Cricket- the sport not the insect

[Waterloo Sunrise]

It's all just filler to me, until the next Test series.

 

[hoerpi]

I agree that five games are too much, one T20 to start with and maybe three ODI's are enough. Tests has to stay as the most important format. The palnning of tests an be done better because having NZ tour SA is just stupid.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Aussies have got to be feeling good about the depth of their batting line up after the big 10th wicket partnership today.

 

[movingtarget]

Aussies have got to be feeling good about the depth of their batting line up after the big 10th wicket partnership today.

Yes but the other nine were a problem. Some nice bowling by Sri Lanka in difficult batting conditions.

 

[Alphabet]

What on earth was that?! Horrific batting. Sri Lanka bowled exceptionally well, taking no credit away from them, but the batsmen had awful technique against Kulasekara's inswingers. Leaving huge gaps between bat and pad isn't the way to play inswing.

On the plus side, 16 wickets were lost for 150 runs, so we weren't complete rubbish. At least we bowled well.

Aussies have got to be feeling good about the depth of their batting line up after the big 10th wicket partnership today.

I don't think any of us felt good about the batting either way, before a demolition like this .

As I said, double hundred from Clarke, 40-odd from everyone else will have to be the approach since we just aren't good enough for any other way batting-wise. What I'd give for a Brad Hodge or a Matthew Elliott or hell, even a Martin Love right now. Idiots like Hughes have got to go. Anderson will probably get him out for 10 ducks throughout the 10 Ashes innings.

I guess our best possible top 7 would be:
Cowan
Warner
Khawaja
Clarke
D.Hussey
Watson
Wade

Hard to see that batting order scoring more than 350 regularly unless the bowling is rubbish. Hussey and Clarke appear to be the only ones cut-out for test level at this time (though Warner and Khawaja have potential), and Hussey hasn't even played a test match yet.

It's nervy stuff when you lose 5/22 to a guy bowling inswing at 125 km/h and you're not all that far away from playing guys that bowl inswing at 140 km/h.

 

[movingtarget]

What on earth was that?! Horrific batting. Sri Lanka bowled exceptionally well, taking no credit away from them, but the batsmen had awful technique against Kulasekara's inswingers. Leaving huge gaps between bat and pad isn't the way to play inswing.

On the plus side, 16 wickets were lost for 150 runs, so we weren't complete rubbish. At least we bowled well.



I don't think any of us felt good about the batting either way, before a demolition like this .

As I said, double hundred from Clarke, 40-odd from everyone else will have to be the approach since we just aren't good enough for any other way batting-wise. What I'd give for a Brad Hodge or a Matthew Elliott or hell, even a Martin Love right now. Idiots like Hughes have got to go. Anderson will probably get him out for 10 ducks throughout the 10 Ashes innings.

I guess our best possible top 7 would be:
Cowan
Warner
Khawaja
Clarke
D.Hussey
Watson
Wade

Hard to see that batting order scoring more than 350 regularly unless the bowling is rubbish. Hussey and Clarke appear to be the only ones cut-out for test level at this time (though Warner and Khawaja have potential), and Hussey hasn't even played a test match yet.

It's nervy stuff when you lose 5/22 to a guy bowling inswing at 125 km/h and you're not all that far away from playing guys that bowl inswing at 140 km/h.

Jimmy Anderson will be very happy !

 

[hoerpi]

Still can't understand how NZ won yesterday with the usual opening ****-up. Watling is really improving and maybe he should open the tests since something need to be done.

the asian what do you think of this: http://www.islandcricket.lk/news/sr...mahela-to-be-dropped-from-sri-lanka-test-side to an outsider that's just weird.

 

[the asian]

Nothing is weird in Sri Lanka cricket where Politics meddles with cricket.
It seems the tables have turned regarding the factions inside the team.

A few years back our team was split in to two factions with Mahela/Sanga & Dilshan on one side with Jayasuriya/Vaas & Marvan in the other.
Kandamby is widely regarded as a naturally talented batsman whose talents were wasted by him not being selected at the right time and then after having got his opportunity having had the misfortune of belonging to the opposite faction to Mahela/Sanga.
He does have a reputation of being a good leader having captained the A team for years' captaining the champion domestic T 20 team and also captained the National team in a limited overs match.
If he was a regular in the team he would have been the natural successor to Mahela, however whether he deserves a place in the team on merit at the moment is highly debatable.
However he's a better Captain than Matthews.

Mahela did hint that he would give up playing test cricket because he felt that he wasn't fit enough, and with series against Bangladesh & Zimbabwe to come it's the right time for change.

 

[greenedge]

Starc and Johnson should just be our all-rounders.

Hughes has gone ok in the test matches but not so well in the ODIs'.

 

[movingtarget]

No way Copeland should be in the Test team. Bowls half rat power and once the shine is gone, he can't reverse it. There are 2 bowlers in each state team better than Copeland... but ahh, that's right, he's from New South Wales... Clarkes home state... mmm? I'd love them to pick Cummins, reminds me of when Brett Lee came along, only he's taller and potentially faster.

RamJam.. I wouldn't be too worried about Watson, Hughes & Ponting missing out in this game, they'll make plenty in the tests.. IMO SA bowling attack looks thin after Steyn? If Botha is their spinner then they are in for some long days. I don't rate Morkel, Parnell or Tsotsobe... Time will tell.

In a series that I expect to be dominated by the bat, any bowler that can take wickets will be important.

Will be over in SA for the 2nd test, can't wait.

Australia needs Cummins. Quality young bowler on the comeback trail after stress fractures. They won't risk him before Ashes. Morkel is good on the right day which isn't very often. SA look average when Steyn is bowling indifferent. When Steyn is fired up he makes the others look good. Philander can be good. I thought the spinner that played for SA against Australia in the Third Test was quite good. Can't remember his name. Much better than the guy he replaced. I think SA's strength is their top order and Kallis is handy with his swing bowling also to complement Steyn. I think when both teams have their best 11 on the field they are quite evenly matched but Australia less so now with the loss of Mike Hussey who was very important to Australia especially when the top order failed.

 

[Alphabet]

I don't know where Sri Lanka are going to go without Jayawardene, who always looks a class apart. Even when he's bounced/seamed out for 25 in Australia/South Africa/England he just looks so in command and so comfortable. And even if you cite his away troubles as a reason why he isn't that indispensable, Sri Lanka still rely on a big Sangakkara-Jayawardene partnership at home to get runs on the board. If anyone should walk from the test team, it should be Samaraweera and possibly Dilshan, who don't appear to have the skills anymore.

I personally would keep Mahela for another couple of years (he's 'only' 35, after all) and hope Chandimal/Thirimanne are experienced enough to replace him at that point.

Starc and Johnson should just be our all-rounders.

Hughes has gone ok in the test matches but not so well in the ODIs'.

Hughes is rubbish. He only looked good in the tests because he was facing an absolutely toothless seam attack. Kulasekara has added much to their attack (and would certainly have made a difference in Sydney), and Malinga is a top class quick, and they've found him out.

Keep him for demolishing weaker touring test sides and bin him for any away trip.

 

[Spider1964]

I don't know where Sri Lanka are going to go without Jayawardene, who always looks a class apart. Even when he's bounced/seamed out for 25 in Australia/South Africa/England he just looks so in command and so comfortable. And even if you cite his away troubles as a reason why he isn't that indispensable, Sri Lanka still rely on a big Sangakkara-Jayawardene partnership at home to get runs on the board. If anyone should walk from the test team, it should be Samaraweera and possibly Dilshan, who don't appear to have the skills anymore.

I personally would keep Mahela for another couple of years (he's 'only' 35, after all) and hope Chandimal/Thirimanne are experienced enough to replace him at that point.



Hughes is rubbish. He only looked good in the tests because he was facing an absolutely toothless seam attack. Kulasekara has added much to their attack (and would certainly have made a difference in Sydney), and Malinga is a top class quick, and they've found him out.

Keep him for demolishing weaker touring test sides and bin him for any away trip.

Still think Hughes is judged too harshly purely on appearances (IMO). His record isn't that bad... You don't make a hundred against Steyn and Morkel if you can't bat. Nothing wrong with making runs ugly... Ask Gary Kirsten FFS... Made a handy career out of nudging singles. Jimmy Anderson is a fine bowler, but some people around here make him out to be some sort of messiah... He's susceptible to injuries just like all fast bowlers. Hughes may have tightened up his technique? Time will tell.

And what's with all the tombstone writing going on because the Aussies ballsed up in a ODI against Ceylon? As if Hussey (D) and god save me Henriques!!! will feature in any match of value.. Let alone a Test! Henriques??? How the hell did he get a game? There'd be a few noses out of joint in the state ranks I can tell you.

Haven't India just wiped the floor with England in a ODI? That would be yep. Pumped em by 150 runs wasn't it? So does that mean England is rooted in Tests? Of course not.

So will Root Noakes Kieswetter Dernbach feature in the Ashes? Of course not. Well hopefully they all do... Would be better for the Aussies. Root gunna be the next test Captain isn't he? Pretty limited player for mine.

When are people going to understand that there are 3 distinct forms of the game and that performances in one don't necessarily relate to the others.

Test rankings.. Australia sits 3rd, 1 point behind mighty England... Not bad for a team that is (apparently) about to be thrashed in India (even though its about 10-0 to the Aussies in recent memory) and then whitewashed in The Ashes. Both series could be closer than a lot of pundits think.. Even with Australia's evolving team.


ICC Test Championship

14 January 2013
Team Points Rating
South Africa3965 124
England 4825 118
Australia 4916. 117
****stan 3148. 109
India 3879. 105
Sri Lanka 3318. 92
West Indies2809. 91
New Zealand2333 78
Bangladesh0 0

 

[Alphabet]

I think you're letting the stats gloss over our many areas where we don't have much at all/need to improve fast. Those areas:

Batting (all positions except 5, Michael Clarke; and 7, Matthew Wade)
No spinners
Keeping the quicks fit

You can be a very good test side with an outstanding bowling attack (which we don't have, courtesy of our lack of quality spinners) and an average, but disciplined batting order. Pak-i-stan under Misbah are a great example of that. The problem we have is our batsmen don't have discipline. Their lack of talent wouldn't be that big a flaw if they were able to regularly bat 100+ overs, even if they only score 250 runs, the time taken to do that means you're less likely to lose. On top of that, if we ever hit a track where there isn't a lot of swing or seam and we need our spinner to step up, nobody in the country is capable of that. Michael Clarke is still our best spin bowler, which is just farcical.

We're not very likely to win in England, and I think it'll be an uphill battle in India as well, even though India are really in the doldrums at the moment. Bringing up ODI' is irrelevant- England have never cared much about the format or been any good at it, and they're being monstered away from home by a country that takes that format very seriously. Australia attach reasonable importance to ODIs, and at home, our quicks should not be being outperformed.

 

[hoerpi]

So will Root Noakes Kieswetter Dernbach feature in the Ashes? Of course not. Well hopefully they all do... Would be better for the Aussies. Root gunna be the next test Captain isn't he? Pretty limited player for mine.

Root is a talented batsman and since he's an opener I think that there's a chance to see him in the ashes. Nick Compton is not really a batsman that scare the Aussie bowling attack. Root can be used as an occasional spinner aswell which means that Patel can be dropped and replaced by Bairstow or Morgan (whoever performs best until the ashes).

Starc and Johnson should just be our all-rounders.

Hughes has gone ok in the test matches but not so well in the ODIs'.

Why not use Wade as an all-rounder? Apparently he can bowl fast and let him practise some to shape up his bowling. He has shown great batting skills and a move up the order to six is possible.

 

[Spider1964]

I think you're letting the stats gloss over our many areas where we don't have much at all/need to improve fast. Those areas:

Batting (all positions except 5, Michael Clarke; and 7, Matthew Wade)
No spinners
Keeping the quicks fit

You can be a very good test side with an outstanding bowling attack (which we don't have, courtesy of our lack of quality spinners) and an average, but disciplined batting order. Pak-i-stan under Misbah are a great example of that. The problem we have is our batsmen don't have discipline. Their lack of talent wouldn't be that big a flaw if they were able to regularly bat 100+ overs, even if they only score 250 runs, the time taken to do that means you're less likely to lose. On top of that, if we ever hit a track where there isn't a lot of swing or seam and we need our spinner to step up, nobody in the country is capable of that. Michael Clarke is still our best spin bowler, which is just farcical.

We're not very likely to win in England, and I think it'll be an uphill battle in India as well, even though India are really in the doldrums at the moment. Bringing up ODI' is irrelevant- England have never cared much about the format or been any good at it, and they're being monstered away from home by a country that takes that format very seriously. Australia attach reasonable importance to ODIs, and at home, our quicks should not be being outperformed.

Oh, don't get me wrong, we'll get our arses kicked in both, I just reckon it will be a lot closer than many think. Aussies in transition, no doubt, but they can still go ok. They're batting has been excellent for 12 months, boosted by Clarke for sure (& Hussey ), but they have consistently scored totals of 400+, batting well over 100 overs, so not sure where you're getting your stats from? You can only go on current TEST form, not the shorter versions, THAT was my point. I'm no slave to stats, I can assure you, if I was a selector, S Marsh, L Pomersbach and M Cosgrove would have been in the team before hackers like Cowan. Even take a risk and back young Travis Head from SA. I like natural talent, all of those guys are clean ball strikers.

Aussie selectors have made it abundantly clear that they don't give a rats about ODI's, neither do I. Bringing up the Poms getting they're arses kicked, was making the point that they are meaningless games. Different teams. Just as people are bagging the Aussies because they are going ordinary (with an ordinary side) in some irrelevant ODI.

Test -
Bowling - Siddle, Starc, Bird, Johnson, Hilhenhaus, Cummins, Harris. Admittedly weak in the spin, but Nathan Lyon IS better than he is given credit for.

Batting- Clarke, Warner, Cowan , Kuwaja, Hughes and I'd include Marsh. Be really disappointed if they went with D Hussey, not up to it. He's Trevor Chappell.

England>Australia
Cook>Clarke

Both have had extraordinary 2012's... Looking forward to see which one does it again in 2013?

 

[Spider1964]

I think you're letting the stats gloss over our many areas where we don't have much at all/need to improve fast. Those areas:

Batting (all positions except 5, Michael Clarke; and 7, Matthew Wade)
No spinners
Keeping the quicks fit

You can be a very good test side with an outstanding bowling attack (which we don't have, courtesy of our lack of quality spinners) and an average, but disciplined batting order. Pak-i-stan under Misbah are a great example of that. The problem we have is our batsmen don't have discipline. Their lack of talent wouldn't be that big a flaw if they were able to regularly bat 100+ overs, even if they only score 250 runs, the time taken to do that means you're less likely to lose. On top of that, if we ever hit a track where there isn't a lot of swing or seam and we need our spinner to step up, nobody in the country is capable of that. Michael Clarke is still our best spin bowler, which is just farcical.

We're not very likely to win in England, and I think it'll be an uphill battle in India as well, even though India are really in the doldrums at the moment. Bringing up ODI' is irrelevant- England have never cared much about the format or been any good at it, and they're being monstered away from home by a country that takes that format very seriously. Australia attach reasonable importance to ODIs, and at home, our quicks should not be being outperformed.

Oh, don't get me wrong, we'll get our arses kicked in both, I just reckon it will be a lot closer than many think. Aussies in transition, no doubt, but they can still go ok. They're batting has been excellent for 12 months, boosted by Clarke for sure (& Hussey ), but they have consistently scored totals of 400+, batting well over 100 overs, so not sure where you're getting your stats from? You can only go on current TEST form, not the shorter versions, THAT was my point. I'm no slave to stats, I can assure you, if I was a selector, S Marsh, L Pomersbach and M Cosgrove would have been in the team before hackers like Cowan. Even take a risk and back young Travis Head from SA. I like natural talent, all of those guys are clean ball strikers.

Aussie selectors have made it abundantly clear that they don't give a rats about ODI's, neither do I. Bringing up the Poms getting they're arses kicked, was making the point that they are meaningless games. Different teams. Just as people are bagging the Aussies because they are going ordinary (with an ordinary side) in some irrelevant ODI.

Test -
Bowling - Siddle, Starc, Bird, Johnson, Hilhenhaus, Cummins, Harris. Admittedly weak in the spin, but Nathan Lyon IS better than he is given credit for.

Batting- Clarke, Warner, Cowan , Kuwaja, Hughes Wade and I'd include Marsh. Be really disappointed if they went with D Hussey, not up to it. He's Trevor Chappell.

England>Australia
Cook>Clarke

Both have had extraordinary 2012's... Looking forward to see which one does it again in 2013?

 

[Alphabet]

Oh my. Words fail me.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2013/content/current/story/602765.html

Possible test squad for the tour of India:

Possible squad: Michael Clarke (capt), Jackson Bird, Ed Cowan, Xavier Doherty, Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner, Shane Watson.

What on earth are those 4 doing anywhere near the test set-up? I'm absolutely gob-smacked. The selectors must be taking the ****! I'd also question the inclusions of both Johnson and Starc. Neither of the two are likely to do especially well in India, since there's hardly any swing or seam to be found over there and those two are just half-volley machines without swing or seam. Add to that, they're left armers and so the ball will naturally shape towards the (mostly) right-handed Indian batsmen, who love to flick the ball leg-side.

 

[the asian]

It seems Smith & Maxwell will be fighting for the No 6 spot.
Are they good enough batsmen to bat at that place in tests?

 

[Alphabet]

No! Smith is absolutely useless- can't bat, can't bowl. He's just a specialist fieldsman, I have no idea how he keeps getting into national squads. Maxwell is a decent ODI/T20 player but he's a lot like Cameron White. Part-time spinner, and can only slog as a batsman. Henriques is barely an international standard player in any format, someone who should be playing for an Associate country or Zimbabwe. Hopefully the selectors don't take complete leave of their senses and play Watson or Khawaja at 6.

Ideally we would forget all about spin (except Lyon) and try and take advantage of India's ageing batting line-up by picking a load of fast bowlers. The problem wickets will be Pujara and Kohli, because they aren't decrepit old men like the rest and should be able to see off the quicks and then feast on Lyon. I can imagine them being the new Dravid-Laxman combination for us .

The worst thing about this is that there is reasonable talent (especially with fast bowling) in the domestic first class competition, but they're being overlooked and instead players who impressed in the BBL are being considered as test prospects. Which is a crazy approach, akin to handpicking riders winning local crits and getting them to ride WorldTour stage races.

 

[hoerpi]

After watching India v England I would say that two spinners are needed at some turning wickets. The bowler that you really will miss is Pat Cummins, a genuine fast bowler. About batting I don't know much about what you have in back up now when Hussey and Ponting are gone.

Soon my two teams, NZ and England will play and it looks like Vettori wont make the the first leg of the tour (in NZ). Hopefully Southee will be available for the tests and Patel removed.

 

[Alphabet]

Just a month after former cricketer and selector Mohinder Amarnath claimed that the president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), N. Srinivasan, had vetoed a move to sack Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain of Indian Test team, his allegation gained support with his company India Cements now employing the player as a vice-president.

The move has raised questions about conflict of interest within the BCCI...

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...vice-president-of-india-cements/1/248428.html

That's the problem Indian cricket has. It's not the IPL specifically, it's Srinivasan and his corruption and nepotism. He's got to go.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Indian's have been vetoing DRS again.

You would think they would feel a sense of shame and embarassment, actually suggesting DRS can be manipulated whilst they use home umpires which are either grossly incompetant or morally suspect (I hasten to add, I presume it is the former).

Alistair Cook had 4 stinkers on that tour - they pretty quickly worked out the best way of getting him out...

 

[the asian]

Indian's have been vetoing DRS again.

You would think they would feel a sense of shame and embarassment, actually suggesting DRS can be manipulated whilst they use home umpires which are either grossly incompetant or morally suspect (I hasten to add, I presume it is the former).

Alistair Cook had 4 stinkers on that tour - they pretty quickly worked out the best way of getting him out...

It's a bit of both.

This is the Unfortunate consequence of the Financial power of cricket shifting to India.

 

[movingtarget]

DRS is becoming a joke or always was. Either use it for everything or not at all like they do in other sports. Giving each team a handful of reviews in each innings just doesn't work. As for the Indians, God knows what they are thinking. It should be used for all internationals or not at all. As long as Umpires are strict about time wasting and frivolous appeals why not use the technology.

 

[Alphabet]

And that man, by virtue of his presidency of the BCCI, is the virtual leader of world cricket. Everybody except the ECB (good on you for that) dances to his tune. Now, if the BCCI had a man of principle and honour in charge, then that might not be too much a problem, but Srinivasan is hilariously corrupt, and manipulates world cricket to ensure that the IPL, and his Chennai franchise stay at the highest importance. The Indian objection to DRS is something I can't get my head around. They didn't say anything bad about it in 2011 when it saved Tendulkar in the World Cup semi final...


In other news, Seth Efreca have shot out Pak-istan for 49. I had hopes of them being able to upset South Africa. If they still had Mohammed Aamir and had a competent batting order (with apologies to Younis Khan, a fine player), they'd be the best in the world.