Goonersworld

Who was man of the series?

TheOne2Smooth wrote:Who was man of the series?

Andrew Strauss

We have no chance of winning. Yorky, you talk shit, just like England are at cricket.

SE13 wrote:Quick mention for Ricky Ponting. If this was his last Ashes game, then thanks for the memories, you have been sublime, a joy to watch, in fact a privilege. I've seen some fantastic Aussies over here during my years, but Ponting has to be the pick of the bunch. I know he's been on two losing Ashes series as Captain, but the displays we have seen from him deserve a mention of their own.

Actually maybe worthy of a thread of his own....?

it wont be his last ashes game, he'll be there in 14 months time.

he even said he wants one more tour of england, though he'll be 38 by then.

a great player, complete arse hole, but great player.

gooneritis wrote:

SE13 wrote:Quick mention for Ricky Ponting. If this was his last Ashes game, then thanks for the memories, you have been sublime, a joy to watch, in fact a privilege. I've seen some fantastic Aussies over here during my years, but Ponting has to be the pick of the bunch. I know he's been on two losing Ashes series as Captain, but the displays we have seen from him deserve a mention of their own.

Actually maybe worthy of a thread of his own....?

it wont be his last ashes game, he'll be there in 14 months time.

he even said he wants one more tour of england, though he'll be 38 by then.

a great player, complete arse hole, but great player.

I think he'll finish on a win in Australia.

England's Ashes victory could be a chance for Gordon Brown to engineer a feelgood factor, leading to a "wicket election" at the end of the party conference season, as opposed to a khaki election, like in 1900, 1918 or 1945. Unfortunately he can't come out in public and comment in case someone asks him about the Lockerbie bomber.

At the minute I doubt if he could win the election if he were the only candidate.

We digress......

i watched quite a bit of the ashes, and to be honest, i actually am liking cricket now, and got quite into it, just gutted about the result....

seriously though i do like watching it now

I'm not a cricket lover and I am certainly not what you'd call an expert, but what about all the criticism Ponting has gotten by Aussie legends? Before the ashes ever started Sky showed interviews where they called him a bad captain who had never done anything to earn the praise he received.

I suppose it's because he's the first Aussie Captain to lead a side to two Ashes defeats, but he led them to victory in South Africa which is no mean feat.

He's also the highest ever run scorer for Australia averaging well over 50. He is what is known as the prize scalp for England, we know he can be devastating once he's in.

I wonder what the Australian take on him is.......

jeff thompson has been laying into him big time
he said "everyone in australia thinks he is a c***"

now lashing him about not "going down with the ship like a captain should".

a

absolutely_fabregas wrote:i watched quite a bit of the ashes, and to be honest, i actually am liking cricket now, and got quite into it, just gutted about the result....

seriously though i do like watching it now

and to think of the grief you dished out to me when I started playing cricket again....LOL
seriously I am glad you enjoyed the series (test series can be tough to get into), the upcoming one dayers and 20/20's will be quality mate.....

jayantmoudgil wrote:Why are the Aussies critisizing Ponting? I don't think there was anything wrong in his captaincy.

not sure why , the buck stops with him i guess , he got a big score at cardiff then only grabbed 2 half centuries for the rest of the series if i remember correctly . you may critise his batting but i don't think you can have a go at him over his captaincy . it's the selectors who need floggin with a shitty stick

If things had gone a bit differently the series would have been 2-2, England deserved to win at Lords and the Oval, Australia had a convincing win at Headingley. It's been said that rain ruined the Edgbaston test but Australia fought back very well there, they finished at 262 runs ahead with five wickets in hand, I think that's a very good position so I don't buy that they were saved by the rain. On the other hand consider what happened at Cardiff they were one wicket away from winning after two hours were lost on the fourth day, put those two hours onto the match and you are probably looking at an Australian victory and a drawn series.

Found a good blog reviewing the Ashes series here,

The thing is Ponting can only work with the players he has got, in previous years when his team has been in trouble he could toss the ball to a Warne or a McGrath and say "here you go, get us out of this hole," and they would.

It's hard to see what else he could have done this summer, it is a team in transition, though looking at some of the youngsters coming through the 2010-11 series down under will be tricky....