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[johan95]

Hey guys,

Got any predictions about the Ashes, as it's nocmt that far away..., would be very interested to hear your thoughts on both teams' batting lineups..!

Fire away!

[Riddy]

england 2-1

[johan95]

I'd say something along those lines, but what do you reckon about the teams for the 1st test?

[Riddy]

depends on our warm up matches... if we do well in those games, get a bit of cinfidence then we have a great chance

we will look like this,
strauss
cook
trott
KP
Colly
Bell/Morgan
Prior
Broad
Swann
Andersen
Finn

Aussies:
Katich
Watson
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
North (on his expieriance in the last ashes)
Haddin
Johnson
Hauritz
Siddle/Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

[johan95]

I think that's right; I doubt England would take a punt on Morgan just yet, and hilfenhaus will be a dead cert for the aussies as he can bowl overs and overs on end...! It looks to be an interesting series already!

[iand123]

I think they will go for Bell over Morgan, huge series for KP as well.

I think we'll lose 3-1

[johan95]

Confident eh? I think youre right about our batsmen, I reckon a 2-1 win fir whoever wins it.

[iand123]

I just think its too big an ask for this side to win out there, i think they arent mentally strong enough to cope with the aussies (on and off the pitch). Will be key for the players under pressure (KP and Cook especially) that they get off to good starts, if that happens i think they might do better than my 3-1 prediction

[johan95]

You make some good points there, I agree with some!

[jamespaxton]

australia 4-0

[iand123]

I'll be pleasantly surprised if im wrong! Just think alot of people in england cricket are starting to suffer from the football team problem of thinking they are better than what they really are. If thats to be exposed, australia is the place!

[mattw]

I was thinking about this last night - I don't think there will any draws over there so i'm going to for a 3-2 England win.

The team pretty much picks itself but if KP isn't performing does he get dropped? who comes in for him? Morgan/Bopara?

I think we're the move innovative team around at the moment and we've got a lot of mentally tough players in the squad such as Strauss, Colly, Trott, Broad, Swann. Which also we've got the best spinner in the world in our ranks and not a bad second spinner Tredwell/Rashid who they can both bat a bit as well.

Where it comes down to is where it usually does - taking wickets in Aus and with the addition of Finn we've got a good bowling line up. I hope Anderson takes some wickets as his bowling average away from England isn't great and hopefully he can prove a few doubters wrong...

[johan95]

It's true, hardly any England players are prolific down under...

[Riddy]

KP averaged over 50 last time....

[johan95]

True, but what will he do this time is the million dollar question