Getting away with it

[GuyFromLancs]

Needless to say, when your team is winning the spotlight doesn't glare as harshly when you're in gash form.

That in mind - what would Australia's reaction be to Watto and Smith be if the 2-0 was reversed?

If I had a heart, I'd almost feel for Watto. Guy just can't get a break.

 

[benchmark00]

Watson made a fifty, took a key wicket and bowled some handy overs, nothing much would be said of him.

Some heat would probably (unjustly) be going on Smitteh though, but if Australia were 2-0 down then it'd mean he's not alone in struggling.

 

[Spikey]

There's no reason to assume Smith and Watson would have put in identical performances.

 

[uvelocity]

smitteh was sawn off a double in the 2nd tbf

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Watson made a fifty, took a key wicket and bowled some handy overs, nothing much would be said of him.

Some heat would probably (unjustly) be going on Smitteh though, but if Australia were 2-0 down then it'd mean he's not alone in struggling.

He scored a 50 and immediately followed it with a duck.

That is soooooooo Watson

 

[social]

Watson (and Bailey and Rogers) is done in a year or so as there are a number of young batsmen scoring runs in domestic cricket but aren't quite ready for the step up

Smith needs to be persevered with

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Watto, for all his alleged talent, doesn't look like a 3 batsman to me.

As an opener, he kind of got away with the makeshift, 'he's doing it for the team' thing

 

[Burgey]

Good thread this. Let me add another hypothetical.

After his first innings dismissal in Brisbane, what if Clarke came out second dig, decided to take Broad on like he did, but holed out like Trott did in his second effort? I reckon there'd have been calls for blood.

On topic though, Watson is massive value to Australia's bowling plans IMO because he bowls with the kind of discipline he can only dream of batting with. And TPC is TPC so he's untouchable.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Isn't this similar to how many England players performed last summer in a winning team?

 

[Daemon]

Yeah Watson's bowling is really useful. I looked up his figures in the three innings he's bowled the other day and iirc it's something like 11-10-6-1.

 

[Riggins]

Good thread this. Let me add another hypothetical.

After his first innings dismissal in Brisbane, what if Clarke came out second dig, decided to take Broad on like he did, but holed out like Trott did in his second effort? I reckon there'd have been calls for blood.

Yeah even if he hadn't got out hooking, but just made not many. After a dismissal that looked as bad as the first dig, anyone in the team who wasn't Clarke there would have been calls to axe.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Isn't this similar to how many England players performed last summer in a winning team?

Yeah

Cook was poor; Trott looked confused, his approach looked contrived; KP infuriatingly inconsistent (although I loved his half-century at the Oval); Root poor apart from his 180.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Yeah

Cook was poor; Trott looked confused, his approach looked contrived; KP infuriatingly inconsistent (although I loved his half-century at the Oval); Root poor apart from his 180.

To be fair we now know why Trott was poor, well a contributory factor to it at least.

 

[Burgey]

Off topic, but Neil Oliver's Coast: Australia is fantastic. Tonight's episode on Sydney Harbour was awesome. I commend it to our English brethren as it will demonstrate why we rightly consider ourselves so ****ing superior to everyone else on the planet.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

To be fair we now know why Trott was poor, well a contributory factor to it at least.

It's rare you see a player's mental issues so in the open as Trott's.

I remember people talking about his inability to basically score runs, so he came out to be overtly aggressive. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with this, but it was just felt voyeuristic. Like he was taking a phone-in vote in how he should bat.

Looks like this contributed to, or were the result, of his issues.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Off topic, but Neil Oliver's Coast: Australia is fantastic. Tonight's episode on Sydney Harbour was awesome. I commend it to our English brethren as it will demonstrate why we rightly consider ourselves so ****ing superior to everyone else on the planet.

Just watching Simon Reeve's Australia at the Mo.

Not bad.

 

[Jono]

Good thread this. Let me add another hypothetical.

After his first innings dismissal in Brisbane, what if Clarke came out second dig, decided to take Broad on like he did, but holed out like Trott did in his second effort? I reckon there'd have been calls for blood.

On topic though, Watson is massive value to Australia's bowling plans IMO because he bowls with the kind of discipline he can only dream of batting with. And TPC is TPC so he's untouchable.

Its amazing isn't it. Really is a game of inches sometimes. Had he gone out he'd have been absolutely lambasted just like Cook was. Instead Clarke looks ballsy and a leader and it has added to his legacy.

 

[social]

Good thread this. Let me add another hypothetical.

After his first innings dismissal in Brisbane, what if Clarke came out second dig, decided to take Broad on like he did, but holed out like Trott did in his second effort? I reckon there'd have been calls for blood.

On topic though, Watson is massive value to Australia's bowling plans IMO because he bowls with the kind of discipline he can only dream of batting with. And TPC is TPC so he's untouchable.

I am going to be really generous to Watson here and say that his bowling is on a par with Faulkner, Butterworth and Copeland

If any of those guys were playing, England would try and belt them

For whatever reason, he gets off easy and England's tactics in this regard are wrong

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Its amazing isn't it. Really is a game of inches sometimes. Had he gone out he'd have been absolutely lambasted just like Cook was. Instead Clarke looks ballsy and a leader and it has added to his legacy.

While this is true for Clarke, there is no one thing England could have done better, or got lucky on.

We've been **** through and through

 

[GuyFromLancs]

I am going to be really generous to Watson here and say that his bowling is on a par with Faulkner, Butterworth and Copeland

If any of those guys were playing, England would try and belt them

For whatever reason, he gets off easy and England's tactics in this regard are wrong

Agreed. If you can't even pick a few off the opposition's 5th bowler, you've a serious problem.