Cricket 3

[Stubby]

[quote name='Paxter' post='1539801' date='Oct 2 2008, 20.27']Good figures for ([b]the Warriors' newest recruit) Mitch Johnson [/b](3-62) though.[/quote]

Didn't know that. Bloody awesome news!

[Paxter]

[quote name='Ser Stubby' post='1539948' date='Oct 2 2008, 22.13']Didn't know that. Bloody awesome news![/quote]

Yeah, his partner lives in Perth, so he followed her over. Bit of a sad indictment on Western Australia's fast bowling stocks though: our three leading pacemen are all Queenslanders (Edmondson, Magoffin, Johnson)! IMO Lillee should think about giving up his WACA job and spend his time coaching the next generation of WA pacemen.

[IheartTesla]

I wouldnt worry too much about the tonking the Aussies got in their first tour game. Time in the middle is important, and I'm sure the "controversy" over the last ball of the day today would fire them up for the Tests. Ponting is very good in using such incidents to motivate his team.

Of course, I am surprised they took McGain with his dodgy shoulder. Usually they are careful with this kind of thing but the spin cupboard must be unusually bare. I was just barely keeping an eye on the news but his replacement (or someone) seems to have a doping scandal breaking.

[Paxter]

[quote name='cyrano' post='1542746' date='Oct 5 2008, 03.15']Usually they are careful with this kind of thing but the spin cupboard must be unusually bare. I was just barely keeping an eye on the news but his replacement (or someone) seems to have a doping scandal breaking.[/quote]

Quite frankly, I think the "doping scandal" (which involves a drink-spiking incident for which Krejza did not receive a sanction) is the least of Krejza's worries right now. What he should be worrying about is his match figures of 31 overs, 2 maidens, 199 runs and no wickets. That's an RPO of 6.42.

As for the spin cupboard - it is well and truly bare now that McGain is injured. The only spinners left of any sort of pedigree are:
Hauritz, Cullen, Doherty, Heal: who are all reasonably effective finger-spin bowlers at one-day level, but not prolific in the four-day game.
Casson: who has some potential with his left-arm chinamen, but lacks consistency.
Krejza: well, his match figures in this warm-up game pretty much sum up all you need to know. I would put his ability as a spin bowler only marginally ahead of Kevin Pietersen. There is a reason that NSW dumped him for Hauritz and Casson.

The only other two spinners at the state level that I can think of are both leggies: Cullen Bailey (SA) and Daniel Doran (Qld) [who's name has a bit of an ASOIAF flavour to it!], but I don't think either of these two get much game time for their states, let alone do they have the ability to break into the test arena.

The trouble is that, apart from McGain, none of these 9 spin bowlers really have the numbers on the board to indicate that they might have enough quality to perform at test level.

I think it's fair to say that, right now, both SA and NZ are more settled in the spin department than Australia. And it is not often that you can say that.

Side-note: is Jaques or Katich going to open up with Hayden in the first test? Katich has failed twice in the warm-up game, so I am guessing it will be Jacques.

Edit: Whoops, I forgot about Cameron White. I suppose that says a lot about what I think of his bowling ability. He is definitely a batting all-rounder.

[delete this account pls]

Ponting won the toss :thumbsup:

ETA; Shit, Hayden's out already, a quacker.

[sckma]

Bangladesh won..... talk about blowing hot and cold.

I just wisj ashraful would be more consistent! he would be a great player to watch then. also good work mortaza. as a bowler, he seems to be the only bengali that is consistent.

edit: btw good century ponting. he delivered the very first day he had to. also nice work katich, am glad he ridiculous form for nsw is taken into account. just feel bad for jacques.

[Paxter]

Great day of test cricket - India bowled quite well on a flat pitch (it's not often Aus score less than 300 in a day on a pitch as flat as that), and Ponting and Katich fought extremely hard and were rewarded accordingly. Am hoping to see more of the same throughout the series.

My major gripe of the day is: why the hell wasn't the referral system brought in??? It worked well in the SL v India series and would've worked well today. Hayden's decision could've been reversed and that lbw against Katich could've been given. I just don't understand why we have to continue to put up with the consequences of poor decision-making on the part of the umpires when two or three replays would ensure that they get it right. Test cricket is already slow, a few referrals won't change anything.

BTW, well done Bangladesh. I am glad that when they dismissed NZ for 200 they didn't just go out there and blaze away. They actually took the time to set a good platform and then Ashraful did the rest. A clinical display really. NZ will have to really lift in the next game, or they will lose the chance to go to No. 2 on the ODI rankings.

[Stubby]

[quote name='Paxter' post='1549152' date='Oct 9 2008, 20.55']My major gripe of the day is: why the hell wasn't the referral system brought in??? It worked well in the SL v India series and would've worked well today. Hayden's decision could've been reversed and that lbw against Katich could've been given. I just don't understand why we have to continue to put up with the consequences of poor decision-making on the part of the umpires when two or three replays would ensure that they get it right. Test cricket is already slow, a few referrals won't change anything.[/quote]

Apparently a questionable caught and bowled v Ponting (he was laready over a hundered) would have been called into question as well.

I didn't see it but the ABC radio guys said it was out.

[delete this account pls]

A pretty even day all round. Good to see Ponting go big from the start, now the monkey is off his back.

[The Winged Shadow]

A bit late but... Kiwis down! woohoo!!

We need to down the Poms sometime soon. So i can be even happier!

[sckma]

lol, another hussey hundred.... its almost ridiculous... luckily i got to catch the end of his innings at a friends place who has fox.

zaheer khan's reverse swing was quite good to watch, he was bowling really well. and i saw some of sharma's wickets, he has a nice deceptive slower ball going for him.

[sckma]

i think india are playing for the draw now.... which is a shame, because it looked like it couldve gone either way when australia declared.

[Horza]

Losing Sehwag and Dravid early put paid to their chances of winning, but they were basically out of it after Haddin, White and Watson piled on a ton yesterday arvo.

[Paxter]

Great test match. Genuinely passionate and competitive - much better than some test series of recent times (the last Ashes, the Sri Lankan tour of Australia and the Aussies' tour of the Windies come immediately to mind as poor examples of test cricket). Obviously a draw was a fair result as Australia lacked the necessary quality in the slow-bowling department to win a test match in India. I'm sure Ricky is thinking how things might have gone if Warne (or even Macgill or McGain) were playing in the team. Here's my assessment of the Aussie team:

Ponting: batted brilliantly in the first innings and certainly silenced his critics (me included).
Hussey: held the middle-order together superbly in both innings. Continues to average over 70 in test cricket, which blows the mind.
Johnson: pick of the Aussie bowlers. Best strike rate and was able to build pressure by keeping the runs down. Nice confidence booster after a lacklustre tour of the W Indies.
Haddin: not great behind the stumps (lots of byes conceded + dropped catches). Very useful runs down the order though. Partnership with Hussey in first innings was crucial.
Katich: best opener of the test match. Not a very fast tempo of batting, but he still did a good job in the "Mark Richardson" role at the top of the order.
Lee: disappointing test match. Continues to struggle in subcontinental conditions. Needs to make a larger impact with the new ball.
Watson: useful runs in the second dig but failed when the pressure was on in the first innings. More than decent job with the ball though.
White: playing him as a spinner who can bat a bit at No. 8 just doesn't suit him at all. Not his fault though - he is being played "out of position" as we say in football (soccer)
Hayden: very rusty in his comeback match. Needs some serious runs in the remainder of this series to justify his position ahead of the run-hungry Jacques.
Clarke: poor test match. He is a good enough batsman to succeed on this tour though, so I expect him to boounce back. Couple of decent contributions with the ball.
Clark: poor test match. Kept the runs tight and that's about it. Probably one of the only poor test matches of his career.

Overall: the players I expected to perform well (Clarke, Hayden and Clark) were three of the worst performers. So watch out India if these three get going later in the series. My other concern for India is that batsmen were getting starts and not going on with it. If it wasn't for India's tailenders, they probably would've lost this test match due to inadequate batting against a mediocre Aussie attack.

My major concerns for Australia:
- Spin bowling sucks
- I think Zaheer pretty much summed it up: Lack of agressive cricket from Australia. Given that India's bowling was, at times, uninspiring, the Aussies scored very slowly in this match. This meant they didn't have enough time for their depleted bowling line-up to dismiss India in the second dig. Also: defensive declaration from Ponting.
- Did I mention the shithouse spin bowling??

[delete this account pls]

I was definitely impressed by Johnson, feels like he's finally making a contribution. Watson continues to disappoint. Cameron White was basically a passenger.

A fair result overall. Australia lead the way, but just couldn't put India away when it counted. I'm sure they hated seeing Harbie score a half-century.

[Jeor]

Phew. Had a fairly busy few days while the Test was going on so didn't get to post during the match.

Australia have a few chinks in the armour. However I don't think the lack of a top-class spinner was what ended up costing them the match. Despite the worn pitch, Harbhajan and Kumble weren't terrorising the batsmen, and they're bowling in familiar conditions. There's no guarantee that McGain or someone else would have unlocked the pitch if those two Indian spin kings couldn't. While the lack of a top-drawer spinner is a weakness for Australia, I don't think it was a huge weakness, because the pacemen were the most dangerous bowlers on this pitch. Funnily enough a cracking pitch tends to assist the fast bowlers just as much as the spinners.

Ponting broke his bad run of form in India, but I thought it was only a matter of time. They weren't going to be able to keep him quiet all series, and he's a much better batsman than all those innings years and years ago that he played in India. Stuart Clark's injury is a worry; I thought he was going to be the best bowler for Australia, but he fizzled in this one and Johnson surprised with his wickets. Haddin conceded a record number of byes in a match for Australia, but I'm not sure that it was really his fault, some of them were real doozies.

Problems for India also, particularly in the spin department, but I think the draw was better for India. They had pace bowlers (Khan and Sharma) who showed they could cause some real damage. And while they didn't score big with the bat, the Big Four of Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly and Dravid all showed signs of still being able to play (I think each played at least one innings of 40 runs or more). Assuming they sort out the Kumble out-of-form situation, India have the more balanced lineup. They have powerful, experienced and deep batting, a good opening bowling combination as well as experienced spinners to exploit any turning conditions. Their only real problem is the lack of a genuine third paceman. The third paceman in the current lineup is Ganguly, and I doubt he'd be striking fear into the Australians.

In contrast, Australia have an equally strong batting lineup (Katich, Ponting and Hussey scored some runs, while Hayden and Clarke have good records in India) but towards the bottom of the lineup, it's more unsettled. They have a good pace attack, but I'm unconvinced by the combination of Watson and White. I can't shake the feeling that neither of them have Test-level batting or Test-level bowling. Carrying two bits-and-pieces players gives you less than if you had one proper bowler and one proper batsman.

[Hereward]

Some hope then, if we can keep our bowlers fit and in some sort of form. If only Tresco would agree to make one last hurrah!

[Paxter]

[quote name='Jeor' post='1554821' date='Oct 14 2008, 18.54']Carrying two bits-and-pieces players gives you less than if you had one proper bowler and one proper batsman.[/quote]

Agreed. And that has always been a "failure" for Australian cricket - producing genuine all-rounders rather than bits-and-pieces players (Ian Harvey, Cameron White, Shane Lee etc). The only decent Australian all-rounders I can think of are Keith Miller and Richie Benaud. And none at all in the modern era. Compare that to other test playing nations who have produced some quality all-round cricketers in more recent times:
NZ (Cairns, Vettori, Oram, Hadlee)
SA (Kallis, Pollock)
England (Flintoff, Botham)
Pakistan (Akram, Khan)
India (Dev)

Not that that has really affected Australia until now because of the sheer quality of the specialist players.

[williamjm]

[quote name='Paxter' post='1554925' date='Oct 14 2008, 14.19']Not that that has really affected Australia until now because of the sheer quality of the specialist players.[/quote]

Having a wicket-keeper batsman like Adam Gilchrist in the team probably reduced the need for an all-rounder a bit since he was very good at two roles.

[Paxter]

[quote name='williamjm' post='1555628' date='Oct 15 2008, 05.15']Having a wicket-keeper batsman like Adam Gilchrist in the team probably reduced the need for an all-rounder a bit since he was very good at two roles.[/quote]

Yes, and the same applied for SL when Kumar Sangakkara was the test keeper. Although they lacked a genuine all-rounder, Sangakkara's ability to play two roles made the team a lot more balanced. However, now that Sanga has changed to a specialist batsman, Sri Lanka's line-up looks a little bit less impressive. Luckily for them, Chaminda Vaas has turned into a handy batsman.