ill play for them, i cant do any worse

ponting is good enough. you need to get rid of deadwood and the young players who think they deserve their spot or think that because theyve made the team, they can play how they want.

I'm sorry but did you just call the bloke that has lost us 2 Ashes series 'good'.

I'd keep Ponting in the team but the biggest mistake ACB has made in the last 10 years was to make Ponting captain.

Ponting might be a good captain, but he isn't a great captain. Australia has a history of developing great captains such as the likes of Taylor, Ian Chappell, Beanaud, Simpson and even Bill Lawry just to mention a few. Australia have also during that time had some good captains who have been able to steer us through times of upheaval and change such as Border, Simpson and even Bradman.

And then we have some very good cricketers who were average captains but benefited from having very good teams at their disposal...cricketers such as Greg Chappell, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting fall into this category...whilst Ponting may be servicable as captain whilst times are good he is not the man durng the tough times or a rebuilding phase...I think that man is Cameron White.

Edited by joffa: 6/11/2010 03:05:11 PM

aaand New Zealand breaks 200!

201-4

Williamson 30*
Ryder 32*

New Zealand are pushing on well after 100 overs

Final session of Day 3.

New Zealand 275/4 (100 overs)

Jesse Ryder 78*
Kane Williamson 57*

Haha, gotta feel for big Jesse. Bats all day to works his way to a deserved ton, then cops a good nut 3rd last ball of the day, 2 balls after bringing up the 3 figures.

Yeah, poor fella. Just shows the intensity levels and psychological warfare involved in a fairly innocuous-looking game like cricket.

Williamson is a gun though!

Gotta carry it on though. Make a ton tomorrow, and then actually continue making runs. How many kiwi batsman have shown that promise and done nothing.

That said, if he does, you've got yourself a nifty batting lineup.

McCullum
Decent Opener
Williamson
Taylor
Ryder
Vettori

Just need McCullum to show some brains when he bats, and another decent opener and you'll have a good enough batting lineup.

+1. Stephen Fleming was the quintessential bat-all-day-and-for-ten-minutes-the-next-morning batsman. Hopefully Williamson does come good though. It's hard for our batsman to develop in the domestic comp because nobody bowls over 130 on a regular basis.

The Ashes: The all-time England dream team

Chosen by Amol Rajan
Monday, 8 November 2010

The 2010/11 Ashes are nearly upon us as England look to retain the urn against Australia.

As we build up to what is promising to be a hard-fought and competitive series, we bring you an all-time England dream team.

We've weighed up who makes the greatest claim for each position and debated who must be omitted in order to make way for the dream XI for an Ashes Test. But do you agree with our selection? Have your say by commenting below.

1. Herbert Sutcliffe
You just can't argue with the numbers. In 27 matches against Australia, Sutcliffe (right) averaged 67 and made half of his 16 hundreds. And his aggregate of 734 runs at 81.55 in the 1924-5 Ashes tour is the sixth best for an Ashes series. Above all, the necessary presence of his dear friend Jack Hobbs (left) demands his selection. The pair averaged 88 together, scored more than 3,000 runs, and put on eleven century stands against Australia alone. England have never had another opening partnership come close to doing the same.

2. Jack Hobbs
Probably the most prolific batsman of all time, with 199 first-class centuries and an almost absurd 61,237 first-class runs by the time he retired. Astonishingly, this was despite the small matter of an interruption for the First World War. Hobbs scored 3636 runs against Australia at an average of 54.26, with 12 hundreds and 15 fifties. As his obituary in Wisden said, the war mellowed him, converting the brash, quick-scoring firebrand of his youth into a patient, relentless accumulator. He played the ball impossibly late, and was seen as a pioneer of the late cut, one of his favourite strokes.

3. Len Hutton (c)
England's first ever professional captain averaged 56.46 against the Australians, and scored his magnificent 364 at The Oval in August 1938 against them. Renowned for his good manners and generosity, he averaged 70 on the MCC's 1946-7 tour Down Under, and 88.83 in the 1950-1 series there, 50 more than the next best Englishman. He retained the Ashes in 1954-5, brilliantly getting the most out of Frank Tyson, and was made an honorary member of the MCC before he'd even retired from the game.

4. Michael Vaughan
Some might say this selection is a sop to the modern game. Perhaps it partly is. Vaughan's chief qualification remains the scintillating 2005 series, where his calm, innovative captaincy brought the Ashes to England for the first time since 1986-7. But he also scored 1627 runs against Australia at a average of 47.95, including four big hundreds, and in 2001 he was the first English batsman for a decade labelled genuinely world-class by the Australian cricket establishment. Any Ashes series would be blessed by that exquisite cover drive, and his understanding with Pietersen, whom he nurtured, would create a powerful engine in the middle-order.

5. Kevin Pietersen
Just edges it from Wally Hammond. KP has, to date, only had one explosive Ashes series (that of 2005), and there are influential voices who feel that he is defined by his failure to live up to extraordinary potential. How he performs in the upcoming series is one of the biggest talking points, with many predicting England's success or failure will depend on whether he can recapture his form. And yet, for all that, this is the man who was described by Christopher Martin-Jenkins as the most imposing batsman since Viv Richards, and his assorted innovations, from the switch-hit to his huge stride down the wicket, make him one memorable series away from becoming a modern great.

6. Ian Botham
The 1981 series alone ensures Botham's place in the pantheon of Ashes legends. In three Test matches following his controversial "resignation" as captain, he almost single-handedly wrote one of the most celebrated chapters in the history of English sport with three match-winning performances - two with the bat, and one with the ball. Indisputably England's greatest all-rounder, in all Beefy scored 2686 runs at 29.35 against Australia, and took 148 wickets at an average of 27.65.

7. Alan Knott
Still correctly regarded as England's greatest wicket keeper, the sight of Knott (right) in gloves instilled confidence in every England bowler who played with him. He scored 1682 runs against Australia at 32.98, and his 97 catches and 8 stumpings against them remain a record for an Englishman. One of the most popular players of his generation, Knott was hugely respected for his keeping to spinners, especially the fizzing Derek Underwood.

8. Harold Larwood
Larwood sneaks in ahead of Fred Trueman and Brian Statham on the grounds that his contribution to Ashes history is insuperable by any other quick bowler (including his new-ball partner in this team, Frank Tyson). The Bodyline series of 1932-3, when as England captain Douglas Jardine asked him to nullify the threat of Bradman et al by bowling at their ribs and faces, is an unpleasant but exciting staple of cricket history. He took 33 wickets at an average under 20 in that series, with terrifying pace and a ruthless disregard for his opponent's mental stability.

9. Frank Tyson
I've plumped for Tyson in part because I think his action was the smoothest and best looking I've seen. In an age before speedometer's, Tyson glided through the crease almost effortlessly, his every limb in harmony as he generated ferocious pace with a pulsating union of rhythm and musculature. Richie Benaud said he was the quickest he'd seen. In the celebrated 1954-5 series, he started with 1-160 in the defeat at Brisbane, but by shortening his run-up he took 10 wickets in Sydney and nine more in Melbourne. His second-innings 7-27, bowling downwind, is one of the greatest spells in Test history.

10. Sydney Barnes
Just remember that Barnes is top of the ICC all-time rankings. A cantankerous old goat at the best of times, in wickets he more than made up on the field for what he lacked in charm off it. Curiously, his record against Australia is much poorer than against other opponents, and yet still awesome. On the 1907-8 Ashes tour he took 24 wickets, including 7-60 in Sydney. In the 1909 series he took 18 wickets, and in 1911-12 he took 34, including an opening spell of 5-6 in Melbourne. Swinging the ball late both ways, his secret weapon was a big leg-cutter bowled with a late flick of the wrist.

11. Jim Laker
Laker would probably have liked a left-armer in the side to provide some footmarks for him to work with. He tended to bowl at off-stump and just outside, whereas modern off-spinners are advised to bowl wide of off-stump, forcing batsmen either to play against the spin or drag the ball a long way to leg. And he certainly didn't bother with anything approaching a doosra or carrom ball. But at Old Trafford in 1956 he showed he didn't need it, with the greatest bowling performance in cricket history. His 19-90 - 9-37 followed by 10-53 - is the only time any bowler has taken more than 17 wickets in a first-class game, never mind a Test match.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/the-ashes-the-alltime-england-dream-team-2125367.html

Instantly loses any credit by picking KP.

Needs more David Gower for me.

Vaughan needs to be at the top of the order... Pietersen has made 2 Ashes Centuries in 3 series, Marcus North 2 Ashes Centuries in 1 series... nuff said really

no Flintoff?

J.Hobbs
H.Sutcliffe
L.Hutton
W.Hammond
D.Gower
I.Botham
A.Flintoff
A.Knott
H.Larwood
F.Trueman
S.Barnes

That'd be my XI anyway.

Edited by Funky Munky: 8/11/2010 08:17:21 PM

how the fuck did peitersen get in that!?

Well if we thought Australian Cricket was doing badly at least we arent using a wicketkeeper as a bowler *cough* New Zealand *cough*

TBF, McCullum has retired as a Keeper:P


This is just Disturbing though.

From the sounds of it, he was told to deliberately lose the 4th ODI against South Africa, Hit the winning runs instead, and has now received threats against his life and his Family. It really sickens me that Cricket has hit this level.

Thtas really sad. Hope the authorities can find him.

the zulqairnan story is disturbing. after what happened in england, the bookies are still trying to get to the pakistani team.

good on hader for not throwing the game and hopefully he stays well.

the icc need to start acting like men and taking action. they not doing anything. they need to rid the bookies from the game and they need to do it now. i could do a better job than the ICC.

what saddens me most, is the majority are muslim. its a bad reputation. ICC need to wake the fuck up and start doing some proper work.

Australia A squad for tour match v England,

Phillip Hughes, Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson, Cameron White, Tim Paine, Steven Smith, Steve O'Keefe, Mitchell Starc, Mark Cameron, Peter George

hoprefully i can get to bellerive for it, should be good

I would be happy with nearly all of them playing for Australia.

Digging up this thread to post a picture of this man:

Then this man:


And to say Fuck You NSW, your supposedly Test Standard line up got you absolutely nowhere :D:D:D:D:D.

Also, Jon Holland for the Test Side, fuck off these useless pricks from NSW.

Iain O'Brien may be coming back to NZ as he has lost his case to be classed as a local player for Middlesex.

Hamish Marshall isn't allowed to play for Ireland at the Cricket World Cup despite being classed as an overseas player by NZC and a local over in the UK. Ed Joyce can play for Ireland though.

On the topic of Hamish Marshall and posting pictures, here's a beaut of him and Chris Cairns.



Edited by thewestisland: 13/11/2010 04:27:01 PM

Still wasn't enough for the win:lol:

Pfft. Doesn't matter. All the talk pre-match was about how good the NSW lineup was and would be a test side for other countries and all this crap. And they got showed up massively. Ronnie Mcdonald, what a fucking star.

They would be a test side for other countries as would a few state sides:lol:

The only thing keeping McDonald out of the test side imo is Watson in there as the all rounder

Who do you think should make it into the greatest Australian XI?


My team is:

Bill Ponsford
Victor Trumper
Sir Donald Bradman (c)
Allan Border
Neil Harvey
Keith Miller
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee
Ray Lindwall
Glenn McGrath

Richie Benaud 12th man

He should be there in place of North tbh.