Not sure if Strauss will still be there but good call about Ponting not being around.

I expect the Aussies will be a far better test than last time.

Michael Hussey be 38 by then? be suprised if hes in the team..As for the rest pretty spot on..

Looks pretty good and promises to be far more a competitive series than last time (although quite enjoyed the final score line). Have to admit KP was looking dodgy in my mind - until the T20 the other day and saw at last some of the shots come together that define him. Would also be happy not to see Ponting in the test format again - respect to his stats but no longer enjoyable to watch IMO.

Morgan would be replaced by Taylor who is a miles better longer form batsman.

I would hope that Morgan will "come good" by 2013 if he works on his test game.

What no Ravi Bopara? lol

I hope Punter makes one last visit but I have doubts.

I doubt Harris and Strauss would be there.Harris is very injury prone whereas Strauss' form is in decline.

Strauss will be there as long as we are still winning. He certainly won't quit before an ashes series.

True.

Strauss can still score runs. I know he asnt shown it of late.. But i'd stll fancy him to get 100s on the odd occasion..

I hope Strauss stays around for a long time so as to stave off the day Cook when takes over.

hope Strauss stays around for a long time so as to stave off the day Cook when takes over.

................

pretty harsh on cook there. At the moment we don;t know what type of captain he will be. Going back a few years, pre central contracts, we sometimes had as many as 3 or 4 captains in the side as they would go back to their counties and captain them. However now we have central contracts so these guys are never going to be picked as a county captain so they have to learn that part on their feet on the international scene. Like Broad and many others, nowdays you learn your trade in the test team, and that's the same with captains. Cook has no where else he can learn this side of things, so like players, he needs time to grow into it. central contracts make picking a captain with experience of it very difficult, so we have to accept they learn on their feet and like anyone else doing that, they need time.

Theres more to captaincy than placing the field and choosing who bowls next. It's man management which is not something you learn, you either have it or, you don't.
Cook completely lost control of his players in the recent series, sledging the opposition and shouting at team mates is not a pretty sight.

Obviously there is more to captaincy than that, that much is clear.
man management is something that can be learnt, fairly easily infact, ask Mike Brearley who was a great believer that anyone can learn to man manage people given the chance, and he is someone who should know.
Not sure about the sledging of other players showing anything, i think both Waugh and Border were damn good captains, they sure liked a sledge. In terms of shouting at other players, well he just sits in nicely with the likes of Swann and Sidebottom. It takes time to learn and grow into anything when one does not have the experience of it.

Cook has played 72 test matches mostly with the same players. If he hasn't learnt how to manage them by now he never will.

But none of those 72 tests as captain, so it hasn't been his job to man manage them until now.

When you spend so much time in the company of a group as he has and is vice Captain, you are in that learning process.
He just hasn't got it in him.

Time will tell Hope but he will be captain one day and he will surely learn a thing or two from being ODI captain, not that I agreed with him being elected captain but that's a different story.

Time will tell if Cook will turn out to be a good captain. saying that your only as good as your players.. I was never a big fan of Ricky Ponting as a captain. But when you have leaders like Warne and numerous others in the team.You let them get on with it..

Oh snap we both typed time will tell

You were two minutes behind me

I know but am a slower typer

He just hasn't got it in him.

....................

That's what people used to say about Vaughan and Hussain when they first started, but they ended up changing English cricket for the better through their roles.

Not as slow as me

Googly
Did people really say that about Vaughan and Hussain? I admit that I did about Strauss.