Dr Gloom

Watson... what a loss Bell, too much wanking? his replacment isn't much better tbh. michael clarke is piss poor. your number six is your weak link, just as wicket keeper is ours. i think you need a decent allrounder just as much as we need a wicket keeper that can bat and hold catches.

to be fair to ramage he has looked half decent at centre back. certainly not as likely to make a mistake as bramble. i feel a bit sorry for him being asked to play at left back. he's slow, can't cross or pass with his left foot and doesn't pose much of an attacking threat so he's always going to look shite as long as we keep using him there.

quite an achivement when you consider what they got up to on their nights out

maradona for me, but i'm biased because pele was before my time. there's no doubt that pele played in better brazil sided than the 86 argentina side that won the world cup. maradona pretty much single-handedly guided an average argentina to the 90 final too

we're better than that man. hayden, gilchrist and martyn are shitting themselves at the prospect of facing super fred coming around the wicket. Hope you're right and I'm wrong. me too. i'm sure our ozzie friends will bump this thread up for me if i've got it all wrong. i just can't help but think we might have the psychological edge over them. i can't remember ever seeing world class destructive batsmen like gilchrist and harden ever looking so ordinary. what was gilchrist's average for the last series - was it even over 25? i can't remember him making one score the entire series, crazy for a man who averages in the high 50s. hayden would have averaged 20 odd too if it wasn't for his century in the final test.

harper is an excellent second string keeper. i can't think of too many better in the top flight. cudicini at liverpool perhaps.

Correct and the fact people always miss when taking pleasure at one of our players being injured is our wafer thin squad. Any more injuries and suddenly you need the player you were delighting in getting hurt, or players needing a rest and you have no replacement. In our situation, with our resources its frightening that there are fans who actually think these injuries are good or even just not a problem. It also shows what a mess of the tranfer market we made leaving us in this situation...perhaps we should have had some sort of plan and it wouldn't have turned out so bad! Cue Leazes clubs can't plan, didn't you know?

we're better than that man. hayden, gilchrist and martyn are shitting themselves at the prospect of facing super fred coming around the wicket.

not a problem. n'zogbia for duff at left wing, taylor for moore at centre back. nobby for taylor at right back. milner for nobby at right wing. the rest as you were

why do you say that? the ozzies are an aging and unbalanced outfit - take warne out of the equation and they're perfectly beatable. a lot will depend on whether a 36 year old mcgrath has the stamina. all our batsmen are in good knick and we've finally got a spinner than can turn the ball. i fancy our chances. We will be fine without Warney, Stewie will still be around for a couple of more years after Warne retires and from there we will have a few of the younger lads coming through again. Aaron Heal from the Warriors has already taken 15 wickets this season at the WACA ground out of all grounds! Culls is on the fringe there aswell so we shall be fine. ...don't forget he's a year older now too and he's hardly played any cricket in a year. is his aging body up to a 5 test series? take mcgrath and warne out of their side and they're ordinary. if mcgrath isn't on song or misses a couple of tests through injury, they're beatable. McGrath is easily fit for the 5 test series, there is no doubts. So there is no need to worry about him in that department. Take both Warne and McGrath out and yes we will be starved of two very good bowlers however we have the cover coming through to take their positions albeit it not as economical as them nor as consistant but we will still take the wickets we need and score the runs we need. England are struggling with injuries, Aussies 4-0 you really think it will be that easy? lords aside, we outplayed you in every test of the last series and were unlucky not to win by more than 2-1. we should have beaten you at old trafford and probably would have won at the oval if a day wasn't lost to rain. now that watson is injured i think you'll miss a trick if you go with a shorter tail but sacrifice a bowler. you struggled to bowl us out last time with just the three seamers. warne is a genius but he can't do it all on his own we're going to miss simon jones and vaughn. a mentally fit trescothick would have helped the top order but it's better that he's gone because his forms been shite since the ashes. our number six could win us the series. michael clarke and shane watson aren't in the same league as super fred tbh. i'd still say your slight favourites to win but i can't see it being a whitewash. i'll say 2-1 to the convicts, but i expect us to reclaim the ashes next time we play in england if warne and mcgrath aren't around.

someone in my office never flushes the toilet. our very own phanton shitter no less! fucking savage - you wouldn't do that in your own home would you?

i didn't say they would be total shite, just not the force they have been and certainly very beatable. bowlers win matches and i think after warne and mcgrath go, we'll have the better bowling talent.

...don't forget he's a year older now too and he's hardly played any cricket in a year. is his aging body up to a 5 test series? take mcgrath and warne out of their side and they're ordinary. if mcgrath isn't on song or misses a couple of tests through injury, they're beatable. Take their two main bowlers out of their side and they're ordinary? Well.........yeah! i mean look at the players who are coming through and will replace them in a couple of years... johnson, tait, clark, watson....all look fairly ordinary. once mcgrath and warne retire they're not going to be all that anymore

...don't forget he's a year older now too and he's hardly played any cricket in a year. is his aging body up to a 5 test series? take mcgrath and warne out of their side and they're ordinary. if mcgrath isn't on song or misses a couple of tests through injury, they're beatable.

why do you say that? the ozzies are an aging and unbalanced outfit - take warne out of the equation and they're perfectly beatable. a lot will depend on whether a 36 year old mcgrath has the stamina. all our batsmen are in good knick and we've finally got a spinner than can turn the ball. i fancy our chances. The Aussies are aging but they've still got alot of quality players that will bury England alive on our current form. The only chance we've got is drawing the series. i'm usually a natural born pessimist but i reckon we've got the great chance. we've got the psychological edge over a fair few of their batsmen. martyn, gilchrist and harden all struggled againt our seamers last time around and we've got far greater depth to our bowling. with watson injured, they're probably going to go with just the three fast bowlers again. the wild card is of course warne. he could win the series for them single handed. when he does eventually retire, the ozzies won't look half the side they are with him in it.

oops. i didn't see this thread.

why do you say that? the ozzies are an aging and unbalanced outfit - take warne out of the equation and they're perfectly beatable. a lot will depend on whether a 36 year old mcgrath has the stamina. all our batsmen are in good knick and we've finally got a spinner than can turn the ball. i fancy our chances.

it's 90k capacity but most of the extra seating is for corporates so there's not much more room for your average punter than the last wembley. they should have made it 100-110k

who's getting excited about the upcoming six weeks of cricket? who thinks we can retain the urn? i think we've got a great chance of at least drawing the series, but we need harmeson firing. if he hasn't got his radar on and hoggy can't find any movement in the air we could be in trouble.

they should have put an extra teir on it

a beard? he's losing it tbh

arsenal were by far the better side and probably deserved to win the game, but we looked more of a threat than we have done for a while thanks largely to dyer and martins up front. there was some nice link up play between dyer and solano too.

good to have him back. he's the best ball carrier we've got. he looked knackered at times yesterday mind. it'd be nice if we can get him fit and keep him fit

oh joy