*Official* Second Test at Lord's

[the big bambino]

He won't be around much longer. He's back is ****ed, he's nearly 33. He'll walk away soon and who could blame him?

You got flack over your comments abt the scheduling of the ashes but I want to say now I agreed with you. I don't think you were saying we should avoid playing better sides. Just that we shouldn't schedule series to our disadvantage. We signed up for an ambush out of marketing greed. We could have used the time btwn series to better prepare ourselves for the rematch here. That wont happen now.

There's an article in cricinfo that is finally asking the questions that should have been put to CA years ago and Sutherland specifically. It raises the neglect of grade and fc cricket, which coincided under the selectionship of Hilditch. The state of fc pitches and its detrimental impact on batsmanship while over rating bowling form. The pay structure discriminating against fc performers. To that I'd add the woeful scheduling of the ashes up to 2019. All for short term profit at the expense of the game.

I'm concluding that Sutherland knows little of cricket or business. Outside of being a short term raider I mean. He is able to exploit what others have built for short term profit but the expense of organisation's future. This, in his mind, justifies his salary. What he and those who "market" the game don't get is that its income might come from short form cricket but its brand is test cricket. That is the format which gives the game credibility, the standard players most respect and where the skills fo the game are are expressed at its highest level. If you don't have a respectable test team no one gives a stuff if the sydney thundersticks or who the **** ever, wins the bbl.

Unfortunately it is also the game's most costly to run and hardest to justify in return for outlay terms. But its a necessary cost just like you need costly patrols in a security business to provide the service your customers are actually paying for. Let test cricket and its supporting structure run down you just might trigger a crisis in the game resembling the situation we are currently in. This is the worst Aussie side I've seen. We had reasons explaining our poor sides in the late 70s and mid 80s and then reasons for hope we'd improve. I don't see any inclination to improve our test side now and in fact administration has done its best to put off the issue. Dazzle us with red herrings like Argus. Talk abt cycles and so on. All of it is proof that they've neglected the standard of cricket in Australia while pimping the game for as much as they can. Its an appalling neglect and things wont improve as long as we have Sutherland shrugging his shoulders when asked what he intends to do.

 

[NUFAN]

I really don't want to see wholesale changes and/or new players drafted in from outside the squad.

We have invested a lot of time and effort into Hughes, Khawaja, etc and we should use this series to determine once and for all whether they are going to sink or swim

Even if Hughes does well in the next few tests, there are still going to be question marks about his ability to 'swim' once he has a couple of low scores again. His inability at the start of an innings is like a poor bowlers - Just have a look at his past 6 Tests - in 12 innings he has scored 8 scores of 6 or under: 0,0,0,1,1,2,6,6 that is diabolical.

I want him to make runs, but if he doesn't I wouldn't be keeping him just because we've invested so much time and effort in him, there comes a time when he has to give something back.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Even if Hughes does well in the next few tests, there are still going to be question marks about his ability to 'swim' once he has a couple of low scores again. His inability at the start of an innings is like a poor bowlers - Just have a look at his past 6 Tests - in 12 innings he has scored 8 scores of 6 or under: 0,0,0,1,1,2,6,6 that is diabolical.

I want him to make runs, but if he doesn't I wouldn't be keeping him just because we've invested so much time and effort in him, there comes a time when he has to give something back.

I think the best option is to put him at 6. He seemed easily the most comfortable there.

Another exile would do him no good, since he'd bash down the door again with more big runs in the Shield.

 

[outbreak]

I think the best option is to put him at 6. He seemed easily the most comfortable there.

Another exile would do him no good, since he'd bash down the door again with more big runs in the Shield.

this is an issue the selectors have though, they shouldn't just look at how many runs he scores they should send him back until he fixes his technique and is test ready. If that never happens then he should never be recalled.

 

[morgieb]

But on the other hand, how can you tell that he's test ready unless you pick him in tests? Works both ways.

 

[outbreak]

But on the other hand, how can you tell that he's test ready unless you pick him in tests? Works both ways.

if selectors actually watch footage of him they'd see he still has the some weaknesses and jumps around creating problems for him even in first class cricket, they just aren't as good at exploiting that

 

[Top_Cat]

Hey anyone remember that great 81not Hughes got last week?

 

[Red]

Yeah Wade could field at fine leg slip and him and Haddin might be able to cover some territory. Only issue, would be that if Watson gets dropped/injured we don't have much of a fifth bowling option.

I want to see if Doolan can handle Test Cricket. I have some reservations about his ability against spin, but why not give him a shot.

 

[wpdavid]

Even if Hughes does well in the next few tests, there are still going to be question marks about his ability to 'swim' once he has a couple of low scores again. His inability at the start of an innings is like a poor bowlers - Just have a look at his past 6 Tests - in 12 innings he has scored 8 scores of 6 or under: 0,0,0,1,1,2,6,6 that is diabolical.

I want him to make runs, but if he doesn't I wouldn't be keeping him just because we've invested so much time and effort in him, there comes a time when he has to give something back.

Hughes should be opening shouldn't he? That's where he played his best test innings, and it avoids him starting against spinners. And it's not as if we have any 90mph merchants to sort him out nowadays.

 

[wpdavid]

Admittedly I only saw the highlights, but Bresnan looked way better than I had expected in conditions that really shouldn't have suited him. Were those highlights representative of how he bowled? If so, kudos to Flower & Cook for that particular selection.

 

[Tangles]

Boof has bound himself to Twatto/Rogers for at least the 5 England tests. Which means Hughes is shut out of that position along with Cowan, Warner etc.

Warner did nothing in the tour games and in SA so I have no idea why people think he can help anyway.

 

[Riggins]

england took the extra half hour to finish the game off. hypothetically, had they not taken the wicket, and we somehow batted out day 5, would stumps be 30 minutes earlier?

 

[NUFAN]

Hughes should be opening shouldn't he? That's where he played his best test innings, and it avoids him starting against spinners. And it's not as if we have any 90mph merchants to sort him out nowadays.

Opening or first drop yes. But then you look at Watson, Khawaja, Rogers (last game) and Cowan and they are all very susceptible against spin early on too, so given the squad we have selected someone is always going to be out of position. It shouldn't really matter too much where they bat though, our middle order bats are still coming in against a relatively new ball more times than not.

 

[Tangles]

We selected too many openers.

 

[Furball]

For those of you blaming the First Class structure in Australia for bow poor this team is, how does that explain why all your batsmen, Clarke excepted, in the 28-33 age bracket are complete rubbish?

 

[Riggins]

this is pretty funny

Second Ashes Test Lord's - players reviewed | Cricket

"Bresnan was traded in for Finn. Would have been almost impossible, given that, for him to disappoint."

 

[Spark]

i'm failing to see the humour, unless it's a parody of ****wit fans with the memory of a goldfish

 

[Tangles]

For those of you blaming the First Class structure in Australia for bow poor this team is, how does that explain why all your batsmen, Clarke excepted, in the 28-33 age bracket are complete rubbish?

I'm not as familiar with that group but the one before them was shut out of the Test team by good players and great players that grew old together. A generation never exposed to the highest level at the right age perhaps.

 

[morgieb]

For those of you blaming the First Class structure in Australia for bow poor this team is, how does that explain why all your batsmen, Clarke excepted, in the 28-33 age bracket are complete rubbish?

It probably comes down to all of them being underachievers. All of them showed a lot of talent when they were young, but for whatever reason none of them seemed willing to put in the hard yards at FC cricket.

It's also a matter of cyclical issues. We can't just produce quality players all the time.

Those are my guesses but someone else can also give ideas.

 

[Red]

We selected too many openers.

Exactly. We need to pick some ****ing middle order batsmen rather than 4 or 5 openers. FFS.