*Official* Australia in England

[Sir Alex]

I never said that Eng didnt deserve to win

What I've said earlier is that this whole series is irrelevant

It's not a precursor to a world cup in England so it doesnt involve practise for that series

It's not a precursor to a test series in England so it doesnt involve practise for that series

It's a money making excercise - nothing more or less

IMO, Oz have taken the best of the rest to England to make money for their boards and it devalues the whole contest

Yes, ftr they should have just played exhibition matches.

It is all part of buildup for World Cup. A good time to test reserve strength, find the right combination etc.

 

[pasag]

Great! England continuing to own Australia and now they seem to have taken that into all formats. Morgan is such a talented youngster and I hope he will emulate Dhoni who has been pillor of Indian ODI success in recent years. (of course apart from Sachin). Great innings under pressure and this is akin to Peitersen's effort in 2005.

I said before Clarke played an important innings from England pov.

Going to have to work a bit harder to "own" us at ODIs seeing as in the last year we've beaten them 6-1 in their own backyard and knocked them out of the Champions Trophy semi-finals.

 

[Prince EWS]

James Hopes? I know Hopes has played some good innings and bowled well but I doubt he canbe some one like Bichel.

Much prefer Hopes to Smith at this point. I'd be okay with Smith in for Hauritz as long as he batted ahead of Hopes when he played, but he wouldn't. Hauritz definitely the better OD bowler of the two right now so if the spot is going to be primarily for bowling he should keep it.

 

[Sir Alex]

Going to have to work a bit harder to "own" us at ODIs seeing as in the last year we've beaten them 6-1 in their own backyard and knocked them out of the Champions Trophy semi-finals.

Ok fair enough. So they have a bit of work to do in ODIs then.

Much prefer Hopes to Smith at this point. I'd be okay with Smith in for Hauritz as long as he batted ahead of Hopes when he played, but he wouldn't. Hauritz definitely the better OD bowler of the two right now so if the spot is going to be primarily for bowling he should keep it.

Yes, that is acceptable. But I am still not fully convinced in Smith's ability to put in 10 overs regularly at this juncture in his career. If he can without bleeding, he will be a priceless addition to their side. The world cup played in the subcontinent might require more than one spinner in that case Smith may justify selection ahead of James Hopes. I think Smith is a better batsman than Hopes and should perform better than Hopes the bowler in such pitches.

 

[Burgey]

Yes, ftr they should have just played exhibition matches.

It is all part of buildup for World Cup. A good time to test reserve strength, find the right combination etc.

Which reconciles with your comment about Australia being "owned" how exactly?

If you're going to try to be even a subtle troll, you still need to be consistent.

Surprised you of all people didn't know that by now

 

[Prince EWS]

Yes, that is acceptable. But I am still not fully convinced in Smith's ability to put in 10 overs regularly at this juncture in his career.

Yeah, I agree. That's why I said that if he was to play I'd have him batting seven and sharing his overs with Watson. There'd still be six bowlers in the team (plus Clarke if needed) so he wouldn't need to get through ten. I don't like Hopes batting seven when Watto's in the team, it just seems a little pointless. If Smith batted seven, Hopes batted eight and Hauritz was left out I think the balance would be a bit better. I don't like the thought of a player coming into the side to bat eight and be the sixth bowler though, and I think that's what would happen if Hauritz was indeed dropped for Smith. I agree that Smith's a better bat than Hopes but the selectors don't seem to share that thought at the moment.

The world cup played in the subcontinent might require more than one spinner in that case Smith may justify selection ahead of James Hopes. I think Smith is a better batsman than Hopes and should perform better than Hopes the bowler in such pitches.

Don't agree at all that Smith would be better than Hopes with the ball on any pitch. Hopes in particularly good with the pill on slow pitches because he changes his pace up and bowls that length that's really hard to get away without taking undue risks. Better bat for sure but I definitely think Hopes offers more to the team at the moment.

 

[Jono]

Lol @ responding to social.

Gets everyone every thread. Amazing.

 

[Sir Alex]

Which reconciles with your comment about Australia being "owned" how exactly?

If you're going to try to be even a subtle troll, you still need to be consistent.

Surprised you of all people didn't know that by now

read previous post. thank u.

 

[Sir Alex]

Don't agree at all that Smith would be better than Hopes with the ball on any pitch. Hopes in particularly good with the pill on slow pitches because he changes his pace up and bowls that length that's really hard to get away without taking undue risks. Better bat for sure but I definitely think Hopes offers more to the team at the moment.

I am not sure he has done enough on "slow low pitches". In WI and India, he has taken 8 wickets from 13 matches @ 38 and ER of 4.6, all of which are worse than his career figures. But then his job might to be stifle the run rates, and 4.6 is indeed an acceptable economy rate. His batting average isn't too flashy either (21.55 with no fifties). I think we just have to wait and watch.

 

[Woodster]

How do you guys that have seen a bit more of Steven Smith predict his future to go ? Is he likely to follow Cameron White's path with his leg-spin offerings becoming absolutely secondary to his batting prowess, or does he have the talent with his leggies to become a real all-rounder ? Not just talking shorter forms of the game, but first-class cricket and possibly Tests also.

 

[Johnners]

WTF? Do the selectors just pick names out of hats these days?

Assuming this was re: Khwaja being picked? Was hardly a shock selection.

 

[Nate]

How do you guys that have seen a bit more of Steven Smith predict his future to go ? Is he likely to follow Cameron White's path with his leg-spin offerings becoming absolutely secondary to his batting prowess, or does he have the talent with his leggies to become a real all-rounder ? Not just talking shorter forms of the game, but first-class cricket and possibly Tests also.

There have been plenty of posts and a few threads about him, if you have time to search. He definately has the potential to become a legitmate all-rounder, being able to be picked for his bowling or batting alone. Right now though, he is a lovely batsman to watch and ready for International Cricket. His bowling at this point is a work in progress, but he just keeps getting better in every match.

Also, I love him.

 

[social]

So no sign of the 1st and 2nd string attacks then, funny that...

Sorry, had other things to do

Missing from the current Oz lineup are Johnson, Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Lee, Tait, Nannes and Smith

Apologies if I've missed anyone but we have so many injuries and unavailabilities that I tend to lose track

Chuck those names into a hat with Harris and Hauritz and you could come up with any number of combinations better than yesterday

 

[Top_Cat]

How do you guys that have seen a bit more of Steven Smith predict his future to go ? Is he likely to follow Cameron White's path with his leg-spin offerings becoming absolutely secondary to his batting prowess, or does he have the talent with his leggies to become a real all-rounder ? Not just talking shorter forms of the game, but first-class cricket and possibly Tests also.

My post from ages ago stands as my opinion; reckon he looks great and, most importantly of all for mine, the higher he's played, the better he's got.

http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/cri...season-thread-2009-2010-a-88.html#post2111175

 

[DingDong]

did anybody mention the 'australia is in transistion/rebuilding phase' nonsense yet?

 

[Johnners]

Sorry, had other things to do

Missing from the current Oz lineup are Johnson, Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Lee, Tait, Nannes and Smith

Apologies if I've missed anyone but we have so many injuries and unavailabilities that I tend to lose track

Chuck those names into a hat with Harris and Hauritz and you could come up with any number of combinations better than yesterday

Johnson yes, Lee - at a stretch.... but the others are just laughable quite frankly. Siddle/Hilfenhaus are simply NOT better OD bowlers than either of Bollinger or Harris. They've each taken at least twice as many wickets as Moobs/Hilf, at 10 runs less per wicket, and a similar amount of matches, there's no way you can claim that the attack would be stronger for the inclusion of them over Harris/Dougy.

As for Nannes/Tait, not exactly sure why you're talking about them as first or second string options for the 50 over side given it's been more than 12 months since Tait was selected to play 50 over match, and Nannes has only ever played 1 iirc and that was also nigh upon a year ago. Nannes may well be as good/better than Harris/Dougy, but given that he's quite obviously not in the selectors plans, it's stupid to refer to him as a 1st/2nd string bowler. I've seen some pretty strange ideas/suggestions come from you Social, but this is probably the most ridiculous of them all.

 

[Top_Cat]

Some good news in the Paine household;

Paine gloves up for Haddin - Australia - Fox Sports

 

[pasag]

Sorry, had other things to do

Missing from the current Oz lineup are Johnson, Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Lee, Tait, Nannes and Smith

Apologies if I've missed anyone but we have so many injuries and unavailabilities that I tend to lose track

Chuck those names into a hat with Harris and Hauritz and you could come up with any number of combinations better than yesterday

No.

Discuss.

 

[Kylez]

Pretty dissapointing result for Australia but England played well and we were dire at some parts, Morgan played a special knock.

Decent debut for Hazelwood to, bowled some real good deliveries and managed to get Craig Kieswetter.

Looking forward to the next game, hopefully it's a bit earlier.

 

[social]

Johnson yes, Lee - at a stretch.... but the others are just laughable quite frankly. Siddle/Hilfenhaus are simply NOT better OD bowlers than either of Bollinger or Harris. They've each taken at least twice as many wickets as Moobs/Hilf, at 10 runs less per wicket, and a similar amount of matches, there's no way you can claim that the attack would be stronger for the inclusion of them over Harris/Dougy.

As for Nannes/Tait, not exactly sure why you're talking about them as first or second string options for the 50 over side given it's been more than 12 months since Tait was selected to play 50 over match, and Nannes has only ever played 1 iirc and that was also nigh upon a year ago. Nannes may well be as good/better than Harris/Dougy, but given that he's quite obviously not in the selectors plans, it's stupid to refer to him as a 1st/2nd string bowler. I've seen some pretty strange ideas/suggestions come from you Social, but this is probably the most ridiculous of them all.

A fit Lee is the best ODI bowler we have by so far that it's absolutely laughable

As for the others, I mentioned that it was subject to availability which can also be taken as our selectors actually picking the side on merit

By the way, notice how Tait was picked out of club cricket to play T20s when the WC got close - there is a reason for that and it's simply that he is one of the best 2 bowlers in Oz in the shorter formats