Everyone is concentrating on the 20 20 World Cup.

To be honest I don't take this form of cricket seriously. Its great fun, good to watch but it's just a wham bam thank you mam version of the real game.

I think it's good for cricket and appreciate people who like it.

But it's the Ashes year. The history, the passion, the national pride, the oldest cricket competition in history. The one they all want to win is here.

5 tests, 5 days of strategy, agression, skill and tradition for the right to win the Earn...the one that the Aussies can never take away.

The two squads appear reasonably matched. The Aussies having named a lot of new players, and the English finding their feet after a bad Winter.

Post your thoughts and analysis here...Beacuse that time is almost upon us.

Can't wait. Just hope the weather stays as good as it is now. :pray:

Think England have a reasonably good chance. The Aussies aren't what they were.

Can't wait.

I'll have my Ashes head on as soon as the World Twenty20 is done.

Would rather England won the Twenty20 tbh

Come on then, lets have a sweepstake:

3 posters needed for 3 outcomes: Australia, England, Draw...

1 - KK
2 - Maccy
3 - Elche

Who wants in?

Draw will take place on the 8th of June.

I'll take India.

I'm in.

:good:

Me me me !!!

Thanks to access to any sport sites being blocked at work, it is going to have to be a major case of radio-smuggling I'll hve to employ..

At least the tests will go over the weekend so you get to see a bit.

:good:

Very glad therefore that the Sunday rest days have been long dropped

Can't be said for Wimbledon unfortunately midway through...

All too true <_<

When's the first Test? Can't wait for this, Twenty20 followed by this series, fantastic.

Mid-July I think.

Anyone want to hazzard a guess as to the starting 11 come the 1st Test?

Strauss
Cook
Bopara
Pieterson
Collingwood
Flintoff
Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

Unfortuately for Monty , I'm not sure if hes up to it.

Assuming everyone is fit, I think that will be exactly it. I'd be happy with that too.

England will win 4-1.

Syn, it's the day of the draw.

:good:

Good news boys.

I drew the Aussies.

What did I get?

You aren't half jammy...Aussies threw the 20 twenty because they have bigger fish to fry...Loads of prep time before the Ashes...now.


Dman and blast those Convicts.

We tried to throw the Competition...result against Holland proof of that...then there was a small outcry, so they thought against it...and performed against Pakistan...fools!

You got a draw.

Not a bad sweepstakes outcome considering it's very unlikely in this country all five tests will have a win in them.

I'm happy with that.....I sensed at 1-1 or 2-2 anyway.

Sorry guys, forgot there were 3 separate cricket threads. Posted it in the wrong one.

Here is the draw, Elche:

I was worried that it had been fixed...So at least now I can rest easy and prepare with no fuss.

Thanks.

You used a Randomizer for a draw with three options?

You disgust me, tbh.

You're the one that gave me the website. :coffee:

Oh, yeh.

:run:

Watched a bit of that Empire of Cricket earlier, they were profiling Australia and amongst others Shane Warne.

His ball of the century against Gatting put him on the map, bloody hell what a ball it was as well.

When does this start?

I wont watch each day of each Test from start to finish. Doubt anyone does tbh but it'll be on in the back ground.

:good: Oh there'll be one or two of us alright.

Red ball, whites clean and freshly ironed, hazy mornings with dew on the pitch..The smell of linseed oil, leather and willow...Floppy green caps and rigid blue ones....memories of 149's or 5 - for 1 bowling spells, that ball of the century, big mustaches, Dennis and Jeff.....freshly made Victoria Sponges from Mrs Mathews of Espom....and a small little post of burny up bails.

I can't f**king wait.

Can you watch the Cricket in Spain or will it be TMS?

Actually you remind me opf something.

They should stop with this all white BS in Tests. Wear your countries colours as they do in limited over games.

Cant wait for all the blocking and leaving, people yawning, players in the balcony reading the papers taking no interest in whats happening in the middle, coaches yawning, more blocking and leaving, the odd run here and there, 50 million maiden overs, all the "bowling Shane" shouts from Gilchrist if either of them were playing which they wont be, more blocking and leaving.

Serious question, is it harder to bat in Tests where you get all the time in the world to play yourself in and then still get out for 20 odd off 200 balls or in limited over games where you dont have the luxury of spending time to play yourself in and have to score runs from the start?

Bear in mind that scoring runs is the main aim for both Tests and limited over games.

Believe it or not Justin TV streams the 20 Twenty and the Ashes.

But I will use TMS to listen to it....TMS is part of the tradition of Test Cricket, hence my cake reference.

I think if 20 Twenty was more serious than there would be more pressure to perform than test cricket.

But the pitches are prepared differently for tests...Pitches have more chance of being greasy and causing more problems.

One day pitches are less indifferent and are designed more for the bat. Test pitches are all over the place....the bounce can be too high, to low, can seam, can swing , can spin....whereas 20 Twenty is designed to hit the bat straight...if not there would be no spectacle.

It's so difficult to get yourself in , during a test..You need more skill , more technique and more patience. You need so many more range of shots than 20 Twenty.



You'll be asking for colours to be worn at Wimbledon next.

More skill in Tests?

You need no skill to leave or block a ball which you cant do in limited over games especially T20.

Only a special kind of player can play limited over games.

People like Strauss, Cook etc are all decent Tests players when they are given all the time in the world but put some pressure on them to score runs and they fail

Tendulkar prefers Test cricket...everything else you and I say is irrelevant...surely.

Ah and you chose to ignore the pitch condition which is critical to the skill needed for Test Cricket.

Plus Botham , Richards, Sobers, Tendulkar, the Chappells, Hayden, Ponting, Lara etc.....hardly blocked a lot did they.

I was at Headingley to see Botham's 149 in 81.....trust me you'll never care about the 1 day game again if you saw something like that.

I also saw Viv Richards 291 live too...incredible.

3 weeks today....let the battle commence.

Read some pretty interesting interviews earlier ahead of this. Seems to me like the Aussies will line up something like this:

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Watson
Haddin
Johnson
Lee
Hauritz
Siddle

Ponting admitted their spinners aren't good enough and may well opt for the extra seamer. Hauritz isn't a wicket-taker, seems to be a bit of a surprise that McGain (who Warne says is the best spinner in Australia) is left out.

Phil Hughes is their new opener and is scoring for fun at the mo apparently.

Ponting reckons Johnson will have a similar impact with bat and ball to Flintoff in 05.

Not many big names there, are there?

The battling line-up's not that strong. Compare that to the line-up 10 years ago. The Indians destroyed them a few months back, then NZ gave them a good fight as well (don't remember who won).

With the home advantage, I think England will win this. As I've said, I just hope the weather stays clear.