Goughy
Hall of Fame Member
Yeah, shades of Viv Richards. Way over the top and a bad way for an oppo captain to behave. Was a hell of a 'catch' though
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*Official* First Test at Swalec Stadium, Cardiff
- Thread starter Richard
- Start date
pup11
International Coach
This
Its pretty hard to criticise Ponting after all he did in this game, but there is no denying he made a few blunders when it really mattered, Johnson has been Ricky's go to man for a while now, and it was not surprising to see him throw the ball to him to make a breakthrough, but he should have realised Johnson was not having the greatest of games, and should have instead shown more faith in Hilfenhaus, who surprisingly despite being the pick of the bowlers, bowled the least number of overs among the quicks.
Though having said all this, its also true that the Aussie boys coming this close to winning the game, was largely down to Ponting and his captaincy, but as I said a few mistakes made by him at an important juncture just provided the English tail an escape route.
Goughy
Hall of Fame Member
Im celebrating because we are not very good and we are pretty soft and front runners. I fully expected us to collapse with the pressure on and lose the game with a session to spare. Ive grown up watching the Aussies possess a far tougher mindset that has resulted in crushing wins. It may be that only a small handful of players made the difference and that it was a pretty rankperformance but it was higher than my expectations.While it's funny to see the Poms so ecstatic after playing some very poor cricket for 4 days and then escaping with a draw due to the application of 1 batsman and their tailenders full credit should go to Collingwood for batting well on the last day and the other guys in the tail for hanging around so well.
Hopefully, while they're celebrating this draw, they'll forget to fix up the multitude of problems they have and go into Lords in the same frame of mind. Although I think they'll have forgotten about the victories over the West Indies now and woken up to the fact that they'll have to improve a lot in the next game. They don't have a lot of time to do it though.
When I went to be last night I was reasonably confident we'd pick up the last two wickets, but obviously something went wrong along the way
Im happy
Son Of Coco
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I just think it's funny because of all the optimism before the test (again after beating a team that didn't play very well). To go from "We're a big chance here, it's 2005 all over again" to "Bugger, we're in a spot of bother here" to "What a wonderful draw, brilliant stuff", is very amusing to watch. Especially when you add the overall performance of the bowlers (like Swann - who us Aussies were going to find unplayable) to the mix.Im celebrating because we are not very good and we are pretty soft and front runners. I fully expected us to collapse with the pressure on and lose the game with a session to spare. Ive grown up watching the Aussies possess a far tougher mindset that has resulted in crushing wins. It may be that only a small handful of players made the difference and that it was a pretty rankperformance but it was higher than my expectations.
Im happy
But if it was Australia in that position then I'd be happy we got away with it too.
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FBU
International Debutant
I don't think the gloves time wasting made any difference. With Hauritz and North bowling both Anderson and Panesar could have batted until midnight. What Ponting needed to do was bowl Siddle (bouncers) and Hilfenhaus (lbws) for the last 10 overs. Anderson didn't face any bouncers which must have been a surprise for him.
Feel sorry for all the centurions who spend ages working hard accumulating their runs only to get a draw. First time in 10 years we have started the Ashes with a draw.
Feel sorry for all the centurions who spend ages working hard accumulating their runs only to get a draw. First time in 10 years we have started the Ashes with a draw.
Andre
International Regular
I think it's fair to say that 'the experts' and fans need to let 2005 go.
There are only 7 survivors from the last series in England on my count:
Strauss
KP
Flintoff
Collywobbles (who played 1 Test)
Ponting
Clarke
Katich.
There isn't many similarities between then and now. The hallmark of that series was the incredible bowling performance from both sides. Of the 11 regular bowlers from last series on either side, only Flintoff remains (and is a shadow of that bowler these days). So going by that, it is completely unfair and irrelevant to compare this series to that, in theory it is comparing apples to oranges.
Ponting was faultless as skipper until the last day - why so little bowling for Hilfenhaus? Why North ahead of Katich and Clarke for the end? More importantly, why no fast bowler on? Full and straight Johnson or Siddle should have cleaned up Monty I'd say.
Good old fashioned grinding Test match, where for the most part the unfashionable cricketers (Hilfenhaus, Hauritz, Katich, North, Haddin, Prior, Collywobbles, Swann) were the dominant players aside from Ponting. These matches tend to show the true Test cricketers with character - hence it is no suprise why these sorts of cricketers by and large stood up to be counted.
Pitch held up well - far too well, unfortunately. Mind you, was always going to be like this - no way a debutant groundsmen with a ground in its first Test would produce a 'result' wicket.
Conditions wise, I'd argue this Test will be an abberation for the rest of the series. Hopefully we won't get another wicket like this for the remainder, expecting more pace and bounce at the other grounds. Harmison and one of Onions/Sidebottom has to play the rest of the series for England. Harmison is a match winner and must play regardless. Monty and Broad to miss out for mine.
Will be interesting to see if Hauritz gets another game. He achieved far and beyond what was expected, but was only pencilled in for this Test and it wouldn't suprise me to see 4 quicks for the remainder of the series.
There are only 7 survivors from the last series in England on my count:
Strauss
KP
Flintoff
Collywobbles (who played 1 Test)
Ponting
Clarke
Katich.
There isn't many similarities between then and now. The hallmark of that series was the incredible bowling performance from both sides. Of the 11 regular bowlers from last series on either side, only Flintoff remains (and is a shadow of that bowler these days). So going by that, it is completely unfair and irrelevant to compare this series to that, in theory it is comparing apples to oranges.
Ponting was faultless as skipper until the last day - why so little bowling for Hilfenhaus? Why North ahead of Katich and Clarke for the end? More importantly, why no fast bowler on? Full and straight Johnson or Siddle should have cleaned up Monty I'd say.
Good old fashioned grinding Test match, where for the most part the unfashionable cricketers (Hilfenhaus, Hauritz, Katich, North, Haddin, Prior, Collywobbles, Swann) were the dominant players aside from Ponting. These matches tend to show the true Test cricketers with character - hence it is no suprise why these sorts of cricketers by and large stood up to be counted.
Pitch held up well - far too well, unfortunately. Mind you, was always going to be like this - no way a debutant groundsmen with a ground in its first Test would produce a 'result' wicket.
Conditions wise, I'd argue this Test will be an abberation for the rest of the series. Hopefully we won't get another wicket like this for the remainder, expecting more pace and bounce at the other grounds. Harmison and one of Onions/Sidebottom has to play the rest of the series for England. Harmison is a match winner and must play regardless. Monty and Broad to miss out for mine.
Will be interesting to see if Hauritz gets another game. He achieved far and beyond what was expected, but was only pencilled in for this Test and it wouldn't suprise me to see 4 quicks for the remainder of the series.
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pasag
RTDAS
Top post Andre, but there's no chance Hauritz won't play in the next game. If he gets a game after doing nothing and taking 1/280 or so in the tour matches, then he'll definitley get a game after taking wickets and being better than the Pom spinners. Not to mention the part-timers would have lost a lot of ground in the eyes of the selectors, looking pretty useless all match.
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Burgey
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Resign!
shivfan
Banned
This Cardiff pitch looked very similar to the ones that were at the ARG and Queens Park Oval.....
All three were batting tracks where the hosts contrived to make a match of it by batting badly on it. In all three, the hosts were outplayed, and ended up hanging on for a draw.
Good to see that, despite what many posters have said, this is not just a Caribbean problem. Yes, England (and Wales) can prepare roads as well!
All three were batting tracks where the hosts contrived to make a match of it by batting badly on it. In all three, the hosts were outplayed, and ended up hanging on for a draw.
Good to see that, despite what many posters have said, this is not just a Caribbean problem. Yes, England (and Wales) can prepare roads as well!
zaremba
Cricketer Of The Year
I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about
zaremba
Cricketer Of The Year
Perhaps so; but no-one forces him to answer that sort of question, and he's reasonably experienced at saying precisely what he wants to say in press conferences. Judging by the report on cricinfo, it wasn't as though he gave a few words: he gave a fairly lengthy sermon invoking the Spirit of Cricket yet again. People all round the cricketing world, including quite a few in Australia I'd imagine, find the sanctimoniousness about the Spirit of Cricket a bit rich coming from him.
Anyhow I imagine that when the dust has settled the Australians will move on from this and I'd be genuinely surprised if they are petty enough to lodge any kind of formal complaint. Because as you've pointed out even Ponting acknowledges that it didn't affect the outcome of the game, and they will know that their focus needs to be 100% on their preparations for Lord's.
zaremba
Cricketer Of The Year
From an England perspective it's a lot more amusing than going from "We're a big chance here, it's 2005 all over again" to "Bugger, we're in a spot of bother here" to "We're one down with Lord's to come in 3 days' time and have nothing positive to mitigate the effects of a complete drubbing" before limping to inevitable defeat at Lord's.
We may well still lose at Lord's but it's far from the certainty it would have been had we not got out of jail at Cardiff.
pasag
RTDAS
AusThis Cardiff pitch looked very similar to the ones that were at the ARG and Queens Park Oval.....
All three were batting tracks where the hosts contrived to make a match of it by batting badly on it. In all three, the hosts were outplayed, and ended up hanging on for a draw.
Good to see that, despite what many posters have said, this is not just a Caribbean problem. Yes, England (and Wales) can prepare roads as well!
England
India
WI
all need to get their pitches sorted. It's not good enough and it's hurting the game. Certainly not a problem confined to one country by any stretch of the imagination.
pasag
RTDAS
Have no issue with him bringing it up. It was poor form and he called them on it. He was more than gracious at the after match ceremony to prove that he wasn't out for a whinge or controversy. Just speaking his mind and answering a question honestly.
shivfan
Banned
Nate
You'll Never Walk Alone
You're right, Ponting can be a bit hypocritical. Just like the rest of us. However, he was very gracious post-game, and was spot-on in regards to this issue. Moving on.
Stapel
International Regular
That's what I thought too!
However, there is one very big difference: That lot celebrating a draw at Old Trafford in 2005 was the unbeatable Australian Cricket Machine, including McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Langer & Hayden.
Anyway, I think this is just a great way to start the Ashes. Of course, the quality of the cricket must improve (it will I guess). So far, the only thing that was up to standard, was the Australian batting. England batting, England bowling and Aussie bowling were below par.