England must believe they can still keep the Ashes
To keep on living, you have to have a reason. And that reason needs to be strong enough to pull you through tough times..
England Ashes team is in toughest time of the Australian tour and the only way they can survive is by believing they can still do what they came for - retain the Ashes. Adelaide loss never seemed possible. That's the beauty of test matches and test series'. If you can keep your nose not far behind you opponent - your winnings chances will come when no one sees it. Same is the situation with the series right now. If they can pull off a win at Perth, 2-1 standing will start to look much much  better.Even if they don't lose Perth test and win the "Boxing day test match", odds will again be favourable to them, but I must suggest them going all out and winning Perth test. Only because you can't defend and survive on Australian wickets. Attack and the ball hits the middle of the bat. Defend and it takes the edge. England lost the Adelaide test because they were afraid to win. Starting the last day with a lead of 96 and 9 wickets in hand - they should have defended in the first half hour and then attacked in next two hours. This may not have only earned him some more time while batting - this also would have given enough runs to restrict the Australian batsmen. What they actually did was defend in first half hour, and then defended some more. Giving an ideal situation to Shane Warne to bowl the way he wanted to.. Micheal Slater said during the commentary that out of 142 test matches that this great spinner has played, he has only missed 5 such "Day 5 situations" and not got wickets that his team needed. A Shane Warne, who bowled 90% of his overs around the wicket in the first Innings, was allowed to come over the wicket in the second innings and stay over. After Strauss and Bell, Australia had smelled the blood. I am not Duncan Fletcher or Andrew Strauss. Oh, I am not even English. But I hope England team takes some aggressive decisions like becoming the first ever test team to play 2 spinners at Perth, bringing some fire in Harmison's belly, and most importantly - not making too many changes in their playing eleven. Whole cricketing World is depending on you England. If you can defend you Ashes this time, Australian selectors will be forced to make drastic changes. and other teams will start believing they can beat the great Aussie cricket team. That how great your Endeavours are. Believe what Steve Waugh always say - "Our job is simple. Win everything to win the glory". And although the series stands at 2-0, you have proved you have what it takes. It's about going out there and making it a reality. Related Articles |