Huddersfield’s Aussie contingent caught out on Ashes predictions

Aug 25 2009 by Huddersfield Daily Examiner

BEFORE the opening Ashes Test at Cardiff, we asked the Drakes League-based Australian cricketers how they thought the series would go.

Well, most got the scoreline right – they just got it the wrong way round!

England’s magnificent victory at The Oval brought a 2-1 series win and enabled skipper Andrew Strauss to get his hands on the legendary Ashes Urn.

We thought we’d give the Aussies the chance to comment on the series. But at least three of Huddersfield’s Aussie contingent have now left the country for the week – while another has vowed not to return to England again when Australia are touring!

BEN HILLIARD

Golcar, 25, Bowler, Adelaide

Predicted: the draw

He has ‘fled’ town, and de-camped to Edinburgh (Scholes’ Shane Mott has also vanished somewhere in Spain).

“I’ve not had too much stick so far, but at least I’m out of the way for the time being,” said Hilliard, who just two weeks ago was celebrating success after helping Golcar lift the Romida Sykes Cup for the first time.

“The two crucial points of the series came in the opening Test when we couldn’t bowl England out in Cardiff, and then in the last Test with that spell from Stuart Broad.

“I don’t think you can be considered the best team in the world unless you’ve got a top-class spinner in the side, and to me, playing Nathan Hauritz at The Oval would have been the best thing to do.

“It’s disappointing because we scored a lot of centuries during the series, and had the big wicket-takers in Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus, but we still lost.

“Personally, I don’t think we’ll ever be back up there as the top team in the world until we boast a top spinner.”

MARCUS HAINSWORTH

Slaithwaite, 2, Batsman, Newcastle, NSW

Predicted: 2-1 Aussies

SLAITHWAITE’S New South Wales-based batsman Marcus Hainsworth is another to have discreetly disappeared for a week, to Southern Ireland.

“Losing four out of five tosses didn’t help Australian’s cause. Certainly the hard flip of the coin swung the last Test in England’s favour and it also put them in good stead at Lord’s.

“But at the end of the day, England’s players stood up in the bigger moments when it really mattered.

“I’m not that disappointed as such, but I’m not that happy either, as its made for a bit more extra flack I’ve had to take.

“I was rather hoping the match would run on until Monday, and then I’d have been out of the way for a week and things might have calmed down by the time I came back.

“Of course, if we’d won, I would have cancelled the trip!”