*Official* Sri Lanka in Australia 2010

[Jarquis]

Your point?

The fact is that IF he was better than any Australian, Englishman, etc etc then we are at a truly low ebb

Well he's "little better than a club bowler" but is still better than everything Australia has to offer?

Does not compute.

 

[Migara]

Nope

He's a moderately accurate, in-ducker who bowls at medium pace from no great height

If he is (or was) the best ODI bowler in the world then it's no more than a sorry reflection on today's standards irrespective of the conditions

You have a point there. But he was better than what Aussies had for last two years. The points in ranking is about 700 for top ODI players now. It used to be 770+ for McGraths and Murali during their times. So I'd agree with the general decline of bowling quality.

 

[vcs]

I rate Kulasekara. Smart bowler. Wish some of our guys had half his brains and accuracy.

 

[Faisal1985]

edit: wrong thread.

 

[howardj]

Could well see an Australian bowling attack tomorrow that consists of Johnson, Starc, Hastings, Doherty and Hauritz. Will just top myself now and be done with it.

.

I doubt that.

They'll probably randomly rest Johnson and call in Luke Feldman to take new ball.

You know, as Clapo says, it's all about preparing for the World Cup....while Rome burns.

The difference between resting guys leading up to the last few WCups and this WCup is that back then we had an established stable of stars (Lee, Hayden, McGrath, Gilchrist, Symonds etc etc) and we knew what our best side was.

By contrast, this time around...

 

[sifter132]

Well if he can be the best in the world he was clearly better than everything Australia had to offer at that point in time as well...

He's hardly an impressive #1. Kulasekara got to #1 in the world after a good period between April 2008 (where he was #83 in the rankings) and Sep 2009 (when he went #1). In that time he played 3 ODIs in WI, 9 in Pak, 17 in SL, 4 in Zim, 3 in Ban and then he went in the 2009 Champions Trophy as #1.
Here's what he did in those 17 months:
Bowling records | One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | Cricinfo.com

It shows serious problems when a guy can go from #83 to #1 in just over a year without being tested against or in SA, Aus or Eng. And the head to head stats show that in that period he did very well v Pak, but just OK v Ind and dominated the small fish.

But the guys basically a good subcontinent bowler because that's the only place he plays. Since Apr 2008, 42 of his 57 ODIs have been in Asia.

The real reason he went to #1 though was lack of competition from anyone else. Bond, Bracken and Lee were injured. Vaas retired. Here's the top 5 ODI bowlers from April 2008:
1 790 D.L. Vettori
2 770 N.W. Bracken
3 736 S.E. Bond
4 699 W.P.U.J.C. Vaas
5 684 K.D. Mills

And the top 5 from Sep 2009:
1 715 K.M.D.N. Kulasekara
2 694 D.L. Vettori
3 685 K.D. Mills
4 674 Shakib Al Hasan
5 663 M.G. Johnson

 

[Prince EWS]

Good grief, that is so ridiculous

The guy is little better than a very good club bowler - he'd be lucky to average less than 40 in any half reasonable fc comp and wouldnt get a game in OZ even in its hopelessly degraded state

While this is definitely a debatable point as far as four-day cricket goes, he's an excellent one day bowler. He averages under 29 in ODIs and goes for just 4.54 runs per over - he puts our current one day attack to shame. He doesn't look much, but he's extremely effective in one day cricket.

Also, I reckon WA would take him in their Shield team. Not that that says much at the moment, but still.

 

[Jarquis]

I never said he was an impressive number one, just better than what Australia had to offer.

 

[Burgey]

I doubt that.

They'll probably randomly rest Johnson and call in Luke Feldman to take new ball.

You know, as Clapo says, it's all about preparing for the World Cup....while Rome burns.

The difference between resting guys leading up to the last few WCups and this WCup is that back then we had an established stable of stars (Lee, Hayden, McGrath, Gilchrist, Symonds etc etc) and we knew what our best side was.

By contrast, this time around...

Nah, you're worrying too much about the ODI team I think. It'll go well in the WC. Will probably lose a match, which I know is hard to believe, but they'll still do ok.

Just need to get rid of all the Victorians. Should be only White, he's the ODI quota of one for Victoria.

On a more serious note, can someone explain to me how Siddle seemed to have perfect seam position the other night (it was a thing of beauty, really) yet even in his first spell didn't seem to swing it at all? I'd have thought he'd have gotten some decent movement with the white ball.

Then again I missed his first couple of overs tbh, so maybe he did then.

 

[Furball]

You need to pitch the ball up to get it to swing.

 

[Prince EWS]

Nah, you're worrying too much about the ODI team I think. It'll go well in the WC. Will probably lose a match, which I know is hard to believe, but they'll still do ok.

Just need to get rid of all the Victorians. Should be only White, he's the ODI quota of one for Victoria.

On a more serious note, can someone explain to me how Siddle seemed to have perfect seam position the other night (it was a thing of beauty, really) yet even in his first spell didn't seem to swing it at all? I'd have thought he'd have gotten some decent movement with the white ball.

Then again I missed his first couple of overs tbh, so maybe he did then.

He had the perfect seam position for seam bowling - it was dead upright. It's not going to swing much like that though; he wasn't ****ing his wrist either way to get the seam going for either an inswinger or an outswinger. Plus, as Furball suggested, he bowled every ball in his own half.

 

[Ruckus]

Hmm no doherty... interesting. Pretty unfair really.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hmm no doherty... interesting. Pretty unfair really.

Dire as.

Direr still is the fact that Johnson and Siddle will both be playing again.

 

[Top_Cat]

He'd have come into the side under the impression Hauritz is number 1, though. Not a surprise they'd rotate him out, especially since Hauritz is obviously in the world cup and Test plans so needs to play as much as he can.

Would have been interesting to see who missed out had Marsh not been injured.

 

[Spark]

What's the bloke need to do to get a game?

However he had indicated he fully expected to be dropped, so...

 

[Oscillatingmind]

I think its a bummer because the x did good, but you have to let Hauritz back in, both of them win from this, the x knows he's up to the standard and should gain confidence, and Hauritz knows he's backed and should get confidence from it.

 

[Noble One]

What a terrible decision to leave Doherty out. I know the reasoning, but it doesn't make the move any better.

 

[Ruckus]

Not a surprise they'd rotate him out, especially since Hauritz is obviously in the world cup and Test plans so needs to play as much as he can.

Yeh I think its good considering that the selectors are conservative bastards and Hauritz is almost certainly going to play in the Ashes. This should give him some useful practice, especially since he bowled almost no overs the last NSW game.

Got to feel for Doherty though. As Spark said, what the heck does he have to do to get another go?

 

[Top_Cat]

Got to feel for Doherty though. As Spark said, what the heck does he have to do to get another go?

Sorta the point, I guess. He's guaranteed that should an opportunity come up, he will get another go. For now, Haureh is in front (and deserves it) but should that change, the Aussies have another option who's got form behind him. Don't think Doherty would be feeling all that down. Quite the opposite, I'd guess.

 

[TT Boy]

8th ODI in Aus for Tharanga, averages less than 10 there.