Hmm..recipe for Mr.Fletcher & Flintoff...I hope they read this & so does rest of the members. Even if they manage to do few things right written by Tim & loose the 2nd Test, it would be worth it as that would mean they fought & they lost.

England went into the first test scared of their opponents. Now they've got the defeat out of the way, the only way to approach the rest of the series with aggression.. if you have to go down, you may as well go down fighting!

Not sure Harmison is going to survive the entire tour, the devils are in his mind, and not in his technique. As you rightly say, Monty should definitely play. If you expect to bat till no.8, it doesn't display any confidence in the abilities of the top order.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is going be Headingley from 2005!

Oh! We will never change. In spite of all odds you are hoppin your team will put a good show. And I am hoping my team, India forget winning, will bat their 50 overs.
The buzz seems to be that Monty is back, which is great news. But it may not ne wise to drop Harmison. Apart from Flintoff, he is the only bowler who can fetch you a 6 for 50. Hoggard is more the 4 for 90 kind of bowler and Giles is 2 for 120.

Are they doing away with Jones?

the most glaring of many differences between Adelaide and Jaipur (pitch type, conditions, ODI vs Test match, etc.) would be that australia's top 3 included gilchrist and watson, two all rounders...how can that match be in the same paragraph as a stat on Langer, Hayden and Ponting?
not to mention that Ponting would give up that champions trophy and possibly a world cup or two to have the ashes back. he's hungry, and he got fed well in brisbane.

Memo to Flintoof: Win the toss.

yeh well said. i think the best way for the England will be to go through their top order quicky and finish them. England's batting is expected to do okay but you have to get opposition out twice cheaply in a test match if you want to win. For me the best combination for this will be, Flintoff, Hoggard, Mahmood, Panesar, and Giles.

Memo to Flintoff: have a third man for Langer. Put three catchers on the drive for Hayden, not just one. Bowl full at Ponting, eight inches outside off, with the odd one jagging back for the lbw. Get Monty on early, and don’t be too bothered if they try to bully him. And give yourself the new ball: until Harmison recovers, you’re the spearhead.

Agreed !

"Memo to Flintoff: have a third man for Langer. Put three catchers on the drive for Hayden, not just one. Bowl full at Ponting, eight inches outside off, with the odd one jagging back for the lbw. Get Monty on early, and don’t be too bothered if they try to bully him."

The question is, why isn't anyone in the England setup going through all this with him beforehand?

The dark days of the 1990s?
In almost every series, with a few exceptions (the subcontinent tour in 1992\93, The Ashes 1993, Pakistan 1996), the 1990s were nothing like as dark as the 2nd half of the 1980s, where we lost everything bar 2 Tests in Australia and 1 at home to the embryonic Lankans.
That was surely the worst time to be an England fan.

Hi Tim,
In all the tests I have seen with Flintoff as the captain, and there have been a fair few now, I always had the impression that he favours fast bowling over spin. And that amazes me!!!
Second. I hope they rest Harmison and get him to Dennis Lillee and play Sajid Mahmood and Monty.
Third, Alaister Cook needs to realise that defence defence and more defence will NOT work against Warne, the beguiler.
Fourth, McGrath needs to be taken apart, if he plays. That is a very hard task but it needs to be done. He is a symbol of the aussie efficiency and he needs to be broken. If he does not play, then his replacement needs to be attacked from the very outset.

England expects every man to do his duty

Freddie... Freddie, WAKE UP AND PAY ATTENTION! For crying out loud take notice of Tim's great article (chortle) and then hopefully we might actually have something worthy to watch and not another whitewash (oops is that racist? My apologies, must be reverting to type after lessons in political correctness from the Fun Police in Brissie). Seriously, Freddie if you guys win in Adelaide and breath some life into the series I reckon our Prime Minister will give you another gong for services to cricket.

As an Australian, here's hoping the English implement something along those lines Tim. Given the stand-in captain, if England continue is this vein, and Duncan Fletcher survives the post-tour autopsy I'll be amazed. Reactionary rather than the progressive outfit of 2005. It's hard to believe it's the same outfit.

And fer cryin out loud we've heard enough about the Barmy Army trumpeter. The no instrument regulations are an absolute godsend compared to the days when the crowd was full of drunken morons braying tunelessly on plastic trumpets. Making an exception for the Barmy Army could open the floodgates. Given the choice between them and the alternative, the trumpet will just have to stay at home.

So. He didn't pick Panesar. If Giles has an effect on this game with either bat or ball it will be a miracle. What an utter waste. And what's most shocking of all about the decision to include Giles is that the one thing that the England team actually does well - is bat. What an utterly useless decision.

I respect Flethcer so much for bringing Englaand to where he has. ANd Giles is a stalwart who was part of that team that went from zeros to heroes. Long live the king of Spain - but please someone let him go while he still has that memory.

I am so annoyed. Why has Fletcher gone so gutless now? England are stronger now... because of Fletcher... does he just not know what to do with that kind of team - he is so used to dealing with a team that needed solidity?

Getting Monty on early is going to be a bit tricky, given that he's not playing. England have named an unchanged side, so that must mean the management think Anderson is a better bet than either Monty or Mahmood. Can anyone provide a good reason for this? ANYONE?

Yes, well Freddie could send on Monty early if he was actually in the team, which has to be one of the most monumental selection stuff ups ever. Not picking your best spinner on a turning wicket, you've got to be kidding me, someone please send this to Duncan Fletcher not that it wil make a difference but it appears he has forgotten about who, where and why his team is playing.

The anti-clmax has already eventuated. Both the second test and the series have already been effectively decided. England's selection policy and approach are demonstratively defensive and tentative. Not to include Panesar and to retain Anderson - who seemed so ineffectual in Brisbane - is a travesty. It may well be that Boycott's seemingly ill considered and intemperate rearks about the tenure of Duncan Fletcher may yet prove valid. There batting this morning was bewilderingly tentative - simply waiting to get out.

Just as England's selection policy seems misconceived, so does the administration of this series. Test cricket is the heart and foundation of the game. To schedule the most eagerly anticipated of test series in such a way as to quite possibly undermine its competitiveness is sheer folly. England, despite their formulaic insistence to the contrary, have had insufficient opportunity either to prepare or to regroup.

England has always been "mediocrity elevated to superstardom" team. Flintoff and Pietersen are the only true matchwinners they can depend on to pull it off.
Harmisson is fast becoming "Harmless"on with his recurrent bowling woes(in aus under hussain and now under flintoff)
as time goes on, ashes 2005, though spectacular it was, will just reaffirm that it was a mere blip in aussie radar.