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[Buzz]

Scott Borthwick, as I predicted, was rubbish.

Total pie chucker. Tredwell and Panesar should rightfully be miffed.

Except he wasn't picked as a bowler.

England have (slightly ridiculously) picked 7 frontline batsmen, two of whom have secondary part time roles (i.e. keeper and spin bowling pie chucker) plus an allrounder in Stokes.

There are many ways to skin a cat - but this cat needs to score 400+ runs and this is the route the Eng brains (oxymoron alert) trust have gone for.

The idea that you can pick a load of youngsters/inexperienced players to freshen up the team is fine.
But you need to have more experienced players than not or the team becomes unbalanced - like a school or Uni team for the first few games - you don't pick 5 or 6 freshers. that would be nuts.

except that is exactly what we have done here. Prior should be playing instead of Bairstow (and shouldn't have been dropped) then there is at least some extra experience.

Still - this team wont die wondering.

chances are it will die and I 100% guarantee that they will never play as an XI again.

[Jason_Yuan]

borthwick isnt really a specific spinner, bowls alright most of the time, cant believe finn didnt play though..... hopefully cook can get a big score tomorrow.

[Red Ink Cricket]

Ive been telling you that for 2 months now.  Of all the stinkers of judges of anything cricket on this forum, youre about the worst of fhe lot.  Just as well you make nice bats!

i dont rate him, thats a personal opinion. we bowl poorly at him and he scores runs. credit to him for that. for me i dont think hes a good enough player and that there are much better players in shield cricket who should fill that spot. Im quite happy to admin when im wrong and if he goes on to fill his boots against south africa and the like then ill happily admit that and give him credit where its due. same with bailey, hes played very well at oneday stuff but just doesnt look comfortable in whites. 

ill openly admin that when stokes was picked in the test squad i didnt think it was warranted let alone actually playing a game. He's put the hard work in and performed. i never said i knew it all.

[tim2000s]

And these figures come down to one thing... Mitchell Johnson blowing away the tail

What's interesting is to look at the Summer series first. In the summer, the Australian lower order outscored England's at an average of 82.7 per innings versus 77.3. The difference is that England's top order scored a lot more runs.

In Australia, the difference has been Mitch, or fear of Mitch, with the England lower order managing 42.9 per innings versus Australia's 139.4.

It's not just a fear of Johnson though, it demonstrates that England have consistently failed to work out how to get the lower order out, especially Haddin.

[Number4]

Haddin is in the form of his life with the bat. For an Aussie it has been great to watch him bat

[The_Bird]

What would be interesting is a bowler comparison. I think that would highlight why England have lost these ashes by such a large margin. The Aussies as a whole had bowled better than us, the stat about England only bowling 18 balls on the stumps to Watson out of 300 plus is staggering.

[cricketbadger]

I can not believe Rankin is playing or even got selected for the tour. I am disgusted

[procricket]

Haddin is in the form of his life with the bat. For an Aussie it has been great to watch him bat

Not just for Aussies mate credit where credit is due he is simply playing world class test cricket and is in fine form and great to watch.  A good role model for any kid watching

[cricketbadger]

Not just for Aussies mate credit where credit is due he is simply playing world class test cricket and is in fine form and great to watch.  A good role model for any kid watching

I wish he wasn't such a (No Swearing Please) though, always chirping and reacting to the barmy army with his celebrations. Get a grip, they are there supporting their country so stop rising to the bait and making yourself look like a (No Swearing Please)

[procricket]

He is a patriot he refused to have a picture with me and a couple of mates at the scg when we went to watch nsw v vic when he heard our English voices


Guess that's what drives him and fair play the barmy give it so he kind of gives it and I guess he walks the walk so fair play

[cricketbadger]

He is a patriot he refused to have a picture with me and a couple of mates at the scg when we went to watch nsw v vic when he heard our English voices

See, that just makes me think even less of him. I agree he's a top player but I don't like his attitude or manner and now you've said that I think he's an even bigger tit

[Manormanic]

That terrible batsman Steve Smith takes the English attack apart again

Good counterattacking knock I'll give him that, but lets not make out like he's become the new Ponting - he's still only averaging 35 in Test cricket and his two scores this series have come on the back of more intimidating colleagues knocking the wind out of England's sails.  You can bet that Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and especially Vernon Philander are licking their collective lips at the thought of bowling to him (as well as Watson and Bailey).

[cricketbadger]

Bailey surely wont play another test

[finbarr44]

Haddin may not like us that up to him, but he has batted brilliantly all series and hats off to him. When we have had them in trouble he has seen them to safety and fair play to him. He is doing what Prior was doing for us a couple of years ago. Its his perogative to refuse photos with us Poms but I would have a greater respect for him if he didn't behave in that way, however that is merely my opinion.

[Manormanic]

What would be interesting is a bowler comparison. I think that would highlight why England have lost these ashes by such a large margin. The Aussies as a whole had bowled better than us, the stat about England only bowling 18 balls on the stumps to Watson out of 300 plus is staggering.

Oh, this is undoubtedly the big difference between the sides - if you look at the two top sevens, I would ay that apart from Haddin, who has been absolutely magnificent throughout the series, there has been little to choose between them - especially if you take into account the context provided by so many pressure free second innings runs for the Australians. 

At the same time, the Australian bowling has been streets ahead - for England, Anderson has looked tired, Bresnan short of fitness and Tremlett old.  Broad has bowled well at times but for me he is still a streak bowler to be selected as the third seamer rather than a man on whom you can base your attack for a series.  Australia have had Harris, who has been brilliant, backed by Siddle who has made an art of doing nothing very much at no great pace whilst being precisely the bowler his captain needs him to be, and Johnson, who has not bowled as well as his figures suggest, but who has got into the heads of the opposition and has capitalised on the pressure created by his colleagues.  Watson has stemmed runs too, and Lyon - for all his negativity and the fact that he is still no better than a clubbie - has held up an end.  This has been backed by consistent planning and excellent catching.