Ashes - Part 2...

[DaveF]

Had to laugh at Anderson having a whinge at the umpires due to the sledging he was getting. He's one of the nippiest when he has the ball in hand, yet because he was getting it tight, he tried drag them into calm it down.

Next test will go a long way to deciding the outcome of the series I think.

[jodjam]

Trott has left the tour due to a stress related problem. Flower saying he's had it a while now

[DaveF]

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Trott has left the tour due to a stress related problem. Flower saying he's had it a while now

Yet he still went on the tour in the first place? Not good for Trott and I hope he recovers fully, but surely the England management could have dealt with that a lot better.

[jodjam]

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Yet he still went on the tour in the first place? Not good for Trott and I hope he recovers fully, but surely the England management could have dealt with that a lot better.

Exactly. They were there for a month before first test. Surely that month must have been tough for trott if flower is being honest. Looks like no lessons learnt from trescothicks problems

[Stonewall]

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Exactly. They were there for a month before first test. Surely that month must have been tough for trott if flower is being honest. Looks like no lessons learnt from trescothicks problems

I think there was another player who had to go home early from a tour for similar reasons in the recent past: can't remember who it was at the moment. From what I heard on the radio it looks like the England management were aware of his problems so it seems a bit of a strange decision to take him in the first place.

Trott always seemed to be quite an obsessive individual though with the routine he goes through whilst preparing to face a delivery but I feel for him and hope he recovers.

[--------]

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Yet he still went on the tour in the first place? Not good for Trott and I hope he recovers fully, but surely the England management could have dealt with that a lot better.

If it was that bad he shouldn't have been picked. Better a quiet winter to address his situation and a fresh start in April would have been more sensible.

This has been quite a humping the Aussies have given them, but I did think that Bell and Root looked more composed and relaxed in the second innings, as did Cook.

Adelaide should be a more placid wicket (though I don't think the problems at the Gabba were really down to the pitch TBH).

That might give them a chance to steady the ship, though Perth has tended to be a lot fiercer than Brisbane and a graveyard for England. If they're 2-0 down after Perth, the MCG should see it ended.

As said, Harris isn't likely to play the whole series - he tends to get injuries - and we still don't quite know who's the real Mitchell Johnson - this one, or the one who went for 0 for a hundred and plenty not so very long ago? There's no real doubt about the quality of Cook, Bell and Root, and Pietersen can score big provided his big head doesn't get in the way. Prior's a problem - his second innings dismissal was REALLY STUPID, even more so coming from a senior player in the circumstances of the match.

So for those of us who favour the baggy green caps, a good four days. But it ain't over yet.

[jodjam]

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I think there was another player who had to go home early from a tour for similar reasons in the recent past: can't remember who it was at the moment. From what I heard on the radio it looks like the England management were aware of his problems so it seems a bit of a strange decision to take him in the first place.

Trott always seemed to be quite an obsessive individual though with the routine he goes through whilst preparing to face a delivery but I feel for him and hope he recovers.

Michael yardy is the other lad

[Stonewall]

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Michael yardy is the other lad

That's the one.

[Jonnyboy]

I understand the questioning of the team management but remember this is an unseen illness and from what Flowers said, Trott had been managing it well. In these circumstances I'd guess that the player declared himself fit to travel and play.

Regardless of the circumstances, I hope he gets his health back soon

[Stonewall]

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I understand the questioning of the team management but remember this is an unseen illness and from what Flowers said, Trott had been managing it well. In these circumstances I'd guess that the player declared himself fit to travel and play.

Regardless of the circumstances, I hope he gets his health back soon

You are right Jonnyboy.

There is depression in my close family (thankfully not me) so I have some awareness of how it can be covered up and how it manifests itself which would make it so difficult for the management to make a call on this prior to the tour.

A cricket tour in the modern era must be an incredibly difficult environment for someone like Trott to deal with. An endless round of travelling and being away from family and friends for months on end; living in hotel rooms, pleasing sponsors and subjected to the pressures of top level sport. Then in the sanctuary of what you do best, what you love, out in the middle wrapped in a blissful cocoon of focus and concentration and achievement, there is sledging and physical and mental intimidation to cope with and when things are not going well nowhere to hide. Almost uniquely in a team game it can be a very lonely place out in the middle.

In the "good old days" probably up to the days of Botham, there were huge drinking sessions and a boys on tour mentality which allowed a release but like most other sports in the modern era this is not available. At least not without the risk of finding yourself on the front page of the tabloids. When Ian Botham punched Ian Chappel's lights out (successfully) in an Aussie bar thirty five odd years ago no-one gave a **** and it wasn't reported, when Warner tried the same thing (unsuccessfully) on Joe Root he had hell to play.

In the modern era we demand the most of our highly paid sportsmen and I don't disagree that if they want the financial rewards available they should pay the price but there is a cost and maybe the sheer joy of playing the game for its own sake; win, loose or draw is lost. Like our beloved Hibs, it is only sport at the end of the day the likes of Trott deserve our sympathy not contempt.

[--------]

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I understand the questioning of the team management but remember this is an unseen illness and from what Flowers said, Trott had been managing it well. In these circumstances I'd guess that the player declared himself fit to travel and play.

Regardless of the circumstances, I hope he gets his health back soon

Yup. As I understand it, he's been suffering from depression and as you say covering it quite well until the stress of an Ashes Test hit him. No blame attached to anyone, really, and as you say, I hope he gets things under control and back to health ASAP.

I notice that Dawson and Clarke are quite a bit less bullish about the sledging on the BBC website today. I don't suppose they appreciated the situation either, really.

[Haymaker]

Broad takes Warner! 34-1.

[HH81]

I didnt see as much today as would have liked but England doing well 174-4.

[IWasThere2016]

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I didnt see as much today as would have liked but England doing well 174-4.

Aussies finished day one play at 273-5

[jodjam]

Guess you have to call it an even day. If carberry hadn't dropped that dolly right at the end then England shade it. Pitch offering a bit so 400 will be a good score

[Stonewall]

Oh dear!

570-9, England made to pay for the dropped catches yesterday.

Catches win matches as they say

[--------]

Dearie dearie me. Petersen does it again. 3 for 66 and deep in it.

[Mibbes Aye]

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Oh dear!

570-9, England made to pay for the dropped catches yesterday.

Catches win matches as they say

Was a great example of how a match could potentially have turned.

It sums up the inherent beauty of cricket - how a match pans out depends on a multitude of complicated and complex things, yet it still boils down to taking twenty wickets...

[Haymaker]

135-9!

[lord bunberry]

172 all out, I'm surprised the aussies didn't force them to follow on

[Aldo]

Ha ha just seen the score. Well looks like it's gonnae be 2 - nil to the Aussies.

Wonder what the odds were for an Aussie White wash before this all began??

[3pm]

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172 all out, I'm surprised the aussies didn't force them to follow on

I don't think they need to mate.

I'd imagine they will declare soon and England will need to bat for virtually 2 days....which going by their 3 innings so far isn't going to happen!

[jodjam]

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172 all out, I'm surprised the aussies didn't force them to follow on

No need to mate. Give the bowlers a rest. A fast bowler puts 8 times his body weight on his front foot when he delivers so I reckon Johnson will want the rest.

Warner should get his 100 then stick England back in

[twiceinathens]

So much for the "will it be 5-0 or 4-1?" assumptions.
but then with a batting order of
Hellish
Hopeless
Harmless
Hapless
Helpless
Haunted
Hassled
Hurt
Humbled
Hunted
and Hubris

perhaps It is not unexpected.

And then of course the poor sods are being lambasted by the ultimate team player Geoff "when I were a lad" Boycott"

[--------]

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So much for the "will it be 5-0 or 4-1?" assumptions.
but then with a batting order of
Hellish
Hopeless
Harmless
Hapless
Helpless
Haunted
Hassled
Hurt
Humbled
Hunted
and Hubris

perhaps It is not unexpected.

And then of course the poor sods are being lambasted by the ultimate team player Geoff "when I were a lad" Boycott"

Well, I'd excuse Carberry and Bell from that - and possibly Root as well, since at least he stayed around for a bit before giving it away - but Petersen and Prior need to take a hard look at themselves and the management need to find a shop where they sell guts and backbones for some of the others.

It's not so long ago that English journos were talking about Broad as a coming "all-rounder" - drama-queen's more like it after his display during the Aussie first innings. The fielding's been awful and it looks as if the stress is now getting to Cook, who up till now has been one of the better batsmen for them. If Monty Panesar can stick around for an hour to support Bell, what does that say about the rest of the tail? Monty wouldn't claim to be anything other than a #11, but at least he dug in.

That's a flat track with no venom in it. Perth will be a lot feistier, I think. If they're scared of Johnson on this wicket, goodness knows what they'll be like at the WACA.

Still, Kevin Petersen has a career in musical comedy after he retires if he wants it - I can think of at least one part he could play without any effort at all -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nauLgZISozs

And come to think of it, there's a part one or two of the others could play as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2itQkiQUOE

And Geoffrey could play the Wicked Witch of the North ....

[DaveF]

Got up at 2.40am due to the wife coughing her lungs up all night and lay on the sofa just in time to see the collapse.

Fantastic bowling from Johnson, with Broad, Swann and Anderson all blown away in terrific style. I'm surprised Swann isn't getting a bit of stick fro the press. He certainly doesn't fancy facing Johnson at all and basically chucked it.

[--------]

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Got up at 2.40am due to the wife coughing her lungs up all night and lay on the sofa just in time to see the collapse.

Fantastic bowling from Johnson, with Broad, Swann and Anderson all blown away in terrific style. I'm surprised Swann isn't getting a bit of stick fro the press. He certainly doesn't fancy facing Johnson at all and basically chucked it.

I think some of the stuff that was being touted around the English media about him last year didn't help.

Aussies have a big enough chip on their shoulder without giving them more reason to girn, and a lot of what was being said over here before the last series and this one was stupid.

Botham's predictions of England triumphs and Aussie humiliation was a bit like young Albert Ramsbottom poking Wallace the Lion in the ear with his stick. What on earth did he think their reaction would be?

Bell and Carberry showed that this wicket is playable and that a bit of application and heart can take a batsman a lot farther than most of those guys went last night. I don't think one can say that Cook, Root, Petersen and Prior did anything other than give their wickets away - for whatever reason - and Stokes didn't look ready at all.

And it's no good talking about how hard the team works at catching practice if they're all fingers and thumbs when they're out on the field.

Personally I think that this England team may be getting to it's sell-by date and will need major re-working in the next couple of years - kind of what Australia have been doing to their team this year.

[Treadstone]

Cook out early with an atrocious shot and Carberry falls similarly soon after. 1am and 25-2 England will be lucky to last till dawn our time.

[3pm]

247-6.

Cheap wickets again. Soon as either Broad or Trott go then it's curtains.

Australia are more up for it and it's showing.

[--------]

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247-6.

Cheap wickets again. Soon as either Broad or Trott go then it's curtains.

Australia are more up for it and it's showing.

You mean Prior?

It's a shambles, really. But it's not unusual, surely.

What WAS unusual was England first winning the Ashes and then managing to hold on to them for another 2 series.

BTW - I see Siddle got Pietersen AGAIN. I think that's now 9 times Siddle's taken Pietersen's wicket in Test matches.