*Official* First Test at Swalec Stadium, Cardiff

[Matt79]

Martyn, if you send me your bank account details via pm, I'll start up the collection to help pay for the therapy you're going to need by the time this is over.

 

[Johnners]

Think a lot of you are going to be shocked when Hauritz is named in the XI with Stuey 12th this Wednesday. I think there's no way Aus will go into the Test with 4 quicks.

Won't be surprised, just extremely disappointed, and I'm one of the few on these forums that actually likes Haurtiz.

 

[howardj]

Nathan Hauritz

Four Tests

14 wickets @ 31

Economy rate of 2.70 per over.

And, as your only specialist spinner, he won't get a game at the spin-friendly Cardiff?

It beggars belief.

 

[FBU]

I think Hauritz will play as Ponting had a proud smile on his face when our batsmen were just playing for stumps and didn't go after his bowling. Ponting probably reckons that the more bowling Hauritz does the better he will become. As it is he considers him equal to Swann.

I can see Watson coming into the 3rd Test after playing in the warm up match against Northants and McDonald having a nice holiday.

 

[aussie]

Nathan Hauritz

Four Tests

14 wickets @ 31

Economy rate of 2.70 per over.

And, as your only specialist spinner, he won't get a game at the spin-friendly Cardiff?

It beggars belief.

If your spinner aint good enough to be a wicket-taking option, on a spin friendly deck. Its a waste of time playing him. See Giles OT 05

If the pitch is going to turn (although i am not 100% buying this talk, that is making Cardiff sound like a sub-continent turner). Surely that means reverse swing will come into play?.

Lee already shows he back to the WI 08 level. Siddle as we saw in Sydney recently will run in hard on flat deck & could get some dangerous yorkers & i'm in the camp that is backing Clark to step up IF selected.

AUS just have to accept they have no test quality spinner & back their strenghts.

But i'm gonna say it now. There is STRONG possibility that the many worries about the ENG batsmen not facing top quality bowling since last summer, they could be exposed by AUS pace trio. Thus IF Hauritz plays and is economical, the stupid selectors again will see this as "he has done his job".

 

[Craig]

What a fall from grace for Stuart Clark.

 

[tooextracool]

Nathan Hauritz

Four Tests

14 wickets @ 31

Economy rate of 2.70 per over.

And, as your only specialist spinner, he won't get a game at the spin-friendly Cardiff?

It beggars belief.

Theres no point just blindly looking at someones bowling record. Hauritz performed poorly in almost all of those tests in which he took wickets in, in one of them he was instrumental in costing his team the entire game and was also outperformed by a part timer (who is still available to them). The fact that he averages nearly 50 in FC cricket is a better indication of his abilities, and perhaps a wonder as to whether we have ever seen a specialist bowler with a worse FC record play international cricket for one of the top teams.

 

[social]

Theres no point just blindly looking at someones bowling record. Hauritz performed poorly in almost all of those tests in which he took wickets in, in one of them he was instrumental in costing his team the entire game and was also outperformed by a part timer (who is still available to them). The fact that he averages nearly 50 in FC cricket is a better indication of his abilities, and perhaps a wonder as to whether we have ever seen a specialist bowler with a worse FC record play international cricket for one of the top teams.

Simply not correct

The only times where Hauritz has performed below expectations were in the second innings of his first test (and even then he wasnt horrible) and in the Sydney test vs SA (where he was)

Apart from that, he's been adequate to quite good

BTW, Aussie batsmen lost us his first test not Hauritz

 

[DingDong]

Aussie bowling attack is sooo weak. Hauritz is a joke among international cricketers.

 

[tooextracool]

BTW, Aussie batsmen lost us his first test not Hauritz

Err no, that is just patently false. He bowled on a wicket that turned square,and in the 2nd innings of the match took 2/87 at over 4 an over. Forget that, he was targeted by Laxman and Tendulkar on a pitch where as the lead spinner he should have at least managed to restrict the scoring if anything on a raging turning but instead ended up conceding almost half of India's total for the innings. This 2/87 remember came when a part timer came in and took 6/9. If that isnt a match losing performance, Im not sure if there will ever be one by a bowler.

 

[inbox24]

In hindsight they should have probably given McGain another shot. The guy only got one opportunity and sure he got hammered but so did Shane Warne in his first couple of tests. He should have been in the squad at least and gotten a chance to prove himself in the warmups being a much more attacking bowler than Hauritz.

 

[social]

Err no, that is just patently false. He bowled on a wicket that turned square,and in the 2nd innings of the match took 2/87 at over 4 an over. Forget that, he was targeted by Laxman and Tendulkar on a pitch where as the lead spinner he should have at least managed to restrict the scoring if anything on a raging turning but instead ended up conceding almost half of India's total for the innings. This 2/87 remember came when a part timer came in and took 6/9. If that isnt a match losing performance, Im not sure if there will ever be one by a bowler.

Australia lost chasing 106 for victory and it's a debutant bowler's fault bwuhahahahahahah

 

[Top_Cat]

Have to agree. Hauritz may have not been terribly penetrative and certainly Aus were chasing more runs than they would have liked but the Aussie batting let them down badly in that match. Laxman and Sachin showed the pitch wasn't that bad and no way should they have failed to chase just over 100 to win on that deck.

 

[Nate]

The Crayfish is on the cusp of a 5-fer against Pakistan A aws.

So excited for the First Test. Will get right behind Australia regardless of the XI. But sweriously, play Clark.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Aussie bowling attack is sooo weak. Hauritz is a joke among international cricketers.

 

[inbox24]

Lee in doubt for Cardiff with rib problem | Cricket News | The Ashes - England v Australia 2009 | Cricinfo.com

With no disrespect to Hilfenhaus, it looks more likely that Hauritz will play.

 

[Matt79]

Bummer. He was looking good too. Hope we don't fall into the trap of playing unfit bowlers.

 

[NUFAN]

I'm so blind I read the word rib as nb (no ball) was thinking that's an odd reason to be in doubt.

 

[zaremba]

Cardiff weather - latest forecasts

BBC:

Wednesday

• Sunny Intervals
• Max: 21°C 70°F

Thursday

• Sunny Intervals
• Max: 20°C 68°F

Met Office:

Wed
19°C

Thur
20°C

Google:

Wed

16°C | 9°C

Thu

15°C | 9°C



Fingers crossed that Google has got it wrong.

 

[four_or_six]

A few showers wouldn't be too bad, as long as it's not torrential. Make it better for the bowlers, and also more likely we'll play Onions which I think is the way we should go anyway.

After the OTT abuse that we have had over the years about Ashley Giles, I'm glad to see Hauritz lined up to play. I will be interested to see if he can outperform Giles's 2005 effort.