The Ashes comes home...to England!!!

Sports & Recreation Forum

Yes, I'm ecstatic beyond belief. After 2 months and 5 closely contested and hard fought matches, we finally beat the Aussies 2-1 to regain the Ashes for the first time in 18 years.

'It's coming home, it's coming home...the Ashes is coming home!!!!'

Well done, lads. The whole country is proud of you. Commisserations to the Aussies, well played and tough luck. Till me meet again in 18 months' time!!!

The_Rebel

1 out of 18 you must be so proud.
Notice that the English team weren't confident enough in their ability to actually put the REAL ashes on the table.

Well done though, we were out-played. Although, if it hadn't been for that damned English weather we might have had more of a chance.

I've heard a lot of whining from our guys (meaning some Australians, not the cricketers themselves) about the Pieterson bloke who hit a century plus for England on the last day actually being South African. As if he was the sole reason we lost

I say good job. It was a close one, but you guys came out on top. Though, I must say, despite the English media saying this is the most exciting match of all time (and other similar stuff), most of the game was as boring as all hell. Nothing extraordinary at all.

He took out British Citizenship the day before the series or something I think.
I agree Gabo. Some years I stay up and watch it (it's on TV live at midnight-ish over here) but this year it wasn't worth it. BORING, rain, repeats and bad fielding.

The day before? Wow, that's something... still, either way, it shouldn't be an issue. The dude was a psycho batsman (I mean, just whacking it willy-nilly, but it worked), and scored runs, but in the end, we were 2-1 down already anyway. It was just one day's worth. I hope we're not coming across as sore losers like we did in the football last year.

Those South Africans are insane. What is up with them nowadays anyway?

One thing is for sure though, the days of Australian dominance are over, especially after they were made to follow-on. The star players are becoming old and reaching their retirement age. Now all the teams are more or less on the same playing field, some better than others. It will take a few years for one single team to become dominant again.

M.

Hmmm....I'm not sure if the 'winning the Ashes once out of 18 times in the last 18 years' statement is accurate - the series comes once every 2 years, not annually.

Kevin Pietersen has been in England for the last five years, and became a naturalised citizen last year - not the day before the Test match! Come on, give us more credit! His mother's English and he chose to play for England when he became eligible rather than for South Africa. Ironically, he wasn't selected by South Africa. So, one can say that he was a South African reject. Which makes the Aussies' loss all the more laughable......

If you want to be picky, Australia has got some players of foreign origin as well. For instance, Andrew Symonds, a key one day player for Australia, was born in England.

No, Pietersen wasn't the sole reason you guys lost. You guys lost because of arrogance (McGrath's pre-series comments that Australia would surely win 5-0 made front-page headlines even before the first ball was bowled), underestimating its opponents (especially Ashley Giles, our resident spinner - coach Buchanan confidently predicted that he would't get a single wicket the whole series), ageing players well past their prime (Hayden, Martyn, Kasprowicz, Gillespie and Gilchrist, please stand up!), lack of preparation and tactical planning, inability to play against reverse swing at pace, and finally, because England was the far superior team. Our batting was far better (higher averages and greater number of centuries), bowling was far more penetrative and effective, and fielding was vastly superior. In other words, we kicked the sh*t out of you guys.

The series was boring, eh? Hello? Did any of you actually watch any of the matches? Go and review the matches at Edgbaston (England won by 2 runs), Old Trafford (draw - Australia saved by the rain, where 3 sessions were lost to rain the day before; England needed only 1 wicket to win, leading by over 150 runs, but ran out of time), and Trent Bridge (England won by 3 wickets), and if you were a *true* cricket fan, whether you're supporting England/Australia or otherwise, you would agree that those matches were exciting. If not, and if you're an Aussie, the phrase 'sore losers make the best whingers and sour grapes' come to mind.....

The_Rebel

Congrats Rebel. Bout time you Brits caught a break.