Mad? no.Gutted,mabey.

Did Andy Flower always have those scars on his face or did he have an accident or something recently?

Nevermind, he had surgery to remove a melanoma.

thnx Brickie I was wondering about that when I saw him do an interview the other day.looked like he had been glassed.

16 years lol

gg England, was a lot better then us overall and probably deserved it...

Better prepared, better attack with Swan dominating clarke.Better back up players with new bowlers comming in and doing a fantastic job.Better openers;we need the Kat back in Sydney,drop smith and move Watson to number 6.The one question I have is how the f@#k did the poms get the ball to go Irish after only 18 overs?? Their top 5 just looks so good compared to ours(with our 2 lame ducks at 3 and 4 looking as solid as pavlova) Bell at 6 has been a revelation this tour and has produced the batting that his technique has promised all along.We will now officially enter the rebuilding phase that we have dodged for 20 years.Tougth decisions have to be made.This includes letting go of Punter(retirement) Clark(until he finds form) and Hussey(yes he has been great this Ashes but he is too old and we need to find room for Ferguson,Kwaja and the likes.The selectors have to man up and look to the future,not asking old men to keep playing like they did 10 years ago.

Congratulations England!!.

I have to say though as a neutral observer this test was kind of anticlimatic given how easily Australia folded but England was pretty impressive nonetheless..

If everyone itt chipped in a couple of quid we could probably get enough money together to afford to send Ishant Sharma for a decent haircut.....

Weee! 1-1 onto capetown....

Quite satisfying victory actually after we lost a crucial toss once again, the SA collapse in the first innings combined with a signature Laxman effort set it up...

I'm amazed Indian managed to come out on top in a match like that tbh. Their seemers never impress me, and Zaheer's constant chirping like he's bowling 160k is just a bit annoying. It beats me he does so well, but then again I thought that about Vaas for years. Anyway, if India win the series nobody can argue with their no 1 status. But make the most of it, England are coming!

You also have to wonder how India will cope if the lose Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Khan within 2 years or so. Some of the new batters they have look like they strugle to adapt from 20-20.

yup totally agree, I was about to post that. That's what worries me when I see Australia's demise, our test team will really struggle with a dearth of middle order batsmen for a while when Tendulkar Laxman and Dravid retire in the next 2 years. That's why England's future looks brightest since most of thier key performers are under 30..

i have always liked raina since ipl 1, so he can be key, but after that...

I mean we have a bunch of good batsmen in domestic cricket that all average 50+, the problem is they have no clue how to play in foreign conditions. Facing a 120 kmph bowler on flat Indian tracks vs facing Steyn on a bouncy Durban wicket are on totally opposite ends of the spectrum and right now there is no way to make the transition easier. They just have to throw them in the midst in a test series and hope for the best which can't possibly be the best way.

The rich cricket boards should really have under 19 foreign tours including a test series where thier young cricketers can gain experience in foreign conditions..

I don't see why everyone wants Watson down the order he has done a terrific job opening for us and thats where should stay.

Will be interesting to see how England go v. Sth Africa and India. Personally I cant see their batsmen doing as well against proper fast bowlers like Morkel and Steyn and I think their disciplined yet pedestrian bowling attack is going to have trouble bowling to the Indians who actually have some sort of defensive technique to revert to.

Re. the bowling attack can anyone explain why Tremlett doesnt normally get a game, with him in the attack looked much sharper.

this is a huge problem with domestic cricket in aus atm. All the younger players have grown up on flat tracks where you can easily get away with suspect techniques playing on highway wickets and against crap bowlers. Problem is that when they hit test level and go overseas to places like England and play on seaming wickets against decent bowlers they are useless, the most obvious example being Phil Hughes.

I think theres valid reason to move Watson down. He has a good average but mentally I dont know if he's tough enough and never seems to dig in. He seems to get his 50 then switches off, I mean his high score is only 126 which isnt great for a test opener

Also, hasnt alot of Aussies been upset that Watson may be the next vice-captain? I've heard the words 'soft' and 'selfish' with him so that isnt a ringing endorsement

We probably wont do as well because SA and India are the best test sides in the world

Finn and Broad had been doing well and Tremlett hadnt really set the world on fire at test level until this series. Now he's probably cemented his place alongside Anderson opening the bowling

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Anyway us winning in Austalia is ****ing beautiful. First time in a long time though where theres no real complaints about England (well maybe the blindspot they have for Collingwood) but still GET IN YOU BEAUTY

Hopefully we carry on form and win 3-1. If Australia drew 2-2 it'd be a travesty.

I agree about Watson actually. Of all the urgent problems you have, him opening isn't really one oif them. Who cares if he doesn't fit the traditional view of an opener, look at Sehwag.

Re England V SA, we drew there last time (though with a little luck) and England have probably improved a bit since with SA prob about the same. Either way, Eng V SA is a close series imo whereever it's played.

Re Tremlett, he was seen as a good prospect in his early 20s but sort of got lost to county cricket. One concern was that he needed a bit more pace, and he has added a little to be fair. Probably due to all the bulk, he didn't used to be like that. Also, I'm not sure his mentality really fitted with previous regimes. I could be wrong, but I think he's seen as a little flaky. Shame he's not as Angry as Anderson is these days.

Re Watson, David Lloyd said before the series that he questioned three England players about who was the Aussie they hated the most. They all said Watson. Does he constantly sledge more than the others or something?

Nah, alot of Aussies hate him too so I dont know if its that. From what I've read is that personality-wise he's a **** and he's viewed as selfish, self absorbed and soft by alot of players. Didnt Hayden write in his autobiography that Watson was an arsehole or something along those line?

watson played state cricket for qld, then tas, then qld again, now nsw iirc, and also i think his move to open was greed to get straight into the team rather then becoming the number 6 who can bowl that we needed imo...

Yeah there is no doubt that Watson isnt the most loved by Australians but I just dont see how people can question his record whilst opening the batting for us.

Despite only having 1 or 2 hundreds to his name he has gone out a lot in the 90's (something like 5-6 times) and consistently produces imo. I dont think he put in that bad a series (compared to the rest of the batters anyway) and is clearly the countries number 1 opener; the other potential openers are Katich and Hughes though . Also I think its pretty stupid slamming for being greedy by wanting to become an opener to get in the test team, I'm pretty sure anyone would do the same if it meant playing test cricket for your country.


and fwiw I was a big Watson hater before he got in the side and still think he is a bit of a tool but you got to respect his record imo. We have much bigger problems like the fact that we cant bat, cant bowl and cant field + how to not let Michael Clarke ever get the captaincy

Interesting about Watson. I got the impression he wasn't so disliked in the IPL by his team, but maybe that's because he was their key player and won them the trophy.

Why so much hate for Clarke? I know he's a bit metrosexual and full of himself, but he doesn't seem so bad in interviews.

Disappears when ever the side is under pressure.

Appears to much in the social pages of the paper and very publicly buys lara bingle (who is about the most unpopular woman in australia) a new aston martin in the middle of the recession lol. Also he had altercation with Katich after a match because he wanted to go to a party instead of have a few beers with boys .

Thats only the beginning of it but it has made him very unpopular with the Aus public. A poll in the Age the other day said that something like 90% of voters didnt want him as captain which is pretty telling.

I also think he's a pretty overrated batsmen.