What should we do with Mitchell Johnson?

[Richard]

IDK about that, dropping a batsman for Watson wouldn't be a disaster - his injuries usually come from bowling as far as I know.

If Watson can't bowl, which is just about always eminently possible, then replacing anyone (North, Hussey, Hughes) with him makes precisely no sense whatsoever.

 

[social]

If Watson can't bowl, which is just about always eminently possible, then replacing anyone (North, Hussey, Hughes) with him makes precisely no sense whatsoever.

Unless you take form into the equation

 

[Richard]

Well Watson doesn't have any form guide because this is his first First-Class knock for yonks, North appears to be the sort of batsman for whom form is a non-existent concept, and Hussey (and, IMO, Hughes) is in good form.

So you can't really be taking form into the equation because none are equal.

 

[Arrow]

I always thought Johnson was a hack. Sure he had some success but in the long run his type always get exposed.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I always thought Johnson was a hack. Sure he had some success but in the long run his type always get exposed.

He hasn't been exposed, he's just bowled absolute ****. It's hard for a batsman to get on top of him when he can't reach it.

 

[four_or_six]

I'm surprised the Aussies have let this go on so long. I was at one of the T20 games, I'm hardly an expert but it looked to me then that Johnson was bowling total rubbish (yes, his figures were better than Lee, but Lee looked way better and just bowled a few loose balls). At the time, I thought he must be injured, but in retrospect maybe he was just horribly out of form.

 

[Pigeon]

Johnson Horror goes on and on. I don't think he has valid claim to retain his place for the Edgbastion test.

 

[inbox24]

Johnson is a testament to those who think cricket is a game played pens, paper and statistics.

[Chorus - Snoop Dogg]
When the pimp's in the crib ma
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot

 

[Pigeon]

Johnson is a testament to those who think cricket is a game played pens, paper and statistics.

[Chorus - Snoop Dogg]
When the pimp's in the crib ma
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot

As is Hughes I believe if that logic has to have any consistency.

 

[Richard]

I'm surprised the Aussies have let this go on so long. I was at one of the T20 games, I'm hardly an expert but it looked to me then that Johnson was bowling total rubbish (yes, his figures were better than Lee, but Lee looked way better and just bowled a few loose balls). At the time, I thought he must be injured, but in retrospect maybe he was just horribly out of form.

Anyone can bowl crap in Twenty20. The only signs that things are badly wrong for Johnson came in the vs England A game. Until then no-one could reasonably have been expected to have discerned any trouble.

You cannot drop someone on 1 bad Test, and you absolutely cannot drop them on a tour game. Whether you can drop them on 2 tour games and 2 Tests in which he's bowled absolute nonsense in all is a fairer question, but some Twenty20 is not. This upcoming Test is the first time there has been legitimate concern over his immediate performance, and rightly so.

 

[four_or_six]

Anyone can bowl crap in Twenty20. The only signs that things are badly wrong for Johnson came in the vs England A game. Until then no-one could reasonably have been expected to have discerned any trouble.

You cannot drop someone on 1 bad Test, and you absolutely cannot drop them on a tour game. Whether you can drop them on 2 tour games and 2 Tests in which he's bowled absolute nonsense in all is a fairer question, but some Twenty20 is not. This upcoming Test is the first time there has been legitimate concern over his immediate performance, and rightly so.

T20 isn't real bowling post 1078.

 

[Richard]

However monotonous me saying Twenty20 is meaningless to the proper game might get, I'll have to keep saying it people keep insisting on compartmentalising the two.

 

[four_or_six]

However monotonous me saying Twenty20 is meaningless to the proper game might get, I'll have to keep saying it people keep insisting on compartmentalising the two.

Yeah, it's not as if you can possibly get an idea of how someone's bowling by... watching them bowling.

 

[Richard]

How someone is bowling in a Twenty20 is no guide whatsoever to how they can or will bowl in a three\four\five-day game of cricket. There are so many differences I can't even be bothered to start. If you look at how someone's bowled - figures or no figures - in a Twenty20 and second-guess anything other than how they're going to bowl in the next Twenty20 you're really very much mistaken.

 

[four_or_six]

How someone is bowling in a Twenty20 is no guide whatsoever to how they can or will bowl in a three\four\five-day game of cricket. There are so many differences I can't even be bothered to start. If you look at how someone's bowled - figures or no figures - in a Twenty20 and second-guess anything other than how they're going to bowl in the next Twenty20 you're really very much mistaken.

You can watch a person bowl in a T20 and see their fluency, their speed, the repetiveness (or lack of) of their action, their body language and confidence, their accuracy, their level of fitness... all these things can give you some insight into their general bowling state.

I'm not in any way saying T20 bowling = first class bowling. But to suggest you can't look at a bowler in any match and have at least some idea about how they're travelling is quite closed-minded imo.

 

[Richard]

You can go to pieces in a Twenty20 because you've been slogged for 21 off 1 over, and this can keep going for the rest of that tournament. A good coach can then have a quiet chat with you, say "don't worry about that, just go and bowl as you did when you took 8-150 in your last First-Class match", and you then do exactly that.

Because someone is all over the place in the frenzy of a Twenty20 doesn't mean much to me.

 

[four_or_six]

You can go to pieces in a Twenty20 because you've been slogged for 21 off 1 over, and this can keep going for the rest of that tournament. A good coach can then have a quiet chat with you, say "don't worry about that, just go and bowl as you did when you took 8-150 in your last First-Class match", and you then do exactly that.

Because someone is all over the place in the frenzy of a Twenty20 doesn't mean much to me.

I'm not talking about being slogged and then losing it. It's more just the way he actually looked, from first ball to the last.

 

[Uppercut]

Anyone can bowl crap in Twenty20. The only signs that things are badly wrong for Johnson came in the vs England A game. Until then no-one could reasonably have been expected to have discerned any trouble.

You cannot drop someone on 1 bad Test, and you absolutely cannot drop them on a tour game. Whether you can drop them on 2 tour games and 2 Tests in which he's bowled absolute nonsense in all is a fairer question, but some Twenty20 is not. This upcoming Test is the first time there has been legitimate concern over his immediate performance, and rightly so.

However monotonous me saying Twenty20 is meaningless to the proper game might get, I'll have to keep saying it people keep insisting on compartmentalising the two.

How someone is bowling in a Twenty20 is no guide whatsoever to how they can or will bowl in a three\four\five-day game of cricket. There are so many differences I can't even be bothered to start. If you look at how someone's bowled - figures or no figures - in a Twenty20 and second-guess anything other than how they're going to bowl in the next Twenty20 you're really very much mistaken.

You can go to pieces in a Twenty20 because you've been slogged for 21 off 1 over, and this can keep going for the rest of that tournament. A good coach can then have a quiet chat with you, say "don't worry about that, just go and bowl as you did when you took 8-150 in your last First-Class match", and you then do exactly that.

Because someone is all over the place in the frenzy of a Twenty20 doesn't mean much to me.

Richard- stubbornly refuses to watch any Twenty20 games, yet still insists he knows all about them.

 

[GIMH]

f_o_s on the money for mine

 

[Richard]

Richard- stubbornly refuses to watch any Twenty20 games, yet still insists he knows all about them.

I don't know all about them - but I know plenty about how they differ from the real game, and I've watched enough to know that.