***Official*** 1st Test at The Gabba

[bugssy]

very solid day for the aussies. was beefy watching the same game.

 

[Matt79]

I was thinking this morning that this series will be the defining series of both Lee and Harmison's careers. Both have had great patches, some less wonderful patches, and in Harmison's case in particular some truly awful patches. Both will, by the time this series has finished confirmed whether they will be remembered as very good bowlers or average at best.

Yeah, so I was thinking that, then I sure Harmison's first over. Having been a fan of the AFL club Collingwood, rather than Paul Collingwood, I understand the frustration of having a guy in your side that looks like, if he clicks he'll beat the world, but honestly Harmison must quickly be running out of credit in the bank and people willing to support him. His performance today was atrocious, especially given he's the senior quick in the team, and its all the more damaging for England because Harmy is the style of bowler that they need to succeed in Australia - ie. quick, can extract seam movement and hit the deck hard, as opposed to swing merchants like Hoggard who are never going to be anything other than cannon fodder with a Kookaburra rather than a Duke in the heat of Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, rather than Headingly. Forget Flintoff (or at least take his quality performance as a given) or Pieterson, its Harmison and his performance from this point that will dictate England's success or lack thereof. Here's hoping for the sake of the contest he can redeem himself tomorrow and bowl with some control, intent and pride from hereon in.

 

[andyc]

As a few people have mentioned, Pietersen bowled pretty well today, I was quite impressed. He bowled a few short balls or ones drifting down leg side, but he beat Hussey a few times with some very nice balls, which didn't even seem to pitch in what little rough there was. Not sure why he doesn't bowl more often, to be honest.

 

[Matt79]

As a few people have mentioned, Pietersen bowled pretty well today, I was quite impressed. He bowled a few short balls or ones drifting down leg side, but he beat Hussey a few times with some very nice balls, which didn't even seem to pitch in what little rough there was. Not sure why he doesn't bowl more often, to be honest.

Warne will be licking his lips having watched that however. Skull today on ABC radio: "He'll be sitting there chewin on a durrie, ordering a cheeseburger and thinking... oh yeah!".

Other classic Skull comment today:
Jonathon Agnew: I named my dog Hoggard
O'Keefe: Can he get them to swing when he runs in?

 

[Nate]

As a few people have mentioned, Pietersen bowled pretty well today, I was quite impressed. He bowled a few short balls or ones drifting down leg side, but he beat Hussey a few times with some very nice balls, which didn't even seem to pitch in what little rough there was. Not sure why he doesn't bowl more often, to be honest.

Agreed. A few peaches absolutely ripped.

Great, entertaining days play, again the key for me was the Australians leaving ball outside off-stump. Masterclass.

 

[Matteh]

Considering he started off as an off-spinner whose batting became rather good he obviously has a fair amount of talent at it. You could guarantee that if Vaughan was fit though, that the captain would have given himself an off-spin trundle.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I was thinking this morning that this series will be the defining series of both Lee and Harmison's careers. Both have had great patches, some less wonderful patches, and in Harmison's case in particular some truly awful patches. Both will, by the time this series has finished confirmed whether they will be remembered as very good bowlers or average at best.

Yeah, so I was thinking that, then I sure Harmison's first over. Having been a fan of the AFL club Collingwood, rather than Paul Collingwood, I understand the frustration of having a guy in your side that looks like, if he clicks he'll beat the world, but honestly Harmison must quickly be running out of credit in the bank and people willing to support him. His performance today was atrocious, especially given he's the senior quick in the team, and its all the more damaging for England because Harmy is the style of bowler that they need to succeed in Australia - ie. quick, can extract seam movement and hit the deck hard, as opposed to swing merchants like Hoggard who are never going to be anything other than cannon fodder with a Kookaburra rather than a Duke in the heat of Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, rather than Headingly. Forget Flintoff (or at least take his quality performance as a given) or Pieterson, its Harmison and his performance from this point that will dictate England's success or lack thereof. Here's hoping for the sake of the contest he can redeem himself tomorrow and bowl with some control, intent and pride from hereon in.

Good post. IMO, Harmison should be very, very close to being left out of the next test, as things stand right now. Hoggard and Anderson weren't particularly good today but at least they made an effort, bowled decent lines most of the time and sent down the occasional good ball. Panesar may get picked in Adelaide, depending on how the surface shapes up and how Fletcher sees things, and Giles bowled quite well today and with his added batting will probably play the rest of the series unless he tanks very badly. Without serious improvement, Harmison should be the seamer who is left out.

I've never really rated Harmison at any point in his career, and I can't believe so many people have been talking him up as a key factor in this series, but he's certainly bowling far worse at the moment than he has in a long time. At least when he's bowling like he did last Ashes and varying between ineffective and quite dangerous on home pitches with good support he adds something to the team, because he has a particular sort of wicket he is usually quite good on, and the rest of the time the likes of Hoggard cover for him. As it is he's bowling absolute tripe on pitches that are better suited to him than any of the other bowlers, and if he keeps it up for the rest of the test England would be better served by someone they can at least rely on to bowl a decent line.

 

[social]

Perfect day for Australia. Top and middle order both contributed well, the most important batsman in the side is in devastating touch and England's bowlers look flat and unthreatening.

The pitch is a very good one for batting and it was a crucial toss, but it's not a road and shouldn't be that tough to take wickets on later in the test. There's plenty of pace and bounce and heaps of turn for day 1, and England will have to bat really well to get anything out of the test from here. First hour tomorrow is crucial, and England really need a couple of early wickets and to hopefully have the innings close to wrapped up by lunch. Anything under 500 isn't a disaster, as it's definitely a 350-400 pitch, but if Australia bat until tea it's over.

Flintoff carried the whole team, though Giles was pretty good too and will be crucial if England do get to bowl at Australia again in the third innings. I really can't see him running through a side though, and it's hard to see England taking 20 wickets with the way things stand at the moment, especially considering that Adelaide and Perth are likely to be very flat decks. Harmison was hopeless and aside from the occasional good delivery Hoggard and Anderson were average too, with Anderson in particular releasing the pressure with a four ball way too often. The fact that Pietersen looked more likely to take a wicket than most of the front-liners says plenty.

Exactly my thoughts - wicket had pace, bounce and spin but, Flintoff and odd balls from Giles and KP excepted, the attack was pretty toothless and they'll have to improve substantially to take 20 wickets in a match

OZ have their own problems with a 4 - man attack. In their late thirties, it's too much to expect of Warne and McGrath to bowl for 3 days without a break to bowl Eng out twice - Aus will have to bat again to give guys a rest

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Exactly my thoughts - wicket had pace, bounce and spin but, Flintoff and odd balls from Giles and KP excepted, the attack was pretty toothless and they'll have to improve substantially to take 20 wickets in a match

OZ have their own problems with a 4 - man attack. In their late thirties, it's too much to expect of Warne and McGrath to bowl for 3 days without a break to bowl Eng out twice - Aus will have to bat again to give guys a rest

Agreed, unless England gets bowled out really fast. I doubt that will be a problem though, Australia scored quite quickly and Ponting is usually someone who favours batting again anyway. It may be that the follow-on isn't enforcable anyway. If Australia make say 500 tomorrow, England will only need to make 300 to avoid it, and they should do that on this surface with a solid batting lineup. Ideally, Ponting would want to declare or be bowled out by tea tomorrow, and bowl England out within four sessions, then bat a bit again from the end of day 3 through to late on day 4. This is especially true given the likelyhood of the pitch cracking up and the Warne factor.

 

[Matt79]

Exactly my thoughts - wicket had pace, bounce and spin but, Flintoff and odd balls from Giles and KP excepted, the attack was pretty toothless and they'll have to improve substantially to take 20 wickets in a match

OZ have their own problems with a 4 - man attack. In their late thirties, it's too much to expect of Warne and McGrath to bowl for 3 days without a break to bowl Eng out twice - Aus will have to bat again to give guys a rest

That would depend on how quickly they knocked them over in the first innings!

Given there seems to be a bit in the pitch for spinners, Clarke might even get a bowl.

 

[Matt79]

Exactly my thoughts - wicket had pace, bounce and spin but, Flintoff and odd balls from Giles and KP excepted, the attack was pretty toothless and they'll have to improve substantially to take 20 wickets in a match

OZ have their own problems with a 4 - man attack. In their late thirties, it's too much to expect of Warne and McGrath to bowl for 3 days without a break to bowl Eng out twice - Aus will have to bat again to give guys a rest

Love the assumption that England won't be able to avoid the follow on as well!

 

[pasag]

Loved O'Keefe's call on keeping Deidre Anderson away from the squad.

 

[Laurrz]

Warne will be licking his lips having watched that however. Skull today on ABC radio: "He'll be sitting there chewin on a durrie, ordering a cheeseburger and thinking... oh yeah!".

Other classic Skull comment today:
Jonathon Agnew: I named my dog Hoggard
O'Keefe: Can he get them to swing when he runs in?

 

[simmy]

Harmison has been woeful for the last few series. I cant even remember a good spell! The way that KP bowled shows how poor a decision dropping Panesar wrong. I am livid still about it!

 

[Langeveldt]

It could have been worse for England, they could have picked Mahmood and Giles...

 

[simmy]

I'd much rather have Mahmood than Harmison.

 

[simmy]

At least with Mahmood when you get a bad over you take him off and not just bowl him on "reputation"

 

[wpdavid]

It could have been worse for England, they could have picked Mahmood and Giles...

Are you seriously suggesting that Mahmood would have been less effective than Harmy, Hogg & Anderson? Granted he'd have gone for a few, but surely he'd have asked more questions of the batters.

Today was all too predictable, afaics. Harmy's largely been in free-fall for a couple of years, and all the English talk of him being "the best in the world on his day" is just so much claptrap. Without injuries to Jones, Anderson & others, his place should have been questioned some while ago. Now, barring a significant improvement tomorrow, there's no point whatsoever in him playing. I just can't understand the commentators who blather on about him "not being at his best" whenever he's unimpressive, as that's exactly what he does most of the time. Let's bring in someone who actually wants to be there. I've had more than enough of his spineless, lazy approach to his job, and it's time to move on. Looks like Fred has come tot eh same conclusion, judging by the last half hour, and who can blame him? A bit ironic though, as he was supposed to be able to get the best out of his mate.
Hoggard was also out of form for the vast majority of the English summer, so it was always optimistic to expect him to turn it on here. Giles did better than expected, so presumably we'll see both spinners for the remainder of the series. Not that it will make much difference to the end result, of course.

 

[GIMH]

I'm soooo tired and really don't feel it was worth it! Not much to say that hasn't been said, Fred is Fred, my hero, and KP bowled well. I thought Anderson was better than his figures suggested tbh as well. Really disappointed, I'd bite your hand off if I was offered a draw now, obviously.

 

[Mister Wright]

What an awesome day at the cricket! Harmisson wasn't that bad in his first spell. Maybe a bit short, but Langer was streaky - at best. I'm not a huge fan of Giles, but he bowled really well today, he bowled with a lot of flight and variation.

Ponting was just a class above, although he was suspect early, he was very solid all day and played some amazing shots, especially his pull shots - which were superb!

Hussey was also solid. Flintoff was amazing, he bowled with pace and accuracy. Best bowler of the day!