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[lazza32]

England are the Italians of cricket. Once they are up they shut up shop....boooooring

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[Buzz]

I would take that over being rubbish.

[lazza32]

I wouldn't.

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[Number4]

Now now boys

[Vic Nicholas]

It is getting silly in here.

Cook is far from rubbish. Defensive mindset maybe, but not rubbish.

As for Trott, he is there to do a job, not look pretty. Any Aussie criticising Trott obviously isn't old enough to remember Ian Redpath who batted almost exactly the same way.

England is better in most departments - that much is irrefutable. How much better is open for debate.

The toss has largely dictated the direction this series has taken. With some luck with the toss, Australia could easily have won this series 2-1....but, even then, it still would not have made Australia the better team, because there is no way you can paper over the obvious deficiencies in this extremely flawed Oz line up.

This cricinfo article nails it one:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/content/story/664793.html

[lazza32]

My response although harsh was related to the way England went about there cricket. Before this match cook wanted to be in the record books by beating Australia 4-0. Bell said he wanted to finish the Aussies off. Looking at the test as it stands neither of these will happen(stranger things have happened). It will end in a bore draw. England is the better side, no question about that. Cook the better captain? I beg to differ. If both were given the same team Clarke would be the more proactive and exciting one. I apologize to buzz for being overly harsh.

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[Buzz]

I am not sure you were overly harsh

what has been almost totally removed from this Eng cricket team is any type of flare.

if you hadn't endured the thrashings the eng team received through the 90's you would be screaming at them.

it is just we aren't used to a consistent winning team

this winter we will see some spiced up pictures so the cricket will be more entertaining.

I think our batting will do better on faster pictures...

[lazza32]

I agree. Once again I apologize

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[Number4]

I think Clarke is one of the best test captains at the moment... He just doesn't have the team to back him up. He plays to win but still giving the opposition a sniff

[ajmw89]

Yesterday wasn't a total loss...

[procricket]

Sorry but my take on things

England are not as good as they think they are and I think they know this.
Australia have 3 decent players the rest are cannon fodder.

The pitches produced for the tests have been crap.

England cricket is functional a sign of where decent but not great and it a method inspired in India.

Clarke is no great captain what because he throws his arms around and has followed a computer just like England have on strengths and weaknesses of the England batting side.

Shane Warne is a crap commentator yes we know your the best spinner there ever has been and yes I know it hurts to see Ian Bell score all them hundreds and yes we all know he was your bunny.

I think Brendon McCullum is the best captain in the world currently he just has two many poor cricketers around him.

As for the ashes down under I suspect England margain of victory will be similar because I think England batting has suffered with the tripe wickets produced in the series

The cricket has been poor all series bar Ian Bell and Ryan Harris the rest have been a bit mediocre

[FattusCattus]

My response although harsh was related to the way England went about there cricket. Before this match cook wanted to be in the record books by beating Australia 4-0. Bell said he wanted to finish the Aussies off. Looking at the test as it stands neither of these will happen(stranger things have happened). It will end in a bore draw. England is the better side, no question about that. Cook the better captain? I beg to differ. If both were given the same team Clarke would be the more proactive and exciting one. I apologize to buzz for being overly harsh.

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I don't think your response was that harsh - seeing as it was put in the normal Pommie-Bating calm and reasonable way

You're right to criticise Englands dull approach, it doesn't set my balls on fire either - but it's the best we've got at the moment, and we were pretty clinical at Lords and Durham!

However, I suspect what get's your guy's backs up is the rather crass England PR machine which has been awful for a long time. I mean our PR is right up there with The Labour Party, The Iraqi Foreign Office and Hitler!!!

The players come out and mutter all the same bland "sticking to game plans", "hitting performance areas", "We're gonna play positively"  OH GOD IT'S SO BORING!!! Why doesn't one of them just say "christ we got lucky there in beating the Aussies" or "I took one in the plums, but is was worth it to score the winning runs and see Clarkey's face!"

Two very closely matched sides - if you Aussies ignore most of what we say, and just concentrate on what we actually do, we'll rub along just fine.

ps - Boof could do with some PR help too I feel

[Manormanic]

Boof is the most entertaining thing about this series for me - started off in devil may care fashion, ended it trying to wind up an entire nation!

So, on to Australia in three months time.  I hope the pitches will be a bit spicier, because for this series, Lords apart, there have been four fairly turgid chief executive's pitches and, whilst I think its fair to say that the better side has won, the nature of the wickets has made it very difficult to tell how much stronger they actually are.  The odd thing is, given that England have run out fairly comfortable winners, is that their squad will have more question marks over it than Australia's will come the Gabba - you can well imagine that the Aussies will go with a permutation of the 11 on the field here plus possibly AN Other batsman (Hughes, if he starts the season well, or Maddinson perhaps?) whereas England have, admittedly in a squad of 16, questions about two batting positions, the reserve spinner and two bowling spots. 

[Number4]

I think saying England won comfortably is talking them up a bit.... Australia were unlucky not to win the first test and were in an excellent position to win the third test till rain put a damper on it....

As for the pitches don't forget 2 teams played on the same wickets.

These 2 teams are much closer than most would like to admit.

[FattusCattus]

I agree - and Manor's point stands. Englands will have to change more of their XI to compete in Oz than you guys will.

I see Tremlett in for the Bres spot, only 1 spinner (root as backup), and I would find someone who can bat on fast bouncy wickets for the Bairstow position (although I would take him as reserve keeper).

I'm also confused about Stokes - seems he can bat at 6, bowl pretty brisk seam, but is well out of favour?