*Official* England in Australia (2 T20 & 7 ODIs)

[Spark]

Only need a four off every ball of the game.

 

[Spikey]

did anyone actually appeal for that (non) run-out?

 

[Spark]

So all in all a below-par performance in basically all departments except the spin bowling one.

 

[Burgey]

How dare he ignore Dougeh the all-rounder....

This.

Dougeh!

 

[pup11]

That's hopeless from Smith. What's he even in the team for if not for this?

Its not his fault mate, asking the kid to become slogger when he doesn't have the game for it is pretty lame, and despite that he is going at almost at run a ball which is good but not good enough when you are batting so low.

 

[Crazy Sam]

Smith's done better than I thought he would considering how pathetic his footwork is......


And the more experienced White failed again to go on with a start. He and Hussey should've been able to do more to get things going.

Dare I mention Clarke's latest failure with the bat.

 

[Uppercut]

I knew he wasn't a slogger but I thought he was at least semi-capable of hitting boundaries at the death.

 

[Spark]

We've made about 75 in these last 10 overs which is OK for the last 10.

The game was lost when we couldn't make head or tail of the middle overs, really.

 

[NUFAN]

You going to try and get 10 overs out of who mate?

Well presumably he has a bowler at no 11 and Watto opening.

Yep exactly Bollinger at 11 and Watto at opener.

Would be very surprised if Haurrie makes it in time for the worldcup, whereas Dussey is a bit of a waste at #7 and Johnson has been **** as batsman in LO cricket for a while now and whether he deserves to be in the XI as bowler is also something that's pretty debatable.
I said it already, but the more you look at that squad and its balance the more you can't help but think that Dan Christian would have been an awesome pick to bat at #7 and bowl a few overs as well.

Yeah without Hauritz, I guess Lee just moves up and Doherty bats at 10, it does weaken the batting but not too much. I agree with you that a player like Christian could be more handy over Dussey at 7, it does depend on the match situation though.

How dare he ignore Dougeh the all-rounder....

 

[Spark]

Also to note that our quicks were piss-poor today.

 

[Uppercut]

We've made about 75 in these last 10 overs which is OK for the last 10.

Haha, no it isn't. England let you get 75 because it meant they won.

Obviously Australia were way behind the game already by the 40th over mark. Smith being hopeless at the death is only one very small reason why they lost. But it's a bit of a concern..

 

[Burgey]

Good win for the Poms there. And that's about as poorly a timed chase as I can remember from us in years tbh. Sure we've fallen well short before, everyone does, but that just lacked a sense of timing at all.

 

[Spark]

Haha, no it isn't. England let you get 75 because it meant they won.

Obviously Australia were way behind the game already by the 40th over mark. Smith being hopeless at the death is only one very small reason why they lost. But it's a bit of a concern..

Oh I know but it's an extremely tough ask for new lower-order batsmen to hit 100 in 10. Realy, we chewed up a lot of balls in overs 20-40

 

[Burgey]

I'm interested why Uppercut thinks this is such a concern. It's 3-1 and a week ago we chased down 295.

Was a loose performance all round though, with bat and ball.

 

[NUFAN]

It's a bit harsh to blame Smith in this chase, because if he went for something out there and got out early on he would be ridiculed. He made his runs at almost a run a ball (he had a few leg byes too so more runs then balls faced really) and actually bowled well.

It was his best performance for Australia in ODI Cricket.

Lee's bowling, Hastings game, White getting out at the wrong time after using 64 balls and Clarke's continued failures with the bat were the big issues.

 

[Jono]

Yeah but in previous games we could say same about the likes of Marsh.

Swings and roundabouts.

Haha you can't compare Marsh scoring runs compared to Trott and Collingwood bowling a team to victory.

 

[pup11]

More than anything else, this loss shows Australia's problems when playing on slowish pitches, Lee is always awful in conditions like these and today was no different and that is something that hurt us today.
Aussie middle order too have struggled to get the hang of these sort of conditions, and its definitely a concern heading into the sub-continent for the worldcup, having Ponting and Mussey might help there but how well prepared they are gonna be for a tournament like that is just about anyone's guess.
We won the first three games, which kind of masked a lot of our flaws but there are certainly some issues there and I can just hope we would fix these issue in the games to come.

 

[Spark]

The pacers were horrid.

That missed run out was bad too. That throw, terrible.

 

[BoyBrumby]

What does everyone think of Shahzad, will he be any good in the Subcontinent?

I think he will do very well, will reverse it nicely and be a very useful option in the side if he plays.

Agree with fj; bowls a skiddy wicket-to-wicket line, swings the new ball and is easily our best exponent of reverse.

I'm loth to say "he'll go well" because the potential for egg on face is large, but he does have the materials to.

Anyway, good win for the chaps today. Long overdue it must be said.

&, I am going to keep banging on about this so get used to it, but intreresting to note we gave the last over to the bloke not in the team and omitted the chap who is even when our premier spinner is broken.

To precis: Tredwell; why? Tremlett; why not?

 

[Noble One]

Well done England. We lacked a dominating knock from the middle order, and really the end result was only so close as England had taken the foot off the gas during the last 10 overs.

I would like to know what the deal with Doug Bollinger is. He looked more unfit today than in the one Test he played this summer. I'm afraid the sub-continent is not going to be any easier on Doug. It is a real worry as outside of Watson he is the one bowler I would back to carry the team in the conditions we will face.