England has barely beaten a team they should have walloped. The hype in British media is beyond comprehension. English cricket team is ranked #5 in the world way behing SA, SL and India. They are incapable of beating any of these three teams at home or away.
I agree Pom bashing has been my trait every since East India company came to Surat in 1608 but when it comes to cricket I am fairly unbiased in my views :-)
The stanard of cricket in this Ashes series has been extremely poor. The cricketing skills exhibited by both sides would have made the recent Indian Emerging players team that toured Australia proud. Maybe we should have watched Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh ODI series.
Having said this, a word on Freddie Flintoff - a remarkable cricketer who raises his game when he plays tough opposition. English and world cricket will miss him sorely.
I strongly feel Ravi Bopara should come back into the team in place of Ian Bell. He is a top quality player but # 3 was way up the order for an aggressive player like him. He should play at 6. A fully fit Kevin Pietersen should repalce Paul Collingwood and bat at # 4.
Coming back to Australia, hats of Ricky Ponting for putting up a fight with a very weak team. They will need to make some changes -- Despite his century, I would still sack Mike Hussey; Brad Haddin (a very poor wicket keeper) and Stuart Clark should get the boot. Shane Watson shld bat down the order with Phil Jaques at top of the order with Katich.
More in next blog, now back to work :-)
