*Official* Australia vs Pakistan in England

[morgieb]

WTF just happened to our batting?

 

[nightprowler10]

If Pak manage 300 here the game is over.

That's what you said the last time you ****.

 

[Sir Alex]

Gul used to be a very good test bowler too.. Back in 2004, he destroyed the mighty Indian batting that Sir Alex was talking about...and since I consider that batting to be the best, I thought it was a phenomenal acheivement. But he got injured.

Then he had a great series against West Indies at home in 2006.
But since then, he has looked pretty flat in test cricket.

The last two test matches should he is finding his rhythm and confidence back. Lets hope he can maintain it this time

Yes, I still remember that test. He just came for the one match, won it for Pakistan and got injured. We wrapped up the next match by innings if i recollect right.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Reckon people are just worried what it'll mean for subsequent series'. There are other teams out there with slightly inferior bowling line-ups but far, far superior batting line-ups who would do (and have done) similar damage to the batting but wouldn't let them off the hook afterwards. Winning the Sydney Test took a lot of typical Pakistani implosion, other sides won't be quite as generous even in home conditions.

Well what the last two batting collapses reflect is simply the fact that Australian batsmen are vulnerable against quality swing bowlers when the pitch offers them help. Now I dont think they are the only ones who have the vulnerability. However, since they are supposed to be the top test team or at least the second best test team in the world, they should not be all out for 80 odd just because the ball swung. This just explains why they lost the last two Ashes in England and repeatedly collapse against Pakistan in England. In 2005 it was Flintoff and Jones, in 2009 it was Broad and Anderson, now it is Asif, Aamer and Gul.


However, I dont think Aussie fans need to worry just as yet..the Ashes should not have this problem as the ball hardly seams around in Australia as it does in Headingly.
However, if they really want to avoid such collapses, they need to have proper openers. As talented as Shane Watson is, he is not a test opener. The problem with talented bits and pieces players is that they come and impress for a test or two, or maybe a series and everyone looks up to them to carry the mantle. No, it just doesnt work that way. When Australia dominated cricket for almost a decade, they had openers like Slater, Langer and Hayden. All proper batsmen. If India and South Africa are the best teams today, they have Sehwag, Gambhir and Smith.

Marcus North needs to go too.
Ponting..well I hear people talking about Tendulkar and Dravid being past their prime
If they are past their prime, I dont know what to say about Ponting

Yes, I still remember that test. He just came for the one match, won it for Pakistan and got injured. We wrapped up the next match by innings if i recollect right.

Yeah yeah...did you have to bring that up though?

 

[Black_Warrior]

If Pak manage 300 here the game is over.

No.

 

[Top_Cat]

Well what the last two batting collapses reflect is simply the fact that Australian batsmen are vulnerable against quality swing bowlers when the pitch offers them help. Now I dont think they are the only ones who have the vulnerability. However, since they are supposed to be the top test team or at least the second best test team in the world, they should not be all out for 80 odd just because the ball swung. This just explains why they lost the last two Ashes in England and repeatedly collapse against Pakistan in England. In 2005 it was Flintoff and Jones, in 2009 it was Broad and Anderson, now it is Asif, Aamer and Gul.

Yeah see the problem here is that you say they're vulnerable to quality swing bowling then provide examples which suggest they're vulnerable to any swing bowling! The difference is degree; against others, they might scrap to < 200, against Pakistan somewhere between 88 and 150. The problem remains; the Aussie batters have a problem against swingy/seamy conditions. Always have, always will mainly because they don't come up against it very often.

However, if they really want to avoid such collapses, they need to have proper openers. As talented as Shane Watson is, he is not a test opener. The problem with talented bits and pieces players is that they come and impress for a test or two, or maybe a series and everyone looks up to them to carry the mantle. No, it just doesnt work that way. When Australia dominated cricket for almost a decade, they had openers like Slater, Langer and Hayden. All proper batsmen. If India and South Africa are the best teams today, they have Sehwag, Gambhir and Smith.

Yeah but a few of those blokes are manufactured openers; Langer only ever dabbled in opening at any level when a real opener was absent, only taking on the job full-time in 2001. Sehwag, manufactured opener. Katich is a manufactured opener, as is Phil Jaques. It's one of those things; most blokes who play FC level cricket have the technique to bat anywhere in the line-up, it comes down whether they have the right mindset.

Personally, Watto's worth persisting with as opener for a while yet, hardly panic stations just yet as the conditions for both Tests have been quite bowler-friendly. But yeah, he's a bit expansive to be the long-term opener I reckon.

Marcus North needs to go too.
Ponting..well I hear people talking about Tendulkar and Dravid being past their prime

Personally, he's gotten a couple of good balls and a ripper of a catch in the last Test. Whether this'll impact significantly on his form, I dunno but being that his next series is hosting England at home, he's in with a decent chance of doing well.

 

[Faisal1985]

Just watched the highlights and what a bowling effort by Pak..some of those Asif deliveries were killers..but the 2 in 2 that Amir got were just bullets....

I am quite a fan of Pak cricket and quite a blind optimist too but i am not going to say anything just yet about the outcome of this game...surely there is a result in store but only Pak batting will tell what happens...if this pair can take us to lunch tomorrow....i will have some hope...

 

[social]

Good to see how Social is being as gracious as usual when things go wrong.

I'd love to know what batsmen he'd pick if this lot is so useless.

Nice troll

Read through my posts for the last 18 months and you'll find that I have consistently claimed that this Oz lineup is just another average lineup amongst a group of average teams and that there are holes which could/should have been filled by quality replacements

 

[Faisal1985]

He batted 5 in his 1st test against NZ - and then they moved him up to 3. I remember the commentators going on about how it was a terrible move - why would you move the guy after a great century on debut? Also his attacking mindset didn't go well at the number 3 position. Mind you, he was batting after Mohammed Yousuf in his first test. Politics in cracket - what a bitch ay?

Also there were stories how Kamran was complaining to Yousuf about destroying his brother's career by sending him 1 down...

If Yousuf was there then its a different thing..because Yousuf is a better batsman and he should take the 1 down spot but without him currently i think Umar Akmal should step up and take that spot...

 

[akilana]

These aren't flat-tracks. Once in a while every team collapse when the conditions are not too batsmen friendly.. India bowled out SA in SA under 100 and then SA bowled out India in India for 80 some runs. Every batting line up is prone to collapse. It's not just an Australian thing.

 

[Top_Cat]

These aren't flat-tracks. Once in a while every team collapse when the conditions are not too batsmen friendly.. India bowled out SA in SA under 100 and then SA bowled out India in India for 80 some runs. Every batting line up is prone to collapse. It's not just an Australian thing.

This is true but it's pretty impressive how many times this Aussie line-up has fallen in a heap over the past three years and probably not a coincidence that it's been in conditions where the ball's moving.

Pakistan's scoring rate would surely put paid to the idea it's a minefield anyway, yeah? Looks an even deck.

 

[Ikki]

Impressive? More like depressive

 

[Sir Alex]

Should Ponting open?

 

[pasag]

This series shows Aus are just crap in the UK in general, therefore England should get less (read: no) credit for their 2005 & 2009 wins

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well i did predict that pakistan would do this in England as they have a quality attack able to exploit the conditions and the Aussies are poor in English conditions as they don't have good techniques against swing.

Pakistan need to bat all day today and hope to win by an innings or they could choke again like they did down under.

 

[Burgey]

This series shows Aus are just crap in the UK in general, therefore England should get less (read: no) credit for their 2005 & 2009 wins

This.

They get zero credit for 05 anyway. Should be scrubbed from the record books.

 

[howardj]

We didn't make the hard calls on Hussey and North last summer.

Ponting should be under the microscope too, batting-wise.

 

[Spark]

We didn't make the hard calls on Hussey and North last summer.

Ponting should be under the microscope too, batting-wise.

Inclined to agree TBH.

 

[Burgey]

We didn't make the hard calls on Hussey and North last summer.

Ponting should be under the microscope too, batting-wise.

Time to start Moving Forward mate?

 

[howardj]

Time to start Moving Forward mate?

Exactly.

The selectors failed to take Real Action.