It's going to be a great Ashes series!

[Gob]

As England head for Australia, we ask our our panel for their Ashes predictions. Read on below, with a quick warning, it doesn’t look that good for Andy Flower’s men.

John Stern
Editor of The Wisden Cricketer

Drawn 2-2
There hasn’t been a drawn Ashes in Australia since 1965-66 so either a draw is highly unlikely or we’re due. The bookies have 2-2 and Australia 3-1 has joint favourites and the margins between the two could be tiny. I think England will have to come from behind but they’re capable of doing it because they’re mentally stronger than Australia now. England’s bowling attack will get a severe examination and I worry about two things specifically: that Graeme Swann will be worn down by the burden of a five-Test series in a four-man attack and that Steven Finn, as a rookie, will be the weak link. I spoke to one experienced county cricketer recently who thought that Finn would actually bowl himself out of the side before the first Test.


Edward Craig
Deputy Editor

Australia to win 2-0
England caught cold as usual at Brisbane, lose at Melbourne and the rest are draws because neither side has the bowling to take 20 wickets on flatter decks. Swann will be the pick of England’s bowlers, Hilfenhaus the pick of Australia’s with Chris Tremlett (if fit) having a surprising Dean-Headley style impact. KP will score one big hundred but not much else. We’ll be talking about Cook’s place at the top of the order quicker than we’d like and Katich will be the wicket England most want to take.


Daniel Brigham
Assistant Editor

Drawn 2-2
Australia will dominate most Tests but England’s ability to hold on for draws when all looks lost, plus the very happy knack they have of stringing a couple of match-winning sessions together from nowhere, means they’ll do enough to conquer any mental doubts they will inevitably have about competing Down Under.

Australia’s two wins will simply come from home advantage; if this series had been played in England this summer it could have got very embarrassing for Ricky Ponting.


Benj Moorehead
Editorial Assistant

Australia to win 3-2
Victory to come through their sheer weight of runs – despite their recent batting wobbles and doubts over entrenched members. Big, pressure-heaping scores will compensate for their bowling shortcomings. I can still see Watson, Katich, Ponting, Clarke and Hussey pounding England bowlers (Swann aside) under the merciless Aussie sun (maybe I’m blinkered by recurring Ashes nightmares). England may score a lot of runs (this will be Bell’s time), but not as many as Australia. Watson is key – he always attacks and getting his wicket early would, crucially, stifle the Aussie run-rate. Don’t let Watto win them back the Ashes, please.

Sam Collins
Editor of wisdencricketer.com

Australia to win 3-1
I get the feeling it’s going to be a tough winter for England, despite traditional optimism now. Australia have the bowling to be the ultimate flat-track bullies, I can see Mitchell Johnson and co. brutalising our top-order with their pace and aggression.

Consequently, the fates of the respective underperforming top-orders will decide this series. Consistency will be vital – and for me, at home, Australia’s still has more about it. When four of England’s top five – Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and to an extent Andrew Strauss – are all under pressure to justify their places you know that things aren’t great. Touring somewhere as tough as Australia, cracks become crevasses pretty quickly, so England need them to find form quickly. Especially as – Swann apart – the bowling remains a work in progress. Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have done a good job, but they can’t expect to win in Australia with so many batsmen out of form.

A controversial hunch is that Kevin Pietersen won’t finish the series. I fancy Ian Bell to have a good tour, and Chris Tremlett to start ahead of Steven Finn and show people that he should never have been dropped after the 2007 India series. But Australia tends to produce result Tests, so I’m going for 3-1 Australia, with a closer series than the scoreline suggests.

[Sean]

It's not just the traditional English optimism right now though... the Aussie fans are shitting themselves...

Bring it on!

[Lord Jim]

I simply can't put into words my excitement....

[Andrew D]

Maybe Leonard Cohen can express it for you ....

[Lord Jim]

Maybe Leonard Cohen can express it for you ....

Yeah, in this case he'd certainly be the go-to guy.....

[dales]

I'd rather watch flies fornicate.

[Andrew D]

Is there a YouTube for that?

[Gob]

Last match of the Sri Lanka vs Aus series today, with Sri Lanka already having taken the series with an unbeatable 2-0 lead.

This is the last match for Aus before the England Ashes series starts, a chance to gain some pride back, and to try out young players.

I'll be reviewing the series for you in this thread you'll be glad to know!

I'll also be doing live reports on England vs The Prime Ministers XI (Jan 10 2011, Canberra,) and England vs Australia one day test, (26 Jan 2011 Adelaide.)

[Lord Jim]

I'd love to stand by for your live reports Strop....

But unfortunately there's a paint drying contest on TV I don't want to miss....

[SisterMaryFellatio]

lmao...I completley agree cricket is as boring as bat shit as boring as football.......

However I did go to a one dayer with an ex on boxing day at the Gabba......hadda ball....got absolutlely rat arsed. The fans are great the atmosphere fab, everyone just goes to get pissed, there just happens to be a bunch of boring bastards wearing whites trying to hit stumps!

Gotta admit tho am not looking forward to it being on telly all the time!

[Rick]

Is there a YouTube for that?

Well yes actually...

[Gob]

Well the inevitable happened. Aus hammered Sri Lanka in the final match, first bowling them all out for a miserly 115, then achieving that total with ease.

But still, the Lankan's took the series 2-1, which gives hope for an England victory in the Ashes.

Could this be the end of Ponting as captain? Clarke isn't looking too clever to replace him.

[loCAtek]

What did we ever do to you, Gob?

[Lord Jim]

Could this be the end of Ponting as captain?

Oh NO!

Not THAT!!!

THE HORROR!!!!!

[Gob]

I know how you feel Jim, it wouldn't be so bad if there was a natural succession set up.

But Clarke has lost the trust of half the team, and his record in the last few matches has been abysmal.

Watch this space for more updates.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Watch this space for more updates.

I will only be staying right here hitting hte "REFRESH" button.

[Guinevere]

You and me both, older!

Besides the fact that no matter how many times AndyH or Gob has tried to explain cricket, I still don't get it, isn't it the wrong season? I mean seriously, if you want to talk to me about cricket, please make it in June, under a late afternoon summer sun, in a glorious green English cricket, er, field, and make sure I've got a Pimms #1 in my hand.

[Reality Bytes]

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

Simple explanation of a boring boring borrrrrrrrring game:

THE GAME
Cricket involves two teams with 11 players on each side. The captain who wins the toss decides whether his team bats or bowls first. If they bat first , their aim is to score a lot of runs and make sure the other team does not reach that score.

FORMATS OF THE GAME
Cricket is played in many formats , but the most popular are TEST CRICKET and ONE DAY cricket. In TEST cricket game goes on for 5 days, with each team batting twice - if time permits.

ONE DAY is the most popular format, with each team getting 300 balls to score runs. And the other team tries to outscore them within the same number of balls.

KEY PLAYERS
Three functions of the players are 1. BATSMEN, 2. BOWLING 3. FIELDING.

1.Batsmen - one who scores runs of the balls bowled by the bowler.

2.Bowler - One who bowls, and tries to get the batsmen "out" (dismissed from the ground).

3.Fielder - Players (10) who assist the bowler in achieving his goal, and prevent the batsmen from scoring runs.

TBH the actual game is pretty simple to work out - it's not that different to baseball or rounders except for running in straight lines between 2 wickets instead of around several bases - the confusion comes in when you get to scoring and the rules.

[Gob]

An old cliche'

CRICKET: As explained to a foreigner...

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

This is more useful


An American perspective!!

[dales]

Who in their right mind would play a game named after an insect?