*Official* First Test at the Gabba

[NUFAN]

Awesome display from Cook today. I didn't think he had it in him batting out the full day. I was also very impressed with Trott, I think he is a fantastic cricketer who is quite capable of averaging close to 50 for his entire career.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah but Strauss's catch around 70 odd runs and then i think it was Trott the one Clarke couldn't hang on.....then 1 went towards Sid as well which was not an easy chance but still....i would say if Aussies would have pulled off 3 wickets today they would be still in the hunt to knock England out early enough to chase down lets say at its best 200-250 runs in 60 odd overs....

Catching is a part of cricket though. Dropping catches doesn't make you an unlucky side; it makes you a **** one.

 

[vcs]

Yes and those guys are good. However, what is especially worrying regarding the quality of bowling attacks if we look at the 2 most recent subcontinental series are 200s by McCullums, 300s by Gayles and 100s by Tim Mcintoshes.

Yep absolutely. Conceding a hundred (and fifty) to McIntosh, with all due respect, was fairly dire. Thankfully we righted that in the last game. Gayle and McCullum did very well though.

 

[Son Of Coco]

On all 4 days especially given the quality of the bowling on show.

Nah, don't agree. Was more in it the first couple of days. Early yesterday England bowled well on it too. The fact we got away with having 1 decent bowler the first day and still rolled England for 260 points to there being a little there.

Has flattened out a little, and all our bowlers have been poor today.

Agree with Goughy though, it might be more to do with the quality of the bowling that it's looking so flat today.

 

[Faisal1985]

Well point out on what points you disagree with and I'll reply.

1/300 is laughable by any stretch, and its not 100% down to great batting or poor bowling. You can't just put it down to that at all.

Yeah but poor fielding should count...at least 3 catches came Strauss and Trott ..Sid's chance was tough...but that counts too for Australian standards...and KP sometimes is just a passenger..

 

[Faisal1985]

Catching is a part of cricket though. Dropping catches doesn't make you an unlucky side; it makes you a **** one.

When did i say Aussies were unlucky?

 

[Ruckus]

I was also very impressed with Trott, I think he is a fantastic cricketer who is quite capable of averaging close to 50 for his entire career.

Yeh I totally agree. Looks like one of the few batsmen who will really thrive in test cricket and average a fair bit above their FC average.

 

[Prince EWS]

When did i say Aussies were unlucky?

Just hate it when it's used as a mitigating circumstance. The "we actually played really well but dropped six catches so we'll be right next time" argument is one of the worst attitudes in cricket. Not saying you were saying that.. just felt compelled to point it out.

 

[Jono]

Yeah but poor fielding should count...at least 3 catches came Strauss and Trott ..Sid's chance was tough...but that counts too for Australian standards...and KP sometimes is just a passenger..

Meh, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan dropped plenty of catches in their recent series. Pitches were still a joke.

 

[tooextracool]

Nah, don't agree. Was more in it the first couple of days. Early yesterday England bowled well on it too. The fact we got away with having 1 decent bowler the first day and still rolled England for 260 points to there being a little there.

Has flattened out a little, and all our bowlers have been poor today.

Agree with Goughy though, it might be more to do with the quality of the bowling that it's looking so flat today.

Little more than today yes, I agree. But 260 on Day 1 was an incredibly poor batting performance to a bowling lineup that essentially had one bowler sending down test class deliveries.

 

[Spark]

Catching is a part of cricket though. Dropping catches doesn't make you an unlucky side; it makes you a **** one.

Agree. The Clarke drop aside they all would've been taken 5 years ago and should've been taken. That more than anything is a massive sign of our decline, the fact that we only really have four really good fielders in the team (Ponting, Clarke, Hussey and North).

It's not bad luck for the fielding side if you drop catches you should take, it's **** cricket. It's certainly good luck for the batting team, though.

 

[Faisal1985]

Just hate it when it's used as a mitigating circumstance. The "we actually played really well but dropped six catches so we'll be right next time" argument is one of the worst attitudes in cricket. Not saying you were saying that.. just felt compelled to point it out.

Trust me us Pakistanis we are experts for dropped catches arguments .....and ofcourse its only there fault that they didn't take them...

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Just hate it when it's used as a mitigating circumstance. The "we actually played really well but dropped six catches so we'll be right next time" argument is one of the worst attitudes in cricket. Not saying you were saying that.. just felt compelled to point it out.

By that logic, if those six catches had no bearing on the quality of play, then 1-310 is an equally deserved result to 7-310? Or is one more undeserved than the other?

 

[Faisal1985]

Meh, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan dropped plenty of catches in their recent series. Pitches were still a joke.

The Pak series in Australia didn't look like flat tracks to me.

 

[GotSpin]

Thought Hilfenhaus bowled a lot better in the final session. He really suffered from Ponting's 7-2 field as his general line is pretty straight, but he was moving it both ways and had some decent areas.

 

[Jono]

Ponting didn't have a mid wicket for so much of today's play. Was very odd.

 

[Top_Cat]

Hope Johnson's enjoying his last Test in a while. Matter of time before the hummers he's obviously giving Ponting to keep his place start to chafe.

 

[GotSpin]

Ponting didn't have a mid wicket for so much of today's play. Was very odd.

Yeah didn't get it. Ponting was unusually attacking for most of the day, except he forgot a midwicket. Feel Hilf suffered the most because of it since he generally bowls a straighter line to the lefties

 

[iamdavid]

Australia to find a way to lose this match. North and Johnson to play pivotal roles.

 

[Xuhaib]

The Pak series in Australia didn't look like flat tracks to me.

when you have Faisal and Farhat in your line up any track will look like a minefield.