***Official*** Australia in England (The Ashes)

[Monty]

yeah bichel would have been a better choice seeing as he is in good form with the bat and bowl

 

[tooextracool]

Australia should not go in with two spinners at here period, the last pitch for the CC match between Lancashire & Essex was an absolute featherbed they are better of picking the same bowling attack or dropping Kasper probably for Tait.

If Watson was to be picked its best Australia hand over the ashes.....

well they are going to have to look at the wicket on the morning of the test match and decided who to pick. but given pontings history, im not so sure hes actually capable of reading a wicket.

 

[aussie]

well they are going to have to look at the wicket on the morning of the test match and decided who to pick. but given pontings history, im not so sure hes actually capable of reading a wicket.

, well i think people have been a bit harsh on Ponting on his iffy decision at birmingham. Some would say after he lost pigeon he should have changed his mind about bowling first but Ponting must have thought ``well i just bowled these blokes for 2 sub-200 totals in the previous test so they could be some scars plus the fact that the conditons looked as if it would favour seam bowling``. But that wasn't the case.....

 

[tooextracool]

No he didn't; he batted three in his first Test at Adelaide. He opened in the Perth Test of that series, didn't do very well in a heavy loss (unlucky in the second-innings, though - caught off his shoulder) and didn't open again until 2000, 7 years later. A bit premature to say it wasn't foreign to him.

4th Test: Adelaide 1993: http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1992-93/WI_IN_AUS/WI_AUS_T4_23-26JAN1993.html

5th Test: Perth 1993 : http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1992-93/WI_IN_AUS/WI_AUS_T5_30JAN-01FEB1993.html

wasnt JL opening in domestic cricket though?

 

[King_Ponting]

wasnt JL opening in domestic cricket though?

Yeh he normally always opens for WA

 

[tooextracool]

I totally forgot about it. Which umpire gave it not out? It looked so plumb that my friend (an England fan) had started celebrating next to me.

bowden i believe.

 

[marc71178]

, well i think people have been a bit harsh on Ponting on his iffy decision at birmingham.

Far from it.

Some people have tried to divert from it by moaning about decisions.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Did Ricky Ponting show signs of weakness in putting the opposition in? On the previous tour when Mark Taylor was captain everyone thought putting the opposition in was the thing to do on a green damp wicket at Old Trafford. Yet Taylor trusted his batsman in all circumstances and rightly choose to bat. To put the opposition in the pitch and conditions really need to be extreme and at Edgbaston they weren't.

 

[King_Ponting]

Did Ricky Ponting show signs of weakness in putting the opposition in? On the previous tour when Mark Taylor was captain everyone thought putting the opposition in was the thing to do on a green damp wicket at Old Trafford. Yet Taylor trusted his batsman in all circumstances and rightly choose to bat. To put the opposition in the pitch and conditions really need to be extreme and at Edgbaston they weren't.

I'm a bowler and when i first saw that edgbaston deck i thought......"bowlers paradise" green top. I would have been itching for a bowl on that strip. In hindsight had ponting chose to bat and the pitch started seaming around etc everyone will be having a crack at him for batting first instead of bowling........ cant have it both ways, certainly not the easiest wicket to read tho

 

[aussie]

Far from it.

Some people have tried to divert from it by moaning about decisions.

examples

 

[aussie]

I'm a bowler and when i first saw that edgbaston deck i thought......"bowlers paradise" green top. I would have been itching for a bowl on that strip. In hindsight had ponting chose to bat and the pitch started seaming around etc everyone will be having a crack at him for batting first instead of bowling........ cant have it both ways, certainly not the easiest wicket to read tho

yea got to go with KP here....

 

[tooextracool]

indeed - Stuart Clark has been added to the squad - very much in the McGrath mould.

you know, in the past anyone whos been said to be in the 'mcgrath mould' has been rubbish. ifthikar rao and maharoof are the first that come to mind.

 

[King_Ponting]

you know, in the past anyone whos been said to be in the 'mcgrath mould' has been rubbish. ifthikar rao and maharoof are the first that come to mind.

But i believe that clark is the first australian to be said to be in the "mcgrath mould". And seeing as he is a NSwelshman just like Mcgrath might help as well. Clark is very much a line and length bowler.

 

[aussie]

you know, in the past anyone whos been said to be in the 'mcgrath mould' has been rubbish. ifthikar rao and maharoof are the first that come to mind.

exactly the only real Mcgrath mould in WC for me is Pollock, the selectors shouldn't have gone in Clark's direction for Bichel would have been much better....

 

[Neil Pickup]

examples

At least 50 posts by Shane Warne...

 

[tooextracool]

exactly the only real Mcgrath mould in WC for me is Pollock, the selectors shouldn't have gone in Clark's direction for Bichel would have been much better....

even pollock isnt really in the mcgrath mould, he doesnt have the height and cant get the ball to reverse like mcgrath can, and therefore becomes almost useless on batter friendly wickets.

 

[Neil Pickup]

exactly the only real Mcgrath mould in WC for me is Pollock, the selectors shouldn't have gone in Clark's direction for Bichel would have been much better....

Add Aavishkar Salvi to the list. Bhandari as well?

 

[Neil Pickup]

, well i think people have been a bit harsh on Ponting on his iffy decision at birmingham. Some would say after he lost pigeon he should have changed his mind about bowling first but Ponting must have thought ``well i just bowled these blokes for 2 sub-200 totals in the previous test so they could be some scars plus the fact that the conditons looked as if it would favour seam bowling``. But that wasn't the case.....

Not to mention the terrible call to bat first v Bangladesh at Cardiff.

It seems like the mind is made up long before the morning and there's zero flexibility.

 

[tooextracool]

I'm a bowler and when i first saw that edgbaston deck i thought......"bowlers paradise" green top. I would have been itching for a bowl on that strip. In hindsight had ponting chose to bat and the pitch started seaming around etc everyone will be having a crack at him for batting first instead of bowling........ cant have it both ways, certainly not the easiest wicket to read tho

was it a 'green top' though? if anything ponting got carried away by all of the pre match comments about how the pitch had plenty of moisture in it and england actually considering playing collingwood over giles. if you ask me australia pretty much lost the match before the first ball was bowled.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Didn't Brad Williams get that tag?

BBC Sport ran a feature of the eleven "New Bothams" england went through before Flintoff emerged, fingers crossed Australia get a similar wait!

Here's the list...
Phil DeFreitas, 44 Tests, batting ave 14.82, bowling ave 33.57
David Capel, 15 Tests, batting ave 15.5, bowling ave 50.6
Chris Lewis, 32 Tests, bat 23.0, bowl 37.5
Dermot Reeve, 3 Tests, bat 24.8, bowl 30.0
Mark Ealham, 8 Tests, bat 21.0, bowl 28.7
Dominic Cork, 37 Tests, bat 18.0, bowl 29.8
Craig White, 30 Tests, bat 24.4, bowl 37.6
Adam Hollioake, 4 Tests, bat 10.8, bowl 33.5
Ben Hollioake, 2 Tests, bat 11.0, bowl 49.7
Ronnie Irani, 3 Tests, bat 17.2, bowl 37.
Gavin Hamilton, 1 Test, bat 0.0, no wkts