***Official*** India in Australia 2011/12

[flibbertyjibber]

Tres wasn't quite as good as Sehwag, but his footwork (or lack thereof) is up/down there with the wee fella's.

Could well still be opening for us now but for his well-documented mental problems.

Alarming thought in a way as we would probably not have the skipper in the side now as he wouldn't have got back in after his slump.

Gambhir is another with dreadful footwork at the moment. Stick him in pyjamas he is fine but in tests he is like a rabbit trapped in the headlights at present.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Considering the conditions he has made his two test tons in so far in his very short career, I think that is a baseless assumption.

Compare the attacks he got them against and compare that with the England one and think again.

Had to chuckle at Taylor and Slater bigging up the Aussie attack as if it is worldbeating. Have they forgotten what happened 12 months ago?

 

[Spikey]

The main reason I didn't want Johnson and Siddle together was them both leaking runs. Siddle might be hitting the right areas but he still goes for over 3 an over most innings. Couple that with Johnson's 4 an over and we are back to having 2 bowlers going at 3+ an over with the 3rd bowler left to stem the flow of runs.

Siddle's eco rate was never the problem with Siddle and MJ. Neither was MJ's actually. The whole problem with Siddle and MJ was Siddle and MJ's tendency to take a 5 wicket haul and then do nothing over the next 5 innings, meaning we were down 2 bowlers most of the time. Now that Siddle has fixed up his length and is now - and who knows if this will stick - taking wickets consistently Siddle's not a problem anymore. If anything Siddle was guilty of having too low of an eco rate, because he wasn't making the batsmen play like he is currently. Hell he's probably got a higher than average eco rate this summer

That said Starc hasn't done anything to suggest he isn't filling the role of MJ perfectly.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

This should be the last time a minnow gets 4 Tests.

Grrrrr

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Why are people mentioning Johnson now?

Surely with Pattinson and Cummins to return to the set up at some stage then Johnson can be dropped for good and Australia can move on with a better attack that won't have a destructive bowler/weak link in it like Johnson was.

Siddle has impressed me of late, bowled better than I ever thought he was capable of, needs to keep it up now though.

 

[Hurricane]

Is India's batting poor or is Aussies' bowling unplayable?

Swing bowling at pace has always been tough.

 

[Burgey]

Over on the east coast the big cricket continues. Burgeinho update:

Senior debut today having turned 10 this week, owing to club absences. 40 over one day fixture.

Can report zero misfields, a pick up and direct hit from mid on (not out), bowled one over (got hit for one six but aside from that went only for singles (first bowl with a 156gm ball), and 0 not out from eight balls faced.

Was terrified of batting but came off the field claiming the number 10's dismissal "robbed me of a hundred".

One chuffed dad.

 

[BeeGee]

Compare the attacks he got them against and compare that with the England one and think again.

Had to chuckle at Taylor and Slater bigging up the Aussie attack as if it is worldbeating. Have they forgotten what happened 12 months ago?

Hmmmm... pride comes before a fall. England have an excellent team, but they're not invincible.

12 months is a very long time in cricket.

 

[Spark]

Is India's batting poor or is Aussies' bowling unplayable?

Swing bowling at pace has always been tough.

We bowled seriously well this evening, it's more been that than poor batting.

 

[The_roc]

Still not brilliant though. Can't wait to see him in England struggling to get into double figures with the ball moving round.

Warner is a talented one day slogger, who will get lucky once in a while at test level.

Lets not get too excited over one good knock (Phil Hughes mark 2?)

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Hmmmm... pride comes before a fall. England have an excellent team, but they're not invincible.

12 months is a very long time in cricket.

I know we aren't invincible but our 2nd string attack is better than the ones Warner has scored runs against. When he does it against a good attack I will be impressed, until then the doubts remain.

 

[Spikey]

Over on the east coast the big cricket continues. Burgeinho update:

Senior debut today having turned 10 this week, owing to club absences. 40 over one day fixture.

Can report zero misfields, a pick up and direct hit from mid on (not out), bowled one over (got hit for one six but aside from that went only for singles (first bowl with a 156gm ball), and 0 not out from eight balls faced.

Was terrified of batting but came off the field claiming the number 10's dismissal "robbed me of a hundred".

One chuffed dad.

Our problems at number 3 could be over

 

[Burgey]

I know we aren't invincible but our 2nd string attack is better than the ones Warner has scored runs against. When he does it against a good attack I will be impressed, until then the doubts remain.

You might say the same about a few of England's top order who've cashed in over the past 12 months tbf.

 

[Subhadeep]

Had to chuckle at Taylor and Slater bigging up the Aussie attack as if it is worldbeating. Have they forgotten what happened 12 months ago?

I think they are no longer the same bowlers they used to be 12 months ago. Siddle has learnt to bowl a fuller length in the right areas and the same is true for Hilfenhaus too. Hilfenhaus has also got a nice off-cutter now which can be handy against the left-handers.

 

[Furball]

Still not brilliant though. Can't wait to see him in England struggling to get into double figures with the ball moving round.

Warner's 2 tons have been made in the hardest conditions he's faced so far.

 

[Spikey]

You might say the same about a few of England's top order who've cashed in over the past 12 months tbf.

 

[Spark]

I know we aren't invincible but our 2nd string attack is better than the ones Warner has scored runs against. When he does it against a good attack I will be impressed, until then the doubts remain.

Think this is extremely harsh on the NZ attack tbh who for whatever their faults elsewhere bowled seriously well at Hobart. Judge on the quality of the bowling, not the quality of the names.

And Burgey's point is an excellent one.

 

[The_roc]

Caught the last hours play on SKY while having Brekkie.

Everything was going well for the Aussies until some arogant bastard started a TV poll on whether it would all be over in 2 days (don't think another wicket went down after that). I would have thought the Aussies would have learnt not to take things for granted. Remember Headingly 81!

 

[BeeGee]

I know we aren't invincible but our 2nd string attack is better than the ones Warner has scored runs against. When he does it against a good attack I will be impressed, until then the doubts remain.

So the teams you regard as having a good attack are?

 

[Burgey]

I think they are no longer the same bowler they used to be 12 months ago. Siddle has learnt to bowl a fuller length in the right areas and the same is true for Hilfenhaus too. Hilfenhaus has also got a nice off-cutter now which can be handy against the left-handers.

The main thing is they are now getting consistent movement, and a lot of it is through the air. It's a ridiculous transformation, and they deserve a bloody lot of credit for it. This time last year England was moving the ball all through their bowling innings while our blokes went gun barrel. This year, for whatever reason, they're mostly moving it about with new and old ball.