Yeah, give me maestro Watto any old day. At least he acquires his piles of nothing quickly.Doing great guns aws.
Clarke has been batting slowly for far too long, but with individual matches, you must look at the individual conditions and although it is not a minefield, Clarke is playing a vital role by sticking in there today and so should not be lambasted for that.It's quite obviously not a mine field, Ponting is ticking along quite nicely out there. It would make sense if it were just Clarke playing to the conditions but it's been near enough each and every match this series, where he's come into bad and done nothing for a great deal of time. Striking at around 30-35 for any substantial period really isn't good enough.
It's not just today that Clarke has only been plodding along though. Bar a select few innings, he's barely been able to hit a gap to save himself over the last 12 monthsReally not getting the Clarke hate, he is doing a job today. Sure, if he gets out now, it'll be for nothing but if he got out straight away and they were 17/3, it could have been very difficult for Australia to recover. This pitch is very lively and he is hanging in their.
Bresnan though, is not an ODI first change bowler and England must realise that. Bresnan over Dimi for this game was a totally wrong decision, imo - Dimi is the better ODI batsman and bowler, imo.
Yep, at 2-14, the ball swinging and with the all-time middle order of the in-form Hussey, White and Hopes, he should have blazed away from ball one.Looks like we're in for yet another 'Clarke day' if you know what I mean.
At the start of the innings, yeah, you can go slowly. But what's the excuse now? 20 overs in, Ponting scoring well, yet as we've seen in this over, Clarke's hit pretty much every ball straight to a fielder. He just can't seem to pick any gaps and it not only slows down the innings but must be placing pressure on the guy at the other end.Yep, at 2-14, the ball swinging and with the all-time middle order of the in-form Hussey, White and Hopes, he should have blazed away from ball one.
I am not saying it is a bad thing that he scores slowly. I have actually been a proponent of Clarke amongst all this recent hate.Yep, at 2-14, the ball swinging and with the all-time middle order of the in-form Hussey, White and Hopes, he should have blazed away from ball one.
Yes, I acknowledged above (no doubt you couldn't have seen that though, I accept) that Clarke has been batting too slowly overall for the past 12 months but that today can not be added to such a statistic as he is batting appropriately for the circumstances, especially if he bats for several more overs and ends up striking at 70-80odd.It's not just today that Clarke has only been plodding along though. Bar a select few innings, he's barely been able to hit a gap to save himself over the last 12 months![]()
Clarke is in poor form, I accept that, but as is Hussey (in next), and although White is in good form, Hopes is not the most accomplished ODI batsman and therefore by keeping his wicket in tact, he is helping the team greatly by preventing a future collapse. Moreover, Ponting has batting excellently today and it is unreasonable to expect a currently good (not great) ODI player who is out of form to emulate such batting. One can visibly see the ball assisting the bowlers and few can deny that.Given that Ponting is scoring at 80, you really can't use the pitch/conditions as an excuse today.