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the barmy army view

Game of the Decade- YOUR SAY

Firstly, apologies that this blog has come a little late. We've been busy sorting you guys out with some Australia tour, or something....

Looking back on our 1st blog, and all deciding that Bell should have been jettisoned from the side, we rightly move away from team selection, with faces hidden. Well done Belly by the way, we love you really!!

After the fantastic performance at Durban, we asked for your views and looked for suggestions for the best England performances of the 'naughties'. (Seeing as every other web-site has done one, why rock the boat?)

As expected there has been plenty of love for our two Ashes victories, with Gareth Weatherall leading the support of the famous Edgbaston 2005 win. Jasmine Ceni thought that this year's Ashes decider at the Oval should top the list, and @M_Smithy85 on Twitter eloquently stated the case for our year 2000 victory in Pakistan as the key moment of the decade.

The 'noughties' has been a successful one for England. We started the decade as the worst Test side in the world, but ended it as Ashes winners. Whether this would be enough to satisfy the Manchester City board remains to be seen! It was decade which saw terrific series wins in South Africa, New Zealand and famously in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The undefeated 2004 summer also has to rank highly, as well as victory in India with effectively a 'B' team. Oh, and we beat Australia....twice.

Collating your views, as well as some of our own, we've come up with ourlist of the top 5 England performances of the decade. Enjoy....

1. England v Australia, Edgbaston, 2005.
England Won By 2 Runs.
Simply the greatest Test, and the moment we all started to believe the Ashes could be coming home. The atmosphere in the Eric Hollies was something to savour, and unlikely to ever be repeated. Amazing

2. Sri Lanka v England, Colombo, 2001.
England Won By 4 Wickets
Just edges out the famous win in the darkness against Pakistan. However, with superb travelling support we managed to turn around a 1-0 series deficit. A sensational 3rd (and final) day, when 22 wickets fell was simply astonishing.

3. South Africa v England, Durban, 2009.
England Won By An Innings And 98 Runs
Yes, it only happened last week, but to beat the No.1 ranked side in the world in their own back yard by an innings is simply awesome. The Saffas tried to attack Jimmy, but we had the last laugh. Kudos to Graeme Swann.

4. India v England, Mumbai, 2006
England Won By 212 Runs
Freddie inspired a side missing the likes of Vaughan, Harmison, Trescothick and Simon Jones to a surprise thrashing of an all-star Indian side. Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dravid & Dhoni had no answer to the mighty.....Shaun Udal!!

5. Australia V England, Sydney, 2003
England Won By 225 Runs
No Barmy Army List would be complete without a win down-under. Micheal Vaughan wins 'innings of the decade' with a stunning 2nd innings knock of 183. Andy Caddick's then proceeded to roll through the Aussies with 7-94, and sent those of us with back-packs into ecstasy.

We had great fun compiling our list, so feel free to send us yours. With so many great moments picking just 5 has been very difficult.

As always feel free to contribute via our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Here's to a successful next 10 years. Come on England