Thread: The Ashes Tour

Andy Flower is set to make his first big gamble of the Ashes tour. The England head coach has decided to split England's squad and dispatch his three main fast bowlers to Brisbane next week for extra preparation ahead of the first Test. Australia's batting coach, Justin Langer, has launched into the ''panic'' merchants who have questioned the nature of the national Test team's line-up, dismissing the criticism as ''bizarre''.
England skipper Andrew Strauss has warned his players not to take their foot off the gas. "The last thing we can do is get complacent and pat ourselves on the back. We're ramping up our preparations now," he said.

Is there a sports radio station that's going to broadcast the Ashes on the internet? I don't want to stream a crappy TV feed.

BBC iPlayer Abroad

TV Proxy is pleased to announce that our proxy is fully compatible with BBC iPlayer allowing users to watch iPlayer whilst abroad, providing of course they have a BBC TV license.

Anyone who has spent any time abroad whether on holiday or working overseas will soon realize what good value the BBC licence is and what high quality programming the BBC and other UK TV channels provide.

The BBC and other british broadcasters use an IP address based system to contol who can watch their content and viewers whose IP address is not in the UK will get a message 'Not available in your area' when trying to use iPlayer.

Part of the reason for this is to protect their revenue, for instance, popular dramas such as the excellent BBC production of 'The diary of Anne Frank' will be sold to other countries and the revenue earned will be used to fund other productions.

Some of the content shown by the BBC is of course not owned by them but is 'rented' just like you and I would rent a film from a video shop. In these cases, the BBC or ITV will only have bought the rights to air the content on regular television and will not be able to make it available on the internet.

Examples of this are box office films and big sporting events such as football matches. In these instances, internet viewers will get a message to the effect that 'for legal reasons, the programme can only be viewed on regular TV'.

TV Proxy enables it's members to watch BBC iPlayer and other UK based content without the restriction of being in the UK by fetching web pages on their behalf, i.e. by acting as a 'proxy'.

Australia Test squad:
Ricky Ponting (c),
Michael Clarke (v-c),
Doug Bollinger,
Xavier Doherty,
Callum Ferguson,
Brad Haddin,
Ryan Harris,
Nathan Hauritz,
Mike Hussey,
Ben Hilfenhaus,
Mitchell Johnson,
Simon Katich,
Usman Khawaja,
Marcus North,
Peter Siddle,
Steven Smith,
Shane Watson

^ beat me to it
interesting!

Usman Khawaja
could be the first muslim to play for Aus
born in Islamabad

i've seen him play not to shabby.

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

born in Islamabad

snigger

^ever been?

Pakistan yes, Islamabad no.

Originally Posted by daveboy

BBC iPlayer Abroad

TV Proxy is pleased to announce that our proxy is fully compatible with BBC iPlayer allowing users to watch iPlayer whilst abroad, providing of course they have a BBC TV license.

Anyone who has spent any time abroad whether on holiday or working overseas will soon realize what good value the BBC licence is and what high quality programming the BBC and other UK TV channels provide.

The BBC and other british broadcasters use an IP address based system to contol who can watch their content and viewers whose IP address is not in the UK will get a message 'Not available in your area' when trying to use iPlayer.

Part of the reason for this is to protect their revenue, for instance, popular dramas such as the excellent BBC production of 'The diary of Anne Frank' will be sold to other countries and the revenue earned will be used to fund other productions.

Some of the content shown by the BBC is of course not owned by them but is 'rented' just like you and I would rent a film from a video shop. In these cases, the BBC or ITV will only have bought the rights to air the content on regular television and will not be able to make it available on the internet.

Examples of this are box office films and big sporting events such as football matches. In these instances, internet viewers will get a message to the effect that 'for legal reasons, the programme can only be viewed on regular TV'.

TV Proxy enables it's members to watch BBC iPlayer and other UK based content without the restriction of being in the UK by fetching web pages on their behalf, i.e. by acting as a 'proxy'.

It's not very free, is it?

England batting coach Graham Gooch has defended the decision to rest all four front line bowlers for the final Ashes warm-up game against Australia A.
James Anderson, Steven Finn, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann were sent to Brisbane ahead of the first Test rather than play Wednesday's four-day match.
"We've not come for the hospitality, we've not come for the weather, we've come to win the Ashes," said Gooch.
"Everything we do is geared towards that goal," he told BBC Sport.
Former England skipper Gooch was in bullish mood, reflecting the confidence of an England side determined to capture the Ashes on Australian soil for the first time since the 1986-87 series.

Tremlett puts England in charge

BBC SPORT

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...ett_pa466i.jpg

With England's Test attack all rested, a shadow strike force made short work of Australia's young contenders for international honours in Hobart.

http://dai.ly/9JkmCJ

Michael Hussey and Marcus North failed to register significant scores in Western Australia's Sheffield Shield match with Victoria. Hussey, who averages 26.36 from 13 innings at Test level since his century against Pakistan in January, was dismissed for 17, the same score as fellow left-hander North. But fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was in excellent touch with the bat, stroking 82 not out from 88 deliveries as WA finished on 319-6 at the end of day's play.
Four of Australia's top seven failed with the bat in the Shield match between New South Wales and Tasmania. Captain Ricky Ponting was dismissed for just seven while openers Shane Watson and Simon Katich were out for single-figure scores while wicketkeeper Brad Haddin made 10 as 20 wickets fell on day one at the Sydney Cricket Ground

Australia's faltering Ashes preparations have received a boost following strong performances by key players Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson and Mike Hussey.
With less than a week until the start of the Ashes, punters are showing more and more faith in England to retain the urn.
The pitch at the Waca - where the third Ashes Test will be held from 16-20 December - has developed a major crack, indicating it could be on the verge of again becoming one of the most ferocious wickets in the world.

Nice competent performance by England.

Last time the Ashes were won in Australia the build up was disasterous.......totally different this time...

Good to see a few of the Aussie cricketers finally running into some form.

We wouldn't want this to be another 5~ 0 whitewash.

England batsman Kevin Pietersen says he is ready for the challenge awaiting him from Australian left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty ahead of the 2010 Ashes series.
Doherty looks set to play in the first Test in Brisbane on Thursday, as the hosts look to exploit what they feel is a technical flaw in Pietersen's game.
"I don't have technical glitches, I've sorted them," Pietersen told BBC Sport.
"I'm always looking to score against every bowler, but any bowler can get any batter out it's just a fact."
Doherty, who will turn 28 ahead of the start of the first Test, has only taken three five-wicket hauls in first-class cricket and has a bowling average of 48.

Originally Posted by daveboy

Yarpie batsman Kevin Pietersen

That's better.

Hopefully it should be a good competitive series with few excuses on either side. England seem to be more of a unit and better focused than in the recent past.

Doug Bollinger dumped

Australia (likely): Ricky Ponting (captain), Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Xavier Doherty, Ben Hilfenhaus.