Is it me...

Or has Shane Watson invented a new bat with a hinge in the handle?

Great Picture...

From The Australian

Top 10 Moments of the Ashes (for England)

1. Cook's double hundred at Brisbane, set a psychological platform for Cook and the other batters

2. Anderson reducing Australia to 2/3 at Adelaide, devastating start from which their top order never recovered

3. KP's double hundred at Adelaide, skillful and dominant

4. KP bowling Clarke at Adelaide, completely out of the blue halting Clarke's recover of form

5. Collingwood's catch of Ponting off Jimmy at Perth, spectacular and epitomised England's fielding

6. Trott not realising he'd run out of partners in Melbourne, that man just plays in his own bubble, just what England need at 3

7. Jimmy getting Hussey in the first innings at Melbourne, ended Hussey's run-fest which was another key nail in the Aussie coffin

8. Ricky losing his cool at Melbourne over the referral, poor old fella, he may never play Test cricket again

9. Bresnan bowling Pointing in the second innings, every England bowler got Ponting out in one way or another and even our support bowlers managed it

10. Winning the series 3-1 - nuf said!

Session by Session

OK, here's a breakdown of the series by day, showing the number of sessions won and lost, using the normal margin of 90/3 being halved (unless extenuating circumstances). England's score first.

Brisbane (draw)

------------------------

Day 1: 2.5/0.5

Day 2: 1.5/1.5

Day 3: 1/2

Day 4: 3/0

Day 5: 2/1

Total: 10/5

Adelaide (Eng win)

-------------------

Day 1: 2/1

Day 2: 3/0

Day 3: 1/2

Day 4: 1/0

Day 5: -

Total: 7/3

Perth (Aus win)

-------------------

Day 1: 2/1

Day 2: 0/3

Day 3: 1/2

Day 4: 0/1

Day 5: -

Total: 3/7

Melbourne (Eng win)

-------------------

Day 1: 3/0

Day 2: 0.5/2.5

Day 3: 1/2

Day 4: 1/0

Day 5: -

Total: 5.5/4.5

Sydney (Eng win)

-------------------

Day 1: 2/0

Day 2: 2.5/0.5

Day 3: 3/0

Day 4: 2.5/0.5

Day 5: 1/0

Total: 11/1

Series Total: 36.5 / 20.5

That's pretty emphatic and the signs were there in Brisbane in the first test that England had the mettle to go on and win the series with their wining draw after batting brilliantly in the second innings. The nature of the win in Sydney by dominating nearly every session really shows how far England came this Winter.

Collingwood's successor

Paul Collingwood announced his retirement from Test cricket today, to no-one's surprise, it was always unlikely that England's management would tolerate another dip in his form having supported him through them on several occasions before. But they know how valuable his overall contribution is to the team and they will struggle to find a like-for-like replacement.

Morgan seems to be the "next cab off the rank" in terms of batting and it's almost become a shoe-in that he will play but that would be a mistake. Morgan is a pretty one dimensional cricketer in Test terms where his bravado with the bat wont always be appropriate as KP has discovered. James Hildreth has been mentioned a lot and is obviously in the selector's plans for the future, he has a great at Somerset but for me we need to be looking for someone who can bring a bit more to the party, my candidates would be:

Ian Bell: the bottom line is that no-one new should be coming in above Bell in the order so he will actually be the direct replacement at number 5, the question then becomes who replaces Ian Bell at 6

Ravi Bopara: slight bias as he is an Essex man, but he would be a natural fit to replace Collingwood's all round talent and batting at 6 would suit him perfectly

Tim Bresnan: we know he can bat, has a decent technique, and we definitely know he can bowl so why not take the opportunity to strengthen the bowling line up, promote Prior to 6 and play Bresnan at 7

Stuart Broad: effectively Broad is the player who is coming back into the side that played at Sydney so technically he could be Collingwood's replacement if there were no changes to the current side, keeping Bresnan.

Playing Broad and Bresnan means you have two guys to replace Collingwood's runs, as his bowling would be well covered, batting stats are as follows:

Collingwood's average: 40

Bresnan's average: 32

Broad's average: 27

So that's the batting sorted, the only thing missing is Collingwood's exceptional fielding, which may be the thing that he is most remembered for. Someone needs to come in and catch well off Swanny both sides of the wicket. The likely candidates are Bell, who is a specialist close-in fielder, Anderson who appears to be an excellent all-round fielder or Trott who fields at slip for his county.

Whichever way you look at it Collingwood will leave a strange shaped hole in the England team and it will take some filling, I just hope England selectors take the opportunity to explore all the options.

Innings Averages

Australia's scores in the series so far (excluding second innings at Brisbane):

481/10

245/10

304/10

268/10

309/10

98/10

258/10

280/10

281/10

--------------

Average for completed innings: 280 (28 per wicket)

Average total score for top 5 wickets: 154

England (all innings):

513/10

187/10

123/10

620/5

260/10

517/1

644/10

------------

Average for completed innings: 409 (51 per wicket)

Average total score for top 5 wickets: 289

So to put it simply England's top 5 were twice as good as Australia's

Eng 50s: 11 (6 players)

Aus 50s: 16 (8 players)

Eng 100s: 9 (6 players)

Aus 100s: 3 (2 players)

Australia scored a lot more 50s but only went on to convert 15% of them into 100s, 8 of their squad scored a 50 in the series, with Johnson adding two from the lower order, only Hughes from the top order didn't manage to register one.

England converted their 50s into 100s at a rate of 45% which is outstanding with 6 of their regular top 7 batters scoring a 100. This consistency and ultimately the form every one found themselves in was the real difference. The only disappointment for England would be that their tail did not wag much in the series but I dont think they'll be losing sleep on that one. Australia got some useful contributions from Johnson and Siddle in the series, but probably too little too late in most cases.

Hat's off to Australia...

They've unearthed yet another completely ineffective spin bowler, where do they find all these unusually mediocre players? It's almost become a skill. Nathan Hauritz must be absolutely gutted, he's easily the most average of all of them and he cant get in the team! Has he been shagging Ricky's missus or something?

England's Player Review

I've ranked these in order based on their contribution to the series:

Cook: record breaking stats fest wherever he batted this winter - outstanding, and sweat-free!

Anderson: led the bowling attack with maturity and skill, his economy rate was a session winner on a number of occasions

Trott: the answer to England's problem position with a really solid series

Strauss: slightly patchy with the bat, but very positive, implemented the tactical plans superbly

Swann: patient and still threatening in not very friendly conditions, bit more with the bat would have been nice

Bell: looked excellent but missed a couple of opportunities to shine in difficult circumstances

Pietersen: lots of runs and 1 major innings, cant help thinking one more hundred would have added to his credibility

Prior: kept wicket really well, taking lots of key catches, weighed in with runs at the end of the series

Finn: could have been the weakest link and was targetted by the Aussies but kept his head and got a lot of wickets early in the series, fitness let him down but a great start to his ashes career

Tremlett: came in and showed his physical prowess to make some telling contributions which may well take him into the Summer

Bresnan: came in and kicked the Aussies when they were down, they had been softened up a bit by then but still useful, shows our strength in depth in the bowling department

Collingwood: can you be in the England team for your catching? Probably not.

Broad: very unlucky to get injured when he did, he bowled tight with intelligence for not much reward

Alistair Cook: Man of the Series

I'd just like to draw your attention to a post I put up some weeks ago now

Cooky's in the runs

Not to say I told you so but...

Bell-end

Well, that's why you're at number six Ian, you muppet. Out hooking, under no pressure whatsoever. Very reminiscent of Trent Bridge in 2005 when he heaped pressure on his teammates by hooking to backward square, straight down his throat. In fact how many times has Ian Bell cleared the ropes with that shot? He'd only been in for 2 overs and there was a hundred there for the taking, credit to Matt Prior for taking Bell's runs for himself and passing 2000 career runs. Fair enough, England needed to get the run rate but you're only 4 foot 6, what were you thinking???

Some stats...

Always worth checking the Howstat site for decent cricket stats, and here's a few good ones:

Run Rate

In 2005 England's improved run rate was the difference between the two teams and it is showing again here, England are at 3.54 and Australia at 3.16. It is key to England's plan of playing 4 bowlers that they restrict the opposition run rate, as it builds pressure and creates wickets. This is why Finn was dropped from the current test he is going at 4.32 which breaks the model. Bresnan came in to do a very specific job and went for 1.92, he also picked up the wickets of Hughes and Haddin who were both flashing at the ball with attempted scoring shots. Well done England!

Batting

England have 4 of the top 6 batters in the series so far by average score, only Hussey appears in the top 4 for Australia, and he is having an excellent series. England's tail are letting them down badly with no-one averaging over 20 outside the top 5. Collingwood is having a mare and may well be on his last tour for England, having said that he has the same average as Ponting, maybe it's time for both to go?

Records

Alistair Cook is nearing 5000 career runs and he's still in his fifth year of International cricket, that's a 1000 runs per year, pretty good for a 26 year old. With his latest knock Matt Prior has become England's third best wicket keeper of all time, behind Alec Stewart and Alan Knott. No batsmen on show in the Ashes are rated in the current top 10!

Melbourne Test: The wrap up - An Australian Perspective

Hi Guys,
It is my last post for a little while as I am off down the beach for 5 days. By this stage the Ashes will of been complete unless something drastic happens.

I took my two little boys to MCG yesterday and was a great atmosphere. You do not mind get beaten in cricket however the way Australia go about their cricket has been very consistent throughtout the series. Mentally, they are not prepared to sit through difficult batting conditions. I count'nt at least 3 batsmen that played silly shots to get out.

Strauss won the toss and bowled. The ball fizzed around and it was interesting since you can hear the sound of the willow from the crowd and I do not think I heard the Australias hit the middle of the bat too many times even when defending. So, it was particularly difficult to bat.

England bowled superbly between Anderson, Tremlett, Bresnan in conditions which were similar to England conditons. They pitched the ball up, were able to move the ball and fielded brilliantly. Well done.

I think Phillip Hughes will make it however the shot he went out on is typically of a player who thinks he is invincible on flat pitches. Problem was the pitch was not flat and needs to learn to play in all conditions. Watson was all at sea. Next up was R Ponting who was scratchy at best. Played two nice shots and then played the Tremlett delievery all wrong - once upon a time he would of pulled that delivery since it was quite short. Hussey recieved a nice ball from Anderson and his luck finally run out. M Clarke played ok for a while and looked to be in OK touch until he nicked one. Steve Smith is not a No.6 (he is a No.7 or No.8) and C White should take this position (still cant work out this logic). B Haddin played an aweful undiscipled shot.

Every single Australian that went out looked like they did not care. They played rash, undiscipled shot to outstanding bowling. Yeah sure the conditions suited the bowling however you need to have some more patience in their stroke play. I thought Par was around the 200 run mark.

Onto the English batting. The sun came out as soon as they walked out. They used the heavy roller also to flatten to pitch. Yep, that did the job alright. All of a sudden conditions suited the batsmen. Once again, England opening pair showed great composure on every ball and picked their shot play. Similarly when you heard Strauss and Cook hit the ball whilst defending then it hit the middle of the bat every time. They were in good touch.

The Australian bowling was too short from Johnson, Harris & Hillfeneus. I thought Siddle bowled well however he understand the conditions more since he is Victorian.

In most of the Shefield Shield Games in the last few years at MCG. The team that Bats first generally loses.

Anyway all the momentum and skill with England. It is very overcast today so there will be some wickets I would expect and there will be some showers however it should not stop England for regaining the Ashes. The next 3 days of weather should be very sunny.

Congratulations to England well done.

The fall out for Australia will be heavy however it needs to happen to bring through a bunch of new talented kids (there are plenty around also).

All the best. I am off to the beach.

Luke

automatic sentence checker

Hello Luke the automatic sentence checker on my Mac listed a couple of things that needed clarification:

'I need to buy my tickets today. They are saying there is going to be over 90,000 people there and maybe one of the biggest crowds in the last 50 years at MCG' - did you mean just on day one?

'Welcome to Melbourne - home of sport attendance. I think the Barmy Army may be a little overwhelmed this week' - Luke, did you mean overwhelmed with excitement?

ps This was the game my wife and I were meant to be at to celebrate our 10th Anniversary until she remembered we have only been married 9 years.

Interesting point...

Just saw this on an Australian web site:

"It is curious that of Australia's top seven, only Ricky Ponting and Hughes are not regulars in the national Twenty20 side, yet of England's, only Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood are."

This is exactly the sort of criticism that used to be leveled at England when they were in selection turmoil, and it used to be lauded as one of Australia's strengths, the fact they played the same team in all forms of the game. So now the tune has changed and you can't play T20 and Test cricket and be successful, and with England T20 champions and in the box seat to retain the Ashes the boot really is on the other foot.

Here's how Aussie fans think they will do in the one day world cup next year

Am I dreaming??

Another great start to a Test by England, and this time we surely wont throw it away like we did in Perth. What an incredible come back by England, they have real "bouncebackability" that's for sure, which must be the sign of a team in good mental state. Winning the toss may be a key factor here but you still have to "deliver your skills" as Stuart Broad would say (and does every 5 minutes on TMS).

An extra Xmas present that's most welcome! All the talk of momentum seems a bit simplistic now, Test cricket is a much more complex game than most others and has a lot of hidden depths. Having just watched the highlights practically every Aussie batsman got out in the same way with the same shot, albeit to balls of the right length in the conditions - it looks like a training video for slip catching or a compilation of swing bowling hits, the only odd one is that I couldn't see much movement on the ball that Ponting got which is a bad sign for him. A great moment in the highlights on Sky was Johnson's return to form with a nice wide one down leg side for four byes - great work Mitch!

Don't Panic!

It looks bad but I have to agree with Andrew Strauss, this is not time for panic. England always have one disaster in the series and we need to pray that this was it, I would remind you of our innings defeat in the test at Headingly in 2009, after which we went on to win. In 2005 we lost badly at Lords before then taking 2 of the last 4, and arguably should have been 3 if we'd managed to force a win at Old Trafford.

Of course last time we were in Australia we managed to back up our one disaster test with 4 more, so it will be interesting that's for sure.

After 3 Tests - Player versus Player - Batting

It is difficult to anlayse after 3 tests since it has been a see-saw battle so far.

So here we go on the batting front.
Openers
Strauss v Watson = Even
Cooke v Hughes/Katich = Cooke (you could argue if Cooke v Watson then England would win this one also as Strauss is better than Hughes/Katich)
Total England 1 1/2, Australia 1/2

Middle Order
Ponting v Trott = Trott
Clarke v Peterson = Peterson (just)
Collingwood v Hussey = Hussey
Bell v North/Smith = Bell
Haddin v Prior = Hadden
Total England 3, Australia 2

Lower Order
Swan v Johnson = Johnson
Harris v Anderson/Broad = Anderson/Broad
Siddle v Tremlett/Anderson = Siddle
Hilfeneaus v Finn = Hilfers
Total Australia 3, England 1

Total Australia 5 1/2 England 5 1/2

Any comments?

Good morning England........Series is now 1-1

You will wake up to see Australia demolished your last 5 wickets within about the first hr of play.

England, hang your heads. Pathetic, insipid and scared performance. Can't believe this is the same confident side we saw in Adelaide.

Congratulations Australia. Suberb bowling. They stuck at it with great line and length for both innings. Harris, Hillfeneus, Johnson and Siddle were terrific and should again prove to be difficult to stop. Harris has not hit top gear as yet......

The main differences in the bowling departments were that Australia are quicker and bowled fuller than England. This was very key in the outcomes.

It is about bloody time we bowled to Trott wide of off stump also. He is particularly vunerable (it doesnt help that we have dropped him 4 times also). I don't think Strauss is any more comfortable than Ponting either, so a big score is around the corner for him also. He has feathered two down leg side so far and played a ball he should not of played. Collingwood looks awefully out of form also.

Michael Hussey has been an absolute champion as has Shane Watson during the series so far.

Englands lower order looks extremely fragile and something they need to think about a little more. No runs from Prior, Swan, Anderson & co and some cause for some concern.

Ian Bell had something to prove today. It was his 'day in the sun' today, however he got ' severe sunburnt' when put under pressure. Mr Bell you still have a bit to prove son.........

Again congratulations Australia. Let's keep the momentum going for Melbourne.........