*Official* Fourth Test at the MCG

[Spark]

It amuses me that so much discussion is taking place over that shot, like it did with Rad Haddin in 9/21

mike hussey's shot was worse

 

[Jono]

My God the calls for Cook to be stripped of captaincy are coming from reasonable England fans too!

The bloke took you to an historic win in India (after being 0-1 down too), something no one had done since 2004 with arguably the greatest team of all time in Australia. He then won an Ashes series 3-0 at home.

Sure this is a really really bad series. But England are going through what many teams have gone through after a period of sustained success. They are coming out of that era, and some of their best players are no longer the players they were or are retiring. That's life. Cook is the man to lead you through this and into the next generation of players.

 

[Spikey]

mike hussey's shot was worse

i'm not sure if this a genuine post or a reference to my opinion which is that

 

[Spark]

My God the calls for Cook to be stripped of captaincy are coming from reasonable England fans too!

The bloke took you to an historic win in India (after being 0-1 down too), something no one had done since 2004 with arguably the greatest team of all time in Australia. He then won an Ashes series 3-0 at home.

Sure this is a really really bad series. But England are going through what many teams have gone through after a period of sustained success. They are coming out of that era, and some of their best players are no longer the players they were or are retiring. That's life. Cook is the man to lead you through this and into the next generation of players.

I can sort of understand it because 1. Cook isn't batting very well - or, more precisely, he's not batting well sometimes and batting carelessly the rest of the time - and 2. he's a pretty poor tactician and I don't think anyone could argue otherwise, but again the point is the same: he clearly has the authority, seniority and respect of the entire dressing room. Who else has that who's actually in the team at the moment?

i'm not sure if this a genuine post or a reference to my opinion which is that

the former

 

[flibbertyjibber]

My God the calls for Cook to be stripped of captaincy are coming from reasonable England fans too!

The bloke took you to an historic win in India (after being 0-1 down too), something no one had done since 2004 with arguably the greatest team of all time in Australia. He then won an Ashes series 3-0 at home.

Sure this is a really really bad series. But England are going through what many teams have gone through after a period of sustained success. They are coming out of that era, and some of their best players are no longer the players they were or are retiring. That's life. Cook is the man to lead you through this and into the next generation of players.

In the thread I started I only said Cook may go as the press and pressure might be too great after this debacle, personally i'd keep him on as other than Bell or Broad there isn't anyone unless we go mad and pick a funky captain from outside the team and that never really works well unless it is a genius like Brearley.

The daft thing is if the bowlers pull it off tomorrow then Cook will get praised on here by the same people slagging him off today.

 

[Spark]

I dunno. I just can't see Bell as a captain at the moment. I don't know why, but I simply can't.

Perhaps it's to do with his occasional propensity to lob it to mid-off...

 

[Jono]

I can sort of understand it because 1. Cook isn't batting very well - or, more precisely, he's not batting well sometimes and batting carelessly the rest of the time - and 2. he's a pretty poor tactician and I don't think anyone could argue otherwise, but again the point is the same: he clearly has the authority, seniority and respect of the entire dressing room. Who else has that who's actually in the team at the moment?



the former

The captaincy didn't affect him before the two Ashes series. His record with the bat as captain was nuts before the England Ashes series. Now I understand that's the biggest priority for England and its fans is the Ashes, but he was unbelievably epic in India on some seriously turning pitches.

Didn't at one point he score a ton in every test as captain or something?

 

[Burgey]

My God the calls for Cook to be stripped of captaincy are coming from reasonable England fans too!

The bloke took you to an historic win in India (after being 0-1 down too), something no one had done since 2004 with arguably the greatest team of all time in Australia. He then won an Ashes series 3-0 at home.

Sure this is a really really bad series. But England are going through what many teams have gone through after a period of sustained success. They are coming out of that era, and some of their best players are no longer the players they were or are retiring. That's life. Cook is the man to lead you through this and into the next generation of players.

No one cares about India mate

 

[fredfertang]

Sorry Fred, but you couldn't have KP as captain. The rest of the team hate him, it would never work.

Was traditionally the case when the captain was an autocratic amateur who treated the pros like serfs - at the end of the day a **** is a **** whatever his socio-economic status, but it has never been a barrier to a bloke being a decent skipper on a cricket field

 

[slowerball]

Been a good test match, low scoring, and you would have to say pretty even, well 54-46 Englands way, until today of course, 60-40 Straya's way now. Rogers keeps securing his spot with handy 50's opening, solid as a rock. Lyon taking a well deserved 5-fa, Johnson yet again tearing through England and good support from Harris and Siddle. I'm really loving this Australia team at the moment.

Prediction for tomorrow: Australia win by 6 wickets

Rogers 42
Warner 21
Watson 65*
Clarke 13
Smith 39
Bailey 45*

England will get a sniff or two, but Watson and Bailey to put on a good partnership to win the game just before tea.

 

[Spark]

The captaincy didn't affect him before the two Ashes series. His record with the bat as captain was nuts before the England Ashes series. Now I understand that's the biggest priority for England and its fans is the Ashes, but he was unbelievably epic in India on some seriously turning pitches.

Didn't at one point he score a ton in every test as captain or something?

Yeah that's an excellent point but given how his output has dropped it's a legitimate concern. I don't think the captaincy has affected his batting in this series that much tbh, though perhaps he's lost of his single-minded mental approach as some of his dismissals have been uncharacteristically careless.

 

[fredfertang]

My God the calls for Cook to be stripped of captaincy are coming from reasonable England fans too!

The bloke took you to an historic win in India (after being 0-1 down too), something no one had done since 2004 with arguably the greatest team of all time in Australia. He then won an Ashes series 3-0 at home.

Sure this is a really really bad series. But England are going through what many teams have gone through after a period of sustained success. They are coming out of that era, and some of their best players are no longer the players they were or are retiring. That's life. Cook is the man to lead you through this and into the next generation of players.

I certainly don't think that Cook should be "stripped" of the captaincy, but he needs to become the best opening batsman in the world again if he's going to beat Sachin's records, so he should have a break back in the ranks

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

James Foster for captain! Solves the keeping problem at the same time.

 

[Jono]

Gee, I guess "Global Moderator" means someone thinks he has a license to throw straw men around with impunity.

Lame. Absolutely no need for that at all.

 

[Jono]

No one cares about India mate

Winning there a lot harder than it has been in Australia in the last 5 years #startingthebanterearlyfor2014

 

[Spark]

Still can't get over Johnson's reaction to the Bell dismissal. He genuinely could not believe what had just happened

 

[Riggins]

thank god australia never did anything whenever half the country wanted clarke dropped/sacked as captain/deported

thissss. the best. imagine the alternate universe where fergy was the next australian skipper!

i always just thought spark changed his custom title to Global Moderator after he racked up enough posts

yeah that's the dream, he just got there before the rest.

His first innings here illustrates this. With Broad - who has scored a test hundred and averages in the mid twenties - at the crease, he played the sort of shot to get out which is only forgiveable when you're Brian Lara, have already scored a big hundred, have thoroughly mastered the opposing attack, and are now batting with a recognized bunny such as a Walsh or an Ambrose.

there was a old west indies tour on tv the other day and they both looked more comfortable at the crease than old stuey.

CWB, there'd been 3 previous Tests in which Broad showed he had no aptitude for handling the best of Johnson. While I agree KP's shot was absolute rubbish, the idea that he could have huge amounts of faith in Broad and company is pretty flawed, given that while Broad has got runs (and apparently looked better than the top order, like that's a compliment), he's also been prone to, y'know, running away from the ball and getting bowled. KP simply couldn't know which Broad would show up, and while I think he may have been premature in trying to hit everything (and practicing dire shot selection in trying to hit a Johnson inswinger to Mars), the idea that his shot cost England 100 runs is absolutely ludicrous.
[/mod]

This is basically my opinion.

Prediction for tomorrow: Australia win by 6 wickets

Batsmen scores etc.

I'm thinking.

Warner - 110
Rogers - 25
Watto - 15 off 15
Clarke - 60*
Champ - 25*

I don't even know what that equals.

 

[mullarkey]

Been a good test match, low scoring, and you would have to say pretty even, well 54-46 Englands way, until today of course, 60-40 Straya's way now. Rogers keeps securing his spot with handy 50's opening, solid as a rock. Lyon taking a well deserved 5-fa, Johnson yet again tearing through England and good support from Harris and Siddle. I'm really loving this Australia team at the moment.

Prediction for tomorrow: Australia win by 6 wickets

Rogers 42
Warner 21
Watson 65*
Clarke 13
Smith 39
Bailey 45*

England will get a sniff or two, but Watson and Bailey to put on a good partnership to win the game just before tea.

wouldn't be surprised if it read

Rogers 18
Warner 12
Watson 0
Clarke 0
Smith 0
Bailey 0
Haddin 50 not out
Johnson 0
Siddle 0
Harris 0
Lyon 151 not out

Australia win by 1 wicket

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Winning there a lot harder than it has been in Australia in the last 5 years #startingthebanterearlyfor2014

Perhaps so. But if England tanked India 3-0 but were then bummed 5-0 by Australia, no-one would care a jott about India

 

[Hooksey]

The idea of installing KP as captain is a sick joke....

One worth a laugh, none-the-less