***Official*** Super Series

[tooextracool]

I thought that before, but as was pointed out to me it's a bit of a myth that you "always play two spinners at Sydney". You pick 2 spinners if you have a five man attack. I agree the World XI should probably have gone in with such an attack, but that is by the by. Given that they only went in with 4 they should have picked Pollock. IMO.

i cant see pollock doing anything. if they had 3 quality pace bowlers then yes theres nothing wrong with going in with 3 pace bowlers. when you have 1.5, then you're better off going in with a spinner.

 

[greg]

i cant see pollock doing anything. if they had 3 quality pace bowlers then yes theres nothing wrong with going in with 3 pace bowlers. when you have 1.5, then you're better off going in with a spinner.

Well it sort of goes without saying that you won't pick Pollock if you think he's rubbish. But I don't. And Pollock bowling "poorly" as you presumably think is the case in recent times still has a far better record than Vettori bowling "well".

 

[Beleg]

We'll see how this pans out tommorow.

I just wish either of Inzamam or Lara make a score.

 

[chalky]

Bill Lawry was in raptures about his spell today, but he is ever-so-slightly prone to hyperbole. It was pretty special tho.

Is Lawry ABC, actually? Can only go by what Sky gives us.

No Lawry is Channel 9 which we get in the UK - does go a bit OTT at times. One of the Aussie posters mentioned that the ABC commentators were having a go at Harmy & Feddie saying they wouldn't be very effective in Australian conditions during the 1st innings. I was just wondering if they wre talking the same BS during the 2nd innings.

 

[tooextracool]

Well it sort of goes without saying that you won't pick Pollock if you think he's rubbish. But I don't. And Pollock bowling "poorly" as you presumably think is the case in recent times still has a far better record than Vettori bowling "well".

pollock is ordinary when the conditions dont assist him. and in australia, the conditions very rarely assist him. fact is that at the start of the test match the assumption would be that the conditions were more likely to assist vettori than pollock, and that hasnt changed during this test match, even if vettori hasnt done anything.

 

[marc71178]

From some reports it sounds like Harmison bowled well today - I've only seen the wickets, and have to say he did get 2 rather good balls in there.

Those who have better access, was he bowling well?

 

[Pratters]

why does everyone hate smith so much?

English fans arent satisfied with his performance against them and until they are, their reaction will not be some thing too different I suppose.

If I can give a larger example, Indian fans did not truly understand how good Warne is because he was never that successful against them in his initial few series. And a reason Laxman is appreciated so much by the Aussies.

Regarding the rest of the world, Smith speaks his mind more than most people do and the guy is not the most diplomatic of people, or doesnt feel the need to be, whichever way you may take it.

 

[chalky]

From some reports it sounds like Harmison bowled well today - I've only seen the wickets, and have to say he did get 2 rather good balls in there.

Those who have better access, was he bowling well?

The wicket of Lee was a good ball too a slower ball whilst Lee was going for slog (was missed by Toney Grieg what a suprise). Bowled some rubbish though had Mcgrath on strike for a whole over and managed to get 5 balls down the leg side.

 

[marc71178]

English fans arent satisfied with his performance against them and until they are, their reaction will not be some thing too different I suppose.

Hmm, and that's the reason people dislike him you reckon?

 

[social]

From some reports it sounds like Harmison bowled well today - I've only seen the wickets, and have to say he did get 2 rather good balls in there.

Those who have better access, was he bowling well?

Apart from his initial spell on the first day and a few good balls here and there, he's been decidedly average - down on pace and accuracy.

 

[Pratters]

Hmm, and that's the reason people dislike him you reckon?

Read second part of the post.

 

[shaka]

rain delay this morning.

 

[Salamuddin]

Kumble has never done much in Australia, bowling average of 40, Harbajan averages 169, Vettori 37, Murali 100....

Kumble certainly bowled pretty well on a conducive pitch in Sydney last year.
In 1999-2000, the SCG pitch didn't offer much turn and /or uneven bounce and he was pretty much ineffective.
However, the tour match played before that agauint NSW in that season was played on a more typical Sydney wicket and he xcaused no end of problems.

 

[chalky]

Bloody Rain - Stayed up until 1amfor this:

For any gamblers out there the over under on Brian Lara is 33-38 have bought at 10 pounds come on Lara

 

[Pratters]

Dravid and Lara batting together with every a challenge at hand.

Dravid sruvives McGrath!

 

[Pratters]

I was speaking with Faip on msn about this how Lara shouldnt be counted out if he looks out of it for a period.

He has a habit of getting back in form in such innings and then hitting the ball superbly eventually. He is now hitting the ball much better than before.

 

[Jono]

Let's hope so Pratyush, I'm dying for a Lara special today.

 

[Pratters]

Lee isnt good enough to bowl to Lara and Dravid together. They just wait for the ball which will slightly stray and take a few runs off that ball and block the other balls he bowls. It affects the pressure Warne can put in as well if the two can feel eased off at the other end.

I wouldnt say Lee has bowled poorly. But he will always tend to stray a bit (if not a lot) at least once an over and even that is not good enough when Lara and Dravid are batting together in an effectively time less test situation now.

 

[Jono]

And Warne just gets Dravid with a beaut.

 

[Pratters]

As good a batsman as Dravid (and may I include Kallis when I talk of it right now) is he cant manage to tackle Warne adequately in Australia

I would be interested in some one bringing up the stats of Dravid in tests in Australia when Warne has played.