***Official Australia in India***

[ret]

First in a while thats for sure.

and 3 wins in a row in his first 3 tests .... that would be nice record from an India perspective

 

[Matt79]

Yeah, that's the team I've expected to see against New Zealand for quite some time. Krejza taking 12 wickets might change that though, rightly or wrongly. Maybe Clark won't be recalled?

That would be a shock, but just because he's superficially like McGrath doesn't mean that he'll hold his form into his late 30s like McGrath did, and the nasty reality for the Aussie team is that he's 33 and Lee is 32, and fast bowlers often drop off a cliff rather than slide down a gradual slope. Anyone fancy an attack with Johnson leading it in the next twelve months?

That said, I don't think there was that much wrong with his bowling in this series - he was obviously not fully fit, missing the extra bounce that he normally extracts in Australia, and bowling to a plan that was as woeful as the rest of the attack. Reckon he'll be back for this summer, and hopefully for the Ashes in 09 (he deserves a tour of England), but its quite likely he won't be in contention for a spot for the 09-10 summer...

 

[silentstriker]

Over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates, over-rates.

Haha . They might have in fact cost him the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

 

[silentstriker]

Once upon a time, I had a theory that captaincy is too hard to quantify and its very hard to accurately determine the value of a captain. So to figure out how good a captain is, there is not much you can do but look at the results of his team under his captaincy, and the more wins, the better the captain generally.


I was wrong.

 

[Prince EWS]

That would be a shock, but just because he's superficially like McGrath doesn't mean that he'll hold his form into his late 30s like McGrath did, and the nasty reality for the Aussie team is that he's 33 and Lee is 32, and fast bowlers often drop off a cliff rather than slide down a gradual slope. Anyone fancy an attack with Johnson leading it in the next twelve months?

That said, I don't think there was that much wrong with his bowling in this series - he was obviously not fully fit, missing the extra bounce that he normally extracts in Australia, and bowling to a plan that was as woeful as the rest of the attack. Reckon he'll be back for this summer, and hopefully for the Ashes in 09 (he deserves a tour of England), but its quite likely he won't be in contention for a spot for the 09-10 summer...

Haha yeah there's no question that he deserves his place - whether or not the selectors agree is a different matter. As you said before, White to retain his place and Hayden to bowl the slow stuff looks on the cards.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

115 overs for Watto throughout the series and no injuries, dare I say it - we're out of the woods.

Delete this post right now!

 

[Nate]

Australia to win this imo. Ponting to start us off, lower order to finish things.

Well played to both sides, 1-1, etc.

 

[Durham_CCC]

Still trying to work out what Punter was doing after TEA.

Also, quite surprised Clark was left out.

 

[ret]

good part abt tomm is that only one team needs to win this one and thats, as we know, Australia to square the series .... they will have to be attacking tomm and once they lose a few wkts, it would be difficult for them to change into a lower gear and play for a draw, which would mean that they would be losing the series .... the thing that Australia will have to go for a result tomm could mean that the game will go one way or the other

on the other hand, Dhoni can keep the pressure on with this bowling tactics and field placing and take the opportunities that comes his way

it should be interesting tomm

 

[Matt79]

Who's Tomm?

 

[Jono]

Once upon a time, I had a theory that captaincy is too hard to quantify and its very hard to accurately determine the value of a captain. So to figure out how good a captain is, there is not much you can do but look at the results of his team under his captaincy, and the more wins, the better the captain generally.


I was wrong.

Haha I knew it'd take a monumental ****-up on behalf of Ponting to show that captaincy doesn't just come down to winning percentages.

Glad you've converted

 

[mikeW]

Surely we will chase the total all the way? who cares if we lose 2 nil?

 

[GIMH]

Once upon a time, I had a theory that captaincy is too hard to quantify and its very hard to accurately determine the value of a captain. So to figure out how good a captain is, there is not much you can do but look at the results of his team under his captaincy, and the more wins, the better the captain generally.


I was wrong.

This is my favourite post of yours, ever

I remember there was a "Battle of the Captains" and you just voted for the one with the highest win %

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Is this really an issue of captaincy skill?

Honest question, because I don't really feel it's relevant to Ponting's "ability" as a captain so to speak. It's not a tactical error. It's a concious decision to do what isn't in the best interests of the team and their desire to win the game. I very much doubt Ponting sat around thinking "we'll bowl Huss and White after tea and win the game, she'll be right". I'm sure he realised bowling Lee and Watson or Krezja or whatever was a better choice, he just felt it was a decision he couldn't make for whatever reason.

Maybe it was self-interest insofar as he didn't want to get banned, maybe the team as a whole or the team management didn't want to stay behind on the over rate, or whatever else. It wasn't a tactical blunder though, at least IMO.

 

[xoox]

Australia to win this imo. Ponting to start us off, lower order to finish things.

Well played to both sides, 1-1, etc.

LOL...it is either a draw or an Indian win from here on, buddy!

 

[xoox]

good part abt tomm is that only one team needs to win this one and thats, as we know, Australia to square the series .... they will have to be attacking tomm and once they lose a few wkts, it would be difficult for them to change into a lower gear and play for a draw, which would mean that they would be losing the series .... the thing that Australia will have to go for a result tomm could mean that the game will go one way or the other

on the other hand, Dhoni can keep the pressure on with this bowling tactics and field placing and take the opportunities that comes his way

it should be interesting tomm

The way the ball was spinning today, it looks way too unlikely that the Aussies will be able to counter Bhajji and Mishra...and unless Hayden cracks it real big (big as in BIG)., Aussies have little or no option to win from here..

 

[Jono]

Is this really an issue of captaincy skill?

Honest question, because I don't really feel it's relevant to Ponting's "ability" as a captain so to speak. It's not a tactical error. It's a concious decision to do what isn't in the best interests of the team and their desire to win the game. I very much doubt Ponting sat around thinking "we'll bowl Huss and White after tea and win the game, she'll be right". I'm sure he realised bowling Lee and Watson or Krezja or whatever was a better choice, he just felt it was a decision he couldn't make for whatever reason.

Maybe it was self-interest insofar as he didn't want to get banned, maybe the team as a whole or the team management didn't want to stay behind on the over rate, or whatever else. It wasn't a tactical blunder though, at least IMO.

Its just plain **** captaincy though, firstly to ever be put in that position when the warning signs were there for God knows how long, and then to choose to bowl White and Hussey. They would have been better off telling Watson to bowl off a short run-up, he'd at least still reverse the ball like he was doing before tea!

Its akin to a captain batting slowly when quick scoring is needed, to save himself from being dropped. IF it was his choice, it was him putting his own self interest (let's be serious here, how important is that first test vs. NZ at home without Ponting compared to this series and its history?) ahead of the team.

There's simply no denying it that if Australia do not win tomorrow, Ponting's legacy as captain will take a hit and be tarnished. You can call it hyperbole if you like, but there's a reason why not just one, but many commentators and journalists are calling it the most baffling and farcical captaincy choice they've ever seen.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I agree in principle, but I don't think we know exactly what happened yet. I just find the explainations offered really weird and unlikely.

Either way I don't the over rate thing is necessarily his fault as a captain. Over rates are pretty terrible in most test matches right now, and Ponting hasn't been that far behind in this series in general, it's mostly been a couple of overs at most at the end of the day. He's bowled his spinners as much as could be reasonably expected I think, probably a bit more than would be desirable, but there's not a hell of a lot you can do. I don't think it makes him a **** captain that the over rates were poor, and I don't think the decision to bowl Hussey etc was a tactical mistake.

It may well have been a really stupid response to a problem, but I just find it really hard to believe that he made a unilateral decision to fix the over rate problem with the game on the line. If it was as simple as "if we don't speed up the over rate I'll get suspended, so stuff winning the match", then yeah, it's pretty dismal. It's not poor tactics but it is an unbelievably stupid thing to do as a player, and it will and should reflect very poorly on him. I guess we'll see how it plays out over the next few days.

 

[pup11]

115 overs for Watto throughout the series and no injuries, dare I say it - we're out of the woods.

You forgot to say "Touch wood" mate!

 

[social]

I hope that reply would suffice. Also note Bowden earning Ponting earlier. Such a braindead cricketer should be brought to book.

If anyone could gain an unfair advantage by ripping a loose piece of leather off a ball, then why would the umps do it when such an offending piece is brought to their attention?

The reality is that such actions dont give an advantage and, if anything, the reverse is true