th test. Odds are on Australia's side. We have a 2/3 chance of retaining the Ashes while England just have that 1/3 chance of winning them back. Carn Aussies

[Brazziliant]

england have blown it

[Jamesy]

2-1 England if they bring in Ramprakash, Key or Trott. Or two of them for Bell and Ravi.

My England side for the final test would be -

Strauss
Cook
Key
Ramprakash
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

[supahmann]

Graham Onions has the best name!

I don't think the Aussies should make any changes.

[Deanology]

This is going to be a good final test.
C'mon England.

[Maxen13]

Not looking great for England's batters.
In county cricket today, Bopara and Bell managed just the one run each, Cook four and possible-replacement Trott amassed an impressive-in-comparison 15 runs.
Not great for the bowlers either; Onions remained wicketless whilst Swann could not play due to a stomach bug. However, it was Sidebottom (another rumoured and possible replacement for the Test at the Oval) who took Trott's and Bell's wickets today.