get worse, it did.
What an almighty fuck up on the last day of the second test as England’s cricket team collectively made sure that they didn’t return home with the Ashes. Returning home is something that they maybe shouldn’t be allowed to do, Australia is the right place for them to stay, cause last night was criminal.
This is even worse than Brisbane, at least there they were crap all the way through, but at Adelaide they showed a bit of fight and effort, well for a couple of days, to then meekly give it all away.
And it’s made even worse with the rubbish emanating from captain & coach, trying to excuse this shambles.
With Warne bowling into the rough there weren’t many options and Brett Lee reverse-swung the ball both ways. Fletcher
They weren’t doing anything different from the first innings, you know the one where Pietersen didn’t try and sweep Warne once on the way to his standard 158. No when it was bowled into the rough it was outside leg so he just padded it away as Warne was made to look ordinary.
Ah but the positives, Harmison and Anderson bowled better than at The Gabba, after all that hard work they put in. That would be the hard work that should have been put in before the tests even started but they were either too stupid or lazy to bother with. Yes they were better, not really hard to do that even for these two but neither looked like running through the Aussies, that was left up to Hoggy. He was the only bright spot with Collingwood & Pietersen’s first innings.
Oh and Giles got a whole 27 runs to go with his 2 wickets 🙄 What is it with England coaches and their favourites? When, again, Pietersen can cause problems with his offspin what would Monty have contributed, he may have even caught Ponting unlike the wheelie bin. Monty can keep the run rate down but in doing so he can also take wickets something Giles hasn’t looked capable of doing so far. But then a good performance from Monty and the “BBC Sports Personality Of The Year” could have been his, Fletcher wouldn’t want that.
I dunno, you spend the first two days making Shame Warne and Glenn McGrath looking like donkeys and then this. Fletcher has to stop trying to live off 2005, it’s gone and so it seems is the fight that made it what it was. Buried under Fletcher’s favouritism and dull outlook.
This spin coming out today that Fletcher wanted Monty to play but was overruled by the players isn’t especially persuasive, is it? (And what’s Geraint Jones doing on the selection committee anyway???)
Even with 500-plus on the board, our slow run rate meant a nagging feeling of unease, but certainly couldn’t have foreseen that collapse. Freddie’s poor form with the bat is worrying – when was his last half-decent knock? And while it would be harsh to criticise Collingwood, perhaps he should have started hitting out a bit more as he saw the wickets tumbling opposite him… Then again, looking at the shot selection by a few of his top-eight colleagues… 🙁
Very, very dismaying, all-round.
But hey, win the Third Test, and suddenly it’s Ashes on again……….!
The “it wasn’t me honest guv” crap from Fletcher was sickening, with Jones well insecure bosses need yes men round them. He’s set Monty up to fail now he’s spent the last few weeks sat on his arse.
Giving Fred the captaincy has had a detrimental effect on both his and Strauss’ batting.