He's also no opening batsman

A little reminder for Matty ( and others of course )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01f18gf  

Originally Posted by: Justin W 

Agree with others about the conveyor belt of talent. English cricket is certainly far better placed than the convicts for a very long time to come.

Not too many months and we'll be celebrating another Ashes series win. They have pretty much no chance of beating us, even at home.

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

 

Agree with that. Given that our top order has been misfiring, I expect Flower and Cook to use the three months before Brisbane to really get to work and sort this out. I sincerely hope they stick with Root as I think the guy has got massive potential as part of an opening partnership.

Australia's problems are far too deep for them to be sorted out in three months and I am already excited about England giving them another hiding. Gawd, what I wouldn't give to be at the MCG on Boxing Day!

Originally Posted by: pnepaul 

I thought that in the past, after playing the Aussies on home soil, England normally went over to Australia not the following winter but the one after that, e.g England last played the Aussies in the Ashes on English soil in summer 2009 and then England went down under to play the convicts in the UK winter 2010/11. I think that's how it has been done for a long time.

Thanks Matty.

I love reading the prison press:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/our-proud-history-reduced-to-ashes-20130813-2ruk6.html

They are not enjoying cricket these days  Long gone are the days when I would walk in to work and get hammered, boot firmly on the other foot now. The thing is though they want you to come over all gloating and cockey just as they were. It drives them mad if you show contained pleasure with a touch of dignity  They don't know how to deal with that as Aussie sports fans only have one default setting - smug.

As I understand it, we have a home series again in 2015, and then away in 2017/18, and home again in 2019, reverting to the normal 4 year cycle. I understand they have done this to move the series in Australia away from World Cup years, while avoiding back to back home then away series in the future.

Only difference is that the series in Aus will now take place 18 months before a series in England, instead of 18 months after as before.

We have back to back series' because of the World Cup being in 2015.

This also happened in 1974-75

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

 

As I understand it, we have a home series again in 2015, and then away in 2017/18, and home again in 2019, reverting to the normal 4 year cycle. I understand they have done this to move the series in Australia away from World Cup years, while avoiding back to back home then away series in the future.

Only difference is that the series in Aus will now take place 18 months before a series in England, instead of 18 months after as before.

Originally Posted by: Jim_AFCB 

Yep, spot on, Jim

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

What's the odds the ICC moves the World Cup years so they clash again...

I have a bit of a serious crisis on my hands and I am not sure how to deal with it

I went to sign my son up to the Milo cricket league last night and pay his summers subscription. He is already pretty good, he is in the nets every weekend and already has the position nailed and can hold his bat nice and straight.

My son was talkign about how much he is looking forward to playing with a team this summer when he blurted out that he would want to play for Australia one day  All my years of conditioning down the drain  I have told him that his ambition should be to play for Yorkshire one day first anyway and then go from there (my son was born in York so fits the old Yorkshire rules).

He will grow out of it hopefully. If England come out to here and thrash Australia that might help move him away from the dark side perhaps.

Time to return to the Old Dart post haste!!

Or there is always adoption I guess................... my wife has told me to grow up and just let him enjoy the sport  A voice of reason as ever.

Put yer feet up, lad - you've earned it

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/23720676

Would love to see Monty but looks like it will be Tremlett its his home ground and Onions is injured.

Interesting story below. I remember all to well how well Alderman bowled in the summer of 1989 but was not aware that he took 42 wickets in the 1981 Ashes series before he ended up being out for a year after tackling a pitch intruder in 1982.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/341460.html

I knew Durham would produce. I know I'm biased, but I think the game, the wicket, and the organisation showed that the Riverside is a fantastic venue. England have never lost a test here. A shoe-in for a 2019 ashes, no?

The current policy is one of rotation around the grounds. Headingley should be ahead of Durham. When they are selecting venues they are not taking future wickets in to account and what the conditions might be 4 or 5 years in the future. Also it is really about giving all the test venues an equal shot at an ashes pay day, why should Durham be a shoe for a test in any series when only Lords and the Oval have that status? By the time 2019 comes around Headingley won't have had an ashes game since 2009, so 10 years without one! Whatever your view on Headingley / Yorkshire (probably not that good) that is a long time for a venue which is considered one of the original / traditional English test venues. And the truth is Headingley / Yorkshire will really need an Ashes pay day by 2019.

Congrats to Durham, as you say they did very well organising it but time to come back to Yorkshire then back to Durham after that series (at the expense of Old Trafford).

Headingley will be getting 3 non ashes tests in the next 3 years compared to one for Durham, though. That's quite a few more "pay days" than Durham.

Personally I think both Durham and Headingley should be used more than Cardiff and the Rosebowl.

I think you're taking my statement about a "shoe-in" far too literally.

Bah  He was in the nets again this morning smashing the Aussies kids / dads all over the place  

Our cricket sessions can be like this however http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2x_DI7tzNQ

Perhaps not the right place to post this but, given the collapse of Aussie cricket, Larry Elliot paints a depressing picture of a hollowed-out Australian economy on the brink of a nosedive:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/economics-blog/2013/aug/18/ashes-economy-australia-facing-new-collapse