*Official* Second Test (Lord's, London) 28 June–2 July

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Great bowling by Ollie Robinson.

 

[MW1304]

Robinson coming out with almost the same figures as Tongue there says a lot about the care with which you should take statistics.

 

[morgieb]

Urgh Robinson ending up with 3 despite being by far the worst of the regular bowlers.

I'm very happy with 416, though the golden rule is that you never judge a wicket until it's been batted on twice. Especially with the sun out.

 

[Spark]

Robinson coming out with almost the same figures as Tongue there says a lot about the care with which you should take statistics.

"but his average!"

 

[quincywagstaff]

Fine effort from Australia although to lose 7/100 from the time Head and Smith were absolutely dominating would be a bit disappointing.

 

[TheJediBrah]

On the other hand I feel like his OD hundred in India was the moment people realised how vastly easier hitting would get in the two new balls era.

The pitches that series were legit highways. Same series that made George Bailey look like Bradman and had Indian fans massively overrating him ever after

 

[Gob]

Would have liked 450

 

[Uppercut]

Siddle was the best of the lot during that period, other than the rare occasions Mitch Johnson turned up or Ryan Harris was fit. Hilfenhaus was ok but innocuous a lot of the time and Bollinger needed everything going his way but when it was he was a gun

I understand why they wanted Siddle around as a person but as a cricketer he was very frustrating, just no guile in his bowling at all. "He runs in all day" was the line and they meant it as a positive but it fit just as well as a criticism. Never bowling around the wicket to the left-handers during the 2009 Ashes had me tearing my hair out.

I like him a lot more now. I'd kill for an Irish Peter Siddle, just always showing up and setting the culture.

 

[Burgey]

**** me @Burgey was spot on

Wait til my series prediction plays out…

 

[Socerer 01]

"but his average!"

averages are so yesterday, the hottest new stat is overall aggregate

 

[Starfighter]

I really disagree with this take, Faulkner was outright supernatural for a few years there with how often he won games with the bat that Aus shouldn't have. And how often he was not out at the end

I never really rated his batting even when he was scoring runs. He only ever seemed to score with the pull and for some reason bowlers would keep bowling length to him.

His bowling was very tricky but he lost the top end of his pace with his shoulder injury which made him much less effective, and his batting went at more or less the same time.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I understand why they wanted Siddle around as a person but as a cricketer he was very frustrating, just no guile in his bowling at all. "He runs in all day" was the line and they meant it as a positive but it fit just as well as a criticism. Never bowling around the wicket to the left-handers during the 2009 Ashes had me tearing my hair out.

I like him a lot more now. I'd kill for an Irish Peter Siddle, just always showing up and setting the culture.

Before he had his testicles removed he was consistently quick and dangerous even on some flat Aussie pitches

Then he decided eating meat wasn't for him, lost 15kgs and lost it all

 

[quincywagstaff]

Robinson coming out with almost the same figures as Tongue there says a lot about the care with which you should take statistics.

At least Hazlewood hit that four earlier in the over otherwise he would've had the best figures.

 

[Spark]

averages are so yesterday, the hottest new stat is overall aggregate

Haha I'm a big believer in career aggregate but not in a "big number bigger than less big number therefore better hur dur hur" way

 

[sledger]

Urgh Robinson picking up a load of wickets (courtesy of several wild/crap shots) is going to prevent him from being sacked isn't it

 

[Socerer 01]

The pitches that series were legit highways. Same series that made George Bailey look like Bradman and had Indian fans massively overrating him ever after

Indian fans overrate anyone that performs against them and forces their team owners to splash stupid money for such players in ipl

 

[Spark]

Fine effort from Australia although to lose 7/100 from the time Head and Smith were absolutely dominating would be a bit disappointing.

You could also say that - Root wickets aside - it's a better indication of what the conditions are actually like though. England bowled like a drain to Head in particular.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I never really rated his batting even when he was scoring runs. He only ever seemed to score with the pull and for some reason bowlers would keep bowling length to him.

That's absolutely correct, his batting had no right to be effective. He had the cross-bat hack to mid-wicket/square leg and a slashing cover drive, that was about it. But you can't argue with the results

 

[Starfighter]

Before he had his testicles removed he was consistently quick and dangerous even on some flat Aussie pitches

Then he decided eating meat wasn't for him, lost 15kgs and lost it all

Siddle was genuinely quick for a year or so when he first emerged. Seems funny to think about now.

 

[social]

TBF that Test his role was helped by the match becoming a de facto one-dayer by Clarke wanting to make a game of a match that would've otherwise been a sollen draw.

Still, it's crazy how much Faulkner declined after the 2015 World Cup. His fall is a big reason as to why we haven't been the same team at ODI level since 2015.

Knee was stuffed and allegedly had other issues