Absolutely.
Seriously do not get the calls for his head. I may be somewhat bias, but the bloke has only ONCE averaged more than about 32 in all series since Mid 2008. In all series since 2008, he has been either the equal top, or equal 2nd wicket-taker bar the series vs WI in WI, and vs Pakistan in England, for Australia. He may leak runs, he may look poor at times, but he picks up wickets far more often than any other bowler we have at the moment other than Bollinger.
I don't like England's chances if their strategy is to play for a draw and hold out like they did at the end of today's play. This is one of those pitches were staying around and blocking too many balls isn't a great idea. Haddin and Hussey got away with it, but they had their fair share of close shaves. The only way I can see England suceeding here is by going for the win by quickly erasing the deficit, and putting up a decent total for Australia to chase on day 5. Otherwise, If the weather holds out for the last two days, that's a hell of a long time for England to try and be defensive.
I'm not quite convinced - I think it was the conditions easing, considering Broad, Finn and Swann all began getting smashed at the same time. Anderson didn't take that long to follow after (and even sometimes during) his second spell.
The thing is, he did - and it cost him, because he didn't account for the decreased bounce and lateral movement of an old ball and drying deck that made Haddin's drives much less risky. He kept hitting the same spot, only with less bounce and more predictable movement.Spark said:
England couldnt draw or win the game tonight, but they could have lost it. Given the state of play they did precisely the right thing tonight.
Come sit on my couch, ****.
Yeah, exactly. It was a good mini-session for them, a very tricky one to negotiate (15 overs or so). I certainly thought they would lose atleast one wicket, if not two before close of play, but barring the first delivery, there weren't too many scares TBH.
I think it's a bit of both. The conditions definately did get better when the sun started shining, but at the same time the English bowlers became pretty despondent after Haddin and Hussey started gaining momentum. When Strauss and Cook came out to bat at the end, suddenly the Australian bowlers were doing much more with the ball (which just shows a lot of the more innocuous bowling was probably due to despondency and fatigue).
Still stand by this comment tbh
One swallow doesn't make a summer
And the fact the Aussies had a new ball in their hand and that we had one mauled by a dog had nothing to do with it.
You really think they needed another Steyn on their performance?
I don't know about that. If their strategy is just to play at a normal pace, I didn't really see much point in them trying to simply block deliveries until the close of play today. The morning session is going to be more difficult so if anything I think they have wasted a bit of an opportunity to put up some runs in relatively mild conditions.
