Counting down to the back-to-back Ashes series in 2013/14

[Aidan11]

There were Ashes series in England in 1975 & 1977 but I have no idea why they did this.

[from_the_stands]

Rewinding to 2005 momentarily for the best Ashes promo ever...

[GGAS]

Rewinding to 2005 momentarily for the best Ashes promom ever...

brilliant

[braveneutral]

That is brilliant.

[gollygosh]

I think it's stupid to have two Ashes series back to back.

They should have scheduled it as: Australia 2010/11, England 2012, Australia 2013/14.

The Ashes is the best Test series in the world but it just won't feel as special because the winner of the 2013 Ashes in England will only have it for 3 months before the next Ashes starts!

I expect even the most ardent Oz and Brits will be sick of the sight of each other's teams by the time this is over

[braveneutral]

I am sick of the Ashes already. It would be much better to have a T20 tri-series every two years between team A India, team B Bangladesh/Pakistan (in rotation), team C Pakistan/Sri Lanka/England/Australia (in rotation).

[HarryPotter]

Its clearly bad to have back to back. But I am sure that I will enjoy the Tests when they occur.

Please say they are not playing ODIs and 20Ts both times too though.

[from_the_stands]

Please say they are not playing ODIs and 20Ts both times too though.

It's almost certain that it will pan out that way. What's more, each ODI series will probably involve 7 games.

[HarryPotter]

Thats what gets me down. I can always get myself up for Test, whoever the opposition, but ODIs or 20Ts need to be at the right level.

[m@tt]

F-T-S i am not sure what comments you refer to when you suggest KP might walk away from the game

I don't see him walking away from the game anytime soon, but I could see him retiring from Test cricket before he does away with the short stuff. We've even had a thread on here where we've speculated as to when his last Test series will be. It might possibly be that he actually retires after the Ashes, along with half the England side, especially if they win. I guess suggesting that he might retire before the Ashes is wishful thinking on my part... but I'm still hopeful!

That was my thread. I believe I started it between the summer series. It was at a time where we'd seen KP somewhere near his best during the Ashes, followed by a below par series against Sri Lanka. Plus there was the "fall out" of his departure from the World Cup and his dissent at the WAG ban at the beginning of the Ashes. I felt that if KP was to be part of this set-up, he needed to kick on, else Flower could tire of him. As it was, he did kick on against India and was outstanding.

Pietersen knows that whilst T20 will bring in the cash, Tests is where he can leave a legacy. For a man who yearns to be loved and accepted, that's important to him. He'll play Tests for as long as he can, and as the 10,000 run milestone is just about attainable for him. He's scored 6,361 runs at just over 80 per match. At that rate, he'll need to play another 45 Tests to reach 10k. He's played 73 Tests in 6.5 years, so the extra 45 Tests would involve another 4 years of playing. Now that he's got his passion back for the game, after captaincy and injury saw him fall out of love with the game, he may well set his sight on that target. But he would need to pack in the ODIs for that to happen, although the selectors could make that decision for him.

[HarryPotter]

Yes, KP has always being clear where his priority is and that Test cricket.

Another 2500 odd runs and he will be a legend, that will mean far more to KP the man than a few pounds for someone who is very well off.

I don't think he has to retire from ODIs to achieve his Test targets but I think he might want to but is afraid of the reaction.

[m@tt]

Apparently he would lose his central contract if he retired from ODIs. However I'm sure he could negotiate something with the England selectors, after all Strauss still has his contact. Now that he's fully back in Test form, he probably has better standing with Flower and co, so he's in a better position to negotiate such a move.

I doubt Pietersen would want to suffer being permanently dropped from ODI side, even if he doesn't want to play the format. For him, I suspect "retirement so that he can focus on Tests" would sound a lot better than being dropped and that's therefore what he would prefer.

[HarryPotter]

He would be in exactly the same situation as Strauss.

In fact he would probably still play 20T so would be available more and Strauss has a central contract.

Test cricket is what matters so a regular Test player would get a contract.

[rich1uk]

this discussion keeps cropping up with all the conspiracy theories about what he might or might not do and what his motivations are

however the man himself has explicity said on a number of occasions that his aim is to represent england in all 3 formats of the game until after the next world cup in 2015. now whether that is reasonable or whether his form in ODIs will alow him to do so is up for grabs but i think he means what he says.

[shankycricket]

this discussion keeps cropping up with all the conspiracy theories about what he might or might not do and what his motivations are

however the man himself has explicity said on a number of occasions that his aim is to represent england in all 3 formats of the game until after the next world cup in 2015. now whether that is reasonable or whether his form in ODIs will alow him to do so is up for grabs but i think he means what he says.