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

[PhoenixFire]

Remeber my Crazy £5 bet of the week.

Geraint to make a century in Brisbane.

What were the odds?

 

[aussie tragic]

A million to one I'd think

 

[andmark]

I think the grounds men Brissy because of the Simon Jones injury and KP nearly doing the same.I fact Ricky ponting made a sliding video for children, and he said not to do them in the gabba.

 

[Langeveldt]

I think the grounds men Brissy because of the Simon Jones injury and KP nearly doing the same.I fact Ricky ponting made a sliding video for children, and he said not to do them in the gabba.

Ah yeah I was just going to say that

 

[Langeveldt]

Wouldn't Mahmood for Harmison be a like-for-like switch? And could Mahmood really bowl WORSE than Harmison has

If you ignore the first over from Harmison, yes....

 

[marc71178]

The first thing I thought was merely that it was close, while on the replay it's absolutely dead and the correct decision would certainly have been to give it out.

If your first impression was it was merely close, there's no way you can say it was definitely out when the umpire only gets one look.

 

[BoyBrumby]

There was an insightful bit of commentary today when Chappelli asked Athers (I think) whether Flintoff would be prepared to give Harmison the rocket he deserves rather than the "good effort mate" they seem to be giving him. The answer was "no, he wouldn't want to distance himself from the team, and a mate, like that". Freddy's going to find leadership very hard if his only mode is 'leadership by inspiration'.

There might be something in that. As a leader you can be popular or successful, but sometimes it's hard to be both. That said I'm not convinced Harmy is the sort of bloke who'd respond well to a good bollocking tho, he's always struck me as an "arm round the shoulder" sort of player.

I have to be honest & say I was always in the Strauss camp for The Ashes, but the perception I've garned from the media is that it seemed to matter more to Fred & I don't think Dunc & co wanted to run the risk of upsetting our key man. Some of Fred's field placings have been a bit surprising thus far (no one on the drive for Hayden & Langer was crying out for a second gully), but he's certainly performed like a captain. Whether that'll be enough is another matter.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

If your first impression was it was merely close, there's no way you can say it was definitely out when the umpire only gets one look.

Of course you can, it just means that it's perfectly understandable why the umpire wouldn't have given it out. The ball was going to hit the stumps and hit him in line, hence it was out, and there's no doubt about it on the replay. It was hard to be certain in real time however, because you couldn't be sure where exactly it hit him due to the angle of the camera and the position of the bat.

The difference with the Giles LBW shout is that you couldn't be sure if it was going to hit the stumps or not, end of story. With Bell, it was certainly going to hit the stumps, it was just hard to tell at first glance.

Anyway, it wasn't a particularly grievous error so it's really not important. Aside from that, the umpiring has been extremely good throughout.

 

[Mister Wright]

There might be something in that. As a leader you can be popular or successful, but sometimes it's hard to be both. That said I'm not convinced Harmy is the sort of bloke who'd respond well to a good bollocking tho, he's always struck me as an "arm round the shoulder" sort of player.

I have to be honest & say I was always in the Strauss camp for The Ashes, but the perception I've garned from the media is that it seemed to matter more to Fred & I don't think Dunc & co wanted to run the risk of upsetting our key man. Some of Fred's field placings have been a bit surprising thus far (no one on the drive for Hayden & Langer was crying out for a second gully), but he's certainly performed like a captain. Whether that'll be enough is another matter.

Great post. Flintoff did fairly well with his bowling changes, especially given that they weren't bowling that well. However I still don't understand in a score of 9-602 why Collingwood wasn't used, unless he has some sort of injury that we don't know about. Flintoff also seems to captain like an U/16 captain, placing fielders where the ball was just hit. Like when clarke creamed Giles over long on for 6 and he moved Harmy straight back there on the boundary, that just gave Clarke an opportunity for an easy single to long on. You really should keep that fielder up there and ask the batsman to try again, or at least put someone in there to stop the easy single if you're going to drop the guy out.

Lots of learning for Flintoff to do, and he has potential but it's going to be hard on him if he has to do everything on tour like bowl 30 overs, score big runs and do interviews. You could see it was affecting him when he let through 2 runs with a sloppy misfield.

 

[age_master]

Lots of learning for Flintoff to do, and he has potential but it's going to be hard on him if he has to do everything on tour like bowl 30 overs, score big runs and do interviews. You could see it was affecting him when he let through 2 runs with a sloppy misfield.

Yeah, i think for him to be able to captain well he really needs one or 2 of the other bowlers to really step up so he doen't have to bring himself on as much to try and get a breakthrough.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Flintoff just shouldn't be captain for two reasons

i) He just isn't as tactically aware as Strauss is, he made some pretty basic field placement errors, that could have got Langer and Ponting out a fair few times.

ii) It is a strain on his already burdened mind, and you could tell it. Being the sides best bowler by a country mile, being expected to make hundreds, and think about being at slip, shouldn;t go with him being the captain.

 

[TT Boy]

Woke up this morning to find Paul Collingwood batting, first thing I did was pick up the phone and give the spread betters a call, five minutes later I was fifty quid better off, result.

 

[social]

Just off for work. I am surprised Strauss seems to have gotten a free ride here criticsim-wise after what I thought was an exceptionally ordinary shot. There was absolutely no percentage in playing the pull then, particularly to a ball that wasn't really short enough anyway.

Jaffas for Cook & Colly, which will happen with the quality of the bowling.

Ball was there to hit but over the off side rather than the leg

Anyway, history shows that you cant survive 3 days by blocking

 

[social]

Well Two McGrath's has worked well so far...very well...

i said it after the first day i'll say it again... after seeing how everyone said it was a batsmens paradise ... i agree, however i always thought Australias bowling attack was taylor made for this wicket

Englands bowlers are hit the deck bowlers and swing bowlers... and they couldn't get swing today... and with Aussies batsmen being very good against the bounce they cashed in
Aussie bowlers are seam bowlers who bowl from a steepling height, a 150+ kmh bowler and a champion spinner
very different i reckon and it didn't swing for Lee, and it showed, he didn't take a wicket... however McGrath can seam it on glass... and he uses his head better than any other bowler... and since ppl say Clrak is a mini McGrath well its no surprise he is seaming it as well and IMO bowling more accurately

This wicket has always been ok to bowl on IF you put it in the right areas - it's got pace, bounce and enough movement

Big difference between the 2 teams is that Clark and Mcgrath bowled straight AND pitched it up - Eng batsmen were playing half forward nearly all the time

However, whilst Eng are in trouble they are not out of it because the wicket is also still good to bat on

 

[social]

There was an insightful bit of commentary today when Chappelli asked Athers (I think) whether Flintoff would be prepared to give Harmison the rocket he deserves rather than the "good effort mate" they seem to be giving him. The answer was "no, he wouldn't want to distance himself from the team, and a mate, like that". Freddy's going to find leadership very hard if his only mode is 'leadership by inspiration'.

Watching England last couple of days was reminiscent of the 2nd test for us last year, with Gillespie being dire, and the captain having to scramble for people to bowl the overs given he couldn't trust one of his main bowlers.

Chappell was in good form for a change - maybe this series has inspired him as well.

Athers went on to ask him whether he'd adopt the "carrot or the stick approach" to Harmy

Chappell: "All stick, and a big one. He can have all the carrots he likes when he starts bowling well."

Eng's approach to Harmy has got to change.

He is immensely talented but his bowling has been going downhill for 2 years.

According to Athers, Harmy decides when, where and how much bowling he will do.

That's not working so as Chappelli says "bring out the stick."

 

[inbox24]

Wasn't it David Gower, not Mike Atherton?

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

What was this bull**** from Healy yesterday talking about how involved Flintoff has been. He rambled on for about three minutes, no one understood him, saying that Flintoff has had to change tactics, bowlers, field settings etc.

Last time I checked Heals, that's what most captains do.

 

[Perm]

I thought exactly the same thing. But I think what Healy meant was that Flintoff was having to do alot more than usual given the situation that they were in, he was having to bowl quite a bit and also try and rotate the other bowlers who weren't bowling very well aswell as trying to encourage Harmison all the time.

 

[tooextracool]

I still can't believe Bell is still out there. Like a few others, I was sure it was him gone when Collingwood edged it, and besides copping a lucky decision when he was plumb, he's looked distinctly ordinary.

I remember feeling similarly about him during the last Ashes, and he did go on to make a couple of fifties, so he obviously has it in him to grind out an innings when he's troubled early. Still don't rate him much though.

Bell looked quite confident for the last few overs of the day, especially after the ball had lost its shine(hes batting at least one position too high anyways). As did Pietersen.
Tbh the pitch is dead flat once the ball has lost its shine, and if both Pietersen and Bell dont get big runs they will only have themselves to blame.
Theres still a long way to go in this test match, England still have 17 wickets in hand and they need to bat at least 2.5 more days. My only concern is Warne, because bar the occasional ball none of the fast bowlers looked like taking any wickets towards the end of yesterday.

 

[tooextracool]

Flintoff just shouldn't be captain for two reasons

i) He just isn't as tactically aware as Strauss is, he made some pretty basic field placement errors, that could have got Langer and Ponting out a fair few times.

ii) It is a strain on his already burdened mind, and you could tell it. Being the sides best bowler by a country mile, being expected to make hundreds, and think about being at slip, shouldn;t go with him being the captain.

i woudnt be surprised if he dropped the captaincy before the end of this series, he never should have taken it in the first place. Ive never been fond of giving bowlers who bowl at 90 odd mph the captaincy, especially when you know that they are bound to be injured quite often.
Furthermore i stated them earlier, and as you've mentioned, hes made plenty of tactical mistakes already, he made several over the summer. Its incredibly obvious that he doesnt have a very good cricketing brain to anyone whos watched him bat. One gets the feeling that the England selectors made him captain merely because of how inspirational he is, the irony of it all is that he'd be just as inspirational if he was playing in the side not as captain.