Cricket- the sport not the insect

[Mad Elephant Man]

Aussies need to find some quality spinners or they will never win in India again. Team selections don't help. Mystified by Clarke's comments. He does realize they are in India ? If Doherty is our best spinner, god help us.

Lyon is our best spinner.
Either Lyon is a test match quality spinner or we have no test match quality spinners.

 

[Mad Elephant Man]

All over with Australia out for 131 and a innings defeat.
Australia do not have the quality in the team to do well.
I make it only 5 proven test match quality players in the side, Clarke, Warner, Pattinson, Wade and Siddle, the last two only just. Watson the allrounder would make it six, but as a specialist batsman he is does make it. Hughes may get there although not done well this series.
Cowan, Maxwell, Henriques and Doherty should not be in the side.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Australia suck.

 

[Mad Elephant Man]

Australia suck.

Pretty much.

 

[del1962]

Australia suck.

It is quite amusing watching the current state of Australian Cricket, can't wait for the Ashes

 

[Mad Elephant Man]

It is quite amusing watching the current state of Australian Cricket, can't wait for the Ashes

Our Pattinson is better than your Pattinson, that is about the only good thing about Australian cricket.
Best XI is probably

Warner
Hughes
Khawaja
Clarke
Mr X
Wade
Watson
Siddle
Pattinson
Starc
Lyon

Not sure who the next best batsman, Mr X, is. Perhaps Alex Doolan. Perhaps George Bailey. Chris Rogers is probably the best non-retired batsman in FC cricket in Australia this season, but an opener at 35 years old is not going to be picked.

 

[movingtarget]

It is quite amusing watching the current state of Australian Cricket, can't wait for the Ashes

Well actually India sucked as well in their matches outside India. The Ashes will be completely different and the rivalry between the English and Australia is equal to if not greater than the rivalry between ****stan and India. India was outplayed when they were last in Australia and India has returned the favour in their home series. Both the Australian and Indian sides are in a state of transition after many retirements on both teams. England has already been through that phase and obviously will be very hard to beat in the Ashes Series.

 

[Cyivel]

It is quite amusing watching the current state of Australian Cricket, can't wait for the Ashes

Don't speak too soon

 

[Mad Elephant Man]

New Zealand is crushing England.

Hard to believe but it is happening.
Hopefully the weather will not intervene again, day 1 already lost due to weather.


Yesterday also saw the opening day of three Sheffield Sheild matches in Australia. Scores of 128 with 6/201 in reply, 8/238 and 7/237 perhaps highlights the lack of quality batsmen in Australian FC cricket.

 

[Mad Elephant Man]

Lunch Day 3

England 167 all out
Rutherford 167 not out

 

[42x16ss]

Yesterday also saw the opening day of three Sheffield Sheild matches in Australia. Scores of 128 with 6/201 in reply, 8/238 and 7/237 perhaps highlights the lack of quality batsmen in Australian FC cricket.

That's the gist of things really. Australia has slid back to the days when Allan Border took over the Australian captaincy, just with Clarke in charge instead. He's probably the only world class test batsman in Australia ATM (with the possible exceptions of Watson and Warner)

The shot selection by the Australians in India has been absolutely disgusting, making a reasonable spin attack look like the second coming of Bishen Bedi...

 

[movingtarget]

Good to see the Kiwis back on track and with some new faces.

 

[hoerpi]

Good to see the Kiwis back on track and with some new faces.

You spoke to soon, at least there will at least be a draw. Great showing by Rutherford, wonder what he and Guppy will be able to do. This wicket is extremly flat and swing is nowhere to be found Hopefully Southee can find something and bring a win to NZ.

Speaking about the Ashes the biggest problem for Australia is if Broad finds some test form again. Imagine Finn, Anderson and Broad in form against the Aussie batting line up... Really looking forward tothe summer.

 

[greenedge]

What about Tremlett?

 

[Mad Elephant Man]

Disarray

Chaos

Out of control

Disaster.

The Australian tour of India.

 

[lovelycoser]

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.

Yea, I agree with you~ +1

 

[Mad Elephant Man]

Shane Watson should never play for Australia again.

EDIT: It may be that Watson has returned home to be with his wife who is going to give birth in the near future. If this is the case then my comment above was a harsh rush to judgement

 

[del1962]

Lunch Day 3

England 167 all out
Rutherford 167 not out

England, complacency and undercoocked, still managed to comfatably draw the game.

Lets hope for a better wicket for next test

 

[hoerpi]

What about Tremlett?

We have to wait for the county season to see how he performes. Of course he'll have a chance if he's as good as he was before the injury.

 

[Caroline_Smaltz]

Shane Watson should never play for Australia again.

EDIT: It may be that Watson has returned home to be with his wife who is going to give birth in the near future. If this is the case then my comment above was a harsh rush to judgement

I withdraw my edit. Shane Watson should never play for Australia again

 

[ramjambunath]

Where has Alphabet been since India's first innings in Chennai btw?

 

[hoerpi]

Great showing by the Aussies today.

 

[movingtarget]

Great showing by the Aussies today.

We want to make the English overconfident before the Ashes. I am sure it's working !

 

[Alphabet]

Where has Alphabet been since India's first innings in Chennai btw?

Sorry, I've been busy. Don't think I was running away from abuse from our Indian fans on here .

Umm. Where to begin. The tour was really a fiasco. Credit to Ashwin who has improved immeasurably now that he only uses his carrom ball/doosra every 10 overs instead of every over.

But for the most part, I think India's domination was down to Australia being absolute turd rather than India returning to the days of the early/mid 2000s when they were legitimately one of the best test match teams going around. I mean look at the players that won India this series:

Dhoni- not the greatest of test match batsmen, even at number 7.
Pujara- the best young batting talent in the world, India should hold onto him, I can see a 10000 run+ career ahead of Pujara.
Jadeja- lol. We've done India's future opponents a huge favour by convincing the Indian selectors that he is a real cricketer (a favour India have returned with Messrs Henriques and Smith).
Ashwin- growing into a real handful, not the same bowler that Cook et al were hitting for fun.
Dhawan- debutant.
Vijay- better than Sehwag and Gambhir, but I still don't think he's all that.

At the end of it, it came down to laughable squad selection and performance from Australia, some great individual performances from India and not much else. The batsmen just didn't learn. Cowan, for instance, was bowled sweeping in the first test and he tried it again in the final test. The bowlers persisted with bowling lines and lengths that only work on bouncy pitches. There was no progression, no improvement- almost as if nobody was bothered trying to turn things around.

Neither side should be getting particularly excited/concerned about this as a sign for future times. I still think India are in transition, and I still think Australia have a fair chance in the Ashes (the series at home, that is, not the upcoming away tour of England) where the quality of our fast bowlers will be able to balance out the poorness of our batsmen.

 

[42x16ss]

Pujara looks the goods, possibly Tendulkar's successor. A real talent. Vijay is ok, not at the level of Sehwag or Ghambir in their prime but still a solid test cricketer.

It's amazing that Henriques and Steven Smith are being considered as genuine test cricketers but when I stop and think about who else should go I have no idea! Michael Clarke really is the only top class test batsman in Australia ATM.... Cowan, Hughes and Warner show some real glimpses of talent then undo it all with some real amateur moments. Very frustrating time to be an Aussie cricket fan.