Prince EWS
Global Moderator
I think that's his point.
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***Official*** Australia in Sri Lanka
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Spikey
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obviously
howardj
International Coach
Good to see somebody has read my post Ashes review.
Agree though that it beggars belief that one of your main men could be allowed to turn up to a series that you've purportedly been planning for for two years, unfit.
stephen
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Oooooh that's a bingo!
adub
International Captain
It's even worse than that. The only reason Bollinger was called up for Adelaide was because Johnson was so completely and utterly faecal in Brisbane the 'Leader of the Attack' had to be dropped. He bowled some of the most woeful overs ever seen. The only reason he wasn't going for 5 an over was because he was barely hitting the pitch. His 0/170 for the match frankly flattered him. It was so embarrassing that Greg Chappell came out with a quote saying they had always intended to rest him for Adelaide. (as an aside that was also the moment the scales fell from my eyes and I realised Chappell was at least a much a fool as Hilditch and not the saviour I had hoped for).
So we get to Adelaide knowing full well that until late on day 4 that track is pretty much a road, and that due to CA telling Bollinger not to play in the first Shield game he was fit for he had only bowled 42.5 overs since his injury. All of those overs were in pretty bowler friendly conditions with a NSW V Tassie game that was over in 2 days and a slightly better workout at the WACA where he took 3/32 (20) in the first dig and was pulled from the game to get to Adelaide without bowling in the 2nd. He was way underdone, but you don't say to the selectors "no thanks - I need more work" when they pick you.
He gets to Adelaide on said road and after we had scraped to a bare fail of 245, it was Dougy who at the start of the day looked most dangerous. He knocked over Strauss with his third ball, beat the bat of Trott on his fifth ball, and clipped his helmet on his 6th ball. He was getting the odd one to move off the pitch and in his 4th over he had Trott dropped with a fairly regulation chance to Hussey at gulley. It should have been 2/21 there with England having a few worries. Dougy got hooked after that over for Siddle. He'd bowled 4 overs and whilst they'd hit a couple of 4s he had a wicket and should have had a second. Dougy came back to replace Harris a few overs later and there was signs of what was to come with a bad wide, but he also had a thick edge run away for 4 off Cook and two balls later beats the outside edge. Ponting again whips him off after 1 over.
Bollinger isn't sighted again until after lunch by which time Cook and Trott are well set at 1/90 on their way to a huge partnership of 174. It was also now 35 degrees and heading North to a stinking hot afternoon. Dougy was bowling with good pace here generally about the 135km mark some getting into the 140s. He went for few 4s in that 5 over spell but only one ball was under 130km and that was a genuine slower ball. Dougy come back for a spell straight after tea with the Poms 2/198. Starts with a 128km loosener that yields a single but the rest of the over is 137km + and has Pietersen defending. Ponting gives him two more overs before whipping him off but his pace stayed well over 130km that whole spell although admittedly both overs went for 8 each. By this time though the pitch is dead and the temperature is around 40 degrees. Cook is just shy of his ton and Pietersen is settling in for his biggest test innings. After 84 overs in stinking hot conditions Bollinger comes back for a final spell, Cook is on 129 and Pietersen has raced to 74. No one in the field is having a good time. Bolly only gets the 2 overs in before stumps but again his pace is fine at around the 135km he started the day. He had been pretty expensive, but he was the one got the early wicket and should have had a second before the pitch turned into an absolute belter.
Next day Doug opens again and started slowly but soon has his pace up to low to mid 130s, Harris gets Cook at the other end but Pietersen has his ton and is toying with the bowling. Doug doesn't get a single ball to the new batsman before he's taken off. His last three balls of the spell though are under 130 and his energy does look like its flagging. England are 3/357 by the time Doug has looked like maybe he's blowing.
He came back 11 overs later and was well down on pace between 124-128km. England are 3/412 (ie 55 runs in 11 overs) with Pietersen in total control. There seems to be an obvious plan though with a 7/2 field so how much of the dropped pace was really him lacking fitness and how much was just pulling back to try and maintain control and keep it wide of off stump? I have no doubt Dougy was feeling the pinch, but a 7/2 field against a guy smashing the attack around on 136 not is bloody tough on a left armer on a road. Anything shortish and on the stumps is going for 4. With that field and in the conditions I'd be more worried about my line and length than pace too. Very cruel field to set if the bowler hasn't asked for it. In his next over Doug pushes back up over 130k but at the end of the over he gets a bit straight and with the 7/2 field still in place it goes to the midwicket fence. Lunch comes up at the end of the next over. He got a grand total of 2 balls to Collingwood.
Bollinger comes back again at 4/524 Pietersen is on 197 and Bell is set on 30. He's by now pretty obviously knackered and bowling in 125-129km range. That said pulling his pace back doesn't seem to hurt too bad as he bowls a maiden. Next over is more of the same, just 1 run conceded. 3rd over of the spell concedes a 4 and 5 dots, 4th over 2 singles and tea comes up and rain ends the days play with England 4/551. Next day Doug again opens with 2 neither here nor there overs, Doherty finally gets Pietersen who was swinging at anything for 227 and Doug doesn't get a ball at the new bat, nor another ball in the match. Bell and Prior smash Doherty and Siddle around for a quick 50 partnership before the declaration.
Now I'm certainly not trying to say Adelaide was anything like Bollinger's finest hour, but seriously the way Hilditch and co carry on about it is simply grotesque in light of the facts. It was those idiots that prevented Bollinger getting more match fitness by stopping him playing the Shield game against Qld. He was brought in to replace the golden boy Johnson whose effort in Brisbane was cringeworthy. Seriously how good would Johnson have gone at Adelaide? He made the early inroad but wasn't backed by his fielders. His so called lack of fitness only showed up late on the second day of bowling in extreme heat on a batting paradise against an opponent top order in career best form. The way Hilditch goes on you'd think the whole Adelaide debacle was soley Bollinger's fault. How was Siddle? Didn't take a wicket, never looked like taking a wicket and like Bollinger went for over 4rpo. And what about the spinner the selectors put their faith in? Everyone knows that Adelaide in the heat is hard yakka and you need a spinner who can bowl long spells and keep it tight, but the gumby Hildud plumped for bowled less overs than all of the fast bowlers were forced to endure in extreme conditions and went for almost 6rpo - well done Andrew, you're a genius.
Yes I am biased, I like Bollinger - mainly because as his test career shows he's consistently been the best performed quick we've got apart from maybe Harris. I despise the way he's been treated. It has all the hallmarks of a guy the selectors are just looking for any excuse to get rid of. Bollinger seems to be held to a much higher standard than koala's like Johnson. We saw it after his debut and we saw it again after Adelaide. One less than brilliant test and you're gone. I have no doubt that had Bollinger got a chance to bowl with a lovely breeze bringing the ball back into the right handers at the WACA he would have filled his boots. We all know Johnson has no idea how to tail it in consistently, but the chosen one was brought back and managed his annual 'great spell in helpful conditions'. Johnson was pushing ordinary by the 2nd innings and crap again by Melbourne but he'd secured his place for the foreseeable future whilst Bollinger who had saved him from destroying his career at Adelaide instead was made the scapegoat for the selector's incompetence. I know who I would back to do the business more consistently for Australia, but the Bollinger is unfit meme has now taken on a life of its own.
Spikey
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Holy **** I'd forgotten all about that. I remembered the subsequent appearances on 60 minutes following Perth but man.
benchmark00
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Spikey responding to Greg Chappell post shocker.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Benchy replying to Spikey responding to Greg Chappell post shocker.
adub
International Captain
Hilfenhaus has paid for not being able to take wickets - so check on that
Siddle is almost as inconsistent as Johnson, but never as total kaka as Johnson can be. As noted above Siddle did less to trouble the batsmen in Adelaide than Dougy did but because he can continue running in and bowling it short and down the leg side at 135km no one mentions him much. They should though, he's a change bowler at best. Can bowl some great spells, but usually bowls tripe. Might as well give the new ball to a spinner for all the good he does with it.
Spinner - well we all know that problem remains ongoing with no resolution in sight.
Johnson - like Siddle is a change bowler at best. Like the girl with the curl. When he's good he is very very good, but when he is bad he is horrid. Horrid seems to come more often than good and I'd be glad to see the end of him, but it seems our selectors only notice his good points and not his flaws. If it was a choice between him and Siddle for the third bowling spot I'd probably take him, but only because he can offer some handy runs with the bat and we have Watson as back up if he does have a complete melt down. I think we should be looking beyond both of them though frankly. I just can't see Australia as No.1 or 2 in the world with either of these two in the attack.
Harris - If only he didn't break so much he could lead us back up the rankings.
Bollinger - As above he's been made a scapegoat. Even with Adelaide his record is better than Mitchell, Siddle and Hilfenhaus in the games they've played together. You can't do much more than be better than the rest of the guys you're playing with, unless it seems you are Doug Bollinger in which case at the first chance you will be dropped and pilloried.
Shield - thankfully we have Copeland, Pattinson, Butterworth, Faulkner, Hazelwood, Cummins and maybe a few others who can come through and prove themselves test quality. I have no doubt amongst these guys we have the makings of a great test pace attack. We just need to give them a go and find which ones are the best combination out of that bunch with the rest keeping the pressure on and ready to fill in when needed (ie get to where England are now with their pace attack).
Top_Cat
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Wouldn't so quickly hitch my cart to Harris; even if fit, outside of Australia, reckon he'd struggle to consistently take Test wickets and I say that as a bloke with a Crushinator-like love for the man and everything he stands for/does/says.
Honestly, I think OZ are just in a bit of a rut for pace bowling; the guys who are playing Tests and experienced aren't brilliant but the ones who have something about them are still young/raw. Still got a couple of years of **** results to endure before that changes/GChapp is booted.
Re: Siddle, I reckon like Caddick, he needs to figure out what sort of pace bowler he wants to be and bowl accordingly. He's not quick enough to be express all the time but too quick to get big movement in the air so he's caught either bowling too short or too full going for pace. He takes wickets in bunches and is a nasty bowler to face early so I reckon he might want to consider just hitting the channel at slightly reduced pace for the majority of his bowling but going hard only at guys new to the crease. He gets big hoop into the right-hander and can nip it away quite nicely so backing off his pace a little might help both of those things.
Honestly, I think OZ are just in a bit of a rut for pace bowling; the guys who are playing Tests and experienced aren't brilliant but the ones who have something about them are still young/raw. Still got a couple of years of **** results to endure before that changes/GChapp is booted.
Re: Siddle, I reckon like Caddick, he needs to figure out what sort of pace bowler he wants to be and bowl accordingly. He's not quick enough to be express all the time but too quick to get big movement in the air so he's caught either bowling too short or too full going for pace. He takes wickets in bunches and is a nasty bowler to face early so I reckon he might want to consider just hitting the channel at slightly reduced pace for the majority of his bowling but going hard only at guys new to the crease. He gets big hoop into the right-hander and can nip it away quite nicely so backing off his pace a little might help both of those things.
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benchmark00
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Cribbage in being a **** **** shocker.
Top_Cat
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Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Knew you were going to post pretty much exactly that. Thought you'd just call me a **** though, rather than a **** ****. I'm hurt.
Spikey
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gregchappell00 being a **** shock
wellAlbidarned
International Coach
Johnson takes wickets, end of story. It's kinda become irrelevant that he usually looks total **** while doing to.
adub
International Captain
Bollinger takes wickets, end of story. It should be kinda irrelevant that he once looked totally knacker while doing it on a road in 40 degree heat.
Bollinger takes his wickets at a lower average, strike rate and rpo than Johnson, oh and he can also bowl with a new ball which is something Australian Captains have learnt through painful experience that Johnson can't do. But hey lets make excuses for the gumby that looks like **** most of the time because he takes as many wickets as Doug, but goes for more runs per wicket, more runs per over and has to bowl more balls per wicket to get them.
Johnson is a change bowler at best and he should lie awake at night hoping the selectors don't pay too much attention to the quality youngsters starting to come through.
In the 11 test matches Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger have played together:
Johnson - 49 wickets @ 28.59 s/r 50.4 econ 3.40 rpo
Bollinger - 49 wickets @ 23.79 s/r 45.4 econ 3.14 rpo
Same opponents, same pitches, same balls, same conditions, same everything and Dougy has him covered on every single measure. Johnson is a ****ing myth.
wellAlbidarned
International Coach
...a myth who takes wickets. Anything to do with Bollinger is pretty irrelevant. Yes, he probably has been discarded slightly unfairly, but that's got nothing to do with Johnson, who still easily deserves his place in the team.
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