*Official* Second Test at Lord's

[pup11]

No he certainly hasn't. The rudiger has hit one Test ton in his last 45 innings. I know he's young and I do think its been unfair that he's batted everywhere in the top 6, but he has failed at Test Cricket so far but is too good for Shield.

He has only been as big a faliure as some of the others around him, his last test ton that you talk about was against Lanka in Lanka that not only saved that test but also ensured we won that series, in the next series against RSA in South Africa he scored 88 in the second test which played a part in us winning that test and hence drawing that series. He had a poor series against NZ and then he was dropped, came back into the team during the test series against Sri Lanka at home and averaged close to 50 and we won that series 3-0, later scored two ODI tons against Sri Lanka and those were the only two ODI's we won in that series.

He had a miserable tour of India and we all know the final scoreline during that series, now just during the last test he put together an amazing partnership with Agar and showed maturity beyond his years and that for me is his biggest strength, he might not look as pretty as a Watson or Haddin while batting but he sure as hell would score a lot more runs than any of these guys.

 

[NUFAN]

He has only been as big a faliure as some of the others around him, his last test ton that you talk about was against Lanka in Lanka that not only saved that test but also ensured we won that series, in the next series against RSA in South Africa he scored 88 in the second test which played a part in us winning that test and hence drawing that series. He had a poor series against NZ and then he was dropped, came back into the team during the test series against Sri Lanka at home and averaged close to 50 and we won that series 3-0, later scored two ODI tons against Sri Lanka and those were the only two ODI's we won in that series.

He had a miserable tour of India and we all know the final scoreline during that series, now just during the last test he put together an amazing partnership with Agar and showed maturity beyond his years and that for me is his biggest strength, he might not look as pretty as a Watson or Haddin while batting but he sure as hell would score a lot more runs than any of these guys.

I'm not interested in ODIs and I'm aware more or less of his career. The fact that you say 'he has only been as big a failure as some of the others around him' indicates to me that he has not been a success at Test Cricket.

 

[ajdude]

Good effort ajdude, but I was talkin' bout Hughes!

****

 

[Pizzorno]

Love how English supporters have forgotten that Australia were one Finn over away from being 1 up in this series.

This is exactly what i've been thinking. Hate how Australia are being made out to be some kind of laughing stock by our media after one bad test. I mean we haven't even gone 2-0 up yet and people are saying 5-0 is in the bag. No way, it'll be another great game at Old Trafford; always a sporting wicket for both teams there.

 

[Arachnodouche]

I don't know about Hughes but Khawaja certainly needs being persisted with. Guy is playing his sixth Test but he gets so much more flak than an obviously flawed bat like Hughes. Khawaja is about the only batsman other than Clarke that "looks" Test class in there...he works out his bat-pad issue and he will make you big runs in the future.

 

[Ruckus]

This is exactly what i've been thinking. Hate how Australia are being made out to be some kind of laughing stock by our media after one bad test. I mean we haven't even gone 2-0 up yet and people are saying 5-0 is in the bag. No way, it'll be another great game at Old Trafford; always a sporting wicket for both teams there.

It's the manner in which we have played which is concerning. If we were down 2-0 and we played ok, I don't think the uproar would be nearly as much.

Btw are poms starting to get sweaty palms yet. Only a day and a half left to bat, we're on this.

 

[Top_Cat]

At the same time you can't just hand them spots They'd need to have displayed some talent, some good attitude traits, a willingness to work hard and improve, maybe leadership etc. All of a sudden that throws out a lot of options

Yup. Give them opportunities without really earning them, you get Shane Watson.

 

[Maximas]

2 hours up for Ussie, deserves a round of applause I say

 

[stephen]

Australia's biggest problem is not Hughes. It's not Khawaja. It's not Warner.

It's Watson. It's Cowan. It's Marsh. It's Ferguson. It's North. It's all the rubbish batsmen who should be at the peak of their careers but are too stupid (Watson/Marsh), not good enough (Cowan/North) or have not lived up to any of the expectations that people have placed on them (Ferguson). If even two of these five batsmen were averaging over 40 in test cricket we would be a heap more competitive.

The problem is that our batting is utterly dire. Completely rubbish. And that's the fault of the batsmen who have been given extended runs in shield cricket who were born between 1980 and 1985.

 

[Pothas]

This is exactly what i've been thinking. Hate how Australia are being made out to be some kind of laughing stock by our media after one bad test. I mean we haven't even gone 2-0 up yet and people are saying 5-0 is in the bag. No way, it'll be another great game at Old Trafford; always a sporting wicket for both teams there.

It could be a fantastic series if they could bat even at a mediocre level. This game could have been a very good one but they ruined it by being so **** on Friday.

 

[91Jmay]

It's the manner in which we have played which is concerning. If we were down 2-0 and we played ok, I don't think the uproar would be nearly as much.

Btw are poms starting to get sweaty palms yet. Only a day and a half left to bat, we're on this.

Recon you have another collapse up your sleaves yet.

 

[Uppercut]

It's the manner in which we have played which is concerning. If we were down 2-0 and we played ok, I don't think the uproar would be nearly as much.

Btw are poms starting to get sweaty palms yet. Only a day and a half left to bat, we're on this.

If they batted the time would they get the runs?

 

[GIMH]

TMS said they needed something like 3.5/over at the start of the innings

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Nah not without actually trying for it. If these two had like a 300 run stand, maybe.

 

[Tangles]

Australia's biggest problem is not Hughes. It's not Khawaja. It's not Warner.

It's Watson. It's Cowan. It's Marsh. It's Ferguson. It's North. It's all the rubbish batsmen who should be at the peak of their careers but are too stupid (Watson/Marsh), not good enough (Cowan/North) or have not lived up to any of the expectations that people have placed on them (Ferguson). If even two of these five batsmen were averaging over 40 in test cricket we would be a heap more competitive.

The problem is that our batting is utterly dire. Completely rubbish. And that's the fault of the batsmen who have been given extended runs in shield cricket who were born between 1980 and 1985.

Tbf there has been mismanagement (Katich) and injury (Jaques) that have also hurt.

 

[Pothas]

If they batted the time would they get the runs?

Would have thought so. Can't see them doing a SA at Adelaide.

 

[Spark]

Would have thought so. Can't see them doing a SA at Adelaide.

480 runs in 135-ish overs... I doubt it.

 

[Maximas]

Would have thought so. Can't see them doing a SA at Adelaide.

The pitch is misbehaving more than Adelaide, plus Swann is a better spinner by far and the ball is reversing.

 

[Ruckus]

If they batted the time would they get the runs?

We I was actually referring to a draw, which would be a win for Aus given how dominant a position Eng are in, but I guess an outright win is possible in theory. Works out to about 3.6 runs an over from here.

 

[pup11]

I'm not interested in ODIs and I'm aware more or less of his career. The fact that you say 'he has only been as big a failure as some of the others around him' indicates to me that he has not been a success at Test Cricket.

Yup... his FC record tells you that he scores a hundred every 4-5th game which he hasn't done in test cricket, so in that sense he has failed to live upto the expectations he came into the team with, but then you have blokes like Cowan, Smith, Watson, Haddin and Khwajha who have put in far worse performances then Hughes, but still they hardly get abused or roughed up by the critics in the same the that they pull down Hughes, and yet I haven't heard him defending himself or anything, which isn't something you can say about some of the others in the team. The guy is really mature for his age and all he needs is support from the authority figures within the team, whereas again sending him back into FC cricket would be an utter waste.
The ODI's might not be impotant from your viewpoint, but those are still international runs and just further highlights his importance to the side even at this stage of his career.