West Indies were overdoing the short stuff and they lost due to it. Murray lost despite looking the more accomplished of the two. I thought the crowd was putting way too much pressure on him. A Murray-Federer final would have been a cracker of a match. Federer will steamroll A-Rod in the final. But I hope Roddick pulls off a miracle.

"as for Strauss being a better captain than Punter. Heaven help us. What exactly is that based on..." Ignorance Pom. That and silly little agendas...

"looks like the indian top order arent the only ones who struggle with the short ball. phil hughes apparently has the same problem." Based on what dhillon28?? His two hundreds and leading run-scorer performance in South Africa during his debut Test series, or a couple of failures in a warm-up game in England?

Flashing Meadows lol

Hussain took over when England were at their lowest ebb, officially bottom of the rankings and gradually turned things around. He played things tough, negatively at times, like in the series in India which England lost narrowly and could easily have drawn in the early 2000s. Sunil Gavaskar was making headline news over here when he slated England's tactics in his Indian newspaper column. I think he said that England were trying to get test cricket done away with with their tactics! We employed similar tactics in the Pakistan away series when they sneaked a series victory in the near darkness at the end of the 3rd test. Hussain didn't care. He was building foundations, brick by brick. I think we cam home and beat the West Indies (with Lara, Walsh, Chanderpaul and Ambrose) and also won away in Sri Lanka. Not many teams do that apart from Aus with Warne in their ranks. Vaughan wouldn't have achieved what he did without the years under Hussain. Hussain was a bit of a sargeant major type captain and the younger players at the end of Hussain's reign responded better to Vaughan's softer, friendlier approach.

Mitch, you must be thrilled with Michael Owen coming to the Red Devils? Injury prone and cheap labour, good deal for you guys replacing Ronaldo and Tevez. What happened to Owen Hargreaves? Where are all the Ronaldo millions??

51_all_out, Harmy isn't the only bowler with pace we have, in fact he is generally only around the 85-88 mph range, with the odd 90 mph ball slipped in. What he does have is the height and bounce to unsettle batsmen, when he's in the mood, confident, pitch giving him assistance (though the current Worcester wicket is pretty dead!) etc. If he was picked for the first test he could turn up and bowl like the Lions-Aus game. Equally he could turn up and bowl at 78-80 mph like in NZ last year. I think 'Enigmatic' sums Harmy up!!!

Heartbreaking to see Murray lose like that to Roddick. I wanted him to go up against Fed in the Final on Sunday as I think he would have given us a match of a higher quality than Roddick. Roddick always lose to Fed is straight sets whereas Murray has beaten Fed 4 times since the US Open at Flashing Meadows. All Roddick will do all day long is sending down Aces, what a bore! Even Leyton Hewitt would have been better than Roddick against Fed for Tennis's sake. Go Bokke Go!

Tahababa...Hussain's record was better than Vaughan's, in fact statistically his record was better than any England captain since Brierley, despite the fact that he took over England at their lowest ebb...this said Vaughan lead us to the Ashes so everything else is considered largely irrelevant...Tuesday - should we risk Harmy. This answer is yes by default as he is the only person in the country with genuine pace and test experience. He will be in by test 3 mark my words.

Tahababa, no-one heard of Harmison when Nasser was in charge is due to the fact that Harmison only played 8 Tests under Nasser, as opposed to 34 Tests under Vaughan. More pronounced with Fred, who averaged 40 with the bat under Vaughan and 21 under Nasser, and 48 with the ball under Nasser but 28 under Vaughan.

to kenobee, true that nasser hussain was a good captain for england, but his overall record was really not that good compared to what vaughn had as test captain. He did end up winning series in pakistan and srilanka, but his team still did not have that toughness and killer instinct that vaughn instilled in them, where they had at one point been victorious in ten straight test series. The teams they beat weren't that bad either, in West Indies, South Africa, Australia, among those teams that they beat. The only reason england lost touch is simply because most of their players including vaughn ran into injury problems and personal issues (see trescothick), and therefore the chemistry got lost. In addition, I stick by my point that flintoff, pietersen, harmison and all the players that I mentioned truly realized their potential under vaughn's captaincy, even though flintoff and harmison were playing under hussain. Nobody had heard of andrew flintoff when nasser hussain was in charge, or steve harmison. Its only when they started performing under vaughn is when people got to know how good these players were. So I will disagree with you there.

looks like the indian top order arent the only ones who struggle with the short ball. phil hughes apparently has the same problem.

Saman...yeah Harmy has been on fire this season...too little too late though, although I pretty much guarantee you we will see him at some time this series. Mitch...it's funny how people can blame the KP issue for the bad performance in WI....it is always a strange one. Apart from the infamous 51 all out England batted better than they have done for ages (regardless of the oppo they batted well) but rank bad captaincy in late declarations (in full knowledge of the fading light), not ever attempting to push a run rate and the sheer inability to come up with anything innovative on a flat track or get any fire into his bowlers bellies (not too mention his insistence on making it the Monty Panesar 'bowl the same ball 1177 in succession' show) were the undoing of England...I can assure you the vast number of travelling fans forgave England for the 51 all out as that happens from time to time (especially to us !) but the discontent regarding Strauss and his captaincy was not easily be forgotten !...Hope I am wrong...doubt I will be. Either way beer will be my saviour.

Should England risk Harmison? He seems to have more of a fear factor about him than Onions.

In my honest opinion, Marcus North was a flash in the pan (although good value for his 117 on the day), and Johnson has only very recently shown any signs of true class.. he is far far away from proving his worth. Both him and Lee can have off days, and this in conjunction with Hauritz' average of 47 in FC cricket (that's 47 runs per wicket... even Robin Peterson's average is better!) can spell bad news. I think it will be a close series, depending on who finds form first and longest. Hughes will be dangerous and thus targeted, but the Aussie batting will be stronger and deeper than the Pom (with Johnson and Lee, they bat reasonably down to 9 with a proper #7, and there can be no doubt of the batting of numbers 1-5, whereas Bopara is a big 'if', Collingwood is more of a 'once in a blue moon' and Prior.. I digress). As I write, Hughes just got a brilliant short one from Harmison again ; it is, I believe, the first time in FC cricket that he has failed to pass 40 in at least one innings. Scary.

51_all_out - maybe I am living in hope, but I still stand by the fact that Strauss will surprise a few. I don't think too much can be read into the tests in the W.I. although you were there I wasn't, and let's hope he learns from it. There was a lot going on in the England camp then which may have had a bearing on the team, but I am hopeful that they will come right under Strauss! I just want them to do well and they will not be 54/7 but let's Oz are! so come on England and best of luck to Strauss, I think he brings a bit of class into the game which at the moment is badly needed, after the arrogance of KP.Hope you enjoy your trip and the tests.

MZB / Mitch...I cannot agree regarding Strauss (as much as it pains me to say it)...Even with England's paucity of resources they still should have been too good for a very poor WI side. Could you imagine Atherton, Hussain or even Vaughan turning two winning test matches into draws like Strauss did in WI?...as for Strauss being a better captain than Punter. Heaven help us. What exactly is that based on...Strauss's away loss against the Windies or the home win. Punter has just gone to SA (arguably the best ...or certainly potentially the best) Test side in the world and beat them, whilst only losing three tests series throughout his entire tenure as captain. I hope I am wrong about Strauss - but doubt I will be. He is probably on a hiding too nothing anyway as he simply does not have the attack to take on the Aussies in the Ashes. Batting wise England can still have their moments, but from a bowling perspective we need Flintoff to stay fit for 5 tests (never gonna happen) and the ball to be swinging all day every day when England bowl (never gonna happen) for Anderson to make an impact - let's face it, apart from ...I travel to England on Monday night in blind faith and nothing else, although the effects of a few pints of 'Brains' will probably see me tipping a 5-0 England win by 14.00pm on the 1st day even if we are 54/7 !

Saman, I disagree. Johnson seems to be one of those bowlers who struggles to find his groove after a rest, and I wouldn't read too much into this performance. Otherwise they have Clarke and Lee (seems to be bowling well again), with Siddle and Hilfenhaus, both untested in English conditions, but (I'd say) both capable of getting the job done. It wouldn't surprise me if they go the traditional SA route, and go with an all-pace attack. Clarke, North and Katich may not be genuine all-rounders, but together they should be able to fill the role of the fifth bowler. The thing is that while the lack of a spinner is (correctly) seen as Australia's weakness, England will also be relying on fast bowlers as their main wicket threat. Swann seems to be a good bowler, but not likely to rip through a batting lineup in the manner of a Murali of Harbajhan, and he's probably England's best spinner at present.

mohammed asif is back.pakistan ricket is ready. ashes iscrap consider pakistan vs sri lanka. moore played well yet it was davies who stuck out 4 me. michael vaghan was rubbish.he did ot hit a hundred in 80 odd odi matches

Don't read too much into Mitch J struggling today, he knows he's in the team to start the test, unlike Lee who's fighting for a place. Mitch J will always pick himself up when it matters most, with both ball & bat. Strauss is a far better captain than Punter, Mitch, but Punter has better resources to work with than Strauss. I still think Poms will do just fine against Oz in the Ashes though, especially if that Shrink who hypnotised Pakis for the T20 WC could hypnotise them too.

The problem with the Aussie lineup is that they only have 4 bowlers of note (except if you're Indian), and 2 of those are known to have off days (Lee / Johnson) and one of them will most likely be little more than cannon fodder (Hauritz, FC bowling average 47). When they get into a situation whereby the team in front of them is putting up a bit of a fight against the main 3 bowlers, they end up with 3 tired quicks and no one to turn to, and the overs 60-80 become free runs. That's a serious problem for them. Notice Gilly calling it 2-1. The Aussies, supremely confident as they are, are scared.

QColdboy, yes on the Amla for future skipper. But I see Imraan Khan has been made skipper of the Dolphins so maybe thats a sign of things to come. re: Aussie bowling, well the Aussies are playing a Lions team, so they were probably told they are only allowed to bowl half volleys down legside or the bowlers will get sent to disciplinary hearings 8-P

They say that you should never talk dirty of the dead. They may turn up as ghosts at inopportune times. So guys, go easy on Hansie.

speaking of good/bad captains i wonder who is next in line in the respective teams in SA i think amla is next,aus is pup and other teams ?? I see mitch is taking some punishment in the warm up game he really holds the key for the aussies otherwise go England!

If Hansie were English he would probably have been Knighted already plus working as a commentator. He would be captain material but age would be the problem. At least he would know how to use an alarm clock.