***Official*** South Africa In Australia

[NZTailender]

But are they any better than him?

Simon Katich.

 

[Redbacks]

Katich is no certainty in the best XI

 

[crickets]

You cant blame clarke for those comments about it being rickys decision, have you seen rickys body laguage when clarke comes up to him while he is talking to a bowler. he ignores as good as he bats, no eye contact, screws up his face and just plain rejects any inpput he might have.

 

[jondavluc]

he ignores as good as he bats, no eye contact, screws up his face and just plain rejects any inpput he might have.

Well you have once again proved to be unable to post properly.Keep trying you will get there.

 

[crickets]

oh did i upset you again, i guess being passive agressive is easier than being objective for you. goodness me its like your ricky pontings sister.

 

[crickets]

trying to stick up for little brother. i just want to see a change in captain, im not the only one.

 

[jondavluc]

oh did i upset you again, i guess being passive agressive is easier than being objective for you. goodness me its like your ricky pontings sister.

trying to stick up for little brother. i just want to see a change in captain, im not the only one.

I'm not upset infact I'm laughing at you anyways you're on ignore list since you have proved to have the maturity of a two year old.Anyways I never said ponting wasn't a bad captain but to mock and compare his batting to it just shows you're an idiot anyways you're blocked kid ta ta.

 

[crickets]

its settled then i won back, to the cricket then.

 

[NZTailender]

Håkon: ah
fair play
11:38 http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/DB/032004/051177.jpg <--- gun helmet
about sixteen sizes too big
me: will take at least 4 in Melbourne, mark my words
if he plays of course
11:39 Håkon: will take at least 4 in Melbourne, mark my words <--- still 16 left who can actually bat
11:40 me: imagine 5 people will be given a trundle, 4 is a proportional share
Håkon: this assumes aus wins
highly unlikely with this attack
forgot quotation marks there
me: didn't say they'd win itbt

Hardly the most out there prediction, but still, I'll take what I can get...

 

[Neil Pickup]

Crikey, even the Aussie fanboys are squabbling with themselves now. This is like some wildly-imagined heaven.

 

[silentstriker]

Crikey, even the Aussie fanboys are squabbling with themselves now. This is like some wildly-imagined heaven.

Haha, well they've barely lost anything and it's already begun. Comparatively, the Indian fans over the years have been downright stoic in expressing their displeasure.

 

[Neil Pickup]

It'd actually be interesting to see if the average total of runs scored by the first 5 Australian wickets has actually declined since Gilly retired or if it just seems like that because the bowling isn't what it was. CBA to do the leg work tho.

Australia with Gilchrist

96 Matches, Won 73, Draw 12, Lost 11

Bat Average 44.27, Runs/Over 3.73
Bowl Average 27.55, Runs/Over 3.09

Australia since Gilchrist

11 Matches, Won 4, Draw 3, Lost 4

Bat Average 36.17, Runs/Over 3.22
Bowl Average 37.67, Runs/Over 3.27

Partnerships with and since Gilchrist

	Partnerships		Totals at FoW
	With	Since		With	Since
1	51.18	41.75	1	51	42
2	61.36	44.95	2	113	87
3	51.57	41.65	3	164	128
4	55.11	45.40	4	219	174
5	47.54	22.60	5	267	196
6	56.30	52.57	6	323	249
7	31.89	35.05	7	355	284
8	26.55	32.81	8	382	317
9	21.85	20.93	9	403	338
10	16.32	17.12	10	420	355

Very interesting stats, I feel...

 

[Neil Pickup]

Haha, well they've barely lost anything and it's already begun. Comparatively, the Indian fans over the years have been downright stoic in expressing their displeasure.

Suggest they get an export business going...

 

[NUFAN]

It's interesting but shows that Gilchrist isn't the difference.

He batted at 7, we are currently -71 after 5 wickets, however after 10 wickets we are only 65 runs behind.

An average of 10 extra runs per wicket is the major problem!

 

[stephen]

Simon Katich.

Well Katich may be a tactically better captain, and more along the lines of Steve Waugh in temperament, but is that what we really need at the moment?

Waugh was incredibly aggressive and had a team to back him. Ponting has had a lesser team with a lot of debutants and new players. His strength is player management, not on-field tactics, and at the moment, with so many new players I feel that player management is probably the most needed trait in a captain. I'm not sure that Katich has that.

The other problem with picking Katich as captain is that there is no certainty with his place. Should he go through any kind of extended form drought over the next couple of years there may be question marks over his place in the side. With Rogers and Hughes piling on pressure in the domestic comp is Katich's spot a certainty for the next 4 years? I'm not sure.

The other factor that has to be brought into consideration is the form of Ponting. He is a much better batsman when given the responsibility of captaincy. Most batsmen experience a form drop when they get given the mantle. We can almost be assured that Ponting would lose some form if the captaincy was taken away (the whole mental anguish at losing his job + historical statistics for him as a player), while Katich's form would also likely fall away. Leaving us with two batsmen in lesser form, while not necessarily providing us with a significant improvement in captaincy.

If we had have had this argument when Ponting was granted the captaincy people would have been justified in supporting Warne as captain, but circumstances change. In the current circumstances I can see no tangible benefit to changing away from Ponting as captain.

 

[Son Of Coco]

You see - that was obviously what I was hinting at. Easy to have an excellent climate when you are on top of the world...not so easy once you are not...

Aussies only going to pull themselfes out of this together - a real test of character to which they are not used...

longtom

It's also a lot easier when you have a group of senior players who have been the nucleus of he team for some time. It's a lot easier to put more energy into the team environment when your place in the team is assured and you're comfortable.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Well you have once again proved to be unable to post properly.Keep trying you will get there.

No need for those attacks, thanks.

 

[social]

Well Katich may be a tactically better captain, and more along the lines of Steve Waugh in temperament, but is that what we really need at the moment?

Waugh was incredibly aggressive and had a team to back him. Ponting has had a lesser team with a lot of debutants and new players. His strength is player management, not on-field tactics, and at the moment, with so many new players I feel that player management is probably the most needed trait in a captain. I'm not sure that Katich has that.

The other problem with picking Katich as captain is that there is no certainty with his place. Should he go through any kind of extended form drought over the next couple of years there may be question marks over his place in the side. With Rogers and Hughes piling on pressure in the domestic comp is Katich's spot a certainty for the next 4 years? I'm not sure.

The other factor that has to be brought into consideration is the form of Ponting. He is a much better batsman when given the responsibility of captaincy. Most batsmen experience a form drop when they get given the mantle. We can almost be assured that Ponting would lose some form if the captaincy was taken away (the whole mental anguish at losing his job + historical statistics for him as a player), while Katich's form would also likely fall away. Leaving us with two batsmen in lesser form, while not necessarily providing us with a significant improvement in captaincy.

If we had have had this argument when Ponting was granted the captaincy people would have been justified in supporting Warne as captain, but circumstances change. In the current circumstances I can see no tangible benefit to changing away from Ponting as captain.

Very good post

 

[biased indian]

Think this will be the first time stumps other than white colour has been used in test cricket ..or has it been used earlier ..any way dont think theyehave used it in Aus or Eng so far ..india might have had

 

[susudear]

Think this will be the first time stumps other than white colour has been used in test cricket ..or has it been used earlier ..any way dont think theyehave used it in Aus or Eng so far ..india might have had

Rather cream you mean. However recently, sponsor's logo has occupied atleast half of the length as evidenced in this photograph