Australia regains the Ashes

Was there ever any doubt?

I remember people scoffing when I said they'd do it in 3 - that by Melbourne on Boxing Day it'd be all over.

Warne's on 699 Test wickets.....just a wee bit more than the last record....430-odd.  Pity bloody Melbourne's sold out [long ago] ....95,000 people are gonna see him get his 700....that's a cert....only Q will be....which day?

Series will end in Sydney....5 - zip ...

Sometimes it's not a good time to be in the Barmy Army....and this'll be one of them....

Come on, you Poms....so you invented the game...and we perfected it.....get your act together and choose the right bowlers....put up a real fight...

[congrats to both teams.....the 3 tests so far have been real fun cricket]...

3,669 views 22 replies
Reply #1 Top
  Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie!

...Oi Oi Oi!

Sorry, Pom's ..but all things come to an end sooner or later.

....Just happened to be sooner for you lot!  

Those ashes were our bails/stumps in the first place ...so it's only right we keep 'em

Seriously though ...good luck, NEXT TIME! 
Reply #2 Top

Yes, well played Oz. Your team was well focussed, prepared and determined - we weren't... The Aussies have been preparing for months, we just turned up two weeks before the first test...   

lol we have a guy, 23 years old at the start of his career, capable of taking 8 wks in a match in Aussie conditions and he couldn't even get a game. We have a wicket keeper who is total shite, who, unbelievably, is on the team selection comittee...

Just remember next time all our better players are currently 21 - 23 years old, all yours are 35 -37...
Don't get too attached to the urn, it's coming straight back  

Congrats to Alastair Cook for having four centuries under his belt at the age of 21. Previous English 21 year old record holders were David Gower and Denis Compton both with two centuries. And there are still two tests to go before he's 22... 

Reply #3 Top
Very interesting....what planet are you people from and what language are you using?.....
Reply #4 Top
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_terminology
Reply #5 Top
Thanks Troy. Just having a bit of fun with these "blokes" as when I first read Jafo's message I was amazed that it appeared to be English but I had no idea what he said.
Reply #6 Top
Careful, or you'll find yourself on a sticky wicket...   
Reply #7 Top
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please not the dreaded "sticky wicket"!
Reply #8 Top
I'm with Kenwas,I suspected it were english...thought maybe I might have had a stroke.  
Reply #9 Top

Just remember next time all our better players are currently 21 - 23 years old, all yours are 35 -37...

I think 'our' Dad's Army is yet another example of how yoof ain't everything.

These old bastards ran rings around the kiddies sent to challenge them.  OK, so we do have only one under 30 ....but that's only because the oldies are still too good to drop.  The biggest issue the selectors here have is who to choose.  Even McGrath wasn't a cert, yet he's rated as one of the best fast bowlers ever.

The Aussies' next target is to rub salt into the wounds by taking the series 5-0 to show just how flukey the previous loss actually was.

The original Ashes game was in Sunbury, just North of Melbourne...about 10 miles from where I grew up...and since we always seem to win the thing it 'should' be kept here not in the Dart.  The MCG is the ideal spot...

Reply #10 Top

Well...there's a faint glimmer of hope for the English....looks like Warne AND McGrath are going to announce their retirement....after the 5th test....

Reply #11 Top
For Warne, it was announced today.

...He'll play to the end of the 5th test, and is then retiring from all international & domestic cricket.

A great career Shane, well done.

One of the greatest spinners the game has ever seen.
Reply #12 Top

Nothing lasts forever. It's been a great era for Aussie cricket. To have so many 'greats' all in one team is something every side wishes for. Warne is going to be the first to 700wks, but (not to add a dampener) Murali is only 25 behind with several years of his career left...   

Strangely, right at the end, KP has his measure and everyone is saying why did no-one do that before? We shall never know. Maybe that's why he's quitting. Like most Aussies, full of it when they are ahead but total quitters when they are behind. Only two weeks ago he was saying he would stay until the 2009 ashes...

Some of us can remember the 80's - the time when the 'greatest of all' Aussie teams started the decade by being pounded by Ian Botham, the world's greatest all-rounder, and ended unable to beat a very average England. Who can forget Aussie Captain Kim Hughes sobbing in public because they lost the ashes    Would tricky Ricky do that? Nah, his ego is far too enlarged for such a feat.

Reply #13 Top

Fuzzy....you're reading too much of that page three press of yours...you sound as bitter and twisted as the poor sods crying for the UK team's lynching.

Warne would have retired after the last ashes, had we won them...but stayed till this year...to help get 'em back.

He's not 'quitting'...he's leaving while at the top of his game.

Some of us too can remember the 70's...so what?  The good thing is...we were alive at least while the world's greatest spin bowler was reviving everyone's interest in test cricket.

And please....find me another Captain whose cricket performance isn't shite because of it.  Ponting can bat, and has only improved since being captain....

Reply #14 Top
Now.....what was it that Warne did...with his first ball...in his first test against England...back around '92?....
Reply #15 Top
Checked through the history for last year when we won the Ashes Paul.
Can't seem to find a "congratulations" thread for that one!

Well, congratulations to Australia for regaining the Ashes.
Richly deserved. As it was for us last year.

Happy New Year to you all
Reply #16 Top

Checked through the history for last year when we won the Ashes Paul.
Can't seem to find a "congratulations" thread for that one!

Pretty sure I had a thread...I'll dig it up...

Warnie got his 700 ...and today was five for 39... so he's at 704...and counting....the Barmy Army was praying for 10 more days of rain...[no such luck]....

90,000-odd fans saw yet another not-too-good-day for England Cricket.

Do THEY have an Old-Boys' Eleven....someone who can actually play?....

Reply #17 Top

Once again fans are left dumbstruck by an outrageous decision. Why would Flintoff choose to bat in overcast conditions which suit bowling? What makes it worse is Hoggard is acknowledged as the world No1 when it comes to bowling swing at left handers...

Under Vaughan were were unbeatable for over two years. Under Strauss we thrashed an excellent Pakistan side 3-0. Under Flintoff we play like wet celery...

Reply #18 Top

Fuzzy....since your last comment things haven't got much better...

Ashes ended as 5-0 ....second time ever...5th test was almost even a new 'low'....by 10 wickets and a day and a half extra at the pub.....

Out goes the argued reasons for dominance...Langer, Mcgrath and Warne....then Lee is out sick for the 20-20....and Oz posts the highest ever score to beat.....and Vaughan as cap still doesn't save the day.

Friday it'll be game-on for the One Day series...starting at the MCG....and something is going to have to improve.  When we have people like Hayden firing out of the blocks getting 20 off 7 balls faced...it ain't going to be pretty...

Reply #19 Top
I liked the idea of commentary from the players during the 20-20 game.

...Interesting that the opposition declined to wear the communications.   

'Nother great effort from the Aussie side.
Reply #20 Top

Vaughan did....but I think the others were too scarred [not 'scared'] from the past battles...

It IS a fun feature.....and the format is particularly lively...

Reply #21 Top
Dunno Oz actually won back the Ashes....more like the onus of having them for the first time in yonks was far too much for the Poms to bear/cope with....so they threw them at us to relieve a burden to which they were very much unaccustomed.

Well that's the way it looked to me, cos they certainly didn't play like they wanted to retain cricket's most coveted prize.
Reply #22 Top
Hmmm, maybe you do hold the record for the highest 20-20 score (well done by the way   ), however, you also hold the record for the greatest margin in losing - 100 runs, um, inflicted by England if I remember correctly