**Official** Tour Matches

[zaremba]

Wright was signed against the will of his former county, who tried to keep him; Hamilton-Brown wanted to move himself.

Not sure what the attitude of the former county has to do with it. As to the attitude of the player, yes Hamilton-Brown wanted to move, but so did Wright, so I don't understand what distinction you're trying to draw.

As far as Wright is concerned, the move south has patently been a success. Do you think he would have played for England in any form of the game if he had stayed at Leicester? Come to think of it, do you think he'd even have played much first class cricket had he stayed at Leicester along with the Kolpaks? And do you think he would have won 2 county championships at Leicester? Unless you can answer yes to all 3 of those questions, it seems to me that his decision has been richly vindicated.

 

[zaremba]

Ambrose always clearly had potential and was merely a late developer.

No! No! No!

Ambrose was a Sussex first team regular at the age of 19. He kept wicket for us in our championship-winning year 2003, and also batted at 5 ahead of Prior who played as a specialist batsman at 7. He was anything but a late developer.

He certainly had great potential, we agree about that. But Prior overtook him and Ambrose would have been forced to play the Andy Hodd role at Sussex. Ie not getting any games; playing as Prior's understudy and occasionally getting a game but not getting the keeping job. He moved to Warwickshire where he is now guaranteed a first-team place, as a result of which he forced his way into the England reckoning. To pretend that his career hasn't been advanced by his move to Warwickshire is to defy common sense, and the evidence.

 

[NUFAN]

Rich that's crazy talk. In other walks of life people change jobs and a change of environment can do wonders, it's the same for Cricket.

Look at Simon Katich, pretty sure he'd have found it harder to break into the Aussie team if he didn't move to NSW.

 

[pup11]

Reckon North's going to have a bad summer, predicting Anderson to be all over him, his footwork is dire.

Tbh, I reckon North's footwork is as good or bad as any other current Australian middle-order batsman, the thing now to see is, whether North would be able to handle the pressure and do well consistently for Australia, at a spot as important as no.6.

 

[pup11]

Coming back to yesterday's game, though the overall Australian batting display might look pretty clinical, but the fact they struggled against unknown spinners like Rayner and Beer, goes to show, that Australia need to urgently work on the way they play spin bowling from now on.

Australian way of playing spin was to be attacking against it, and put the spin bowlers under pressure from the very beginning, but for a while now the Australian batsmen have played spin in a circumspect manner, which has been causing them a lot of trouble.

Maybe the fact that none of the Aussie batsmen get to play decent spinners in domestic cricket anymore, also plays a role in this, but whatever it is, Aussies need to have a look back at the way they have been playing spin in the last 18 months or so, and analyze where they have been going wrong.

 

[.matt]

Lee would be happy with picking up a 3fer but he was a little expensive. Not surprised Clark picked up a few but he went for a little more then I would have thought. Hilfy was economical as was Siddle but Siddle picked up 2. I guess the bowl off is still pretty even after considering those stats. Maybe Hilfy is falling behind a tad. Devo to see Haury get hammered and not even get a scalp though. Thats really worrying.

lol Hughes is gun. 0/18 off 7 and Hughes is 17* and Katman 0*.

 

[social]

Haha, I hope he fails. When you start picking number six batsman randomly that's what you get. It should have been Hodge and then Hussey.

Which ignores the fact that North's been a very good player for a long time

BTW, why the love for Dussey? The guy has done nothing to be selected and was justifiably overlooked

 

[.matt]

Oh cricinfo was stuffing up, didn't realise there was a whole days play after we were 0/18

Good to see Hughesy get some runs as well as Punter after their first innings disappointments. Interesting to see Clarke make a good score as well. North will be angry he didn't make the most of his time at number 5

 

[Noble One]

Lee would be happy with picking up a 3fer but he was a little expensive. Not surprised Clark picked up a few but he went for a little more then I would have thought. Hilfy was economical as was Siddle but Siddle picked up 2. I guess the bowl off is still pretty even after considering those stats. Maybe Hilfy is falling behind a tad. Devo to see Haury get hammered and not even get a scalp though. Thats really worrying.

lol Hughes is gun. 0/18 off 7 and Hughes is 17* and Katman 0*.

Touch behind the 8-ball mate. Been an entire extra days play since the scorecard your obviously reading.

Edit: Well corrected.

 

[Burgey]

Reckon North's going to have a bad summer, predicting Anderson to be all over him, his footwork is dire.

Assuming he gets a hit, of course.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Just watched the highlights of the third day, some serious turn for the boy Beer would suggest it's not a twirler's graveyeard, so if Hauritz gets carted again it'll surely be all seam for the Swalec.

 

[inbox24]

With the way the bowling 'attack' is going at the moment, wouldn't be surprised if Australia fail to win a game all tour.

 

[superkingdave]

Decent start by Sussex this morning, looks like Australia will have to work hard today, might be plenty of work for Hauritz

 

[superkingdave]

With the way the bowling 'attack' is going at the moment, wouldn't be surprised if Australia fail to win a game all tour.

you almost outdo us England fans for pessimism

 

[pasag]

With the way the bowling 'attack' is going at the moment, wouldn't be surprised if Australia fail to win a game all tour.

We're not going to have to put up with this all series are we?

 

[Prince EWS]

I swear, this commentator has no idea at all that North can bowl.

Confirmed.

"Marcus North is coming on to bowl now. He's.. a spinner.. or at least Haddin's standing up to the stumps. Right arm bowler or so it seems."

..

"I've been informed he's an occassional right arm off break bowler."

He has more First Class wickets at a better average than Nathan Hauritz FFS.

 

[pasag]

11 no-balls for the match so far from Lee.

 

[Furball]

As you know, I disagree that you get better by gaining experience of playing for a county, playing international cricket etc. The only way you get better is by practising, mostly in the nets. If you move becase you're not getting the support, that is, of course, fair enough, but if so it reflects terribly on whatever county is involved.

Absolute rubbish.

 

[Prince EWS]

I definitely support North's selection in the team, but I can't agree that he's a better batsman than Hodge. I'm in favour of being there because, despite obviously being primarily a batsman, he's a genuine fifth bowler these days as well IMO. Katich is a good partnership breaker but if we need someone to get through a fair number of overs as the fifth bowler, I think North at 6 really complements the four quicks well.

Two wickets.

 

[pasag]

As you know, I disagree that you get better by gaining experience of playing for a county, playing international cricket etc.

wat