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? ? ? i dont get it... anybody care to explain?

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Freddie is well known for drinking Red Bull, he says it gives him added strength.

and Popeye , well anyone of a certain age will know what his spinach does for him.:)

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Ashley Giles contributed a good column in The Guardian today illustrating the tension in the team as Shane Warne was getting wickets. Gilo's description of his innings with Hoggie is marvellous: :Yikes:

Then came the chip to midwicket


:)

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This bit says it all.

to damn right fans aswell.

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I really hope that simon jones is ready for the oval

as you noticed we struggled without him when bowling out the aussies 2nd time at trent bridge.

We gotta play well at the oval..plat pitch but a bit of swing for hoggard, but they have mcgrath back..eeekk!!!!

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Agreed, ;) a lot of attention gets focused on Freddie of course he is a marvellous cricketer, but then the rest of the team is equally deserving, all of the batsmen can get over a hundred, Strauss on a good day, Trescothick, Vaughan, Pieterson a least five could achieve centuries plus. The bowlers have good and bad days but they each have in the past performed well: Giles, Simon Jones, Hoggard, Freddie, Harmison they can get wickets. The Australians have been lucky so far as the last Test might see them really getting thrashed. ;)

The Aussies are short of quality bowlers, Shane Warne is the best, our guys must hang in there, not be sloggers, be careful and wear the bowlers down with a long innings.

:)

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It will be an interesting 5th test. I do think some papers are being a bit hasty. Beware of the wounded animal as they say.

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very true and jones does have 9 days to recover...

i also hope they dont change the team....dont change a winning team i say..
they have developed team spirit..even though our wikie may miss a few chances, he is worth it for the runs he scores. the other wikie we have, chris read might be better behind the stumps but in front of them he isnt much cop.

Ian bell is unlucky he is a good batsman, he is just inexperienced, so ge often goes for shots before he is "in" or focused.

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I agree with going for the team spirit & hope Jones will be fit - another thing about Ian Bell is that he is is one of the best close fielders I have seen for ages :)

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Just to add my comments:

Firstly *blimey* was that an absolutely nail biter or what...?! :Yikes:

Secondly, however, even if (and hopefully we will!) we win the Ashes, I think what this series has demonstrated is that the England team *still* don't hold up well under pressure.

Consider:

1) Australia need to bat out the day and not lose all their wickets - They do so with dogged determination despite some very hostile treatment.

2) England need just over a hundred runs to win, they've got 10 wickets in hand, plenty of time and what happens? They fall to pieces and, frankly, barely scrape home.

The Aussies simply *DO NOT QUIT*, they will fight tooth and nail for every run, every wicket and take every chance open to them, but the English go to pieces.

IMO (and speaking *as* an Englishman!) for sheer determination, the Australians deserve to keep the Ashes.

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But we've clearly got the better team, which should count for something. The Aussies, technically speaking, are outgunned with bat and ball. A few more catches on our side and we'd have the urn in the bag. Sometimes you really miss Graham Thorpe.

Mind you, I was wondering the other day which members of both squads have seen their reputation increase, and only came up with S. Jones, Flintoff and Lee. At best the others have either performed much as expected (Trescothick, Hoggard, Giles) or underperformed (Harmison, Bell and the entire Aussie upper batting order :) ).

Agree that S. Jones has gone from fourth bowler to key man - we all knew Flintoff had *it*, but Jones the Bowler is gonna be missed if he isn't fit.

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the problem with chasing a low score as we did was that allthe batsmen thought-

"oh, its ok if i get out for a small no of runs, its such a low total someone else can score"

Yes i totally agree, Ian bell is a brave and excellent close fielder, and he also had two useful spells with the ball two!

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You could be done for treason ya know :shocked:

Lets hope it rains for 2 weeks starting now :D

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There is one team that has a recent history of struggling with a low score, last innings run chase, that team is................Australia:)

That said Graham mkaes some valid points.
England should have already won the Ashes, they should be 3-1 up by now but they could just as easily be 3-0 down.
England got well beaten at Lords,and there was no way they could lose the Old Trafford test but they should have won it. They almost lost both the two tests that they eventually did win, five days rain still represents their best chance.;)

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Jim, what do you think about Pontings moan about England using top class 12th men ?

Are England employing the use of ungentlemanly conduct, or is he just whinging ?