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Well Done a fitting send off for Alec Stewart

Drawing a Home Series against the 2nd best team in the World is some feat

Nobody gave them a chance of even winning a test

What with their pathetic bowling attack & brittle batting

Just goes to show if you put the runs on the board and bowl to a plan any team is vulnerable even Australia.

cheers
B.....OZ

Best test match I've seen for a long time, well done to the lads.

Look forward to seeing them take on the West Indies during the winter.

As for the Ozzies, well they are along way ahead of everybody but we have got a couple of years to improve more & maybe just maybe then.......!!! (Wishful thinking!!).

Thank you Alec Stewart for being a great servent to the English side.

People don't realise how good Alec Stewart really was

The equal for mine to Steve Waugh & Allan Border and then some
given that he carried so much weight wicketkeeper/top order batsman

We had a Wicketkeeper/Opening batsman in Wayne Phillips
This combination burnt him to a crisp and ended his career way to early

England won't beat the Aussies until your Cricket Academy starts producing mentally tough professional players like ours has.its where the vasy majority of the current team came from

cheers
B....OZ

First of all Alec Stewart.....Will be missed, hes done very well for England specially as a Test cricketer...I remember when he got a hundred in each innings of a test in the West Indies back in the mid 90's, thats when I thought this man has come of age and he went on to score many runs....so a good farewell for him to win his last test at his home ground.

I had a feeling that England would do well following the success in the One-dayers, So leveling the series with the springboks was a good achievement at test level when many people were writing them off. They are I feel a fairly balanced side now. Theres plenty of potential in the new boys and they have a fairly good pace attack if they can keep fit. Batting is pretty good as its good to see Thorpe back, Vaughn had an average summer but when he plays well he is capable of bigger scores. Freddie Flintoff isn't as great as Botham but he is capable of hitting the ball round the park like beefy. I have always rated Martin Bicknell but he should have been in the team 5 or 6 years ago. I just hope they pick a decent and well balanced side for the tours of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & the West Indies. I think good spin bowlers will be needed for the 1st two trips, my choice has to be Giles and Robert Croft simply because he has a good record playing away, they should also take another young spinner, but not Dawson, he wasn't very effective last winter.
They are gonna need some good quick bowlers for the Windies tour, Simon Jones if hes fit could be a good choice. I wonder If Caddick will get picked, Hes retired from One-day cricket but still wants to play tests. Not to sure he will play again as theres loads of younger bowlers England have tried out this summer who have done fairly well.

England have had a good summer this year beating Zimbabwe in the test series, Winning the One day tournament and leveling with South Africa.
Bangladesh seem to be showing some signs of improving after they nearly beat Pakistan in Pakistan in the 3rd test, Pakistan just scraping home and winning the series 3-0. England should do well against Bangladesh but should not relax just cause Bangladesh are ranked bottom.

The fact that Caddick keeps getting selected speaks volumes for English Cricket

His stats in tests show clearly that he can't handle the big occasion because he only comes good in the 2nd innings if you check out his averages.For a strike bowler thats not good enough

Giles looks a good prospect in the spinning dept.A pity Tuffnell never matured.He certainly had talent...had Mark Waughs measure which is no mean feat

The biggest danger for England will be complacency
They beat Banglasdesh easily then run into Murali...god help them
West Indies should be a toss of the coin given the Windies are still rebuilding

cheers
B....OZ

Well Caddick never played this summer so could it be that the selectors may not pick him? I would go with the younger bowlers myself. Caddick has had his share of test cricket, Now that Gough is gone, Caddick should go as well. Time for Anderson and the other lads to take over. Sri Lanka & The Windies trips should test them, as you said Murali will be a handful for the batters, and Sri Lanka play well at home. West Indies are rebuilding and growing in cofindence after a very tough series vs Australia, I always enjoy watching both of them play each other. For many years in the 70's & 80's the mighty West Indies have had the better against all teams. In the mid 90's it all started to fall and now things are starting to pick up for them. If they can play as well as they played verses Australia then England will have a tough time. Lara & the boys will be looking forward to the back to back series, when they visit England in the Summer along with the Kiwis.
Tuffers was talented but a shame he never made much impact on the international scene, he did have his moments like the Oval test vs West Indies. Very much like Graham Hick who was a talented player but Test cricket proved to be difficult for him.
Question is will England be a stronger unit by the time the Australians come over to england?

Once England clears out all the Dead Wood who are best described as mentally unbalanced when playing Australia you could be half a chance

Graeme Hick proved how low County Cricket had sunk with the amount of hundreds he scored

When he played for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield the bowlers had him worked out within 1 match...off stump...and through the gate..his achilles heel...never really over came it

cheers
B....OZ

I salute the Aussies for sledging...remember its business now not a sport
Good sportsmanship has all but died(apart from Gilchrist walking at the World Cup in the Semi)

Nothing like a bit of niggle in the game...all the characters are gone so all thats left is the sledging and off field incidents

They have a win at all costs mentality which purists of the game HATE

The only team to stand up to them and beat them has been India in India
Maybe a few other teams should ring the Indians for tips

Its always been a part of every sport...used to break your opponents concentration...it would appear most of the current cricketers are little boys and not men when it comes to coping with verbal insults

No enjoyment...your probably right during play...bring back Merv Hughes...big sloppy tongueys in the ears of your teamates allround
I seem to remmeber a few over the top celebrations after wins..ie Shane 'Dirty Messages' Warne dancing on an English balcony springs to mind

cheers
B....OZ