The Ashes Tour 2009

I bet if WI and ENG were in one group in CT then atleast one team would have got 2 points.Losing 6-1(pity that I have to say not confirmed yet as match is still going on) to this Aussie team is unacceptable.

EDIT: As I write 6 down.
EDIT2: Probably under strength WI would have easily won.

Edited by MalhotraRaj84 - 20 September 2009 at 4:49pm

Lovely to see Cameron White get the man of the series award. Really good series for him and a career changing series I feel. He has pretty much made himself a permanent fixture in that middle order and his capacity to play long innings and also slog is really handy. He's a good inclusion and a possible future captain. Lee was also impressive on his comeback and would have been a contender for the MoS award too.
Swann was fantastic. I love seeing the offies do well and I felt he should have been back in the side and they made the right choice. He, alongside Strauss , Anderson and Broad are definite inclusions for the first CT game.

So a token win with the Aussies probably thinking about South Africa. very impressive stuff from Swann though and Onions and Anderson did a more than decent job too.  As JP pointed out , Shah and Bopara's running is laughable , they're a nightmare to bat with.  Glad to see that Wright will be okay for Friday , but the team's inability to accelerate when it's needed is their major downfall. Only the Windies and possibly NZ have a weaker middle order.
        Can't Shah stand on a cricket ball when arriving in Joburg tomorrow ?

face saving win for ENG but it was good to see. Still they'll be the second weakest side in the CT after the WI. NZL showed good signs yesterday against IND so I believe they might have found their rhythm. 

Saw a great comment this morning - a joke of course - that Australia won the six qualifying matches before England won the final. 

yeah the joke JP refers to proves beyond all shadow of a doubt that the lives of every single England cricket fan hung on that all important one day series.

Hey, good thing the English fans have this mentality, else they'd be doing like West Indians and not turning up to games and missing out on a great opportunity to see top class sportsmen in action.

This thread will be getting moved onto The Honours Board in the not too distant future so any closing comments or thoughts are welcome.

I feel strangely flat about the whole affair and that's not happened to me in any Ashes series before (and I include 2006/7 in that!).  Yes , I was pleased that England won , but they didn't convince me that they're ready to take on the world and the Aussies lost their way at crucial moments. 
       The highlights have to be the arrival of Onions and the improvement in Broad. Swann brought smiles too and must be filling Panesar's nightmares.
        That we won with KP missing for more than half the series should suggest a corner has been turned , but still I have doubts.

         The SA tour will answer a lot of questions , is Cook the partner for Strauss , or will Denly take over ? Will an attack without Flintoff be able to knock over such a strong batting line up and will Bopara find his mojo ?

          They have a settled side , capable of beating any side in the world and the English ? I just don't know.

I'll keep my degrading comments to myself and just say that it was a great series,and that I'll miss Watching Flintoff steam up to the crease!

Haha Zuhair!!
This series won't go down as being that memorable for the sheer fact that the quality of the cricket was not particularly amazing. 2005 on the other hand you had Warne taking 40 wickets, Jones swinging the old ball both ways and Freddy taking poles and making runs and inspiring the crowds once more.

2005 was exceptional - but this one was not that boring either. Certainly not up there in trems of quality and excitement - but still was interesting enough to leave people guessing till the very end.

Edited by zuhair_abbasi - 25 September 2009 at 5:29am

Yes , there was some intense sessions , it was pretty topsy turvy stuff.  Maybe I've forgotten how tight it was after being subjected to that one day marathon.

Anyone knows the answer for this question?

Which country, other than England holds the record for giving birth to more Test Cricketers who represented England in Ashes? And name the cricketers?

I'll say India. Especially in the start of test cricket a lot of Englishmen born in colonial India and even Indian's of 'higher status' who became British (like the raj's) played for England.