Boxing Day Test

[The Eagle]

Watson runs like a ****ing number 11,not a number 1

Thanks to him Hughes can kiss his career goodbye,he looked primed to deliver

Ive never seen a batsman in the socalled lack of form which Ponting is suffering,his been caught by classic catches,edged ones down leg and now an inside edge onto the stumps,seriously **** off

Clarke isnt ready to captain a district team

Hussey is good when he gets a start

Smith is useless,bowling,batting but he can field

Haddin is a hit and miss

Johnson the same

Harris cant bat for ****,how he gets above the order from the other
bozos is beyond me

Siddle has been another light switch,on or very off

Hilfenhaus,i dont know why we pick him,maybe to get a higher letter average for our team's last name

Is Bollinger fit yet? What is wrong with Hauritz? who the **** is Beer?

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

bring on the shorter game

 

[Fluffy]

Shane - Hauritz was dropped by the selectors and they cant recall him as it would be too much egg on their faces.

Bollinger did well in the one shield game (took 6) and hauritz took 5 and made a century.

Hilfy is unlucky but needs someone to coach him a bit. The commentators are right in that his action is too consistant and he doesnt use the crease. He has the ball moving but because its released from the same spot each time the batsman find it far easier to leave. Change the position on the crease, go 6 inches wider and release the stright ball that they would normally play on off and suddenly its 6 inches outside off. Thats what Anderson does to change it up a bit.

 

[The Eagle]

Wasnt Gilligans island so much better than watching australia bat? seriously mind reading enabling seeds are so much better than watching england rape us

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Some baffling stuff in terms of selection with your side at the moment, apparently if you aren't on Ponting's favourites list you will struggle to get a run (Bollinger the best example)

A few things that get me

Hughes is dropped from tests averaging 50, and reselected averaging 20 in first class this season, really mixed messages sent to him and on a hiding to nothing

The spin situation. Hauritz has a fair record in Australia. Dropped for a bloke with an awful record in Doherty, who gets discarded for a bloke who has barely played any 1st class cricket. They then carry this guy around as 12th man and don't play a specialist spinner, strange

Smith. He isn't a test match bowler, or a test match top 6 batsman. have heard all the hype about him for a couple of years, but is well away from test standard

The bowling. Bollinger has bowled his arse off for Australia for the past year, and done outstandingly well. he is cast aside for a bloke who has been out of cricket for nearly a year. Fair play to Siddle he bowled well, but the selection was an average one. Were also some awful excuses given as to why Bollinger was left out.
The Johnson situation was baffling too, again, he came out and did a job afterwards, but I still don't get how a guy can be dropped from a side, and reselected after not playing a game of cricket

 

[Fluffy]

yep, selectors and the senior players who have a say in selections seem to have been on the wacky backy.

Smith is a good player but keeps getting mixed messages, one day he is there as a bowler, the next a batter. At 21 he needs to concerntrate on just 1 form for test level and use the other skill as a handy backup. He is on the fast track to becomming another cameron white.

Ponting has to "rest" his finger for Sydney so they can at least blood someone else. Doesnt have to be a No3 either, Hussey can bat there.

 

[lsz]

my 2 cents....

The issues relate back a year or more - that is when the hard decisions needed to be made i.e. dropping north and giving Smith a shot

It is pretty hard to put him in the team 1-0 down and expect him to go great guns. They now need to stick with him (not that he is in the same class but the early record of Steve Waugh is interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Waugh#Early_international_career )

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

I don't know lsz, at this point when I see Smith bat I just see a poor technique and a bloke who looks like he could get out every ball. At this stage he is no better than a number 8 imo, leaving him where he is could really stuff him

Watson is another one, granted he does have a good record lately, but he does still have a technical issue that see's him getting out LBW far too often for a test match opener

 

[lsz]

Kiwi i can not profess to know enough about the technical side of the game....my big frustration is the lack of "stick" with some players compared to others.

It seems some players have a far longer string than others

 

[The Eagle]

Kiwi my only problem with Watson right now is he runs like a number 11

 

[Chip and Chase]

Watson does have an issue with LBW, but a lot of the time they are just straight balls that he misses or ones he misjudges and doesn't offer a shot. I don't think it is a "technical" issue, more a concentration one. Same reason he doesn't convert his regular good starts to big scores. Good openers work hard and cash in when they get set, he seems to drift off for periods of the game. Having said that he's done enough to hang onto his spot given that there aren't a lot of guys knocking down the door. I think we missed Katich more than we realise, he is a hard nosed bastard who doesn't give an inch and babysits Watson to an extent.

Hughes was lucky to be picked IMO and if you are going to have an unorthodox technique than you have to have the confidence to go with it and not be half arsed about it. Sehwag is one of the few openers in world cricket who have prospered without a solid classic "play the V" technique. Anyway they might as well stick with Hughes now, nothing to be gained by dropping him again, will just ruin any confidence he has left.

Ponting is just getting old, he needs to take a leaf out of Steve Waughs book and shelve the hook / pull shot until he is well past 50. Teams know that they can set him up and he'll take the bait. He should also move down the order to 5 or 6. I think his experience is something we definitely need moving forward, maybe another 12 months and a farewell home series in 2012.

Clarke is in a hole. He'll come out of it, but these days we can't carry a player like in the old days. Seeing as he is the annoited one I can't see them dropping him. A bit of a break will probably do him good.

Hussey looked on his last legs before the Ashes, but he has delayed the inevitable for another summer at least.

Haddin is a quality bat IMO, but he needs those above him to set a platform to make the most of his obvious attacking ability. How he was behind Smith in the order is beyond me, he is 10 times the batsman Smith is.

The bowling was an epic fail. We've only managed to take 20 wickets once this series and that was on the back of a bowler friendly WACA deck and a few and far between Johnson quality spell. We don't bowl as a team and can't build pressure. Do we even have one bowler in the top ten rankings at the moment ?
 

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

C&C, in regards to Watson's technique, when you are planting the front foot where he does you are going to get yourself in trouble

 

[The Eagle]

I dont get why the australian bowlers would bowl so consistantly far enough outside off for the batsman to leave it,in all honesty they must force the batsman to play the ball,otherwise your running 30metres (or 11 as i do) busting your ass to release a ball and have the bastard at the other end leave the ball,Why should a bowler do that,jesus that bowling pissed me off,MAKE THEM PLAY THE BALL OR WICKETS WILL NOT COME TO LEAVING BATSMAN!!!

 

[Fro]

Lucky Haddin played so straight hey shane.

Yes Watsons address has him just plonking on the front foot and worrying about the line and length later, which requires watching very closely and as someone said he loses concentration and misses one. but can't even think about punting him.

 

[tractorboy]

I don't think i will say much, I still celebrating and am a bit drunk, will live long in the memory that. Being at the G to witness that was the best thing I have ever seen. Still brings tears to my eyes. Will continue to celebrate for a long long long time.

 

[Duff]

Pommy.

 

[tractorboy]

and proud, win loss or get thrashed as for many a year we did. Having new year so soon after the win is hard, can't drink how i used to. But had to make the most of it.

 

[Fluffy]

long wait for you in Aus so not suprised your living this one up

 

[Fro]

Lucky the pound is trashed Tractor, otherwise you'd be even more hungover 🙂