***Official*** Sri Lanka in Australia

[Burgey]

Johnson = raw but very talented. Needs to develop either swing or seam more consistently, but not a great track for that.

Most impressed with Lee's economy 1st dig, which was good for him in his first test as leader of the pack.

Hats off to Van Dort today for a gutsy knock under a lot of scoreboard pressure. He's a gangly type - reminds me a little of a young, left handed Tom Moody, but his attitude is first rate. Well done him.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Johnson is still new to international cricket, and he's not coming on the scene as a finished product like a Stuart Clark. Not much more than a year ago he wasn't even a success at first class level, and looked way out of his depth in ODIs. He's improved consistently, and he's certainly shown enough in this test to suggest he could be a very good test bowler. His problem areas can all be improved.

 

[JBH001]

yahoo weather says cloudy
ninemsn says clearing showers
weather.com (probably the best) says cloudy in AM... and Sun in PM and only 10% chance of precipitation

what i wanna know is... in this match there has been 311 overs bowled... and there's normally like 450 overs in a test match..
so theres still 139 overs to bowl...

there's an early start tomorrow..but im wondering can they play till perhaps 7pm as well? (normally 6:30)

AFAIK play is not extended past the usual time on the last day.

(which is as it should be)

Also, well done MacGill. I thought he bowled well in the first innings (and certainly got better the more he bowled in that innings) but I thought he bowled merely competently in the second innings. Rarely threatened or put the batsmen off barring a couple of deliveries.

Nice knock too, to Van Dort. Showed a lot of guts and gumption.

I would prefer that he stayed at 3 and we keep the same opening combination for the test match in Hobart. Samaraweera is the one who needs to go when (and if) Sange returns.

 

[stephen]

Bright and sunny outside today. Should hopefully get a full days play.

Very impressed with Lee this test match. Hopefully he can keep it up and prove his critics (myself included) completely wrong.

 

[Son Of Coco]

AFAIK play is not extended past the usual time on the last day.

(which is as it should be)

Also, well done MacGill. I thought he bowled well in the first innings (and certainly got better the more he bowled in that innings) but I thought he bowled merely competently in the second innings. Rarely threatened or put the batsmen off barring a couple of deliveries.

Nice knock too, to Van Dort. Showed a lot of guts and gumption.

I would prefer that he stayed at 3 and we keep the same opening combination for the test match in Hobart. Samaraweera is the one who needs to go when (and if) Sange returns.

I'd like to see MacGill toss a couple up on or just outside leg occasionally, as a lot of his deliveries turn sharply away towards slips from middle stump without causing too much concern.

 

[JBH001]

Hmmm, yes. But I dont think he can do so consistently and accurately enough given his action and the trajectory he bowls it at. He will probably send it down leg for easy boundaries. An option for him may be in going around the wicket, but then he may run the danger of negating his good googly (still it is a thought I think).

 

[JBH001]

Crap, Jayawardene out, and so it begins.

Only Maharoof and Vaas to go.

Hopefully though Murali can give us an entertaining 20 - 30.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Hmmm, yes. But I dont think he can do so consistently and accurately enough given his action and the trajectory he bowls it at. He will probably send it down leg for easy boundaries. An option for him may be in going around the wicket, but then he may run the danger of negating his good googly (still it is a thought I think).

Maybe, but he lands enough on middle and off fairly consistently. I'd just like to see one or two an over out there sometimes, as he's turning it quite a bit. I know he doesn't a lot of drift. I'd be interesting to see what happens. Obviously MacGill knows a lot more about what he's doing than I do!

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

What a ****ing nut from Lee.

 

[sideshowtim]

Go to hell, rain...

 

[sideshowtim]

Don't tell me Sri Lanka are gonna get saved by rain...

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

And some staunch batting.

 

[silentstriker]

Hey an Aussie game that has a chance to be something besides an Aussie win? That's something new. It's so dire watching Australia play, it's quickly becoming that I don't watch any Australia or Bangladesh. It's that inevitability of one sided games that destroys all enjoyment.

In any case, I think we'll find that the losses from the bowling attack have not quite been replaced but their batting has gotten better - so we'll see more big scores from them to make sure they don't lose. Oh joy.

 

[pup11]

Well the rain is starting to really piss me off, the last thing i want to see here is Sri Lanka squeeze out a draw here.

 

[Johnners]

Sigh, go away please rain, for just an hour or so.

Anyway, if the rain keeps up, and a draw is the result...if people blame our bowlers for it i'll go nuts tbh.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hey an Aussie game that has a chance to be something besides an Aussie win? That's something new. It's so dire watching Australia play, it's quickly becoming that I don't watch any Australia or Bangladesh. It's that inevitability of one sided games that destroys all enjoyment.

In any case, I think we'll find that the losses from the bowling attack have not quite been replaced but their batting has gotten better - so we'll see more big scores from them to make sure they don't lose. Oh joy.

Batting is better compared to when? I suppose you could argue that Jaques will be better than Langer but it's certainly a big call at this stage, and regardless of whether people think Symonds is test class, he's certainly a step down from other Australian #6 batsmen recently - he's no Martyn, Lehmann or Clarke as a batsman alone, even if he does manage to become a decent test cricketer.

 

[sideshowtim]

Yes! Silva gone!!!

 

[Jono]

Lol, what the hell was that?

 

[pasag]

Nice.

 

[pup11]

Hey an Aussie game that has a chance to be something besides an Aussie win? That's something new. It's so dire watching Australia play, it's quickly becoming that I don't watch any Australia or Bangladesh. It's that inevitability of one sided games that destroys all enjoyment.

In any case, I think we'll find that the losses from the bowling attack have not quite been replaced but their batting has gotten better - so we'll see more big scores from them to make sure they don't lose. Oh joy.

Mate its very disappointing to hear such stuff from you, Australia are a damn good side but still victories aren't severed to them on a platter they work their backsides off to do well so consistently, they have set a benchmark for the other teams but the other teams don't look anywhere near that benchmark so rather than cursing Australia shouldn't you be criticising the other teams who look so flat against the Aussies and shouldn't they be the one's who should try to raise the bar of their game against the Australians.