And now time for the Ashes. Here are my comments on the Oz team that should be for the first Test

Warner .... only here because basically no-one else around that can do the job
Khawaja.... may struggle with movement but an unknown factor
Crazy Man 1 ..... not looking good and to the Captain...dont listen to him for reviews
Crazy Man 2 .... he scored runs but never looked dominant but still will be the major threat in the Australian batting lineup
Head..... the Poms saw his innings and know how to attack him. He will recieve a lot more short pitch bowling when he comes to the wicket
Green......disappointing with the bat
Carey ...kept good and solid with the bat
Stark.....hope he ironed out the rust but will stay in the side because without him our tail is very long
Cummins ... better for the run but dont listen to the Crazy Man 1
Lyons.... did a job and may be the difference between the 2 sides
Boland.... will keep Hazelwood out of the side for the first Test . Maybe some Poms will have nightmares from the Oz tour about him

All up maybe England may just have a better batting lineup which is countered by Australian have slight better quick attack. As for spin maybe thats the advantage

The series may come down to who wins the toss the most

On Monday, June 12, 2023 at 1:26:43 AM UTC+1, wlsut...@gmail.com wrote:
> And now time for the Ashes. Here are my comments on the Oz team that should be for the first Test
>
> Warner .... only here because basically no-one else around that can do the job
> Khawaja.... may struggle with movement but an unknown factor
> Crazy Man 1 ..... not looking good and to the Captain...dont listen to him for reviews

i cant see marnus as crazy, seems quite phlegmatic, or do you know some tattle the rest dont?

> Crazy Man 2 .... he scored runs but never looked dominant but still will be the major threat in the Australian batting lineup

hopefully there will be lots of people in red shirts just to upset him.

> Head..... the Poms saw his innings and know how to attack him. He will recieve a lot more short pitch bowling when he comes to the wicket

as will moeen if he plays, although i would choose woakes as a 4th seamer
given stokes knee probs. i doubt whether moeen will pose much problems
for oz. i havnt done the average but either way it makes for a rather old team.
I think it was in 1972 the england team was full of old men, as was the CC,
but its a bit surprising now.

> Green......disappointing with the bat
> Carey ...kept good and solid with the bat
> Stark.....hope he ironed out the rust but will stay in the side because without him our tail is very long
> Cummins ... better for the run but dont listen to the Crazy Man 1
> Lyons.... did a job and may be the difference between the 2 sides

lyon is def better than anything we have.

> Boland.... will keep Hazelwood out of the side for the first Test . Maybe some Poms will have nightmares from the Oz tour about him

i thought boland looked the best bowler for oz at the oval, i would give him the new ball
with cummins and just use starc in short 90+ bursts as change.

>
> All up maybe England may just have a better batting lineup which is countered by Australian have slight better quick attack. As for spin maybe thats the advantage
>

its been 20 years since oz won a series in uk, surely they got to do it sometime, and
this team looks the best on paper at least since 2005. Before the welly test,
and all the injuries to our bowlers, i was thinking we could win back the ashes
but now i think oz look the better side, especially with green and more balanced
with pace and spin. plus unlike england they know when and how to bat for a draw.
England will have to take risks to win, oz will do what they did to india, grind
them down and churn out a victory.

> The series may come down to who wins the toss the most

Depending on the weather you might be right. if the heatwave continues
i'd say whoever has to field most, will probably lose ;) ATM i would think anyone
winning the toss at brum would bat first especially with the current weather.
i think next week its more cloudy.

last year the pitches def favoured the fm bowlers like robbo but i saw pics in my
paper of the edgebaston groundsman with root at the weekend. what they were
plotting is anyones guess; a pitch where he can ramp or reverse sweep after 2 overs?

mike