dee-luded

I reckon back in the days of Lillee & Thomo, with lots of standing room in the outer crowds got bigger than 91,000 ... and the noise & atmosphere was brilliant back then. Fee Fi Fo Fum

Oh right, let me think about your comment again. I assume you mean it wasn't his decision, but he did what was put to him. IMO, thats why he said he wanted to lose the toss. and "can't believe I'm going to say this", cooky you can have a bat, & we'll field. great decision Clarky.

missed it dc, what happened. i went to work outside @ tea.

RyanO ! what a bowler. great control to swing it either way on call.

Watto, one out, one in, ta'ta. the medium pace balls are doing the trick so far. lets see when the wicket hardens up.

Mr Siddle! maybe after lunch when the sun bakes the surface, Johnson will get some more bounce.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/cricket/graeme-swanns-nan-blames-nasty-aussies-20131224-2zv4m.html the truth is out there Graeme Swann's nan blames nasty AussiesGraeme Swann's grandmother has blamed unwelcoming Australians for the spinner's sudden retirement and said something "nasty" must have happened to convince the England star to turn his back on the Ashes. Swann quit cricket after the third Test defeat as Australia reclaimed the Ashes, ending an international career which had yielded 255 wickets for the off-spinner. "There is something gone wrong there and I blame the Australian players. Not all the Australian players, a certain one," Mina Swann, 89, told The Journal newspaper in Newcastle, England. "I do not think they have been [made] very welcome, the team. He is not easily upset, there is something nasty happened." Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/graeme-swanns-nan-blames-nasty-aussies-20131224-2zv4m.html#ixzz2oMCywPwp

Dismal dismissal of the Poms they've imploded, got ahead of themselves when they weren't really that good anyway, but they thought they were. When the chips were down in the hot Aussie Sun, they fried like seagull shitt on the bitumen. Pretenders who only looked good in front of truly out of sorts Aussie team under internal siege. We on the other hand are back on the improvement plane. A way to go but just taking off. * the Poms, Bell as suggested imo has to Bat @ 3, & IMO after this series, should be readied to take over the captaincy shortly down the track. Cook is too conservative & goes into his shell. Pietersen has to bat in the middle order, or out the door. they've got to find a keeper who has real grit. And root the number 4 spot inplace. which would allow pietersen @ 5.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/rebecca-wilson-michael-clarke-finally-grows-into-leadership-of-australia-test-team/story-fndpt0dy-1226787781586 Michael Clarke finally grows into leadership of Australia Test team BEFORE this Ashes series began, a number of Australian players were quietly complaining about the captaincy of Michael Clarke. They weren't alone. Clarke had been the subject of much vilification since he took over from the adored Ricky Ponting. You would have read in this column my various misgivings about the Australian skipper - that he was too worried about himself to be a great captain and was not a genuine team man in the Tubby Taylor or Ian Chappell ilk. His media conferences were as dour as the team's performances on the field, with the Homeworkgate affair in India a lowpoint. Players suspended, vice-captain Shane Watson among them, with Watson quitting the tour to return to Austalia for the birth of his first child. When the regime change saw off Arthur and brought in coach Darren Lehmann, Clarke was relieved of his duties as a selector. It's my understanding that Clarke never wanted to be a selector, a role thrust upon him in the ill-fated Argus review. Thankfully, the Argus review has gone the same way as Mickey Arthur and now, in Boof Lehmann, Clarke has the support of a coach who would die for the team. That he's no longer a selector now means he can stand among his team mates as an equal. The game changer came in the first Test in Brisbane when he threatened to break Jimmy Anderson's arm. The sledge was not meant to be heard and the do-gooders out there were highly critical of the language used. Most Australians, however, absolutely lapped it up. Finally, the captain had shown some ticker away from the bat. He had stuck up for his team mates when they had been sledged within an inch of their lives by an England team used to winning and getting away with it. The uproar that ensued led to an apology from Channel Nine. The producers should have actually sent out a media release pre-empting an Ashes annihilation by the Australian team. This was the moment Michael Clarke had arrived as captain. Since then, Clarke's entire demeanour has changed. His voice is louder and clearer, his eyes stare directly at the person who asked the question and his team mates can't stop hugging each other, or him. You get the feeling they are all mates now, bonded by two years on the scrap heap, when they were let down by flawed rotations systems and a previous coach who stuck too rigidly to the rule book. Cricket Australia will no doubt take credit for the Ashes victory. They will try to tell us that those terrible systems, invented by sports scientists, were the reason we won the series. What really happened is that the players themselves, led by Clarke and Lehmann, went out there and did it for each other. Lehmann told CA the rotation system was over, probably in the same language Clarke used on Anderson. http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/rebecca-wilson-michael-clarke-finally-grows-into-leadership-of-australia-test-team/story-fndpt0dy-1226787781586

know-how how to change a culture. & turn an organisation back into a club.

My men, Mitch Johnson, Davie Warner, & Mr Siddle. #edit: oh geez I forgot, i was just back in from a trip to melbourne & back, Watto !

He already has. up in Sydney. he knows what he's doing, but it needs the 'buy in' of the whole club, supporters 'n' all.

I wonder if those shallow type dropin pitch boxes will be as good in the perth heat as over here. maybe they need be a bit deeper, or with a different soil.

the wicket is following the Poms form, they're both cracking; Up. ...... and I think the Aussies have followed your hint, their giving them a right Rogersing. a happy home fixes most things if you have the tools. from there, skills can get better; & then the kids can come thru. same for melbourne... but our competative aggressive culture has to be the foundation.

Siddle!!! well on our way Now. wickets have been falling this test before lunch & after tea it seems. we have to screw them after lunch.

England - "We have to look deep into our inner souls to drag something out." # But he is not the only senior player to be struggling, with England not having passed 400 for the last 20 Test innings. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/25296305

if I were england I'd alter their lineup order. I'd have Bell @ 3, Root @ 4, & then Pietersen @ 5. for starters.

Yeah I think we're well placed for real pace bowlers, with Johnson back joining Pattinson as a genuine strike bowler, with Harris & Siddle as topshelf 2nd pacemen. but the extra variation IMO we don't have yet is that 'Anderson' type. the spot Alderman himself held down. I'd like us to try out Faulkner to see where he's at for this coming Test match, & maybe for the remainder of this series.

well we're 2 Up. would you go with 2 spinners in Perth (Lyon/Smith), or just keep the alrounder & rest Lyon (12th man) for one Test match, for Faulkner (2 left arm swing quicks), + Siddle, Harris, & Johnson ? more versatility with the other swing bowler/batsmen? I'd like to see Faulkner in Melbourne's humidity & maybe Sydney as well? Maybe rest Lyon, bring him back for the Melbourne/Sydney double, along with Faulkner in for the last 3 Ashes tests... & give Siddle & Harris a game off each after Perth?

absolutely, but I wouldn't be against some bowlers having a rest after the Ashes series. I'd like to see Pato or Cummins, & Faulkner, over in Sth Africa. or 4 quicks for the WACA (faulkner)

that Man again, Mr Siddle !!! partnership breaker.

I think Simmo reinstated some team disciplines & a hard work ethic back into the team ethos, starting with being the best fielding team, & built up from there. so he started turning us into a hard team to beat first, before we grew the talent base. So the team pride became restored through their great fielding initially. through doing honest hard dirty sweaty work, built the culture back up. they looked for elite team & individual performance, from fielding & up. I think our bowlers will need a rest, some. so your rebuilding may start with who are ready to take a step. a couple of batsmen to travel, & a couple of quicks. it may even start after Perth? It may even start in Perth with Faulkner for a Smith/Lyon?

clark has always been a good tactician, & skilled player & fieldsmen. no question. but Not a natural Leader. he's had to learn, & Boof the master teacher. now the off field men have taken back control from the ACB & the idiotic methods that destroyed what was left of our aggressive winning culture, the players look to be wearing inner smiles, instead of fear clouding their subconscious minds. this is a Team; now, & is playing with the old Aussie venom that great Aussie sides contain. we can only get better from here as a test side. & this Is the right environment to slowly bring in more talent as required.