Trescothik admits ball tampering in 2005.

[Psyber]

Former England opener Marcus Trescothick has admitted in a new book that he illegally shone the ball by sucking on breath fresheners during the 2005 Ashes series.
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/news ... ashes-book

And I thought our guys were just drunk all through the series - I knew there had to be an explanation..

[stan]

But simon jones dosent, remember he was very upset at bracken for his comments

Well Im pretty sure there are a few more issues to be resolved. The England bowlers achieved so much reverse swing that series it was amazing.

[am Bays]

If we had held our catches, if we hadn't batted like Millionaires and if McGrath hadn't trod on that ball before the Edgebaston test we wouldn't be talking about bloody mints...

England won, we lost move on boys

[Dogwatcher]

I agree TM.

[am Bays]

He also admitted that did it in 2001, so obviously it works all the time....

[Drop Bear]

Cheating ******* Poms. They probably spiked our beers as well!

[Media Park]

In Steve Waugh's biography, Out of my comfort zone (i think it was called) he mentions that in a stint of county cricket, he was given a mint, which he started to eat, and he was stopped, being told it was to be used on the ball...
Hardly new information... Aussies can't accept losing, but if it is a once in 16 year proposition, I'm sure we'll dedal with it...

[wycbloods]

Cheating f****** Poms. They probably spiked our beers as well!

When you have 15-20 pints i don't think they need to be spiked to affect your performance .

[Adelaide Hawk]

It should take more than a few half sucked peppermints to beat the Aussies. We didn't play well in that series, and that is why we lost.

[Psyber]

It should take more than a few half sucked peppermints to beat the Aussies. We didn't play well in that series, and that is why we lost.

Does that take us back to my original explanation?
"And I thought our guys were just drunk all through the series"

[Mic]

I still have trouble grasping with the fact we lost that series.

[blink]

I still have trouble grasping with the fact we lost that series.

You are correct - Australia lost the Ashes, England didn't win them. We were outplayed in one match and one match alone. That is what cost us the Ashes.
That was the 2nd Test at Edgbaston - two things killed us. One was the injury to McGrath, who was on fire in the Lords Test and the second was Ricky Ponting sending the Poms into bat on the first morning.

After that it was a combination of many small errors that cost Australia, but those two events started the chain reaction.

[Media Park]

Sir Shane wanted to bat first!

[blink]

Sir Shane wanted to bat first!

...and for good reason!

Vaughan said he would have batted first as well. Considering at the time, his pace line up of Harmison, Hoggard, Jones and Flintoff was far superior to Australia's line up of Lee, Gillespie and Kasprowicz, yet Ponting still chose to bowl.

Warne carried Australia's bowling and IIRC in England's second innings he bowled nearly as many overs as Lee, Dizzy and Kaspa put together.

[spell_check]

I still have trouble grasping with the fact we lost that series.

That series is still the standout in the number of ways the result could have gone.

Had that last wicket partnership at Birmingham got over the line we would have won the series 2-1
Had England got the last wicket at Manchester it would have been 3-1 Englands way
Had the above two happened, the series would have been level at 2-2, and so on

I remember the fun a few of us had on that last night in FootySA, hope to do that again next year, (Within the site rules of course!)

And I think in a way there was a touch of irony that the bouncer charged over David Hookes death was found not guilty that same day we officially lost the Ashes.

[MAY-Z]

I still have trouble grasping with the fact we lost that series.

That series is still the standout in the number of ways the result could have gone.

Had that last wicket partnership at Birmingham got over the line we would have won the series 2-1
Had England got the last wicket at Manchester it would have been 3-1 Englands way
Had the above two happened, the series would have been level at 2-2, and so on

I remember the fun a few of us had on that last night in FootySA, hope to do that again next year, (Within the site rules of course!)

And I think in a way there was a touch of irony that the bouncer charged over David Hookes death was found not guilty that same day we officially lost the Ashes.

exactly so many what-ifs and turning points

had warne held the catch that he dropped off gillespie when strauss was not on many but england were on 25 in that innings when ponting decided to bowl it could have been a very different outcome as im sure there would be a bit of "here we go again" form england- instead they didnt lose their first wicket till 112