The Ashes - Australia vs England 2010/11 Test Series.

[shawthing09]

well done boys, Perth was a danger test and you Bowled fking brilliantly.

I do however think Melbourne and Sydney will be draws. The Perth wicket suited your bowlers and our batsmen just couldnt cope with it.

Funnily enough I actually think that your bowling line up looked much better with Tremlet instead of Broad. This match really highlighted the importance of individuals in these sides and it's all about who's gun fires on which day. Really hopeful Punter or clarke get into this series

 

[Coin_Toss]

I always get excited for test cricket in Melbourne, but this is definitely the most excited I've been for a Boxing Day test since 2006, when Warnie tore through the Poms on his way to 700 test wickets.

Who does everyone reckon will play? Personally I hope Beer's a certain starter on tap. Watto didn't bowl in Perth so Ponting may want to use him as the fourth quick. It's a fight off between Siddle and Hilfenhaus. Unfortunately I hate to say it about the home town boy but Hilfenhaus looks more likely to play because he bowled more overs in Perth.
Reasons for both - Sids has aggression and pace but Hilf is a tidy bowler who won't give an inch and can swing the ball.

 

[beez]

If the selectors went the 3 quicks/1 spinner option they would definitely drop Siddle, but I think they'll stick with the same XI as Perth (if Ponting is fit) and play the 4 fast bowlers and get enough overs out of Smith.

 

[shawthing09]

I always get excited for test cricket in Melbourne, but this is definitely the most excited I've been for a Boxing Day test since 2006, when Warnie tore through the Poms on his way to 700 test wickets.

Who does everyone reckon will play? Personally I hope Beer's a certain starter on tap. Watto didn't bowl in Perth so Ponting may want to use him as the fourth quick. It's a fight off between Siddle and Hilfenhaus. Unfortunately I hate to say it about the home town boy but Hilfenhaus looks more likely to play because he bowled more overs in Perth.
Reasons for both - Sids has aggression and pace but Hilf is a tidy bowler who won't give an inch and can swing the ball.

The thing is Hilfy probably adds more variety then Sids unfortunately, Hilf gets more movement through the air where as Harris and Sids are probably in a similar vein of bowler. Ineresting that Sids bowled the quickest ball in the match in Perth must bowl within himself a fair bit.

As for the line up I am torn part of me thinks you need a spinner for the next two test matches, another part thinks our batting line up is still far to fragile and god help us if Hussey fails and another part of me doesn't want to change the winning side.

At the moment I think I'd probably drop Sids, play Usman and let Smith and Clarke be our spin option.

Hoping the wounded batsmen theory works with Punter, he has actually looked to be in good batting form and has had pretty poor luck. Batting is one of those things that often the less you think about it the easier it is and it seems that Ricky is just trying to force it a bit, hopefully he gets some runs soon because even if your actually batting well in the nets feeling good etc a run of failures eventually sees the confidence dwindle and the form leave.

 

[DaVe86]

I'm very concerned that our current lineup is a batsman short.

Realistically, only Watson and Hussey performed at the WACA. Then the bowling all came down to Johnson and Harris.

Realistically, the changes of Hughes and Smith didn't really work. If Smith was not going to bowl, then there are way better batting options than him. And Marsh is ahead of Hughes.

Smith at 6 is a worry I reckon. I think at the G we should be bringing in either David Hussey or White for their MCG experience. Unfortunately it won't happen.


Ultimately, it was 4 men that won Australia the game at the WACA (Hussey, Watson, Johnson, Harris). Everyone else was ordinary. On a flatter track, the depth may be more exposed.


I don't think we need the 4 quicks. Ultimately, Watson is a good bowler and will be suited to the G because he gets movement off the seam. I think Siddle has to be dropped, either for another batter and leave Smith as a specialist spinner....or for a spinner. You need spin at the G and Sydney. I can't see us winning the Ashes with this batting lineup. England performed poorly at Perth, but still have a better batting lineup that is in better form.

My team would be: (and there is no chance it will happen)

Hughes
Watson
Ponting/Khawaja
Clarke
M. Hussey
C. White
Smith
Haddin
Johnson
Hilfenhaus
Harris


At-least Cam White can bowl a bit of spin as well if needed and knows the G well. I'd like Marsh in there instead of Hughes, but you have to give guys 2 matches at least. Just leave Smith as the spinner because I don't think we have better.

 

[Primetime Pricey]

Whats with all the Cameron White love? He is not under consideration nor should he be.

 

[shawthing09]

Whats with all the Cameron White love? He is not under consideration nor should he be.

His form in ODI's for Australia and the 100 against England would be the reason for the White love, unfortunately he hasn't played enough state cricket to back that up though. There is no reason he shouldn't be under consideration, just because he isn't the most technically gifted batsmen. He is an experinced player who knows his game very well and plays too it. His form in all forms of the game against all levels of opposition has been great consistantly for a while now and I am confident he'd make a good test match batsmen, the only real concern I'd have i how he'd deal with out and out express quicks bowling short stuff at him, and England doesn't have an express quick so it's a non issue.

On Dave's comments I have mentioned before but Watson's restricted to low overs per day due to his back so he doesn't really count as a bowler in the line up. With that said White hasn't really bowled much for a fair while now, doubt he'd want to have a go at test level.

 

[Primetime Pricey]

His bowling is ordinary so you would be selecting him as a batsman and really there are other players who should get a look in before White

 

[Histrionics]

I also like the idea of another batsman coming in for a bowler. If not that I think stick with the XI that won in Perth.

I just don't think there is any point in playing Beer when he has so little experience at state level.

 

[shawthing09]

I also like the idea of another batsman coming in for a bowler. If not that I think stick with the XI that won in Perth.

I just don't think there is any point in playing Beer when he has so little experience at state level.

Agree with the whole Beer thing, and apparentally Clarke's right to bowl now so there is no reason that Smith and Clarke couldn't share the spin option especially considering I am sure that Smith is being selected more off his potential as a bowler then as a number 6 batsmen.

When you look at the bowling in Perth there is no reason that Siddles overs can't be bowled by Watson. Obviously we probably aren't going to bowl England out so quickly and that is where your spinners come in, don't really need four pacemen.

 

[Quicky]

Yep the extra batter is the way to go at Siddles expense I hate to say. Which probably sees Usman come it at 6 and pushes everyone else down the order. Would love to see White come in also but just can't see it happening. Match winning batsman, brilliant tactician, brilliant slips fielder he really should come in but I think is going to be resigned to Victorian cricketer scrap heap like Deano, Elliot and Hodge before him.

On White it's frustrating hearing Chappells comments that we have no one to replace Ponting so that sees him continue to get a game despite shizen form. White is the best captain in Australia, Haddin is also hugely experienced at state level and Hussey has captained Australia too IIRC. Theres enough there if you want to institute change.

 

[Quicky]

I'm starting to get really pumped for this test.

 

[Histrionics]

I'm starting to get really pumped for this test.

Have been pumped for this test since the end of the last test. srs.

 

[shawthing09]

Yep the extra batter is the way to go at Siddles expense I hate to say. Which probably sees Usman come it at 6 and pushes everyone else down the order. Would love to see White come in also but just can't see it happening. Match winning batsman, brilliant tactician, brilliant slips fielder he really should come in but I think is going to be resigned to Victorian cricketer scrap heap like Deano, Elliot and Hodge before him.

On White it's frustrating hearing Chappells comments that we have no one to replace Ponting so that sees him continue to get a game despite shizen form. White is the best captain in Australia, Haddin is also hugely experienced at state level and Hussey has captained Australia too IIRC. Theres enough there if you want to institute change.

I think a keeper has enough responsiblity without the added pressure of captaincy, especially considering how much we have been relying on Haddin with the bat. On top of that if we ever had a decent spinner bowling lots of overs it'd be hard to captian and keep to the spinner for long periods of time.

White I don't think has been put in the victorian scrap heap, in fact I think he has largely focused on T20 and ODI's and as a result the selectors see him in that light too, which is disappointing but fair enough. I think he'd be exposed by short bowling in teams with a genuine express fast bowler anyway.

On the victorian scrap heap I think it's a tad over stated. Jones was extremely harshly dealt with and then became outspoken and as such was probably ignored out of spite. Hodge was given a decent run and was probably unfairly dropped but it was in a period where we had such a dominate side. In that same time guys like Love, Cox, Hussey etc where all piling on the runs and dying for a shot. We wanted to find an all rounder and went with Symonds who eventually justified his selection. It's probably harsh but a similar thing happened to Hughes too who is not Victorian. Hodge also went the route of critcising the selectors publically at every chance he got and then retired from 4 day cricket. There is no doubt he is unlucky to not have played more test cricket but when a side dominates world cricket the way we did it's hard to argue with the selections, in the end the means justifys the ends. Elliot was pure and simple plain bad luck, he had the spot got the injury, and was never able to capatilise on the chances he got after that and then Hayden and Langer put the spot out of reach anyway.

 

[shawthing09]

how handy that extra batsmen would have been

 

[Optimax]

how handy that extra batsmen would have been

Probably would've gone out driving too

Every single wicket caught behind the batter, inspid rubbish

 

[shawthing09]

Probably would've gone out driving too

Every single wicket caught behind the batter, inspid rubbish

Indeed, and the pitch was doing a bit but it certainly wasn't a pitch with demons. Our batting line up has looked fragile all series and this was bound to happen.

Hughes - I think we have to back him but he hasn't been in good form for a long time and is going to take a while to get into it if he does.

Watson - Can't really fault him, would love for him to push on with his starts more often.

Punter - Been out of form for a while. Up until today I thought he looked ok techinacally but had been getting unlucky, today he was falling over to the off side a fair bit. He is too good a batsmen to right off but I think he looked worse today then he has all series.

Clarke - Looked his best today all series but has very hard hands and is going to (a bit like Watson) be prone to getting out after making sides. I think runs are coming for him but he isn't the type of batsmen Punter has been in the past or Hussey has been for us this series, the sort of guy who will just dominate matches and series and win you a series almost off his own back.

Hussey - Well he was bound to fail eventually and when it did we where always going to be in trouble, all the worse because Watson failed in the same match. Far too much pressure on him, especially considering he was in doubt to be part of this series.

Smith - Is being selected on the potential of his bowling. Is technically extremely poor. Horrible hedging of bets on the part of the selectors. It seems he is being picked as our spinner on the basis of us not having a spinner worthy of selection so we are using a batting spot to try and groom a spinner. Taylor said today "6 is a bit high for him to be batting" if you can't bat at 6 your not a batsmen at test level, and that's it in a nutshell. Horrible, Horrible selecting to play him as a batsmen. Far too lose. At best is the kind of dasher who will make handy runs. He is either batting at 8 as a bowling all rounder or he shouldn't be in the side right now IMO. I rate him as a talent for the future as a geniune all rounder but right now his batting isn't up to scratch.

Haddin - Has done all you can ask of a keeper batsmen.

Fragile as you can get. 3 players who right now warrant their selection based on batting.

 

[Quicky]

This is pretty bloody dire.

In retrospect I think bringing in Usman for Ponting and White or Hussey - probably Hussey as the better batsmen - for Siddle or Hilfenhaus would have made the most sense.

I guess we have to cut Ponting some slack given his injured finger but he was pushing it long long before this with his poor form.

On Hughes i've said it before but I just don't have faith in his technique. It is fine if he is making runs but he just simply isn't. Definitely need to stick with him now he has been recalled as we need some sort of stability but I think bringing in someone like Marsh - as DaVe86 mentioned earlier - would have been a more sensible gamble as his technique is sound. Both were as badly out of form as each other at the time.

Smith has a terrible front foot defense. I'd play him down the order and as a spinning alrounder like ST suggested.

Hughes
Watson
Khawaja
Clarke
M Hussey
D Hussey/White
Haddin
Smith
Johnson
Harris
Hilfenhaus

 

[Primetime Pricey]

Merry Xmas jerkoffs

 

[beez]

Oh great, 3 years of Pricey bringing up The Ashes

what a ****in shit day of Test cricket

 

[Primetime Pricey]

Oh great, 3 years of Pricey bringing up The Ashes

what a ****in shit day of Test cricket

well u muppets had over a decade to do it lol

 

[mattys123]

well u muppets had over a decade to do it lol

Meh, you can celebrate all you want, I said to someone today (at the G) that I was more interested in the fortunes of the Victorian cricket team than I was in the Australian team at the moment, they are a shambles, that somehow fluked a win in Perth (English choke I believe), and are still believing some of their players are "world class" when it fact they are either "past it", too young and inexperienced or plain not good enough (hello Phil Hughes).

I will go to every Victorian Big Bash game at the G, but it will be a cold day in hell before you get me back to this test match again, today was one of, if not the most infuriating displays from the Australian cricket team, and thus my interest in their "well being" has dropped significantly.

Enjoy the win PP, it's been a while coming on our soil, just don't rub it in too hard, their are some die hard Aussie fans who haven't lost their faith and love for the team as much as I have.

GO THE VICS.

 

[Quicky]

well u muppets had over a decade to do it lol

The Banzhammer is hanging precariously over your head PP

 

[Quicky]

I will go to every Victorian Big Bash game at the G, but it will be a cold day in hell before you get me back to this test match again, today was one of, if not the most infuriating displays from the Australian cricket team, and thus my interest in their "well being" has dropped significantly.

Enjoy the win PP, it's been a while coming on our soil, just don't rub it in too hard, their are some die hard Aussie fans who haven't lost their faith and love for the team as much as I have.

GO THE VICS.

Thats weak Mattys. Through thick and thin mate.

 

[Optimax]

Thats weak Mattys. Through thick and thin mate.

This

You stop going in the 90s when collingwood was tripe?