Monday, August 10, 2009

Big Game? Yes. Good Game? Who knows...

Well- it is going to the wire for the Ashes this time round. So many factors that may decide who will end up being the winner. The Flintoff question mark, the absence of Pietersen, whether Lee will play, will the Oval turn, and which team will be "more mediocre".

Yeah, you heard that right- this series just hasnt compared to the last one in England, primarily because the standard of cricket between these two teams isn't really as good as it was. Consequently, the team that has played "less bad" has prevailed. Even if it is a big climax, and a tightrope on paper, the action has rarely been electric.

My prediction? Dull draw, with the Aussies retaining the ashes in a bore. Unless the guy playing his last one does something different...

1 comment:

  1. Sorry to sound glum, but Australia v/s England has, for a long time now, not been a prime contest in the cricketing world. England losing 9 of the past 10 Ashes in the past 20 years may be ample proof of the inequality in the contest. The Ashes doesn't impact any of the two sides by virtue of their status/position in world cricket, neither does it affect the fate of the non-Ashes teams in the dynamics of world cricket.

    Flintoff as an allrounder is about as genuine as they come. The past decade has seen a few allrounders with outstanding potential, but who couldn't really make it into the Imran-Botham-Hadlee-Kapil mold. Chris Cairns, Lance Klusener and now Flintoff, all had it in them but sadly they will still go down in history in the B-league of allrounders thanks to their limited physical consistency.

    Peter Roebuck nails Flintoff beautifully ... "Flintoff wanted to contribute, not dictate.". That says it all.

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