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

[FaaipDeOiad]

Question for you: Who was the last person (before Cook) to score 210+ against the Aussies?

Chris Rogers got a double century in a tour match earlier in the tour. So it might be him.

If not, Tendulkar at Sydney 03/04.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Chris Rogers got a double century in a tour match earlier in the tour. So it might be him.

If not, Tendulkar at Sydney 03/04.

Think so too - Rogers' score was 209.

Nice company for Cook.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Couple of quick wickets for Tait to finish the day, should help his chances of making the team on Thursday a bit. 4/472 at the end of the day though, a real shocker for Australia.

Make that 502-4. Conceding 500 in a day against Essex Reserves should fill the bowlers with confidence, I'm sure.

This summer's team of Aussie-beaters:

Graeme Smith
Alistair Cook
Darren Maddy
Sanath Jayasuriya
Ravi Bopara
Mohammad Ashraful
Jamie Hildreth
Aftab Ahmed
Carl Gazzard
Ben Phillips
Nadeem Malik

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Make that 502-4. Conceding 500 in a day against Essex Reserves should fill the bowlers with confidence, I'm sure.

This summer's team of Aussie-beaters:

Graeme Smith
Alistair Cook
Darren Maddy
Sanath Jayasuriya
Ravi Bopara
Mohammad Ashraful
Jamie Hildreth
Aftab Ahmed
Carl Gazzard
Ben Phillips
Nadeem Malik

Hm. Jayasuriya to bowl firs change?

 

[Barney Rubble]

Hm. Jayasuriya to bowl firs change?

Malik and Phillips to open, Maddy and Ahmed first change, then Bopara, Hildreth, Smith and Jayasuriya to make up the fifth bowler.

 

[twctopcat]

Cook will have to wait his turn with Tres and Strauss there unless one of them goes mentally off the boil. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Cook will have to wait his turn with Tres and Strauss there unless one of them goes mentally off the boil. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though.

Well, two things could happen to Tres at the moment - he's probably got about five years left of international cricket in him (he's 30), so either his wafting-outside-off-stump problem could mean his international career ends a couple of years early because of Cook's emergence, or he could conquer it as he has done (mostly) in the past year or so, and continue to rip apart bowling attacks all over the world ruthlessly.

I cannot tell you how impressed I've been with him in the Ashes series so far, and before that as well. He's growing into a true world-class player, as opposed being one rung on the ladder below that.

 

[twctopcat]

Well, two things could happen to Tres at the moment - he's probably got about five years left of international cricket in him (he's 30), so either his wafting-outside-off-stump problem could mean his international career ends a couple of years early because of Cook's emergence, or he could conquer it as he has done (mostly) in the past year or so, and continue to rip apart bowling attacks all over the world ruthlessly.

I cannot tell you how impressed I've been with him in the Ashes series so far, and before that as well. He's growing into a true world-class player, as opposed being one rung on the ladder below that.

The odd bit of brain fade but his playing inside the line early on is so much better than the old tres, before this series i was almost wishing for a bad one to finish him off but now am loving the guy, how fickle i am.

 

[simmy]

Well played Essex! This summer is getting better and better!

 

[SpeedKing]

Wow 500+, England plundered 407 in one day and people thought they were crazy. These Essex lads are mad. BTW, Ravinder bopara used to play for the club next to us. [ i think it was Ilford]. always good to see one so close to home hammering the old enemy. Go AN Cook. I predict him to be Tres' successor in 3-4 years time. He already opens the batting for England A, so he is on pretty much the right track

 

[Barney Rubble]

The odd bit of brain fade but his playing inside the line early on is so much better than the old tres, before this series i was almost wishing for a bad one to finish him off but now am loving the guy, how fickle i am.

I've always loved him - he's Somerset through and through, how could I not? - but he has tended to infuriate me over the years. I think his increasingly good (and destructive - he was utterly merciless to Bangladesh) performances at the top of the order have been the result of some good old-fasioned hard work, and the realisation that he is now one of England's senior players (bloody hell, it seems only yesterday he was making his debut and everyone was going "Marcus who?") has meant he has knuckled down and started producing the kind of innings all the laws of technique should prevent.

Surely of all the batsmen to have scored however many runs he gets by the end of his Test career, he will be the one with the worst technique! Although having said that, he can be great to watch, even when he's not blitzing bad bowling over cow corner for six - he's got a thunderous cut shot at the moment, I wouldn't want to field at backward point to him (or anywhere else in the circle for that matter - he must have gained a lot of muscle in the past two years or so, 'cos he seems to be hitting the ball harder than ever these days).

 

[Mister Wright]

barely any difference. fact is that if you stick your front foot far forward you are in effect going at the ball early. if you take a short stride forward you arent really that much of an lbw candidate, and you still have the chance to go on the backfoot depending on the length.

No. Watch Clarke against spin, he is a brilliant player of spin. He is definite with his foot work, he's forward and his back, which gives him wonderful postition to play shots against spin. With the quicks he is left stranded, the front foot doesn't come forward enough on most occasions and he gets caught, and often has to feel for the ball outside off stump. When the ball is pitched either full or short of a good length that is when he gets into a lot of trouble

playing balls that he shouldnt be playing isnt actually a technical weakness, its more judgemental. obviously the real weakness in clarkes game at the moment is not his technique but his temperament.

It is a technical flaw when you play away from your body. Look at the best batsman to have ever played the game; Lara, Tendulkar, Waugh etc, they all played from their body. Even though Lara's backlift took his hands well away from his body, as the bat comes down he plays with an arc with his hands coming from his body when he plays a shot. It is something Clarke, Martyn, Langer & Gilchrist do a lot, play away fromt their body and it is their most common dismissal to the quicks. You rarely see batsman like Hayden & Ponting play away from their body, they usually get out snicking with poor shot selection rather than any technical flaws. That has more to do with temprement than technical weakness, which Clarke definitely has against the spinners.

2 times out of 7 isnt significant, and considering that on at least 1 of those occasions it was an inswinger that he didnt expect, its not something that can be put down to technique. in fact hes only ever been out lbw twice to a pace bowler in his career so far. this is so obviously not his weakness..

.

That's because he usually gets out nicking or bowled. However if he continues to play half-forward, half back we will see him out LBW more often.

im sorry what?
if he is not ready, why has he been one of australias best batsmen in this series and averaged over 40?

More a case of the other batsman not being on top of their games and the bowlers being excellent than Clarke performing exceptionally well.

 

[Pratters]

Chris Rogers got a double century in a tour match earlier in the tour. So it might be him.

If not, Tendulkar at Sydney 03/04.

I would like to know the player who scored doubles vs Aussies in first class matches which were not test matches before Cook, whatever records are known.

 

[Pratters]

If Jones or McGrath broke down in the next test with similar injuries, the respective captains would be well within their rights to refuse substitutes.

Not applicable if its carrying the injury into the match. That is for the umpires to decide though whether it is carrying an injury or a new injury.

Umpires are much more than just decision makers on cricket stuff it seems!

 

[Pratters]

I have a sneaking (uncomfortable) suspicion (fear) that the Aussies will come back and take away all the pleasure we are currently [b[driving[/b] from their predicament.

Deriving

 

[social]

Mike Whitney's summary of Essex match.

Tiny ground, flat wicket, batting nothing special, horrible, horrible bowling.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Mike Whitney's summary of Essex match.

Tiny ground, flat wicket, batting nothing special, horrible, horrible bowling.

From an English perspective, that's good news. When Gillespie is made to look economical, you know something's up.

 

[honestbharani]

Is Essex's batting better than England?

 

[age_master]

Mike Whitney's summary of Essex match.

Tiny ground, flat wicket, batting nothing special, horrible, horrible bowling.

probably pretty accurate

 

[Magrat Garlick]

I would like to know the player who scored doubles vs Aussies in first class matches which were not test matches before Cook, whatever records are known.

Still Sachin - 204 not out for Mumbai

Unless you count a match against an "Australian XI" which was effectively Australia A in 1998-99, in which case it's Mike Atherton.

Cook's is the highest since Hansie Cronje made 251 for Orange Free State