can England win back Ashes

@meatiitr (364)
India
June 9, 2007 8:13am CST
do u think that the England team have it in them to clinch back the ASHES from the aussies....now that Vaughan is back in side their batting looks consolidated, but they still have a problem or two in the balling dept. what do u think
2 responses
@djdeep81 (1061)
9 Jun 07
I think that the recent test series shows that Vaughan is a test player. He needs time to build on runs and one day games are not his speciality. Vaughan is a brilliant thinker and no doubt his team mates want to share as much knowledge as possible. England can win the ashes back if the team sticks together and show that they fear no one. England have a strong batting line up but they need to find a solid opening bowler. Steve Harmison is erratic. Bring back Simon Jones!!
10 Jun 07
Simon Jones hasn't been on the team, because for the past 18 months, he's been injured! In fact, today's one-day game with his county side is his first day's cricket in over a year! So it's pretty safe to say he's not match-fit yet, so not really worth bringing back until then!
@angelicEmu (1311)
10 Jun 07
I have to say that in my opinion, unless there's a serious change in the influence of the selectors on the team, and unless the coaching staff start to work WITH the players rather than trying to mould them rigidly into playing with a different style and technique, no we won't be able to. Personally, I think that Vaughan's playing, whilst it may be improving to some extent now, was one of the key factors in England's shabby performance in the World Cup. There's also the fact that whilst a replacement captain was put into place, Vaughan was still having input in the dressing-room, which must have caused confusion, and subverted the authority of the acting captain. Vaughan shouldn't have been re-included in the team until MATCH-FIT. He should have gone back to county cricket until his game and confidence were both up to scratch. This wouldn't have been a punishment, just what's right for the team, and for him. As I said earlier though, the ECB need to butt out to a large extent. They need to drop Harmison - his average for the last 30 test matches has been 2.4 wickets per match, which is not good enough for a strike bowler. They seem to pick strange combinations of players, and not use the talented players to their optimum. And whilst the batting may look more consolidated, they'll need to drop one of them when Flintoff's fit again. The ECB seem to work in theoretical scenarios, and seem to be out of touch with the realities of the game. It's as though they think they're playing a chess-match, whereas cricket is a war!