The Ashes!

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Australia will be lucky to make tomorrow the way they are going. Who are you going to replace Ponting and Clarke with? The whole team is shite - with the possible exceptions of Hussey and Siddle. Johnson's flurry of wickets in Perth turned out to be a flash in the pan. You have nothing to scare Bangladesh with - not with bat nor ball.

Face it Aussies, you are not going to be a great side for a few years at best.

[Hermit]

You have nothing to scare Bangladesh with

Historically, Australia has had an overwhelmingly bad record in the spinners' paradise of India and Bangladesh, so that's not really revelatory news.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I feel like the code breakers at Hawaii in June 1942. I'm only getting one word in ten.

[JimC]

I feel like the code breakers at Hawaii in June 1942. I'm only getting one word in ten.

One day, you may well stand at silly mid on, or even bowl a maiden over...

[Hermit]

I feel like the code breakers at Hawaii in June 1942. I'm only getting one word in ten.

Here's the Enigma Machine. Mind you, you'll need to learn how to use it too.

[JimC]

Australia will be lucky to make tomorrow the way they are going. Who are you going to replace Ponting and Clarke with? The whole team is shite - with the possible exceptions of Hussey and Siddle. Johnson's flurry of wickets in Perth turned out to be a flash in the pan. You have nothing to scare Bangladesh with - not with bat nor ball.

Face it Aussies, you are not going to be a great side for a few years at best.

Actually, I think you may be selling your own side short here. Australia have been very inconsistent, and at a lower standard than previous years, but England have been very good indeed...

[klr]

I feel like the code breakers at Hawaii in June 1942. I'm only getting one word in ten.

Let wiki be your friend ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_cricket_terms

Now go and stand at silly mid-on for a while and contemplate your cricketing ignorance.

As for Australia ...

[klr]

I feel like the code breakers at Hawaii in June 1942. I'm only getting one word in ten.

Let wiki be your friend ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_cricket_terms

Now go and stand at silly mid-on for a while and contemplate your cricketing ignorance.

As for Australia ...

EDIT: Link already furnished by Seraph ...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I feel like the code breakers at Hawaii in June 1942. I'm only getting one word in ten.

Here's the Enigma Machine. Mind you, you'll need to learn how to use it too.

Got one. Just need the keys, please.

[Hermit]

I feel like the code breakers at Hawaii in June 1942. I'm only getting one word in ten.

Here's the Enigma Machine. Mind you, you'll need to learn how to use it too.

Got one. Just need the keys, please.

You got the wrong machine for the job, pal. Use the one I sent you. You already got the key for it as well. It's called "make an effort." Just because its not as primitive as baseball doesn't mean it's incomprehensible. Man, if Germans manage, it can't be all that difficult.

Over.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I feel like the code breakers at Hawaii in June 1942. I'm only getting one word in ten.

Here's the Enigma Machine. Mind you, you'll need to learn how to use it too.

Got one. Just need the keys, please.

You got the wrong machine for the job, pal. Use the one I sent you. You already got the key for it as well. It's called "make an effort." Just because its not as primitive as baseball doesn't mean it's incomprehensible. Man, if Germans manage, it can't be all that difficult.

Over.

The Germans had the keys. The Brits wanted the keys.

[klr]

You could just listen to Test Match Special on the Beeb. The recommended dosage is 6/7 hours a day for 5 days at a time.

[Hermit]

The Germans had the keys. The Brits wanted the keys.

Die Engländer worked on getting them, and they got them. Surely, die Amerikaner, with their fabled "can do" attitude can do likewise.

Anyway, stop living behind the times. The German code was cracked over sixty years ago. Your turn to crack the cricket code now. Following KLR's advice is a good idea. I can vouch for it, having learnt it exactly that way. I can still recall Alan McGilvray's commentary on the first match I ever watched, as he explained what was happening (in this case what was not happening, as he had to say something in the course of six or eight consecutive eight-ball maiden overs, with Geoff Boycott batting, naturally) some time in the early seventies. It hooked me. For six.

[klr]

The Germans had the keys. The Brits wanted the keys.

Die Engländer worked on getting them, and they got them. Surely, die Amerikaner, with their fabled "can do" attitude can do likewise.

Anyway, stop living behind the times. The German code was cracked over sixty years ago. Your turn to crack the cricket code now. Following KLR's advice is a good idea. I can vouch for it, having learnt it exactly that way. I can still recall Alan McGilvray's commentary on the first match I ever watched, as he explained what was happening (in this case what was not happening, as he had to say something in the course of six or eight consecutive eight-ball maiden overs, with Geoff Boycott batting, naturally) some time in the early seventies. It hooked me. For six.

Naturally, the word "batting" is used very advisedly in the case of Boycott.

One can also learn about cricket via pictures and music:

[Hermit]

England wins the Sydney test by an innings and 83 runs and the five match series 3:1. Time for the Australian selectors to go chopping old wood, methinks, but do they have players in club and state-level teams that are better than the members of the national team who are no longer up to standard?

There is an old quip too, which goes like this: Q: What is harder than to get into the Australian cricket team? A: Getting out of it. Sometimes the selectors seem to be hoping that failing cricketers are only suffering a temporary lapse of form, and it is true that is difficult to determine, but I think sometimes that hope is maintained for way too long. Mateship between selectors and players can cause reason to be pushed aside by emotion. A better approach would be to relegate people like Ponting back to state-level cricket, but make it clear that they can be promoted again if their return to form at that level warrants it. Not sure if that sort of thing has ever happened, though. It seems that once a player has been sacked, he retires altogether immediately, or soon after.