*Official* Second Test at the Adelaide Oval

[Spark]

Possibly. Getting a bit hittable occasionally in his old age.

McD would've been really handy had he not been injured IMO. On such flat decks, someone who can give you a spell 5 overs for 5 runs of stump-to-stump meds on a spot would be quite useful.

 

[Ausage]

Hoping for rain is such a soft option. Would much rather lose than have that **** happen to a cricket game.

Spot the neutral. Would take a downpour for three days at this point.

 

[pup11]

Talk about the cupboard is nonsense and comes from people who know nothing about our domestic players.

Fact is England are a lot more mature side then us, to borrow a term from another sport, they're in their premiership window and we are not. Everything has come together for England at the right time and they look like a very solid side. However, by the time the next Ashes comes around, we could be hitting our straps and England on the decline. Who knows?

Anyways, unless we see a miracle batting effort from our batsman (unlikely) over day four and five, the urn is going to be very hard to win back.

Agree with this and I think we have shot ourselves on the foot more than anything else, its sounds a bit like a broken record when we blame the selectors for our current predicament but there is no shying away from the fact that the current lot of selectors have done everything they could have to destroy Australian cricket and its just the quality of the domestic structure that's keeping us afloat.
As you said the English team is a mature and stable unit and that's only because their selectors have blooded a group of players who they felt have long term potential, whereas our selectors just keep handing around baggy greens like a merchandise item.
The moment we lost the Ashes in 2009, talented young players should have been blooded into the test side, but we kept on bringing in players only as stop-gap solutions and as a result of which we still have somebody making their test debut in every alternate test for Australia, and when you have such a situation its pretty hard to expect consistentcy from a team.

 

[wpdavid]

I think this is somewhat open to debate.

Strauss(age 33, 79 tests)
Cook(25,62)
Trott (29,15)
Pietersen (30,68)
Collingwood (34,65)
Bell (28,59)
Prior (28,37)
Broad (24,34)
Swann (31,26)
Finn (21,10)
Anderson (28,54)

Average (29, 46)

Katich (35, 56)
Watson (29, 24)
Ponting (35, 150)
Clarke (29, 66)
Hussey (35, 56)
North (31, 21)
Haddin (33, 29)
Harris(31,3)
Doherty (27,2)
Siddle (26,19)
Bollinger (29,12)

Average (31, 40)

Looks as if England have got both age and experience comfortably on their side. And some of the most inexperienced in the Aussie side ("with room for improvement") are some of the most vulnerable candidates for never playing more than a handful of test matches. The picture doesn't improve much once you start examing the reserves.

Yup. Looking ahead two and a half years to the next Ashes series, England will almost certainly be without Collingwood but the rest of them will be around, form & fitness permitting. And Broad & Finn should be better with the extra experience.

Aus, OTOH, would expect to have had to replace half of their top 6. And their bowlers aren't at an age where they should massively improve.

 

[Briony]

TBH we came pretty close to beating SA only last winter. Reckon both are better test sides than us currently, but wouldn't say us winning in either country's backyard was impossible. We're a compact, well-drilled team lacking in stardust (KP prob accepted) who usually perform to our abilities.

Much praise to Flower, I'd say. V impressive chap.

You beat them in one test, they beat you in another, and they came within a hair's breadth of beating you in the other two. Not sure I would agree there. In fact had they not played Ntini in the first two tests, had Steyn been fit for the first one, and de Wet not missed basically the second innings in Cape town, they almost certainly would have beaten you.

That said, England is a mile better than Australia on exposed form.

 

[Evermind]

Time to drop Bollinger, Harris, Siddle and Doherty and get 4 others LOL.

 

[Prince EWS]

You beat them in one test, they beat you in another, and they came within a hair's breadth of beating you in the other two. Not sure I would agree there. In fact had they not played Ntini in the first two tests, had Steyn been fit for the first one, and de Wet not missed basically the second innings in Cape town, they almost certainly would have beaten you.

That said, England is a mile better than Australia on exposed form.

If South Africa's Test team all died in a traffic accident on the team bus en route to the first Test then England probably would've won 4-0.

 

[social]

Agree with this and I think we have shot ourselves on the foot more than anything else, its sounds a bit like a broken record when we blame the selectors for our current predicament but there is no shying away from the fact that the current lot of selectors have done everything they could have to destroy Australian cricket and its just the quality of the domestic structure that's keeping us afloat.
As you said the English team is a mature and stable unit and that's only because their selectors have blooded a group of players who they felt have long term potential, whereas our selectors just keep handing around baggy greens like a merchandise item.
The moment we lost the Ashes in 2009, talented young players should have been blooded into the test side, but we kept on bringing in players only as stop-gap solutions and as a result of which we still have somebody making their test debut in every alternate test for Australia, and when you have such a situation its pretty hard to expect consistentcy from a team.

Mail is that Dussey is in line to be picked next in place of North

I like Duss and think he's been desperately unlucky not to have won a cap but they should pick Hughes and give the kid an extended run

 

[Ruckus]

Mail is that Dussey is in line to be picked next in place of North

I like Duss and think he's been desperately unlucky not to have won a cap but they should pick Hughes and give the kid an extended run

Who has said that Dussey is next in line? I'm with you on Hughes though. Even if he is at no. 6, I really feel he should be in the team. I still think Hughes is our best batting asset for the future.

 

[pup11]

Possibly. Getting a bit hittable occasionally in his old age.

McD would've been really handy had he not been injured IMO. On such flat decks, someone who can give you a spell 5 overs for 5 runs of stump-to-stump meds on a spot would be quite useful.

Yeah, but what tells you that he would have been picked had he been fit...!?
For starters the thing is on a surface like this you just don't get bowled out so cheaply, and if you do, then your bowlers are always gonna struggle and as a team you are gonna be up against it to save the game.
So no matter what you think about our bowling performance today, its our batting that is largely to be blamed for the current scenario.

 

[Briony]

If South Africa's Test team all died in a traffic accident on the team bus en route to the first Test then England probably would've won 4-0.

No arguments there, it's just the poster claimed that England was close to beating them. That's not an accurate representation of proceedings.

Hughes should be preferred over David Hussey. Age is against him and he may be more suited to the shorter forms of the game at international level. Have seen him struggle when there's anything in the pitch for the bowlers. Sheffield Shield is not the reliable gauge of form it used to be with the international almost always missing and a lot of second tier players injured which is denuding the competition of its depth.

Hughes at least has shown he can mix it at the top and he has youth on his side; he has extreme youth in the context of Aussie cricket.

 

[Jayzamann]

Ergh. So not worth the heatstroke. But I refuse to let this frustrate me.

 

[pup11]

Mail is that Dussey is in line to be picked next in place of North

I like Duss and think he's been desperately unlucky not to have won a cap but they should pick Hughes and give the kid an extended run

Won't mind Dussey as North's replacment if you ask me he should have been our #6 instead of North all along.....
As for Hughes, I have made it pretty clear in the past as well that he in my book is the best young batsmen in Australia and I would be more than glad to see him in the team, but I'm not at all in favour of him being drafted in as #6.
He is a genuine long term opener and it would be lunatic to screw around with his game, Blewett's example is good one to show why its not at all a good idea, if anything making Katich slide into the middle order could be a better option.

 

[GIMH]

If South Africa's Test team all died in a traffic accident on the team bus en route to the first Test then England probably would've won 4-0.

Wouldn't have thought they would go ahead with the series in those circumstances tbh.

 

[social]

Won't mind Dussey as North's replacment if you ask me he should have been our #6 instead of North all along.....
As for Hughes, I have made it pretty clear in the past as well that he in my book is the best young batsmen in Australia and I would be more than glad to see him in the team, but I'm not at all in favour of him being drafted in as #6.
He is a genuine long term opener and it would be lunatic to screw around with his game, Blewett's example is good one to show why its not at all a good idea, if anything making Katich slide into the middle order could be a better option.

Kat in the middle order is a good option IMO as my main problem with our openers is that they dont convert their starts which is something that Hughes generally cant be accused of doing

He has scored a mountain of runs, has youth on his side and frankly, the others arent doing enough for him (or Duss for that matter) to be ignored any longer

 

[greg]

Yeah, but what tells you that he would have been picked had he been fit...!?
For starters the thing is on a surface like this you just don't get bowled out so cheaply, and if you do, then your bowlers are always gonna struggle and as a team you are gonna be up against it to save the game.
So no matter what you think about our bowling performance today, its our batting that is largely to be blamed for the current scenario.

Yep, 2006/7 a certain bowling attack including McGrath, Warne, Clarke and Lee and Clark conceded 550-5 @ 3.3 an over.

 

[Spark]

...

Michael Clarke is a middle-order batsman and VC
Stuart Clark is an medium fast pace bowler known for line and length.

OK?

 

[TumTum]

Won't mind Dussey as North's replacment if you ask me he should have been our #6 instead of North all along.....
As for Hughes, I have made it pretty clear in the past as well that he in my book is the best young batsmen in Australia and I would be more than glad to see him in the team, but I'm not at all in favour of him being drafted in as #6.
He is a genuine long term opener and it would be lunatic to screw around with his game, Blewett's example is good one to show why its not at all a good idea, if anything making Katich slide into the middle order could be a better option.

Why not? He has great footwork against the spinners, plays aggressively etc

Give him a chance to develop his game there, and then he can be moved to the top when the time is right.

 

[greg]

Can anyone come up with a higher mid-series average (finite) than Cook's 438?

 

[Ikki]

Could only follow the game on cricinfo today as I was working...****.