I'd love to say I was confident of a victory, but the recent series against Sri Lanka was a real disappointment and unless the team can pull it's socks up I have the feeling that England may retain the Ashes this time around.

C'mon Aussie.

Never in the history of the Ashes has the England team been in a great position, even the Aussie press are saying the urn should be handed over to us as a mere formality:D.

Confidence must be a novel feeling then?:D:O:

We'll show ya in 2 days time:D

Maybe, maybe not.

http://media.smh.com.au/national/sel...w-2058751.html

Well I'll make two predictions before a ball is bowled.

1....Australia will not win 5-0

2....Whoever wins the series, it will be by a 3-2 margin.

Obviously hoping the England side will be victorious.

I read somewhere that the Ashes are played between 18 and 30 months apart to take into account the summer in the northern and Southern hemispheres. It will have been less than 18 months since the last series was played so howcome it has come around so soon?

So what is this "Barmy Army?"

http://www.barmyarmy.com/funandgames/index.php?m=games

Dude, I'm playing a cricket game!:o What's next, me spelling the word colour...wait I just spelled it. This is madness:o:haha:

It's geting close now, real close.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?

I knew it was a bad idea staying up for the first day.

Riots in London, and Strauss out on the third ball.

Its now 0342hrs and england are 125 for 4:damn:

I can feel Shane Warne being smug on the commentary.

Meanwhile its still heavy rain off the shetland isles and its only dec 1939.

Ill give it till 04.30GMT then im off to bed...cook looking steady but bell always seems iffy to me.

http://images.smh.com.au/2010/11/25/...ddle-420x0.jpg
Happy Birthday Peter Siddle!:woot:

9th bowler to get an Ashes hatrick and 6 for 54 not a bad way to celebrate

Poms all out for 260.

Taxi for Strauss
http://images.smh.com.au/2010/11/25/...auss-420x0.jpg

You need to factor in the weather - it's been suggested that summer here will be quite wet. We've seen some of it at the 'Gabba. I suspect it will be 2-1..Australia or England I'll decide tomorrow...

Agreed. Given the likely hood of a few days play being spoilt by rain I doubt there will be a result in all matches this time around. Here's hoping the rain stays away enough to get a result in all matches.

Yep...always presumed the weather would be hot and therefore no interruptions.

I'll change my 3-2 prediction to a win by a margin of 1.....for either side.

This was a typical England start to a test match. We hype it all out of proportion and totally mess it up at the beginning:damn:

I just hope we can bowl out Australia for less than 260 and put on a decent score afterwards. All we need is some good spin on the pitch, and our spin bowlers will do their job (so I'm hoping for a nice overcast day to help with spin).

Early days yet.

Remember....what goes round comes round :DL

I've got to get my jibes in while the going is good. It might not stay that way.:O:

...and that is precisely why I'm keeping my powder dry....a long way to go yet :DL

I will say this though...IMHO England are the better/more accomplished squad, man for man on paper.

The question is....how much better and is it enough to overcome home advantage?

honors are roughly even with the Aussies with a slight upper hand depending on how the 3rd day pans out. Ponting, North and Clarke fail with the bat but there were no stand out bowling performances from the Poms.

Hopefully Haddin and Hussey can go on with their good partnership and rack up a good lead tommorrow.

Must agree.....but Swann will be key at some point in this series if and when conditions change to suit spin.