On this we agree drbantam

5-0 weather permitting, no danger.

No pressure on Australia at all - expected to lose heavily.

Lots of pressure on England. Can't ever remember a whitewash being on the cards in 40 years of watching Ashes series, yet that is what is being demanded of them.

If they play the same sloppy junk at the start of this series as they did in New Zealand - and the Aussies find just a little extra and go one up - the whole dynamic will change.

The press will be on their backs like a shot: techniques and attitudes will be criticized, Cook's captaincy will again come into question, the decision to drop Compton and push Root to open will be slammed, KP will have to be dropped after his ridiculous shot choices got him out cheaply twice to the guile of Fawad - the man who got 10 wickets on his Ashes debut.

This is England.

Yes, it's here at last, no more pyjama cricket, or rounders, no more screaming Indians taking over stadiums, no, it's ashes time, come on England, come on Jimmy!

"Can't ever remember a whitewash being on the cards in 40 years of watching Ashes series, yet that is what is being demanded of them...."

i don' think we have EVER whitewashed the Aussies have we?
But thats not important to me and if its important to Beefy then, well.....he hardly had a great record as Test Captain did he?
I'd settle for any sort of win which would mean that we had equalled the number of Ashes series wins that the Aussies have (31) ....and then I'd like us to beat them in the next four or five test series as well. But thats in the future, lets get this one out of the way first.
Can't see Fawad being much of a threat, he'll be as nervous as any new boy out there!

Yes Bantam, he's not exactly Warne is he? More like Ian Salisbury! See you at our place on 6th August UTT.

Yes Wetherby lookin forward to our second successive appearance in the Final after disposing of our Yorks rivals!

The atmosphere in Nottingham is already buzzing!

The English batsmen got it into their heads not so long ago that Ajmal was unplayable, when all he had to do (if you look at his record) was cast doubt into their minds.

One tricky ball from a less than average spinner is enough to send us into a blind panic - especially when the opposition play on it. All of a sudden, Fawad's fast tracking to this series will be trumpeted as a master stroke and a legend will have been born - if only for one series.

We can be as fragile as we are domineering. Cook is wise to play down the 'hot favourites' tag.

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I think we will win this series if both teams maintain their bowling and batting averages. But the bravado coming from people who should know better - Botham predicts 10-0 over the two series - is unfounded given the evidence since England and Australia last played an Ashes series.

"..for you Aussies to take a right old battering next week.
1) The Lions gave your Wallabies a thrashing
2) Murray won today"

Bagpipes at the tennis, singing in Welsh at the rugby, I've never seen the English so proud to be British

I wonder if England win the series, that the Irish, the Scots and the Welsh will be saying, Britain won The Ashes

"Bagpipes at the tennis, singing in Welsh at the rugby, I've never seen the English so proud to be British ..."

Oh dear, always a sour note around whenever there is a Leeds fan about.
I will be watching how you lot do this year as I have a feeling City will be back in the Championship next year - weren't so hot last year were you ozzie? Think your 'glory days' that you natter about in your 'resume' are long gone...
go and do one

Just woken up from a night shift to hear the score - having read the match report, it would appear that Australia's bowling has been dreadful and England have been sloppy with shot selection yet again, lucky not to be three down.

"England have been sloppy with shot selection yet again, "...

Hang on a second Razak that was a good ball Root got! Anyway, when was the LAST time England ever started off well in a test series? Fact is in most Ashes series we start off badly and improve, so lets hope this time is no exception.

KP - OUT!

England in trouble.

Late movement is causing havoc. I do not expect Bell to last long - watch him waft at a full length delivery very soon...

Ignore him DrB. If he fell into a barrel of shíte and came up sucking a tít he’d complain it wasn't two.


Mornin’ Herb

Mornin, Tatter, morning everyone

Surprised there is no match thread.

Looks like Cook looked at the pitch and decided that this will be won by the team bowling spin on the fifth day. The way this is going, there will not be a fifth day - and perhaps not even a fourth.

there's a live thread

http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewLiveArticle/215049

but it’s hardly buzzing

Thankfully, I am one eighth Australian and shall appeal to that when Clarke smashes a double ton to give the Aussies a 180 run lead

Cheers.

Anderson would have liked this, mind you its easy to blame Cook but the old adage of 'if in doubt, bat' obviously played on his mind. Ah well, like i say we always start off jittery...!

England should be in a comfortable positive if they can score about 450 runs (both innings combined) or even 400 runs.

This Aussie team's batting is extremely fragile, perhaps the weakest since the days of Hughes, Hilditch, and co.