*Official Third Test at Edgbaston

[Pigeon]

St Ricky gets booed by an English crowd. Boo ****ing hoo. Never see rowdy behaviour from the crowds in Oz do we?

Just because some bogans in Australia do it, should never be a justification for the English crowd to repeat the same. That was patently disgraceful sportsmanship from the crowd.

 

[Pigeon]

, it was Swann's standard off-break and Ricky did himself with an amatuerish mistake. That's about it.

It was a good delivery but a better player of spin would have smothered it. Ricky's deficiency in his defence against spin in favorable conditions once again was evident in that dismissal. It reminded me greatly of the way Harbhajan had his number in 3 consecutive visits to India.

 

[heathrf1974]

The Aussies are struggling to handle the English conditions, especially in bowling department. The English are swinging the ball with control comfortably, however, the Aussies are less consistent. I think Australia will lose the ashes unless we have some dry and warmer weather conditions in the last two tests to negate the swing, which is unlikely.

 

[Pigeon]

Treated terribly here early on. Far better on his last tour tbh.

I don't really agree. He had to endure a couple of eggs thrown at him and abused racially.

 

[Pigeon]

Even in terms of current form (meaning more than just this series)

Katich > Strauss, Clarke > Pietersen, Johnson > Flintoff and definitely Haddin > Prior.

Nope. Katich = Strauss, Clarke < Pietersen (except in the subcontinetn), Johnson < Flintoff (Is this a joke?) and Prior >> Haddin

 

[heathrf1974]

The Aussies always say it about our boys so it is nice to return the favor. This is the worst Aussie team to visit our shores since I started watching cricket.

I dont know what it says about England but it is what it is

The 1985 Aussie team was pretty ordinary as well.

 

[Pigeon]

On recent form, how would you argue otherwise?

Last 3 years:

Clarke: 58.25

Pietersen: 51.30

Thank you, and come again.

Mostly on account of performances on Australian roads. Averages 73 at home as against 42 overseas. Thank you mate. Pietersen is easily the more reliable player.

And Prior averages 46 against Haddin's 41.8.

 

[pasag]

To quote Smith re:this thread; tl, dr.

 

[Top_Cat]

Nope. Katich = Strauss, Clarke < Pietersen (except in the subcontinetn), Johnson < Flintoff (Is this a joke?) and Prior >> Haddin

Same question.

For the record, disagree with Katich = Strauss. It's not always how or even how many it's sometimes when. For mine, Strauss's runs have hurt Aus way more than Katich's have hurt England.

 

[Top_Cat]

To quote Smith re:this thread; tl, dr.

tl, dr = It's terminal, doctor

?

 

[Pigeon]

er what? Watson could get into the English side as a pure bat and a pure bowler alone. If Stuart Broad is there, half the known world could. Flintoff wouldn't get into the Aussie side as either.

Ridiculous.

What does Wato avg in test cricket, again?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

tl, dr = It's terminal, doctor

?

Too long; didn't read.

 

[social]

Siddle is a trier, but doesnt have to tools to be the worlds best bowler, he is above average pace, fairly accurate, occasional swing and firey temperament. Hughes has to show that he can score runs at Test level on more than one type of pitch, he has failed when the ball showed the slightest bit of sideways movement. Johnson is no doubt a great talent, and has all the attributes to be one of the worlds best.

Bopara is no doubt a great talent, but he seems to so far lack the metal attributes to hang with the worlds best.
Bell also has great talent, that cannot be denied - however it doesn't seem he will ever fulfil his potential. Just doesnt score enough runs.
Broad has just gone 23.He is nearly 2 years younger than Peter Siddle, bowls around the same pace, gets more bounce and is a far superior batsmen. At the moment he is nowhere near as good a bowler as Siddle, but he could be. He has more raw ability to boot.

Cook is a 24 year old with 3430 runs at 44.5 in test cricket. Not sure how he is average - thats above average already with room to improve.

As you said before, being biased towards our respective countries we are inclined to believe in our players more. To be honest i see our boys as above average at best and your players as being the same. Neither will amount to superstars.

You obviously didnt see the wickets in SA if you say "Hughes has to show that he can score runs at Test level on more than one type of pitch, he has failed when the ball showed the slightest bit of sideways movement" - the wickets were very conducive to seam bowling

And Bopara is not "a great talent". He is an average player with an average technique that has been exposed by 2 of 3 test teams that he has played against

However, I do see the 2 teams as being evenly matched, mainly because of injuries and the decline of Ponting - the shot he played yesterday was simply woeful

 

[social]

It was a good delivery but a better player of spin would have smothered it. Ricky's deficiency in his defence against spin in favorable conditions once again was evident in that dismissal. It reminded me greatly of the way Harbhajan had his number in 3 consecutive visits to India.

It was a woeful stroke but says more about Ponting's decline than about Harby in India

Ponting has murdered bowlers like Swann everywhere (bar India) for the better part of a decade but is simply not the player he was and that has been evident for about 18 months

 

[Top_Cat]

You obviously didnt see the wickets in SA if you say "Hughes has to show that he can score runs at Test level on more than one type of pitch, he has failed when the ball showed the slightest bit of sideways movement" - the wickets were very conducive to seam bowling

And spin. Paul Harris (FFS) was ripping them square in the second Test (Port Elizabeth?).

 

[pup11]

I raised this issue before as well and the point still seems pretty valid to me...

In this series the major difference between both the sides has been that, England have played like a team, where all of them have backed each other's effort, whereas on the other hand Australia have just failed to perform collectively.

When you look at the list of the leading run-scorers and wickets-takers, there are plenty of Australians right up there on that list, but still they already find themselves 1-0 down in this series, and are now in danger of going down 2-0 in this series by the end of the day, which kind of backs my claim.

There have been times when Australian team have played some excellent cricket with both bat and ball, and then there have been session or patches where they have extremely flat or below par, and there they have handed England the initiative, and to England's credit they have been consistent and made Australia pay for any drop in intensity.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

The biggest thing missing this series for Australia has been bowling partnerships. There's always been someone letting the pressure off at the other end. It's no secret that our best bowling period of the series was yesterday when Johnson and Hilf really turned it on.

 

[social]

Mostly on account of performances on Australian roads. Averages 73 at home as against 42 overseas. Thank you mate. Pietersen is easily the more reliable player.

And Prior averages 46 against Haddin's 41.8.

As much as I cant stand Clarke as a person, at worst he is equal to KP these days

It's the guys that he is surrounded by that is the problem

 

[social]

The biggest thing missing this series for Australia has been bowling partnerships. There's always been someone letting the pressure off at the other end. It's no secret that our best bowling period of the series was yesterday when Johnson and Hilf really turned it on.

And that's why it's been such a monumental ****-up not to pick Clark

Even if he isnt the bowler that he was (and we have no evidence of that), we know that he is going to bowl incredibly accurately and in a style that suits English conditions

With him, you'd only need to worry about who was going to bowl at the other end rather than having Ponting scratching his head and not having a clue as to who to turn to

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

And that's why it's been such a monumental ****-up not to pick Clark

Even if he isnt the bowler that he was (and we have no evidence of that), we know that he is going to bowl incredibly accurately and in a style that suits English conditions

With him, you'd only need to worry about who was going to bowl at the other end rather than having Ponting scratching his head and not having a clue as to who to turn to

Yep exactly, that's Clark's biggest asset to the team at the moment, pressure building. He gives nothing away and bowls good lines, regardless of whether his skill has diminished or not or his pace is down. He may not take consistent wickets like he did at his peak a few years back but he gives you leeway and not a release valve at the other end.