***Official*** 2nd Test at the Adelaide Oval

[howardj]

Martyn's plight is terminal if he misses out in the 2nd innings, particularly if Clarke makes a 50 tomorrow. With Watson to come back in at Perth, Martyn needs to summon all his reserves and produce a stellar knock....and that's assuming he even gets another hit in this match.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Ponting apparently said after play today that he'd be looking to chase if a target is set, so that might set the scene for Australia to declare behind tomorrow. Perhaps they'll look to bat to lunch and get within 100 or so, and then declare and bowl England out or get a generous declaration for a final day chase.

Good to see anyway. A lot of captains would be pretty happy with the draw, given that Australia are already 1-0 ahead. Flintoff would be stupid not to take Ponting up on any sort of declaration agreement if he offers one.

 

[marc71178]

I've only checked in briefly now and then, as obviously quite a few times Channel Nine has stayed until the end of play, but the times I've looked it's a bit of a cheerleading fest. I think all three of the commentators, Will Luke, Jenny Thompson and Martin Williamson are English.

Thank god I don't have to rely on it, as I'd find it fairly grating after a while. Perhaps they're aware that most of those using the commentary are gonna be from outside Australia - although there might still be those in the state the test's being played in.

To be fair though, isn't there a bit of an issue between Cricinfo and Cricket Australia still (hence they don't have the Australian games - the brown-nosed gnome comment wasn't it)

Therefore why should Cricinfo pay so much attention to the Australians?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

To be fair though, isn't there a bit of an issue between Cricinfo and Cricket Australia still (hence they don't have the Australian games - the brown-nosed gnome comment wasn't it)

Therefore why should Cricinfo pay so much attention to the Australians?

I don't think cricinfo should pay particular attention to anyone, though obviously they should report on Australian cricket to maintain any sort of claim to complete coverage of international cricket.

The issue isn't about "paying attention" to anyone, but having parochial England fans as cheerleader commentators is a bit silly and unprofessional. Even Bill Lawry makes an attempt to be impartial.

 

[Alysum]

Looks like Hayden and Martyn will be the first to get the axe.
Funny Hayden was scoring all those tons last year but against weak teams. I'll give Hayden 1 more test before they recall Jaques.

 

[marc71178]

The issue isn't about "paying attention" to anyone, but having parochial England fans as cheerleader commentators is a bit silly and unprofessional. Even Bill Lawry makes an attempt to be impartial.

I guess there's another issue then in that they can only use the people they employ - and since the office is in London - that tends to be people based in London...

 

[greg]

Ponting apparently said after play today that he'd be looking to chase if a target is set, so that might set the scene for Australia to declare behind tomorrow. Perhaps they'll look to bat to lunch and get within 100 or so, and then declare and bowl England out or get a generous declaration for a final day chase.

Good to see anyway. A lot of captains would be pretty happy with the draw, given that Australia are already 1-0 ahead. Flintoff would be stupid not to take Ponting up on any sort of declaration agreement if he offers one.

I think you're in cloud ****oo land on declarations from a long way behind. And captain's agreements? This isn't the county championship!

Ponting's words were purely designed to put doubt in Flintoff's mind if he gets into a position to declare. No more no less.

And i think there's no chance of Flintoff making anything resembling a "generous declaration" at this stage of the series. And without a spinner in the team.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Well, it appears I was thoroughly wrong about Collingwood. Fair play to the lad. I always liked him as a bloke, and you can't fault his attitude, but I never thought he had the natural ability for something like that. Amazing innings.

KP once again majestic, making Warne and McGrath look like rookies.

All in all a fantastic day from our lads, we're back in this series for sure.

I agree re: Collingwood...I have to take back what I said about him too, he toughs it out and has posted two very good scores in a row.

 

[Slow Love™]

To be fair though, isn't there a bit of an issue between Cricinfo and Cricket Australia still (hence they don't have the Australian games - the brown-nosed gnome comment wasn't it)

Therefore why should Cricinfo pay so much attention to the Australians?

Think you're missing the point a bit, marc.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I guess there's another issue then in that they can only use the people they employ - and since the office is in London - that tends to be people based in London...

I'm happy to come over and commentate...haven't they looked in any bars over there for Aussie commentators?

 

[Slow Love™]

The issue isn't about "paying attention" to anyone, but having parochial England fans as cheerleader commentators is a bit silly and unprofessional. Even Bill Lawry makes an attempt to be impartial.

Not much of one, really.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I think you're in cloud ****oo land on declarations from a long way behind. And captain's agreements? This isn't the county championship!

Ponting's words were purely designed to put doubt in Flintoff's mind if he gets into a position to declare. No more no less.

There have been captains agreements in test cricket before, and if anyone in world cricket would attempt one today it'd be Ponting. I wouldn't say 100 was a "long way behind" either. Ponting isn't the most aggressive captain I've ever seen, but certainly someone like Steve Waugh wouldn't have blinked an eye at declaring 100 behind. Ponting would probably be willing to do it as well, if he felt that England would also declare and set Australia a chasable target.

I've got no doubt that Ponting's comments about chasing were mostly to keep people from assuming Australia were playing for a draw, for a number of reasons, but if Australia get going tomorrow morning and close the gap a reasonable amount I think it's pretty likely he'd declare as soon as people capable of scoring heaps of runs get out. If Australia are 5/400+ at lunch, he'll keep batting in the hope that Gilchrist and Clarke can get Australia a lead and take an England win out of the equation.

 

[Slow Love™]

Ponting apparently said after play today that he'd be looking to chase if a target is set, so that might set the scene for Australia to declare behind tomorrow. Perhaps they'll look to bat to lunch and get within 100 or so, and then declare and bowl England out or get a generous declaration for a final day chase.

Good to see anyway. A lot of captains would be pretty happy with the draw, given that Australia are already 1-0 ahead. Flintoff would be stupid not to take Ponting up on any sort of declaration agreement if he offers one.

That would be extremely against type for Ponting. I'd be really surprised if he did that, given how conservative he is in general.

Given how the pitch has played (and how our bowlers have fared), I'd actually prefer he play this one conservatively, to be honest.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

That would be extremely against type for Ponting. I'd be really surprised if he did that, given how conservative he is in general.

Given how the pitch has played (and how our bowlers have fared), I'd actually prefer he play this one conservatively, to be honest.

Ponting is a very conservative captain with certain things, but not with others. He won't enforce the follow-on unless he absolutely has to, and he won't declare any sooner than necessary to set a target, but I think in a situation where he was confident that England couldn't really win the test and he felt he'd be given a reasonable target to chase (say 300-350 in a day) he'd declare behind. Obviously very few captains would declare when they felt the opposition were fairly likely to win, unless they were super aggressive like Waugh or absolutely had to win the test.

 

[howardj]

Very disappointed in Shane Warne yesterday. He seemed to give up so easily on Pietersen. Granted, Pietersen was dominating him, but Warne was surrendering before Pietersen had even notched his century. It was like Warne's pride meant more to him than fighting for the team - which is very rare for an otherwise great team man like Warne. He gave up way too early, on a turning pitch, for my liking.

 

[Slow Love™]

Ponting is a very conservative captain with certain things, but not with others. He won't enforce the follow-on unless he absolutely has to, and he won't declare any sooner than necessary to set a target, but I think in a situation where he was confident that England couldn't really win the test and he felt he'd be given a reasonable target to chase (say 300-350 in a day) he'd declare behind.

Has he ever done it before? It's always seemed to me that his first priority is that the game can't be lost, and he seems to have little confidence in our bats to chase a total batting last.

 

[greg]

There have been captains agreements in test cricket before, and if anyone in world cricket would attempt one today it'd be Ponting. I wouldn't say 100 was a "long way behind" either. Ponting isn't the most aggressive captain I've ever seen, but certainly someone like Steve Waugh wouldn't have blinked an eye at declaring 100 behind. Ponting would probably be willing to do it as well, if he felt that England would also declare and set Australia a chasable target.

I've got no doubt that Ponting's comments about chasing were mostly to keep people from assuming Australia were playing for a draw, for a number of reasons, but if Australia get going tomorrow morning and close the gap a reasonable amount I think it's pretty likely he'd declare as soon as people capable of scoring heaps of runs get out. If Australia are 5/400+ at lunch, he'll keep batting in the hope that Gilchrist and Clarke can get Australia a lead and take an England win out of the equation.

Australia declaring 100 behind when they're beating all comers and are not playing for the Ashes against the second best team in the world, when they're one up in the series needing to win, is one thing (although offhand i still can't think of any examples).

I can think of precisely one "captain's agreement" involving England in the modern era...

 

[howardj]

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Has he ever done it before?

Not in test cricket, but I'm not sure he's ever been in a situation like this has he? He certainly played under Waugh when he did similar things though. Can't remember a specific instance where Waugh declared behind, though I believe he did so at least once, but there's a few cases of him setting extremely generous targets to try and win games, like at Brisbane in 2001 against New Zealand.

 

[howardj]

No need for England to be taking declaration risks at this stage of the Series. I think they're quietly confident that they can wear Australia down if this Series stretches into Melbourne/Sydney.