*Official* First Test at the Gabba

[Jarquis]

No.

Just no.

Think Prior is a victim of your "not long enough to be proven not to be a sustained purple patch" theory. He's been a good keeper for a while now, regardless of how rank he was at the start.

 

[GotSpin]

I really don't know how Johnson has so much pressure on him after one bad match. If you told me I could choose to kick one player out of the Australian side, it would be him. Ponting's handling of the situation today has been very poor.

He's averaging over 37 for this year...with a SR over 60. Not to mention a liability with bat and ball now

 

[Prince EWS]

He was still in the team for longer than he should have been.

Haha, how do you make that?

I actually agree, but only because I think Hauritz's current Test record should read "yet to debut" and that he should've spent the last two summers batting four for R/P. His performances in Tests were a pleasant surprise though - he over-performed for quite some time and, every time he's had a bad series, he's been dropped. He was lucky to ever play a game but once he got there, the handling of him was pretty harsh.

 

[pup11]

Not like he was any good in England or India either, tbf. His efforts in both series look far better on paper than they were to watch.

Tbh, its only in the two series against the South Africans that Johnson has truly looked like a world class fast bowler, he was hostile and almost unplayble at times.
Apart from those two series Johnson hasn't produced anything like that against any of the other oppositions, most of the times he has taken wickets of nothing balls which have ended up giving him a more than flattering career record so far.
I think its high time that his contribution to the team is analyzed, he as a bowler is neither stopping the runs nor is he taking any wickets, and even as a batsman he is not living upto the promise he showed, so it would be insane if Johnson keeps his place for the next test at the cost someone like Bollinger, but having said that I would be very very surprised if Johnson gets dropped as the selectors see him as some sort of a world beater....

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Let's be honest with ourselves - it wouldn't have looked nearly as bad without the drop and the duck. But it really does call to mind how little he actually has contributed to the side since the '09 Ashes, and it's all been nicely summarized in a single shocking day. The case to drop him just became all that more visible to the everyday punter.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Yeah it's pretty clear Johnson needs to bowl a good 150 overs until he gets anything right. Unfortunately, we can't carry him until he does so.

So similar to Harmlessone.Trouble is he used to go back to Durham and do well and earn a recall and then bowl tripe again.

I liked Holding on Sky during lunch saying that he had heard that Johnson was supposed to be a great bowler but had never seen it himself and to be fair he knows a bit about great bowlers and is totally unbiased.

 

[Prince EWS]

Think Prior is a victim of your "not long enough to be proven not to be a sustained purple patch" theory. He's been a good keeper for a while now, regardless of how rank he was at the start.

Yeah, people thought the same thing about Kamran Akmal for a while as well...

Either way though, even given his "improvement", he's still not as good with the gloves as Haddin.

 

[Spark]

But he did drop it - and it was a proper drop, one that given the ability fielder and given the chance, should definitely have been taken - and he did get the duck. So the criticism follows.

 

[Shri]

So assuming this test ends in a draw who would the MotM be? Hussey or Cook?

 

[GotSpin]

Let's be honest with ourselves - it wouldn't have looked nearly as bad without the drop and the duck. But it really does call to mind how little he actually has contributed to the side since the '09 Ashes, and it's all been nicely summarized in a single shocking day. The case to drop him just became all that more visible to the everyday punter.

Not to the best way to draw attention to your bowling by getting a duck and dropping a sitter

 

[GotSpin]

So assuming this test ends in a draw who would the MotM be? Hussey or Cook?

Siddle?

 

[Prince EWS]

So assuming this test ends in a draw who would the MotM be? Hussey or Cook?

Well, Cook's not out yet. Depends. If he gets out first ball tomorrow, Hussey.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Think Prior is a victim of your "not long enough to be proven not to be a sustained purple patch" theory. He's been a good keeper for a while now, regardless of how rank he was at the start.

I'd go with that,he has made himself a decent keeper instead of the hardhanded backstop that he was before.The good thing is he seems eager to keep improving his keeping and his batting average would be higher if he wasn't such a selfless team man as he has got out going for quick runs chasing declarations loads of times when others would play for their average.

 

[GotSpin]

So similar to Harmlessone.Trouble is he used to go back to Durham and do well and earn a recall and then bowl tripe again.

I liked Holding on Sky during lunch saying that he had heard that Johnson was supposed to be a great bowler but had never seen it himself and to be fair he knows a bit about great bowlers and is totally unbiased.

Didn't hear that but it's a fair comment. When he's not in SA, Johnson just looks so non-threatening when he begins to spray it everywhere

 

[four_or_six]

He's averaging over 37 for this year...with a SR over 60. Not to mention a liability with bat and ball now

The guy took a five-wicket hall and scored a hundred in the match leading up to the test. And yet Ponting's refusal to bowl him for most of the first two sessions has put him under the microscope more than he would be. I think Ponting should have just given the ball to Siddle and Johnson early in the day and told them to get on with it.

 

[GotSpin]

The guy took a five-wicket hall and scored a hundred in the match leading up to the test. And yet Ponting's refusal to bowl him for most of the first two sessions has put him under the microscope more than he would be. I think Ponting should have just given the ball to Siddle and Johnson early in the day and told them to get on with it.

That's because he bowled tripe in the first innings. To suggest this has anything to do with Ponting is absurd.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Not to the best way to draw attention to your bowling by getting a duck and dropping a sitter

My point exactly. He only had one avenue to redeem himself and he pissed it away short and outside off-stump.

He's going to get brutally, shall we say, journo'd tomorrow.

 

[Spark]

My point exactly. He only had one avenue to redeem himself and he pissed it away short and outside off-stump.

He's going to get brutally, shall we say, journo'd tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

 

[Pizzorno]

Remember Adelaide 06. That's what i'll be saying to myself all day.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I really don't know how Johnson has so much pressure on him after one bad match. If you told me I could choose to kick one player out of the Australian side, it would be him. Ponting's handling of the situation today has been very poor.

Thought Ponting's captaincy was pretty ordinary today and I don't approach his skippering with high expectations. Was ball following for the most part.

Really think Oz need to get past this self-defeating "he can't play on once he's no longer captain" idea. Australia still need his runs, but he's not cutting the mustard as a captain any more. If his peers like Sachin, Lara and Dravid can return to the ranks after leading the side, why not Punter?