*Official* Fourth Test at the MCG

[Spark]

Who was calling for Hauritz to be replaced months and months ago? Some rusted-on folk like aussie aside, the only calls for his replacement really started after India. Hell, even PEWS was grudgingly picking him IIRC.

 

[Craig]

David Hussey at #6, tbh. Will have played plenty against all of our bowlers (team mate of Swanneh to boot), bowls little tweakers so ticks that box and has oodles of FC runs over many seasons at an average comfortably north of 50.

Yes he's not in the first flush of youth, but when the boiler blows up you want the boilermaker not an apprentice. If selectors were chosing a team with an eye on some potentially illusory future they want shooting. Although including a 31yo with a buggered knee suggests they weren't, so it's just incompetance probably.

Oh what I would give to have somebody like Dave Hussey playing for New Zealand. A middle order of Ryder, Taylor, Williamson, and the aforementioned Hussey, wow, that would be nice.

Crazy to think somebody of his ability will more then likely never play Tests for Australia They might have been rolled for 98 today, but they still have depth that a lot of countries can only wish that they have.

 

[Ruckus]

Who was calling for Hauritz to be replaced months and months ago? Some rusted-on folk like aussie aside, the only calls for his replacement really started after India. Hell, even PEWS was grudgingly picking him IIRC.

Na, many people hadn't been happy with his place in the side for a while. If India was the only problem, why would you want to drop someone after a bad performance in a two match series?

 

[Spark]

Why indeed? That's why his dropping was such a terrible decision. His performances in tests before that series had been more than satisfactory.

 

[Ruckus]

Why indeed? That's why his dropping was such a terrible decision. His performances in tests before that series had been more than satisfactory.

I just looked at his record, it was probably the series before in NZ which really started it. He had a poor series there, and then a poor one in India. I think it's also due to him not actually being as good as his record suggests in Australia. I recall him actually struggling a fair bit but picking up a lot of the tail later on against poor batting sides like WI and Pak.

 

[Spark]

He had one poor match. He bowled pretty well in the first test in really, really, really unhelpful conditions (flat pitch and a gale). In the end he wasn't really needed because the quicks bowled so well.

And perhaps he's not as good as the figures against Pakistan showed. He at least deserved a chance to prove that he was - or wasn't.

 

[Johnners]

 

[Redbacks]

An all time xi bowling attack couldn't save this batting unit!
We are ****ed

On the plus, to kill a mockingbird is on abc2

 

[Spikey]

dr who christmas special was pretty great

 

[Spikey]

and the calls for hauritz being dropped started after india. a few fools were demanding his dropping all last summer 'cause he didn't spin it enough or some silly reason, but the calls for his dropping by sensible people only started after india.

 

[Midwinter]

Why are so many people complaining about the bowling ?

It's the batting that's the problem. It has been all series and has been inconsistent for the last two - three years.

And it is worse now Katich is out.

 

[Jayzamann]

Why are so many people complaining about the bowling ?

It's the batting that's the problem.

awta, enormous elephant in the room there.

Thing is, it is people like Ponting and Clarke that for this series have been consistently ****. Disappointing from Clarke's perspective because he's completely gone off the reservation with his form, and while Ponting has been consistently below his par the past few seasons, he showed glimpses in India.

Perfect storm of playing **** and not having normal Australian conditions for most of the test matches. We don't deserve to win back the Ashes at all, really.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Lets face it no Australian could say hand on heart that the batting performance of today hasn't been coming.

Think it is a bit unfair to give Smith such a hard time but it is always fashionable to pick on the new kid rather than look at the real culprits in Ponting and Clarke. Still nothing will change though as these guys are champions and undroppable.

Completely agree.

As I said somewhere earlier (I think), I would've been more surprised if we'd have cruised to 450-500 than seeing us collapse like this. It's been on the cards for a while.

 

[Furball]

Hussey excepted, I don't think any of the top 6 could legitimately complain if they were dropped for Sydney.

 

[Spark]

Disagree massively. Ponting and Clarke would have had massive reasons to complain given what they've done in the past - and in Clarke's case the fairly recent past - especially given how Hussey has been treated for two years, and the results thereof.

This could change after the series, though, but they have enough in the bank to last 'til then at least.

 

[Redbacks]

Hussey excepted, I don't think any of the top 6 could legitimately complain if they were dropped for Sydney.

Watto, but the rest haven't delivered. Smith at 6 was dodgy from the word go. He might as well continue to play now as the revolving door policy is far from proving effective

 

[BoyBrumby]

Think Twatto would be harshly done by too. Not made a big one, but consistently made 50s in the series.

 

[Son Of Coco]

LOL I have certainly complained about them taking Tests away from the North West, but I still go and watch elsewhere. The thing is it's all well and good saying there's a train link - there are train links all over the show here in the developed world - but the train fares here are really high. When you're laying out 50 quid for a ticket (minimum, pretty much), twice that for ale and food, then an expensive train fare on top of that is a bit of a kick in the gut.

I thought they were up there in price. When I watched Sri Lanka play England at Lords in '02 I think I paid about 30 pounds then...was a lot considering I didn't give a **** about the game. But had to experience a match at Lords.

I doubt I'd bother paying $80-100 for a ticket to watch in Australia. I don't see the atmosphere at the ground being worth an extra $50. Would just watch it on TV or at the pub.

 

[social]

As I said several pages back, a few truly awesome indivdual performances from v few players papered over the cracks at the WACA. Clarke & Ponting can barely buy a run, Hughes's quirky techical "issues" look to remain, since the first dig at the Gabba Siddle has looked toothless and Smith is being asked to play a role he isn't (yet) equipped for.

Australia's selectors make ours look as sagacious as Soloman and as prescient as Nostradamus. Puts one in mind of The Oval last year actually: 4 quickes work on a seamer so obviously that's the way each and every time.

This

As I've said many times, we have had 2 reliable batsmen in the top 6 all series and all that happened today was that those guys failed leaving 98 as the result

If you look at the scores of each test in this series, Oz have had a pretty poor to dramatic collapse in all 6 innings (and in probably 9 of 10 preceding tests) so, to be brutally honest, I'm not surprised

Fair play to England though - they bowled excellently and took advantage of the sunshine when they batted

Realistically, they might as well call this game off now but another thumping is what Oz really needs

 

[Spark]

Oh yeah, and Watson. Was very surprised to see someone call him out for not stepping up - this is his first genuine failure in donkey's years.