***Official*** NatWest Series/Challenge

[Scallywag]

Shows how short a memory Ponting has - or what a fool he is.

Take your pick.

Pontings memory is fine and he is no fool.

you got sucked into believing he said something he didnt LE. Whos the fool.

 

[luckyeddie]

Pontings memory is fine and he is no fool.

you got sucked into believing he said something he didnt LE. Whos the fool.

Me, in all likelihood.

Serves me right for trusting an Australian.

 

[marc71178]

Pontings memory is fine and he is no fool.

Pity about his captaincy really.

you got sucked into believing he said something he didnt LE. Whos the fool.

The only fool I can see is the one I'm quoting here.

 

[Scallywag]

Pity about his captaincy really.




The only fool I can see is the one I'm quoting here.

Marc I listened to an Aussie rules footballer being interviewed on the radio about his transfer from one club to another. He said that after training with the new team for a while he went home and told his wife he was thinking of retiring. She asked him why and he said the players in the new team all had big heads and egos and he didnt like them. His wife then asked if he might be the problem, a bit confused he asked how on earth he could be the problem. She told him that because he came from a team that had a negative outlook he didnt realise that the new team was normal and did what they believed they could. He then realised that even though his new teamates talked the talk they also walked the walk. The mentality of the two teams was the difference and when he moved to the winning team he needed to lose the negative attitude bought on by the old club.

What this all means is it is very hard to see good things when you are looking for bad things.

 

[Mister Wright]

If the nine of diamonds is known as the 'Curse of Scotland', I see no reason why a score of 249-5 shouldn't be known as the 'Curse of Australia' - or maybe that's what Fosters Lager already is.

HOY! Leave Fosters alone!

 

[Mister Wright]

The point is though, that he's been bowling successfully in ODIs all the time, but he's made changes to the way he bowls and is bowling differently today than he was 18 months ago. He's no longer bowling a dozen balls on the spot and the rest of his spell all over the place and picking up 3/55. He's changed his action so he is more upright, which is more important in tests where so many more of your dismissals need to come from behind the wicket, he maintains his pace better now so that he can send down more than 3 or 4 overs without losing it and looking exhausted, and he doesn't strain so hard to break the 155kph barrier that he starts to spray it around. On top of these sort of changes, he's also improved as a cricketer I think... when he was younger Brett Lee only had two ways to get a batsman out, which was to pitch it up and swing it and hope for an edge, or to resort to bouncers and trying to bowl as fast as possible and scaring them out. Most of the time, this didn't work, and I don't think it had much to do with his injury really, so much as the fact that he wasn't bowling well enough to be a consistent success. He's got a lot more in his armory now, and he's willing to be a bit more patient for his wickets and think out a batsman.

From what I've seen sofar in this Natwest Series nothing has shown me that Brett Lee is ready for test cricket again (especially at the expense of Kasprowicz). He has been spraying the ball left right and centre and has only been getting his wicket balls in the right place.

 

[badgerhair]

From what I've seen sofar in this Natwest Series nothing has shown me that Brett Lee is ready for test cricket again (especially at the expense of Kasprowicz). He has been spraying the ball left right and centre and has only been getting his wicket balls in the right place.

And of course Gillespie has been exhibiting marvellous control and penetration.

Last time round Gillespie was a very difficult bowler to play bowling at 140+ kph. He isn't hitting 140 kph at all now, and at that pace it seems much less likely that Trescothick will waft at him as ineffectively as he has in the past, to name but one change.

The way he is bowling at present, Gillespie poses no threat at all. Lee, although quite possibly uneconomical, does possess wicket-taking balls and bowls them fast enough to make them pretty damn good chances.

It strikes me that the Brett Lee Question is a very similar one to the Kevin Pietersen Question. Both capable of devastating one-day performances but with technique so suspect that even their fans harbour some doubts about them in Test cricket, yet capable of so much, opposite an Old Reliable who has never let anyone down but may just be a little bit over the hill.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Mister Wright]

And of course Gillespie has been exhibiting marvellous control and penetration.

Last time round Gillespie was a very difficult bowler to play bowling at 140+ kph. He isn't hitting 140 kph at all now, and at that pace it seems much less likely that Trescothick will waft at him as ineffectively as he has in the past, to name but one change.

The way he is bowling at present, Gillespie poses no threat at all. Lee, although quite possibly uneconomical, does possess wicket-taking balls and bowls them fast enough to make them pretty damn good chances.

It strikes me that the Brett Lee Question is a very similar one to the Kevin Pietersen Question. Both capable of devastating one-day performances but with technique so suspect that even their fans harbour some doubts about them in Test cricket, yet capable of so much, opposite an Old Reliable who has never let anyone down but may just be a little bit over the hill.

Cheers,

Mike

Where did I say that Gillespie is bowling very well, he has been very poor in this series. We have a case of 3 bowlers fighting for 2 spots. Lee has been quick yes, but he has been in one day games, where there is pressure to score quickly, if he were to bowl the same way in tests, the batsman could just hang off him and hit his regular bad balls and keep out the good ones without the pressure of scoring off the good ones. If Gillespie wasn't considered an automatic selection then his place in the test side would be under a cloud IMO. The dillema (sp) for Australian selectors is if they go with McGrath, Lee and Gillespie for the first test and Australia lose and either Lee or Gillespie fail then there has to be a change.

 

[chipmonk]

Ask me in twenty-six years time when they've managed to beat them again...

How? we'll first have to find you from whatever Rock you will be hiding under.

 

[chipmonk]

Who is the best bowler in this series so far ? Bradd Hogg or Steve Harmison?

Hogg has completely surprised me this series and I wonder if Warne is still a better option for australia.

 

[Mister Wright]

Who is the best bowler in this series so far ? Bradd Hogg or Steve Harmison?

Hogg has completely surprised me this series and I wonder if Warne is still a better option for australia.

Warne doesn't need to come back to the one day side. We have been winning without him and we won a world cup without him - keep him for the test side only.

Harmisson has been the best bowler - he has looked the most dangerous of the English bowlers.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

From what I've seen sofar in this Natwest Series nothing has shown me that Brett Lee is ready for test cricket again (especially at the expense of Kasprowicz). He has been spraying the ball left right and centre and has only been getting his wicket balls in the right place.

Are you kidding? Did you see the England match? Even his harshest critics on this forum recognise that he bowled magnificently in that match. Against Bangladesh he wasn't as good, but still bowled well enough to get a couple of wickets.

 

[Mister Wright]

Are you kidding? Did you see the England match? Even his harshest critics on this forum recognise that he bowled magnificently in that match. Against Bangladesh he wasn't as good, but still bowled well enough to get a couple of wickets.

Yeah, he bowled well, but that was one spell, and the English batsman were after a decent total on that pitch. In a test match I doubt he would have had the same impact. His first over was far from impressive, I didn't see much after that. I'm yet to be convinced that his One Day form in this series is enough to get him past the reliable Kasprowicz.

 

[Scallywag]

Warne doesn't need to come back to the one day side. We have been winning without him and we won a world cup without him - keep him for the test side only.

Harmisson has been the best bowler - he has looked the most dangerous of the English bowlers.

Well he has been outbowled by Hogg.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Yeah, he bowled well, but that was one spell, and the English batsman were after a decent total on that pitch. In a test match I doubt he would have had the same impact. His first over was far from impressive, I didn't see much after that. I'm yet to be convinced that his One Day form in this series is enough to get him past the reliable Kasprowicz.

His first over was great. He put 6 balls on the spot, worked up decent pace, and was getting inswing to the left-handers. What more could you ask from him?

I can't see why you think 150kph inswingers wouldn't be successful in test cricket. The test for Lee is how he goes when things aren't going his way, which will inevitably happen in test cricket. I think he's far more up to that challenge than he was a couple of years ago.

 

[Mister Wright]

Well he has been outbowled by Hogg.

Name Mat O M R W Ave Best 4w 5w SR Econ Team
SJ Harmison 4 37 3 171 10 17.10 5-33 1 1 22.2 4.62 ENG
GB Hogg 4 34 2 142 9 15.77 3-29 - - 22.6 4.17 AUS

How has Hogg outbowled Harmison?

 

[Scallywag]

Lower average and more economical.

 

[Mister Wright]

His first over was great. He put 6 balls on the spot, worked up decent pace, and was getting inswing to the left-handers. What more could you ask from him?

I can't see why you think 150kph inswingers wouldn't be successful in test cricket. The test for Lee is how he goes when things aren't going his way, which will inevitably happen in test cricket. I think he's far more up to that challenge than he was a couple of years ago.

That may be so. He has only had one match against England, lets see how he does in the next match before we start getting down on our knees and waving our hands and saying "we're not worthy, we're not worthy." Shall we?

 

[shaka]

I think it is really hard to ever compare a spinner with a quick bowler.

 

[Mister Wright]

Lower average and more economical.

Harmison has bowled against Australia, Hogg hasn't.