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England Cricket 2025
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I totally agree and did point out Boland's stats before the series began albeit that Hazlewood has been in front of him historically for the reason that he is better in all conditions. Even if we were to accept that Boland for Hazlewood is a straight swap, that still means that Cummins and Lyon between them missed half of the series to date and we find ourselves 3-0 down.killerandflash said:
Boland for Hazlewood doesn't weaken them though. He's a top quality bowler at home, who would have had 60 caps in another era. In Australia he's taken 60 wickets at 15.46Addick Addict said:
Sorry, I thought Cummins was only going to be rested for the next one. In which case, Starc might end up playing in all of five. Shame for those of us holding betting slips on him being Player of the Series and Australian top wicket taker!MrOneLung said:thought Cummins and Lyon were out for rest of series ?
It also means that three of their first choice bowling attack namely Cummins Hazlewood and Lyon will play a total of 3/15 of the combined appearances they might otherwise have made. And we're still going to be thrashed.
There was a sentiment from some others, the media and possibly even some of our players, that the Aussies were "there for the taking" because of the fact that they only had one player under 30. In reality, it is our inexperience and the previous failings of the few that have played in away Ashes that has been our undoing. You just can't beat that which makes the decision to play one practice game for the duration of the series even more bizarre. Key has come out and said that they couldn't find a hard, bouncy track to bowl on which, in itself, sounds very strange but it will be harder to do so once you've arrived rather than in advance of the tour. Perhaps those analysts he and McCullum got rid of might have helped in that respect.2 -
Michael Vaughn has been calling for stokes at 3. Bethall at 6 for two matches makes sense to find his feet against an older ball and leggy bowlersKarim_myBagheri said:killerandflash said:Throwing Bethell in at No 3 feels too high for an Ashes debut though. Especially when he's likely to be at the crease in the first couple of overs.
Batting at 5 or 6 IS easier than batting in the top 3, especially in Australia when the ball goes soft after 20 odd overs. Nobody wants to bat at 3 in the England setup, so it seems to be given to the newbie or the batsman not secure of their place.
I see your point and that's the problem with that position as no one can trust our opening batters to do their job and dig in and see their way through those opening overs. Just got to hope that youth and enthusiasm wins the day.
Unless stokes fancies taking responsibility and bats there. Which I doubt would work.0 -
Stokes can’t bat 3 and bowl as much as he does, his body would fall apartTodds_right_hook said:
Michael Vaughn has been calling for stokes at 3. Bethall at 6 for two matches makes sense to find his feet against an older ball and leggy bowlersKarim_myBagheri said:killerandflash said:Throwing Bethell in at No 3 feels too high for an Ashes debut though. Especially when he's likely to be at the crease in the first couple of overs.
Batting at 5 or 6 IS easier than batting in the top 3, especially in Australia when the ball goes soft after 20 odd overs. Nobody wants to bat at 3 in the England setup, so it seems to be given to the newbie or the batsman not secure of their place.
I see your point and that's the problem with that position as no one can trust our opening batters to do their job and dig in and see their way through those opening overs. Just got to hope that youth and enthusiasm wins the day.
Unless stokes fancies taking responsibility and bats there. Which I doubt would work.0 -
I'm not a great fan of Bethell tbh.
Hes proved himself in white ball cricket but has yet to do so in the longer game.
But if he's going to play then at least give him a fighting chance by batting at 6.
Let Brook play at 3 as he's far more experienced at test level.2 -
Listened to it earlier. Hussain really didn't give him an easy ride and it was good to hear.Phil said:Key is due to be interviewed by Atherton and Hussain in the next couple of days. I'm not expecting it to be a forensic examination and no doubt he'll get an easy ride from his mates. He really shouldn't. I can't believe he can put up any reasonable defence of the whole approach both the short and long term.
The whole coaching team and the fool that is Richard Thompson should all go. However, that may be futile unless we change our attitude towards county cricket. Unless our players actually play some meaningful cricket (and during the height of summer) in order to learn and develop then we'll be stuck where we are.
Few people needed the benefit of hindsight to know this Ashes series was going to be a disaster for England. The fact that it has happened whilst two of their best bowlers missed the first two tests, Smith missed the third and Lyon got injured too makes it all the more pathetic.
The damage done to our test and county cricket may take some time to heal.
Key was honest. Probably too honest as it exposed pretty much every decision they made in the lead up and during the series they got catastrophically wrong.
I should think and would hope he is skating on the thinnest of thin ice.2 -
I never thought we'd win down under, as while the Aussies have many older players, they're still close to their prime. 2006/07 was a similar series, the final swansong for a great team.
We then won in 2009. 2 months ago I was fairly optimistic for 2027, as with home advantage and some Aussie greats maybe retired by then, I thought that was a much more realistic chance of winning back the urn, but the last 3 Tests have reduced my confidence in many of England's players.0 -
Yeah they did ask some decent questions and made some good points. It was better than I expected given they didn’t really question the approach before the Ashes. Key has little choice but to accept that the whole thing has been a disaster and for the most part it could have been avoided. He failed miserably in trying to justify the approach which even with the best of following winds was likely to fail. That it has despite Lyon and Cummins only playing one test, Hazlewood none and Smith missing the last one makes matters so much worse. He seems genuinely surprised at how bad it has turned out. Most of us are not!carly burn said:
Listened to it earlier. Hussain really didn't give him an easy ride and it was good to hear.Phil said:Key is due to be interviewed by Atherton and Hussain in the next couple of days. I'm not expecting it to be a forensic examination and no doubt he'll get an easy ride from his mates. He really shouldn't. I can't believe he can put up any reasonable defence of the whole approach both the short and long term.
The whole coaching team and the fool that is Richard Thompson should all go. However, that may be futile unless we change our attitude towards county cricket. Unless our players actually play some meaningful cricket (and during the height of summer) in order to learn and develop then we'll be stuck where we are.
Few people needed the benefit of hindsight to know this Ashes series was going to be a disaster for England. The fact that it has happened whilst two of their best bowlers missed the first two tests, Smith missed the third and Lyon got injured too makes it all the more pathetic.
The damage done to our test and county cricket may take some time to heal.
Key was honest. Probably too honest as it exposed pretty much every decision they made in the lead up and during the series they got catastrophically wrong.
I should think and would hope he is skating on the thinnest of thin ice.0
