Ashes 2025-26.

[Durhamfootman]

Oi!

that's commie talk, mister

[Arthur Crabtree]

The Guardian doing a rundown of the top 100 Ashes cricketers.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/ng-in ... -173054408

Presume the Don will be at one, and Warne maybe at two.

[sussexpob]

The Guardian doing a rundown of the top 100 Ashes cricketers

The list released up to 71-100 really makes no sense whatsoever.

Hedley Verity has a better average than Lyon bowling to Australia's greatest statistical batting line up, while nathan Lyon had three series against an England line up that was all time bad.... and yet Lyon is better? Michael Slater has something like 7-8 Ashes hundreds and his hit rate on Ashes hundreds is only bettered by all time legend..... him and Thorpe are behind Colin Cowdrey, who was notoriously poor in Ashes matches, despite averaging over 10 runs more.

Maurice Leyland's Ashes record is outstanding.... you really picking Ian Healy way above him?

Just a random list thrown together with no thought seemingly.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe Steve Finn isn't enough of an Ashes expert to be a lead selector.

According to a comment below the line, Slater hasn't got a great record off the pitch.

I remember Healy as a tough customer with the bat who got runs when they were needed and a quality keeper. Not surprised he's in there.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Presume there won't be much love for the 90s England Ashes XI, even those who did ok in the early to mid 80s against a weak Aussie side. But there's already Gatting and Gooch in there.

[sussexpob]

I remember Healy as a tough customer with the bat who got runs when they were needed and a quality keeper. Not surprised he's in there.

My age puts me at the end of his career. The Healy I remember is the one who turned up in 98-99 in the Windies and was embarrassing, scoring something like 30 odd runs in 8 innings and looking like he had gloves made of lead and boots filled with Concrete.

The only defining Ashes moment I can remember him having was snicking a Darren Gough riser to Warren Hegg at the SCG in 1999, becoming the first victim of Darren's Gough's legendary hat-trick

[alfie]

When you read the methodology of the ranking lists it is clear enough that all sorts of "odd" placements will appear - especially no doubt in these lower ranks. All those subjective judgements washed together, with the added complications of the "5 from each era" and 15 from each country rules... May be that a touch of recency bias from the younger contributors also involved , though that might also work in the opposite direction ! I am sure a similar mix from the denizens of this board would produce some strange results too.

Suspect the top ten or twenty will probably be more in line with general expectations. Though I am sure there will still be plenty to argue about

[sussexpob]

Stokes firing back at the "has-beens" criticising England's tour preparations. Apparently anyone suggesting a proper warm up match vs the locals is stuck in the past and needs to get with the times..... Not a particularly sensible choice of words

[sussexpob]

I would have some sympathy for the point, but England prepared for the big watermark series in Australia by scheduling a load of unnecessary LO games they didn't need to be playing, so being called a has-been for suggesting their time would have been better spent preparing for the Ashes than going to NZ for a totally forgettable series of zero interest to line their pockets... yeah sorry, not buying that idea.

Stokes is guaranteeing England's warm up will be (in his words) "balls to the wall". I hope for his sake its not like the 2021 match in Brisbane, where in 78 overs England fielded 9 balls including Lions squad players, and each batsman making a score of 30 retired. No FC status..... In fact, all of these games always end like this. He's not going to look very sensible if this ends with 32 players having a run out, players switching sides throughout the match and all that Jazz. It certainly doesn't give the impression of serious cricket esepcially when scores don't count on records.

Especially so as England bats after the NZ tour desperately need some quality time at the crease.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Reasons will have to be found for the likely big defeat. Stokes really should try and defuse stuff like this rather than set up future criticism.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Suspect the top ten or twenty will probably be more in line with general expectations. Though I am sure there will still be plenty to argue about :)

Hard to qualify stuff like a single legendary moment of Ashes history (like George Lohmann) against many years of useful service (James Anderson).

Anyway, on the update, the former is at 70 and the latter at 45...

[Arthur Crabtree]

So presume Broad will be ahead of JA.

[sussexpob]

Reasons will have to be found for the likely big defeat. Stokes really should try and defuse stuff like this rather than set up future criticism.

Indeed. I find this sort of comment incredibly naïve, because history tells us that England's institutional errors or problems can be laid bare very quickly away in Australia. In 2006-07, Harmison bowled a wide first ball and it felt like the whole of Fletcher's era went with it in a giant fireball car crash. In 2013, Mitchell Johnson needed a few overs to destroy what was left of Flower's England. The reality is, you get outplayed in the first test, everything little detail will be played back in the Aussie press, and if England lose badly so will it be in the English press. The fact is, the pressure cooker environment tends to make this process go quick. One day you are a great side, the next the coach is being fired and 3 players are being guided into retirement mid-series.

And Fletcher/Flowers England were better than this lot. They had beat Australia, Flower had even done it away.....and yet both sides crumbled. In this team, I dont think anyone has anything other than miserable experience in Australia, save for Wood when he played a dead rubber game. Stokes record is poor, Root's record is poor...... For all the talk, the balls will not be "to the wall" at 1/2-0 down, more like shrunk and retreated.

I get the sense this will hit Stokes and Co hard. They have the least hostile press I can remember for any England cricket team ever, but that will not continue at 1-0, and will be done and dusted at 2-0. At 3-0, the ECB will already be finding someone for the post-series "rip it up and burn it" inquest.

All of these comments, all of England's management "our way or the highway" stuff..... start to lose the series, and this will be the stick that the press beat you with.

[sussexpob]

One of the only things I like about England schedule is, they have arrived in Australia late and wont have much time to soak up the toxicity. But putting yourself on the radar like this, especially attacking older players and calling them has-beens, is the sporting equivalent of shoving your head over the trench wall for the otherside to target practice.

He could have communicated this in such a better way.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England playing warm up game early tomorrow. The 18 players in the Lions squad should be plenty.

Apparently Sean Abbott is ruled out of the Perth Test with an injury.