Cricket- the sport not the insect

[Alphabet]

Pace is overrated. If it was that important, then Mohammad Sami would have been one of the best fast bowlers of all time . 120km trundlers have better records than him. Look at Praveen Kumar, he was the only decent bowler India had when they toured England a couple of years ago. He hardly breaks 125km but he can swing and seam the ball a long way, so he was very effective. But now the BCCI have gone all Pak-i-stani and have prioritized pace over skill, and he's being kept out of the team by ordinary but fast bowlers like Yadav.

Why has Ben Hilfenhaus disappeared from the international set-up? He has a very good record in England. Plus he relies on seam movement so he would be suited to English pitches more so than Pattinson, who IMO so far depends on pure pace and movement through the air. Since England's having a pretty dry summer (apparently), the latter would seem unlikely as there shouldn't be much cloud cover.

 

[movingtarget]

Pattinson needs to stay - the line up needs an out and out right arm quick. IMO Siddle, Harris and Bird are all competing for the same spot in the bowling line-up given the squad.

Starc adds some variety but he's a bit one dimensional. When he can get the swinging yorker going he can clean up the tail pretty quick like Brett Lee used to.

 

[movingtarget]

Pace is overrated. If it was that important, then Mohammad Sami would have been one of the best fast bowlers of all time . 120km trundlers have better records than him. Look at Praveen Kumar, he was the only decent bowler India had when they toured England a couple of years ago. He hardly breaks 125km but he can swing and seam the ball a long way, so he was very effective. But now the BCCI have gone all Pak-i-stani and have prioritized pace over skill, and he's being kept out of the team by ordinary but fast bowlers like Yadav.

Why has Ben Hilfenhaus disappeared from the international set-up? He has a very good record in England. Plus he relies on seam movement so he would be suited to English pitches more so than Pattinson, who IMO so far depends on pure pace and movement through the air. Since England's having a pretty dry summer (apparently), the latter would seem unlikely as there shouldn't be much cloud cover.

Hilfenhaus was having some injury problems. He does not seem to be considered now but he has done well in the past especially in India and England.

 

[darwin553]

Starc adds some variety but he's a bit one dimensional. When he can get the swinging yorker going he can clean up the tail pretty quick like Brett Lee used to.

Starc can swing it with the old and new ball. He's also quite quick, so he can intimidate with the shorter stuff as well. All Siddle is good for is hitting the pitch and looking for the ball to move of the seam from the pitch, same with Bird. Harris does that too but he also throws up a number of cutters as well.

The Australian bowling line-up just has to be:

1. Pattinson
2. Starc
3. Harris
4. Lyon

And I won't rest until it is that!

 

[darwin553]

Hilfenhaus was having some injury problems. He does not seem to be considered now but he has done well in the past especially in India and England.

Lost a yard of pace and that consistent ability to swing the new ball.

 

[movingtarget]

Starc can swing it with the old and new ball. He's also quite quick, so he can intimidate with the shorter stuff as well. All Siddle is good for is hitting the pitch and looking for the ball to move of the seam from the pitch, same with Bird. Harris does that too but he also throws up a number of cutters as well.

The Australian bowling line-up just has to be:

1. Pattinson
2. Starc
3. Harris
4. Lyon

And I won't rest until it is that!

Lyon will probably get back into the team, Agar may not hold his position unless he starts getting wickets regularly.

 

[darwin553]

Lyon will probably get back into the team, Agar may not hold his position unless he starts getting wickets regularly.

I'm already over Agar - I couldn't care if he scores a double century. He needs to pick up wickets, that is why he's in the team primarily. From his performance in the 1st innings, too many short balls.

 

[Alphabet]

Ideally, our best bowling attack would be:

Siddle
Harris
Cummins
Pattinson/Bird
Watson

Spinners are for the weak!

I would rate our fast bowlers like this on ability:

1. Harris
2. Siddle
3. Cummins
4. Pattinson
5. Bird
6. Starc
7. Hilfenhaus
8. Watson
9. Johnson
10. I dunno. Josh Hazlewood? Gurindher Sandhu? Chadd Sayers?

For quality of depth, nobody except Pak-i-stan comes close to Australia atm. We don't start hitting mediocrity until option 9, and in fairness to option 10, they're both really young.

 

[darwin553]

Ideally, our best bowling attack would be:

Siddle
Harris
Cummins
Pattinson/Bird
Watson

Spinners are for the weak!

I would rate our fast bowlers like this on ability:

1. Harris
2. Siddle
3. Cummins
4. Pattinson
5. Bird
6. Starc
7. Hilfenhaus
8. Watson
9. Johnson
10. I dunno. Josh Hazlewood? Gurindher Sandhu? Chadd Sayers?

For quality of depth, nobody except Pak-i-stan comes close to Australia atm. We don't start hitting mediocrity until option 9, and in fairness to option 10, they're both really young.

Haha I guess we will never agree if you place Siddle that high!

Missed a big one - Coulter Nile

 

[darwin553]

I can't believe that Sri Lanka umpire got another go given his disgraceful performance in the 1st test.

 

[Alphabet]

Haha I guess we will never agree if you place Siddle that high!

Missed a big one - Coulter Nile

Siddle has the experience that the young quicks lack. You can't have an attack comprised of players all under 25, you need one hand to guide them all and stand up when they can't get the job done- like Siddle did at Trent Bridge.

I can't believe that Sri Lanka umpire got another go given his disgraceful performance in the 1st test.

Dharmasena, unbelievably, won the best umpire award last year .

 

[darwin553]

Siddle has the experience that the young quicks lack. You can't have an attack comprised of players all under 25, you need one hand to guide them all and stand up when they can't get the job done- like Siddle did at Trent Bridge.

Yes but Siddle is only effective when he can hit at least 140km on a consistent level. So far in this test at least he has been unable to do that.

 

[darwin553]

Dharmasena, unbelievably, won the best umpire award last year .

Yeah I am not going to bother to say his whole name, I'm pretty sure you all know what I mean!

 

[darwin553]

I can already see that Bresnan is not all that penetrating.

 

[Alphabet]

Bresnan was pretty good before that injury around 18 months ago. Since then he's been awful.

 

[darwin553]

****ing watson and his over-inflated ego calling for a review when it wasn't justified. FFS

 

[Alphabet]

There we go, the first of no doubt many wickets this match from Bresnan, all because we think he's crap .

 

[darwin553]

There we go, the first of no doubt many wickets this match from Bresnan, all because we think he's crap .

I would say that wicket was more batsman induced, than bowler induced. A straight miss from Watson, should have played it straight rather than across the line. Warner for Watson now??

 

[movingtarget]

Maybe time to drop Watson down the order where 40 or 50 could be useful but if he can't hit some big scores he is wasted as an opener.

 

[darwin553]

Maybe time to drop Watson down the order where 40 or 50 could be useful but if he can't hit some big scores he is wasted as an opener.

But then he's got the problem of coming in against a, more than likely, red hot Swan on top of his game.

Watson has the same problem as Agar - they are doing better in the discipline that they haven't been selected in the team to do.

 

[movingtarget]

But then he's got the problem of coming in against a, more than likely, red hot Swan on top of his game.

Watson has the same problem as Agar - they are doing better in the discipline that they haven't been selected in the team to do.

Clarke is batting back at 5. Watson is frustrating to watch. I hope Khawaja can do something. The pitch is supposed to be batter friendly at the moment.

 

[darwin553]

Clarke is batting back at 5. Watson is frustrating to watch. I hope Khawaja can do something. The pitch is supposed to be batter friendly at the moment.

Watson might even have an extra test leeway to perform properly because of his favourable relationship with boof.

 

[darwin553]

That Rogers' dismissal was almost in the category of too embarrassed to appeal for even though it was out for Swan.

 

[movingtarget]

Australia showing a new level of creativity with Roger's dismissal.

 

[darwin553]

Australia showing a new level of creativity with Roger's dismissal.

Blame Watson for that one too looking at the review

I thought he would have reviewed that one for sure looking at it with the naked eye