A Summer of Cricket – SPOILERS

Even TMS can’t see where the ball has gone!

Michael Clarke you bloody coward.

Nooooo!!

And that puts the cap on an awful series for officiating. They should have just said get on with it, and deal with the ICC fallout later.

“An absolute disgrace” says Aggers.

And we ALL agree.

ICC – Hang your heads in shame.

Aussies stalled it, sad to say, but they knew what they were doing. Clarke chatting to the Umps or players after every ball. A “stalled” run up from bowlers. Blatant cheating? Or just gamesmanship? A sad end to a great series.

Still….

OH FFS what an end to a series riddled with controversial umpire decisions

Cheated of a result one way or the other

Farce

So who do you blame? The Aussies for a slow over rate? The umpires for not calling them out for it? England for not upping their run rate sooner (first 15 overs were a bit slow)? The ICC for their light regs?

Well that’s just w**k

TBH I’ve never understood why test matches start at 11am rather than 10 or 10.30.

The whinge has started here in Australia.

The fat one all of a sudden likes the umpires

And still thinks that’s a positive fr Australia

Prick

And Chappel is as delusional as ever, trying to claim it as Australia’s series.

**** morons the pair of them

LOL
😀
this is perfect. Neither side good enough to deliver the coup de grace and the umpires interpretation of the law forcing the result. The Aussies showing lots of gamesmanship to slow the overrate – hope they all cry.

Farcical and the perfect end to an imperfect summer.

TBH I’ve never understood why test matches start at 11am rather than 10 or 10.30.

Especially when they’re making up time lost on previous days

This is what happens when you move the ICC to Dubai because running the game is more about the lifestyle than the sport for the people in charge.

Has there ever been an Australian team that were loved universally?

Really thought England could of won that, oh well. Great game though.

Should’ve had the fifth test up at Headlingley, too. Still light enough for cricket up in Yorkshire right now.

Sad finish to what could have been a great finale. However, sadly somewhat fitting all-in-all. 🙁

Geoffrey Boycott, Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special
“Michael Clarke should realise that when he dangles a carrot he could lose the game. You can’t then complain to the umpires when it isn’t going your way.”

I’ve no idea why most people in the press etc are so kind towards Michael Clarke and slate Cook at any opportunity. Australia bowled extremely negatively in the first innings despite needing a win, and they only declared to ‘dangle the carrot’, not through some noble desire to entertain the crowd.

Then they indulge in time wasting and gamesmanship and whine to the umpires to get the game called off when they realise it’s gone awry.

Wonder if this wil put an end to the Aussie bleating about the victory they were apparently robbed of by the weather? Doubt it.

LOL at expecting the umpires to interpret that law.

Seems a fair result for the match and the series. Would have preferred a win, don’t think Australia are guilty of anything that couldn’t also be levelled at England over the series.

Shame we have to wait so long for the next Ashes 🙁

😆 😆 😆

Seems a fair result for the match and the series. Would have preferred a win, don’t think Australia are guilty of anything that couldn’t also be levelled at England over the series.

True but there was a lot of sanctimonious whinging when England did it.

Precisely why it was so hilarious. No need to complain at all; it’s clear that both teams are capable of a bit of gamesmanship.

Warne vs Atherton was almost my favourite exchange of the series. Subtext:

Will England let Australia have a test win?
No, it would be better to win the series 3-0
But my team was the best in the world, we always let other teams think they could win
Yes, they’ll try to win, but if it looks risky we’ll take the 3-0
But you have to risk losing sometimes to win!!!!
3-0 🙂

Atherton played a very straight bat, great stuff 🙂

grum – Member
I’ve no idea why most people in the press etc are so kind towards Michael Clarke and slate Cook at any opportunity. Australia bowled extremely negatively in the first innings despite needing a win, and they only declared to ‘dangle the carrot’, not through some noble desire to entertain the crowd.

Then they indulge in time wasting and gamesmanship and whine to the umpires to get the game called off when they realise it’s gone awry.

I agree. I also think England deserve credit for how they bowled in Australia’s second innings. They kept it tight when the Aussies were looking to get going quickly.

And when did what the crowd wanted to see become the most important factor in how a team bats?

Shame about the ending was tempted to sit up and watch it early an work start got in the way.

Some of the Aussies wow probably have taken 3-0 at the outset.

Still plenty of questions about England need answers the first 11 should be fine but it’s the players around them that need to get form. Will be a good series over here and at least it will be on during the day live and for free which is even better.

From TMS Facebook

I think we should congratulate the poor little Australians for doing so very well considering the lack of natural talent available to them.

No one expected them to do so well as only lose 3-0 so let’s all get together and shout out a rousing 3 cheers for the gallant err… losers.

Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah!

And mike: I did stay up, Clarke was a bloody disgrace , physically pushing the umpires at one point, and right in their face. I’m going to go to work today and start clucking every time an Aussie comes in. I think calling them a bunch of chickens is about as polite as you can be!

Ever the optimist…..

Clark made a game of it, err no… stupid declaration, never enough overs to bowl England out the only realistic outcome was a draw or England win. Clark risked everything to gain nothing he didn’t already have or lose 😕

Seriously Zokes, what would you expect him to say? You are captain of a team that has lost but faces the same oppo in the near future. Leaving aside the commercial obligations (!?!) imagine if he had just said, ” yea, we’re crap and the POMs will batter us at home as well”?

Plus, who pushed who at the end? It was a bit that I was actually watching and it seemed Clarke wanted to see for himself what the meter was showing but the umpire pushed him away dismissively rather like a prep school teacher to a little kid. I can see why he (the umpire) found Clarke annoying but can’t see how any of this ends up in the conclusion that Clarke pushed the umpire.

…unless its “red-rosé” tinted spectacles?

On balance, it seems we slightly underperformed and the Aussies slightly outperformed. But what will the series be remembered for. A 3:0 win for starters and that’s great. But great cricket and a respect for the spirit of the game? Hardly. Ok an exciting finish and a prematurely ended second attempt yesterday. But far more for strange rules, odd officiating, poor technology, gamesmanship from both sides, “”blatant cheating” (?), Boycott’s hypocrisy, measured responses from the likes of Hughes and Aggers, a fun debate between Athers and Warnie yesterday …oh and thru “Warwickshire-tinted” lenses, Bell proving the doubters wrong. Good on him….fun to watch “Bernhard Langer” playing cricket!

Lets hope for a better series all round in Aus, but with the same result. Test cricket should be the pinnacle of the game and an Ashes series especially so.

Seriously Zokes, what would you expect him to say?

Yes what could he say and it seemed reasonable

On balance, it seems we slightly underperformed and the Aussies slightly outperformed.

This

England did not perform well and it could , weather aside, have been a 3-2 series

It certainly wont be remembered for the cricket as THM notes

More bad blood when it goes to Oz is my guess

Anyone got a vid / picture of the broad/Anderson high five to the face? I burst out laughing on the train when I heard that

Red-rosé ???? Damn auto spell check!!

Seriously Zokes, what would you expect him to say?

Dunno, but as most of the locals seem to be counting that as a nearly-win for oz, and the series as “we’ll, we lost, but deserved to win”, it would be nice to have some straight talk

Meanwhile, in the other Ashes

Are you watching Haddin?

Zokes, any good links to “fun” newspaper articles from your locals?

Sadly not. They seem to have got their knickers in a twist about some late night urination, but mostly it’s just buried under the absolute farce that is the (potentially) massive drugs scandal in the AFL

Dunno, but as most of the locals seem to be counting that as a nearly-win for oz, and the series as “we’ll, we lost, but deserved to win”, it would be nice to have some straight talk

Sports fans , and aussie ones [ and england football fans]in particular, are known for their fair , reasonable and impartial views on their teams performance.
Still think ,weather aside, they would have won two tests which I certainly did not predict
it was not a one sided 5-0 whitewash and they were unlucky to not get a win tbh

Clark made a game of it, err no… stupid declaration, never enough overs to bowl England out the only realistic outcome was a draw or England win. Clark risked everything to gain nothing he didn’t already have or lose

He was hoping to humiliate England and get to claim the moral high ground by watching them shut up shop and play for the draw. No other reasonable explanation IMO.

The panic when it all started to go wrong was pretty funny.

Still think ,weather aside, they would have won two tests which I certainly did not predict

Possibly but that was far from guaranteed. They’ve shown a lack of killer instinct when it counts pretty consistently.

The panic when it all started to go wrong was pretty funny.

I seem to have been the only person in my office who saw it this way.

Can’t imagine why 😆

Anyone got a vid / picture of the broad/Anderson high five to the face? I burst out laughing on the train when I heard that

Reminds me of the Twelfth Man sketch, which I have to dig out from somewhere…

Found it:

“They lack the experience required to do them properly, the high five, and if they run around throwing them around willy nilly, then accidents like this are bound to happen…”

😆