Ashes 2025/6
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@No-Quarter said in Ashes 2025/6:
I read McCullum's book a few years back, and one thing that stuck with me is how important it was that he had a more conservative coach like Hesson that would always challenge him on tactics. He talked about that constant challenge meaning they found a really good balance between playing attacking cricket without taking it too far and throwing games away.
With "Bazball" growing a life of it's own, and the breath of fresh air it was for English fans who were frustrated at how negative previous English sides had played, I feel like McCullum isn't being challenged enough on it now. Especially with a captain like Stokes who is also attacking minded.
As @Chris-B pointed out, putting the shots away against Starc and just blunting him while attacking the other bowlers would have been smart, attacking cricket. But instead they just played the same way against all of the Aus bowlers, and Starc with all his class had a field day as a result. If he had someone challenging the approach more in the dressing room, I think they would play a lot smarter cricket.
Yeah I think that balance was really key, and was noticeable for us with Kane/Stead that we had the opposite problem where we could get too conservative.
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Boycs articles are outstanding. Again, read them out loud in a Yorkshire accent if possible ( helps if you're working from home )
He's a grumpy old fuck but everything he says is true and he's been there and done that. I didn't know his Ashes record in Oz was that impressive.
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England Lions get pummelled by Australia A to the tune of an innings and 127 runs.
For the Lions, Bethell and Tribe get runs in the 2nd innings but Nathan McSweeney's double in the Aus-A stint sealed it.
The bowlers shared the wickets according to the scorecard.
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@barbarian said in Ashes 2025/6:
I can't really think of a sporting equivalent of England in the (away) Ashes. Every four years arriving with a mixture of confidence, hopefulness and at times arrogance and just getting the piss beaten out of them every time.
The Wallabies haven't won in NZ for a very long time but it doesn't provoke anguish like this. We know our place, we expect failure. It can be disappointing but it's never devastating.
But watching the Poms roll in here, tails up, only to see them go straight onto the canvas... and then the avalanche of opinions, think-pieces, fan vitriol... there's just nothing like it.
Maybe the England football team at every major tournament...?
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getting battered in the Ashes in Australia is unlike any other sporting experience, it just lasts so long and its so impossible to avoid. The sinking feeling of knowing you're going to have to stay off twitter, the BBC website, whatsapp because of all the bloody Aussies you've known in London over the years.
Watching us throw wickets away and place 'clever fields' after a couple of overs is depressing. Joe Root deserves so much better from those around him. I still think this team can win a test or two in this series but i don't think i can bring myself to watch...
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@Dodge Root and Stokes deserve better BUT they've both got to step up as senior players and tell their coach to pull his head in, too.
Watching some of the English commentators in various videos when those wickets are thrown away on bad shots - the despair on their faces - almost makes me feel sorry for them.
Almost...
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@Dodge said in Ashes 2025/6:
getting battered in the Ashes in Australia is unlike any other sporting experience, it just lasts so long and its so impossible to avoid. The sinking feeling of knowing you're going to have to stay off twitter, the BBC website, whatsapp because of all the bloody Aussies you've known in London over the years.
Watching us throw wickets away and place 'clever fields' after a couple of overs is depressing. Joe Root deserves so much better from those around him. I still think this team can win a test or two in this series but i don't think i can bring myself to watch...
its always amusing to me how every 4 years theres an expectation your team will win. Like the previous 15-20 years didnt happen.
On paper the English looked more than capable but you've not won a test in OZ since 2010/11.
Australia are fucking tough to beat at home no matter their situation, they seem to find another level when its the Ashes too. -
@Dodge said in Ashes 2025/6:
getting battered in the Ashes in Australia is unlike any other sporting experience, it just lasts so long and its so impossible to avoid. The sinking feeling of knowing you're going to have to stay off twitter, the BBC website, whatsapp because of all the bloody Aussies you've known in London over the years.
Watching us throw wickets away and place 'clever fields' after a couple of overs is depressing. Joe Root deserves so much better from those around him. I still think this team can win a test or two in this series but i don't think i can bring myself to watch...
They’re more than capable of Bazballing a win when the series is already lost and then they can tell all the doubters they told them so.
Bazball ROCKS !
touching on what @junior said, no country, and I mean NO COUNTRY builds sporting teams up and then sees shit come crashing down like the English. It's in their journalistic DNA and they are the masters at it.
I become a huge football fan whenever England play just for the amusement of watching them inevitiably shit the bed.....it always cracks me up when this tune gets churned out.......
It’s Coming Home: Is England fan anthem Three Lions a dream, boast or way of life?
Whether the song is arrogant or earnest or ironic has become one of the more contested topics of the last few years
Then again, in 1999 Air New Zealand did paint a plane with the Otago/All Black front row so maybe we're almost as bad sometimes.
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@Virgil said in Ashes 2025/6:
Australia are fucking tough to beat at home no matter their situation, they seem to find another level when its the Ashes too.
And yet we've fallen to the West Indies in recent years at the Gabba, and an Indian side that was forced to make bowling changes that turned out to be a masterstroke.
We're not invincible, and this England team isn't that bad in terms of actual skill, but fuck me some of their mental application in what is fairly mild heat is appalling.
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And that there is the parallel to rugby. The Wallabies mental hoodoo at Eden Park, or NZ in general, is the equivalent of England in Australia. Lesser sides have gone to NZ and won. Lesser cricket sides have come to Australia and won.
But the combination of mental block and the lift in the home team for a grudge match is what makes the difference.
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its a great comparison between the Aussie test side vs the poms and the All Blacks vs Wallabies.
How many times have we pumped you guys after playing badly/losing badly the week before?
We always seem to rise especially when its at Eden Park.
You guys are the same when it comes to the Ashes at home.That and the poms are their own worse enemy, dropping catches. Fumbling moments when they were in front (think their 2nd innings at Perth).
Other sides seem to adapt better to playing in Australia too. -
@Virgil said in Ashes 2025/6:
its a great comparison between the Aussie test side vs the poms and the All Blacks vs Wallabies.
How many times have we pumped you guys after playing badly/losing badly the week before?
We always seem to rise especially when its at Eden Park.
You guys are the same when it comes to the Ashes at home.That and the poms are their own worse enemy, dropping catches. Fumbling moments when they were in front (think their 2nd innings at Perth).
Other sides seem to adapt better to playing in Australia too.https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/new-zealand-in-australia-2019-20-1183522
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@NTA said in Ashes 2025/6:
@MN5 said in Ashes 2025/6:
Then again, in 1999 Air New Zealand did paint a plane with the Otago/All Black front row so maybe we're almost as bad sometimes.
How quickly you all forget 1991 through to 2011...
That sledge was so aggravating for years, especially originating from George Gregan. In recent years I've taken solace that (so far) it's been "never again" for Mr Gregan.
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what has done my head way more than the batting approach has been the bowling "plans". How much short wide shit did they serve up at the 'gabba? the difference in the pitch maps between the two attacks could not have been more stark.
When Scott Boland, and absolute bunny, was occupying the crease they were chucking short shit at him rather than just hitting the top of off and waiting for the inevitable mistake? Boring? Yes. But that's test cricket some times. Chucking short shit at him might make you feel like a tough fluffybunny, but it makes you look stupid.
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@NTA said in Ashes 2025/6:
@MN5 said in Ashes 2025/6:
Then again, in 1999 Air New Zealand did paint a plane with the Otago/All Black front row so maybe we're almost as bad sometimes.
How quickly you all forget 1991 through to 2011...
how long has it been for Australia?
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@mariner4life Yep. They play like they have ADHD.
Contrast that with the likes of McGrath, Hadlee etc. -
@nostrildamus said in Ashes 2025/6:
@NTA said in Ashes 2025/6:
@MN5 said in Ashes 2025/6:
Then again, in 1999 Air New Zealand did paint a plane with the Otago/All Black front row so maybe we're almost as bad sometimes.
How quickly you all forget 1991 through to 2011...
how long has it been for Australia?
you need to be more specific, how long has it been since Australia last won a RWC, or how long has it been since they held the Bledisloe Cup, how long since they have beaten us at Eden Park or how long since they beaten us....
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@reprobate said in Ashes 2025/6:
@mariner4life Yep. They play like they have ADHD.
Contrast that with the likes of McGrath, Hadlee etc.Paddles never resorted to cheap intimidation. His bowling spoke for him.
McGrath was much the same although blotted the copybook a bit by threatening to rip Ramnaraesh Sarwans throat out.
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@nostrildamus said in Ashes 2025/6:
@NTA said in Ashes 2025/6:
@MN5 said in Ashes 2025/6:
Then again, in 1999 Air New Zealand did paint a plane with the Otago/All Black front row so maybe we're almost as bad sometimes.
How quickly you all forget 1991 through to 2011...
how long has it been for Australia?
You say that now of course, but you've got to remember the bad times and the good. For example, and not to derail the cricket thread any furth- nah fuck it:
