*Official* Second Test at the Adelaide Oval

[Furball]

Here's your first post-Ashes side:

Hughes
Cosgrove
Watson
Khawaja
Clarke
White
Paine
O'Keefe
Johnson
Copeland
Harris

 

[Pothas]

Must say for all the talk about Australia that is probably the best I have ever seen an England side play.

Rest of the tour is bound to be somewhat different, cannot beleive we will not see some improvement from Australia regardless of if they make changes or not.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Must say for all the talk about Australia that is probably the best I have ever seen an England side play.

Rest of the tour is bound to be somewhat different, cannot beleive we will not see some improvement from Australia regardless of if they make changes or not.

Well the convicts can't get any worse can they?

 

[Pup Clarke]

It's all that Hayden, Langer, Slater, Martyn etc had.

Yes but didn't most of these guys average around 50 after several seasons at FC level and not just 2?

Would give a clear indication into their ability if they did tbh.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Hughes for Katich
D Hussey or my grand mother for North
The bowling? O'Keefe for Doherty maybe? Are they going to slaughter Harris and or Bollinger for a bad match here? Seems they give the bowlers a lot less leeway than batsmen

Bollinger just doesn't look fit to me. Was way down on pace throughout & really struggled with his length throughout.

Harris put in a fair shift tho; for a bloke with a chronically shot knee bowling on a road it was a great effort. Far and away your best bowler.

D'oh-erty & Bollinger out would be my call. Bring in some new blood; Starc & Cameron both look brisk and game and Copeland, who I haven't seen, admittedly, must have something about him too.

Not 100% sold on O'Keefe, looks a bit of a round-armed roller based on what I've seen, but certainly can't go worse than XD.

Ponting on borrowed time, IMO

Given the first commandment of Aussie cricket is "Don't lose to the poms" you'd think his position is becoming untenable.

Anyway, thoroughly well done, chaps. Professional and clinical. I'm not geared up emotionally to cope with wins like this tho; happier with a choke and a stumble over the line.

 

[howardj]

Important the team remains calm though. There's still three Tests to play, and we were never going to run away with the Series anyway. The most optimistic people thought we'd only win by 2-1 or 3-2. So we are very much still in the fight, but really do need to make changes to bring a bit of a spark back into the team as much as anything. I think Harris has brought that and feel that Smith and Hughes would too.

 

[Ruckus]

Ok, make Clarke captain.

Are the bowlers suddently going to bowl tight lines and lengths? If you want someone to put the fear of God into the bowlers about their performances, get AB back as skipper!!!

I think Ponting does need to go as Captain. We need him more as the best batsmen he can be, and I really feel this period of uncertainty in Australian cricket is destroying him as a player.

 

[Burgey]

Must say for all the talk about Australia that is probably the best I have ever seen an England side play.

Rest of the tour is bound to be somewhat different, cannot beleive we will not see some improvement from Australia regardless of if they make changes or not.

Yeah it should be said that this talk about what Australia does shouldn't be seen as taking away from England's effort here, which was fantastic.

 

[howardj]

Yes but didn't most of these guys average around 50 after several seasons at FC level and not just 2?

Would give a clear indication into their ability if they did tbh.

Slats 1, Martyn 1 or 2

Hayden debuted in 1991/92, and then test debut in March 1994

 

[Pothas]

Given the first commandment of Aussie cricket is "Don't lose to the poms" you'd think his position is becoming untenable.

Anyway, thoroughly well done, chaps. Professional and clinical. I'm not geared up emotionally to cope with wins like this tho; happier with a choke and a stumble over the line.

Was a bit rude of us to win before I even got home from work.

Will be interesting to see if Ponting goes of his own volition or not.

 

[morgieb]

Here's your first post-Ashes side:

Hughes
Cosgrove
Watson
Khawaja
Clarke
White
Paine
O'Keefe
Johnson
Copeland
Harris

No Haddin? Cosgrove's too fat to get picked. Why shouldn't Watson open? That's side's too young imo.

 

[silentstriker]

So Swanneh......

 

[Spark]

It's only because they've been spoiled mate. A lot of supporters aren't old enough to recall the bad old days

Nor am I. Not much of an excuse IMO.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Can't see Poontang going till after we have won the series as he will cling to the hope he can turn it round. Just can't see how Australia can win 2 of the last 3 tests when they have only taken 16 wickets in 2 games. How the hell are they going to get 20 in a match when England have so many players in form and they are not under pressure now and can bat for as long as they like without having to force the issue.

 

[Spark]

No Haddin? Cosgrove's too fat to get picked. Why shouldn't Watson open? That's side's too young imo.

It's not about age, it's about test match experience. Most of our 28-34 blokes don't have much anyway apart from the ones that are already there.

 

[Ausage]

But most of all they have to survive the public, because **** me a lot of the public are acting like spoilt, whiny toerags right now.

It's pretty hard to be philisophical about that though. This test was abject. There was abject selection, abject bowling and abject doesn't even begin to describe the batting. All done with a team who is aging, but considered the best 11 we have available. There is pretty much not a single positive from the game other than Hussey not being finished and Harris perhaps showing he has it in him to play at this level.

If it was a bunch of youngsters I think the public would be able to stomach a loss like that.

Shouldn't take much away from England. Very well played by the poms.

 

[Spark]

Can't see Poontang going till after we have won the series as he will cling to the hope he can turn it round. Just can't see how Australia can win 2 of the last 3 tests when they have only taken 16 wickets in 2 games. How the hell are they going to get 20 in a match when England have so many players in form and they are not under pressure now and can bat for as long as they like without having to force the issue.

I think the discussions going on ATM lend themselves to the fact that most people here are inclined to agree.

Of course we'll all still hope.

 

[howardj]

Can only see two positives for Australia from this match.

1. The total exposure of North
2. The unearthing of Harris

That is all.

 

[Pothas]

Can't see Poontang going till after we have won the series as he will cling to the hope he can turn it round. Just can't see how Australia can win 2 of the last 3 tests when they have only taken 16 wickets in 2 games. How the hell are they going to get 20 in a match when England have so many players in form and they are not under pressure now and can bat for as long as they like without having to force the issue.

Be very wary of hubris, we may not be playing like it but we are still England.

Would be lying if I pretended not to be very confident about the prospects for the rest of the series but the rest of the matches will not be like this, we have stilll got an awful lot of work to do, and Flower and Strauss will make sure that we do it.

 

[Jacknife]

I have to say, when you listen to Andy Flower speak, you can tell, he is a very intelligent guy and everything he says is so measured. I'm just glad that we have him as coach, top bloke.