The Ashes Thread.

[Bobcock]

Yes....Compton could have been a fine opener but we never seem to stick with someone.....

The English team disease is the same with rugby....way too many players to choose from and too many voices to placate when selecting.....

[cyrille]

Carberry as well come to that.
Someone who obviously needed to improve his scoring rate, but that was partly because he was focussed on sticking around, which he saw as a key role for an opener I guess.
Well, was he completely wrong?
We're the same in other sports. The Germans have dodgy football players like Dante at centre half but they realise that a successful team is more than the sum of its parts, conclude they haven't got anyone outstandingly better and work with what they've got.
Wiv..like..coachin n stuff.

[Wally Dorian Raffles]

Pietersen calls out ‘silly’ England

WHILE lying on a beach, Kevin Pietersen has lamented his exclusion from the England team, saying it’s “ridiculous” he can’t help out.

[Wally Dorian Raffles]

Kevin Pietersen ✔ @KP24 Batting as well as ever & the team have huge issues with top order! What a waste, just lying on a beach! I wish I could help! ��
3:34 AM - 21 Jul 2015

• 4,040 4,040 Retweets
• 3,284

[Loy Toy]

If he is in such good form why isn't he offered a position with the Saffers team.

This tweet is an example why he isn't playing for England at the moment.

[Wally Dorian Raffles]

^ There's more

Kevin Pietersen takes his delusion to a new level with his belief that Eoin Morgan still wants him in the England side and new tattoo

• Kevin Pietersen hit 67 not out from just 42 balls in Sydney on Saturday
• Ex-England batsman recently had a new tattoo showing all the places he scored a century for England
• Pietersen believes that Eoin Morgan wants him in the England side

By Patrick Collins For The Mail On Sunday

Kevin Pietersen just won’t be put down. Having been out of the headlines for several days, he gave a toe-curling interview in which he said: ‘I know the current captain would love to have me in the England team.’

To which Eoin Morgan, the one-day skipper, swiftly responded: ‘I’m very happy with the squad of players I have.’ An ordinary man might have been crushed, but KP seemed to take it as a challenge.

So he promptly did something far more disturbing. He engaged the services of one Mick Squires, who is apparently ‘well regarded in the tattoo community’ and was once dubbed ‘The Wizard of Oz’ by Tattoo Master magazine.

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And Mick, operating at a private clinic in Melbourne, drew a map of the world which started on KP’s chest and stretched around his ribs to his back. Picked out in stars, like angry red weals, were the places in which he scored his hundreds for England. The effect was grotesque.

Now you may have your own views on tattooing. Personally, I’ve never understood the practice of allowing a chap who can’t draw to scrawl across your body in ink which can never be erased; but each to his own.

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Pietersen walked along Bondi beach on Saturday morning before the game and gave the finger (left)


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The ex-England batsman showed off his tattoo which displays where he scored all of his international centuries


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Yet Pietersen’s case feels different. It is as if he is actively refusing to recognise reality. Like one who listens only to the twittering sycophants who tell him he has been grievously wronged, that one day English cricket will come to its senses. So Pietersen, wilfully deluded, takes himself off to Mick the Wizard. He then ambles topless along Bondi Beach, gauchely posing for the passing snappers.
As the visiting psychiatrist remarked of the great Basil Fawlty: ‘There’s enough material there for an entire conference.’

Read more: Kevin Pietersen takes his delusion to a new level with his belief that Eoin Morgan still wants him in the England side and new tattoo | Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[bobo746]

KP wanker of the highest order.
And he's nowhere near fit enough.

[Wally Dorian Raffles]

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The ex-England batsman showed off his tattoo which displays where he scored all of his international centuries




Yet Pietersen’s case feels different. It is as if he is actively refusing to recognise reality. Like one who listens only to the twittering sycophants who tell him he has been grievously wronged, that one day English cricket will come to its senses. So Pietersen, wilfully deluded, takes himself off to Mick the Wizard. He then ambles topless along Bondi Beach, gauchely posing for the passing snappers.

As the visiting psychiatrist remarked of the great Basil Fawlty: ‘There’s enough material there for an entire conference.’

[kingwilly]

Priceless!

[Wally Dorian Raffles]

PM me for orders

[cyrille]

Glad he's not in the mix right now.

[Wally Dorian Raffles]

Oh c'mon Cyrille, he's a match winner. Just what the team needs

[pseudolus]

I do recall when KP refused to tour Zimbabwe over protests at Robert Mugabe's regime. The power-hungry egotistical despotic monster decided to play for Hampshire instead

[cyrille]

What the team needs is a guy with an average of a century.
Step forward Johnny Bairstow.

[Loy Toy]

I blame the press in general for patronizing the twat.

He was given everything by England, a place in the side when South Africa didn't want him even the captaincy and he has mostly been a thorn in the side. I note he never come out with his venomous tweets after the first test.

Everyone should forget about him and move forward with the players who are selected now.

FFS you have won one, lost one, hardly a form slump and apart from Smith I rate the sides fairly even.

[Bruce Bayliss]

KP wanker of the highest order.
And he's nowhere near fit enough.

Agreed

The English team disease is the same with rugby....way too many players to choose from and too many voices to placate when selecting....

Jaysus Bob...are you saying there are actually players capable of doing better who are not selected?

[kingwilly]

[Wally Dorian Raffles]

apart from Smith I rate the sides fairly even.

You can't be serious.

Line the teams up player for player and Cook would get picked over Rogers , Butler & Nevill is too close to call and besides that who else would you pick over their Australian counterpart??

Perhaps Broad over Hazelwood ( though Wood is his counterpart who is not even close to Hazelwood) but that is more because of his past record - and hazelwood is still new on the scene

Smith over Ballance - yes, I will give you that one too of course ..

[Loy Toy]

You can't be serious.

They slaughtered us in every department 2 weeks ago mate and don't forget they are playing at home.

I am a realist and still think this lot is a hot and cold Aussie side.

[Necron99]

You can't be serious.

They slaughtered us in every department 2 weeks ago mate and don't forget they are playing at home.

I am a realist and still think this lot is a hot and cold Aussie side.

They won the toss on a shocking dodgy 3 day pitch that could have been prepared by an Indian bookie.

Don;t buy into Boobcocks 1-1 BS...

[chassamui]

Kevin Pietersen just won’t be put down.

The last rites were given when Strauss got his new job. Despite his obvious talent and maverick style, putting KP in the England dressing room would be like tossing a lighted match into box of fireworks.

[baldrick]

what suggestions for highlight videos ? youtube channels ? websites ?

[Loy Toy]

Don;t buy into Boobcocks 1-1 BS...

I rarely buy into Bob's banter but he is 100% right.

1 game each, 2 thrashings and our premier bowler (Starc) has an injury. Plus our captain is in a slump, new wicket keeper, playing in English conditions with their doctored pitches so being logical is the best way to be for us Aussies.

Let's everyone wait for the next game before patriotic gobbing off gets out of control.

[chassamui]

Let's everyone wait for the next game before patriotic gobbing off gets out of control

Never stopped you before mate.
I'm sure Wally will follow your logic.

[pseudolus]

LT is right - One a piece. Both victories achieved with a day spare.

I wouldn't change the line up to be fair although might be tempted with 2 spinners at Edgebaston.