Steve Harmison

[amcgrath1uk]

new chef... new everything the way this is going!

With the exception of Shah over Strauss though this is the best top six we have


Scary.

THATS why I'm worried. Not one of these 4 bowlers is anywhere near what would be called world class. Christ. What are the Aussies going to do to us next time?

[Bongo]

It can't be much worse than last time!

[amcgrath1uk]

It can't be much worse than last time!

True, but we're at home this time!!

[Bongo]

We should have a decent fielder as the 12th man then.

[TightEnd]

We're light years away from having a bowling attack to bowl any good side out consistently twice a game

English conditions mask a lot of weaknesses, and of course help us equalise the difference a bit, but on any decent pitch I just don't see us challenging the good teams


Hussey, Ponting, Clarke, Hayden, Jaques etc etc will cash in

Lee, Clark, Bracken etc will out bowl us, albeit any team would miss Warne/McGrath

[amcgrath1uk]

Soooo true

Time to dig out the 2005 Ashes DVD again!

[Bongo]

.

[TightEnd]

Soooo true

Time to dig out the 2005 Ashes DVD again!

If, If we have Flintoff fully fit..especially for his bowling and Simon Jones reverse swinging it on any surface then at least we'd be more competitive

of course expecting Flintoff to be fit for long to bowl is a huge ask, and Jones has been out since 2005, virtually


Stuart Broad maybe, but the selectors need to give him a run, allow him to find his feet and see where it goes

Harmison has had enough chances, not tough enough mentally and to my mind would rather be a family man (not criticising him)  than spend most of the year away from his kids.

[amcgrath1uk]

Strange enough I've got the 5th test playing on my laptop at the mo

Flintoff is as good with old and new ball, and Jones is a master with the old ball, and thats definitely one thing we miss!

But will watch till the end of the day today to see what happens, unless I fall asleep.

If we make 250, I'll be amazed!

[Bongo]

Ambrose hooks Martin for six. A quite vicious top edge that he follows with a stand-and-deliver play-and-miss. Repeats the play-and-miss.

 

At least he's scoring some before he gets out...

[amcgrath1uk]

true.. he's treating the bowlers with disdain at the mo.. quite refreshing to see!!!

In the Ashes 5th test.. Pietersen's just got his century.. happy days

[Bongo]

Nice 50 from Ambrose now!

[amcgrath1uk]

He's played very well. Think the fun starts in the 80th over!

[TightEnd]

nice to see we have a wicketkeeper who can bat at last..and minus the Geraint Jones/Matt Prior patented teflon iron gloves too!

[AndrewT]

nice to see we have a wicketkeeper who can bat at last..and minus the Geraint Jones/Matt Prior patented teflon iron gloves too!

I don't want to fall into the usual England trap of misplaced overconfidence in short term results but I'm glad to see we've found someone who will definitely be as good as Adam Gilchrist.