*Official* Australia in West Indies Thread

[PY]

5.5 Drakes to Langer, OUT: first strike! short delivery, pitched outside the off stump and angling into the left hander, ball kept low after pitching and goes on to hit the pad outside the line of the off stump, huge appeal and umpire Asoka de Silva raises his finger.

Uh-oh, he's struck again 13 for 1

 

[Anil]

The Aussies currently lead by 191 with 9 wickets in hand. If the WI can contain Aus to a lead of not more than 350, they are in with a chance in this test. Doesn't look likely, but stranger things have happened in cricket.....

 

[Legglancer]

I would like to take this oppertunity to congradulate Merv Dhillon on his 25th Test Duck. This is a very special acievement ... one which I am sure his mentor ( Mr Walsh) himself will be proud of. Merv made his individual 25th Duck even more memorable by making it a "First Ball Duck" great work Merv !

Good show by the WI lower order in helping avoiding the follow on !

 

[luckyeddie]

Methinks 'A shocker' ought to revisit the lbw law.

 

[vandemataram]

I would like to take this oppertunity to congradulate Merv Dhillon on his 25th Test Duck. This is a very special acievement ... one which I am sure his mentor ( Mr Walsh) himself will be proud of. Merv made his individual 25th Duck even more memorable by making it a "First Ball Duck" great work Merv !

Dillion has more than one mentor, he should now be known as "Duckarkar"

 

[marc71178]

I suppose If Thorpe were to succsesfully make a comback you could argue his case against Gayle in the short term but IMO Gayle will eventualy be the better batsman.

If that is so, then the Windies will have a superb player in Gayle...

 

[marc71178]

I would easily pick Lara, Chanders and Sarwan over Butcher and Hussain.

Agreed on Lara, but if I had to choose players to bat for my life, Nasser would definitely be near the top of my list.

 

[Eclipse]

Agreed on Lara, but if I had to choose players to bat for my life, Nasser would definitely be near the top of my list.

Maybe but were talking who is the better batsman over all and I would consider Chanderpual & Sarwan to be better than Hussain you cant really say that there not because all the evidence suggests they are.


I am not having ago at the England side marc thats just the way I see it and I also see it that England has the better attack by far than the WI.

 

[age_master]

hmm player to bat for my life

Here is a few

Gilchrist
Hayden
Lara
Tendulkar
Atapattu
Vaughan
S Waugh
Ul Haq
Ponting

 

[The Argonaut]

Just when I thought no one would top Tiffin's efforts in Australia last season up comes de Silva to prove me wrong. Some of the decisions so far in the series have been mind blowing. How would the WestIndies bowlers feel to know that out of the 4 wickets they took in conceding 576 runs only 1 was out.

The Windies got the bad decisions in the 1st test and now it looks like Australia's turn though Lehmann got a decision go his way. That one wasn't as bad as noise can get drowned out by the crowd. Decisions where the fundamentals are not considered are more of a problem.

Lehmann was very lucky to get his first ton. He might not have been picked in the next test had he failed.

Stuart MacGill is getting taken apart over there. I remember saying that his performances over the last summer were not great and he was lucky to be picked. He may have taken a lot of wickets but he has also bowled a hell of a lot more overs than anyone else. He is not the man he was a couple of years ago.

Australia win need to get a big lead because you don't know what Lara will do. Then again de Silva may figure in another dodgy one and send him packing.

 

[masterblaster]

Man, Ganga is impressing me every day.
I really thought he was a sub standard player, but he has been find of the series.

 

[anzac]

IMO AUS would be disappointed to let WI get past the follow on after having Lara out at 3 for less than 200 & no Chanderpaul! Me thinks a lead in excess of 280 will be hard to get as the pitch is showing signs of irregular bounce as per some of the lbw decisions.

Umpire da Silva is having another shocker re his lbw's - I have not been impressed with his performances since seeing him on the Indian tour to NZ, and nothing during or since the WC has changed my mind - he needs to go!!!!

As an aside - the AUS score at stumps on Day 1 - 391, how does this rate re opening day test scores - looks pretty brilliant in my books!!!!!

 

[Eclipse]

I think the worst decision he made was when he gave Ponting out.

Ponting was probably out but the fact Da Silva did not call for the third umpire when it was souch a close call was rediculaes.
And the replay suggested that batsman may have been given the benifit of the doubt if it had been refered.

The worst thing about it was he was not even lookingt at the batsman when he gave him out it was a pure guess he could not possibly have known how far out of his crese Ponting was and as it turns out it would have been a line ball decision.


This guy should be banned from ever umpiring International cricket again.

 

[marc71178]

From what I heard it was the correct decision on Ponting though.

 

[Eclipse]

Well it was very close and It should have been out IMO just but I just cant beleve that De Silva did not even call the 3rd umpire.

 

[luckyeddie]

I saw the incident in real time - and I must confess I can't get my head around the 'where was A Shocker looking?' bit.

I just thought he had his hat a-kilter and was looking at the incident - and that it was the correct decision.

An umpire calls for the third umpire if he is not sure. Obviously in this case he WAS sure - and the slow motion replays vindicated the decision.

First thing he did right in the game, I reckon

 

[luckyeddie]

hmm player to bat for my life

<snip>
Ul Haq
<snip>

Just don't ask him to RUN for your life.

Mind you, if he had to run for the pies to save your life, that's another story.

 

[Legglancer]

Players to bat for my life ?
Interesting but not an easy one to answer ..

Methodology :-
Well after tireless hours of analyzing the pros and cons of many a great player it became increasingly more challenging to pick one or two players to save my life. I didnt take this question lightly and tried to find an answer at diffrent times of the day and at varying modds too. Then I thought about the question when I was sober, and after a couple. I tried to picture myself with my neck on the Guillatinne and my tormentor askes me which pair does he send to face a star studded "all time great" bowling lineup. I thought about Bradaman and SRT, Richards, Sobers, Chappel, Cowdrey ect ...

Finally with great difficulty I decided on the pair.

1) GAVASKER

2) BOYCOTT

Any comments ?

 

[aussie_beater]

Players to bat for my life ?

Finally with great difficulty I decided on the pair.

1) GAVASKER

2) BOYCOTT

Any comments ?

I second that.

If my life was in line, I would have Steve Waugh as well in that list.

 

[Legglancer]

I second that.

If my life was in line, I would have Steve Waugh as well in that list.

Good Pick aussie beater ... I thought about Steve Waugh myself and he was one of the front runners. Steve is definitely a better batsman than Boycott or arguably even Gavaskar. However I realized that "the best" or the "most talented" batsman is not the batsman I want to bat for my life. I would like a batsman who values his wicket more than Gold Itself.. to bat for my life .... Someone who with doggad determination and will bat with MINIMUM RISK and MAXIMUM PERSEVERANCE !