I’m of the opinion that the ECB knew about Trott prior to sending him and did nothing to support him, just like Mike all those years ago.
I personally can’t see what the problem is but I hope eh sorts himself out. 😐

Honestly, it makes Groves & Froch’s pre-fight banter seem like librarians chatting during their tea-break.

This says all you need to know about ‘KP’ and his attitude to the team and the match situation. He is simply not interested in anything other than KEVIN PIETERSEN, the brand.

I really don’t agree about this KP bashing. Everyone else plays stupid shots to get out, yet as ever, it’s KP who attracts the flak.

Yes, but ‘KP’ is a swaggering big head of the worst kind. He has attracted pretty much universal loathing wherever he has laid his kit bag. He simply cannot fathom why people like to wind him up (because he has not got a self-deprecating bone in his body and is bound to bite in case you are wondering). He is tolerated because he is a uniquely talented player (in recent England memory any way). When this lot retire, you will not see a single complimentary word (on a personal level) from any of his team mates.

I also find it massively frustrating watching someone who has his talent play the way he does. All hands, no second line of defence, and only ever one ball away from doing something really stupid.

In my opinion a lot of this stems from how he has triumphed in cricket through bloody mindedness. When he started playing professionally in South Africa he was a filthy off spinner who batted at nine and couldn’t buy a run. Through sheer hard work and, critically, self-belief, he has made himself into a test batsman who averages nearly fifty. This is a testament to him, and I admire him for this. However, this self-reliance often results in flawed personalities. As exemplified by Pietersen.

My issue is with how this has now translated into riding roughshod over the team ethic. He will say it isn’t true. His teammates and coaches will say it isn’t true. But they’re all thinking the same thing.

People talk about inhibited players getting themselves out before they have even taken guard. Sometimes Pietersen does this through his craven need to assert himself. I wish he’d just leave the attitude at the pavilion gate and play witha clean slate.

If there wasn’t a need to assert yourself and the attitude left in the pavilion, we would not have had IVA Richards, for one.

Wasn’t it a known fact amongst bowlers that you needed to get Viv early, when he was trying to assert himself?

I’d have that down as a weakness (of sorts), then!

Thanks for strengthening my argument, though!

Just to clarify. It wasn’t just necessary to get him early, from a run-saving and obvious point of view. Many bowlers of the era have commented that his main weakness was a need to assert himself against the bowlers, and thus is was ‘their chance’ to get him out.

That average may have been 60+ without the peripheral stuff.

I suspect looking after his average was not Viv’s bag. However looking at their records, and more importantly the games they influenced, it seems a weakness worth having.

I think it was Gower who was once asked about the best tactic for bowling to vivi.

‘Set the stumps up quickly and start bowling before he even gets to the crease’

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rThRs8b-j4[/video]

He has attracted pretty much universal loathing wherever he has laid his kit bag.

Well, I quite like him. Like Viv, he’s a big-hitting test batsman, as opposed to a T20 bludger like Warner.

I also thought he was a reasonable choice as captain, and I wasn’t alone in this assertion.

I also thought he was a reasonable choice as captain, and I wasn’t alone in this assertion.

He was an appalling choice IMO. Genuinely baffled by anyone who thinks it was a good idea.

Aussies look in great form in both their International & Test Records this year

Losing test series 4-0 in India and 3-0 against England? 😯

Making Pietersen captain was done for the same reasons, and with exactly the same results, as making Botham captain. He was an appalling choice.

On the subject of Viv Richards. He was the best batsman of the post WW2 game. Better than Lara, better than Sachin in my opinion. If he had a weakness it was the need to dominate early on. Anything that detracts from a batsman playing each ball on its merit is a weakness. This can apply to scoreboard pressure, or the field setting, or the aggression of the fielding side. All of which are external to the batsman so beyond his control to a large extent.

What a batsman can influence is his own mindset and approach. Any batsman who predetermines his actions is putting himself at a disadvantage.

.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/25166475

Typical aussie behaviour. They were announcing KP as ‘South African born Kevin Pieterson’ when he walked out in the last series. I was wanting to see if they did the same for their own when they play their Pakistani spinner with the freshly printed passport but he’s unlikely to get a game.

Just checked the forecast here in Adelaide. 18C and rain for Thursday 🙁

Team thoughts? I’d bring Bresnan in if fit and maybe give Ballance a go.

I think they’ll want to stick with four bowlers and will swap Bresnan for Tremlett, that will also shorten the tail a bit. The bold choice would be Stokes but I think they’ll probably go with Ballance or Bairstow.

So, double spin, uncapped all-rounder, and a pitch made out of memory foam.

At least the punchy bogan has yet to lean that T20 batting rarely works in test matches…

36/1

Rain and all, going to be interesting. The boss is over in Adelaide (a Scotsman so no idea about cricket) and was surprised to find not much accommodation left…

The boss is over in Adelaide (a Scotsman so no idea about cricket) and was surprised to find not much accommodation left…

I wonder why….

Got tickets for Sunday and can’t wait. Pity I didn’t manage to pull off tickets for all five days like I did last year. Also a pity England haven’t pulled off what they did three years ago too.

MONTY TO BAMBOOZLE THEM oops on caps lock

MONTY TO BAMBOOZLE THEM

One hopes…

Got tickets for Sunday and can’t wait.

Day 4? hoping you get to go….

109-1 halfway through the second session tells me that I will….

Yawn

any tickets for monday? might still be Australia’s 1st innings

about time for another

Turn up on the day for Monday…

Montyyyyyyyyyy!

Great timing, back to evens?

p’raps. p’raps not…

So close to being England’s day, you’d have bet your house on Carberry there!

Jeez, that is one slow, horrible wicket! 22 yards of weetabix.

Absolutely critical that England basically bat once. Ok so maybe chasing down a hundred in the last dig might not be too bad against an attack with only one spinner, but no more than that. Finish them off for less than 350, take our time and post a big total. Then nick one or two out with the new conker before Swann and Panesar take over.

That’s the theory anyway.

Strangely, this is the kind of surface where England miss someone of real pace who can reverse it. Anderson is merely ok with reverse. Someone like Flintoff or Jones would be ideal. It just goes to show what absolute gods Waqar and Wasim were!

1st session critical, if they can get among them early then it could go Englands way, if not then Australia could end up totting up a total and be up at 400 without anyone doing anything special.

The big test is how England go with the bat, there will be pressure on everyone after Brisbane, Australia already have runs on the board regardless of the pitch.

I’m worried. Next session is crucial. I can’t see this being a draw, with the pitch turning as it is already, and I can’t see us chasing a big total in the last innings. We need to get these last wickets for not many to give us a chance to make a lead that’s big enough to put pressure on and let Monty and Swanny to do their thing. If Aus score enough to take a lead, I would then worry we’ll be 2-0, a tough game at the WACA to come, and the series and ashes slipping away.

The 2 spinners is a bold call and looks like England want to win, Australia don’t want to loose. A win on a draw pitch would be a very good result.

We’ve picked the bowlers to win the game for sure. But you also have to score more runs than the opposition. I’ve been defending the batters for a while now as having too much talent to continue to fail, but we need that faith repaid now by a daddy ton or two.

I KNOW cooky, belly, kp, and co have the capability but I’m less confident each day they don’t do it. I know it’s only day 6 out of 25, but time’s already running out.

aye its the batters who have let them down for sure and need to step up to the plate. the problem is none of them are in form.

well no wickets yep and it’s back with Australia for now, could do with seeing the back of Clark