Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

from_the_stands wrote:For me, I'm pretty fond of the '89 Ashes series. Australian cricket was still rebuilding and the English media were licking their lips at the prospect of the "worst team ever to tour England" coming their way. The Aussies had won the WC two years earlier, but were still struggling in the Test arena, and on paper, admittedly, we didn't look too strong. Some early tour squabbles between AB and Craig McDermott wasn't what the viewers at home wanted to see, but alas, McDermott would play no part in the series as Border marshalled his troops on their way to the record books. Indeed, Australia smashed England, with the urn then remaining in Oz hands for the best part of a generation. The three standout performances for me in that memorable series were Terry Alderman, who turned the England batting line-up into rabble, Steve Waugh, for his barn storming efforts with the bat, and Mark Taylor for his efforts opening the batting.

As the years have gone by, the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and others have made their contributions to Ashes mythology. If I was to select a top 5 Ashes warriors I've seen in my lifetime from each team, I'd go with the following;

Australia; SK Warne, Alderman, McGrath, Steve Waugh, and MJ for his crushing effort four years ago.
England; the tall blonde English medium pacer, Freddie Flintoff, Beefy Botham, KP, and probably Cook.

KipperJohn wrote:Colin Cowdrey’s maiden Test century at the MCG on a difficult wicket on the 1954/55 tour was pivotal in that winning series under Hutton. 20 years later aged 42 he strode out at Perth to the bemusement of many Aussies to face Liillee and Thompson at their peak.

yuppie wrote:The 89 series was a great team. Aldermans 41 wickets in that series for me was as good as Warnes and MJs in later series. He just totally dominated the English batsman in that series. 6 test series though so two extra innings to get more wickets. He got 42 wickets in the 81 series but i was to young for that one. 83 test wickets in 12 test matches in England. Imagine what his record would have been if he only bowled in those conditions. Kinda crazy that Jimmy Andeson got selected ahead of him in arecent BBC pole for the all time ashes team

Durhamfootman wrote:and having now checked, he scored 766 runs in 5 matches, at an average of over 127, with 3 hundreds and 2 fifties in that series, and it was a series that was alive all the way through