***Official*** Super Series

[Pratters]

This causes problems for him against someone who gets as much drift, turn and bounce as Warne does. He even had problems with Kaneria playing this way.

Warne does trouble Dravid. Regarding the drift, he even troubled Lara with a bowl with the drift he was getting today a few balls after he got Dravid out.

Warne has bowled superbly, almost flawlessly today.

 

[honestbharani]

Warne is great today, no doubt. But Dravid has a problem with that type of delivery. You saw how he was dismissed by Kaneria in that manner a couple of times during the Ind-Pak series, right?

 

[parttimer]

I have never even heard of a batsman getting out from a 'inner' or 'outer edge'.

Inside our outside maybe

 

[Slow Love™]

So I wonder who's up for MOM? Hayden, Gilchrist or MacGill?

 

[honestbharani]

I have never even heard of a batsman getting out from a 'inner' or 'outer edge'.

Inside our outside maybe

They mean the same.

 

[Slow Love™]

And Hayden gets Man of the Match.... Makes sense, although MacGill would have been worth quite a few CW bucks for me if it had panned out. Probably too many wickets in the lower order though.

Unsurprisingly, Gilly gets Man of the Series...

 

[Natman20]

What a waste of time this series was. Oh well good performances from Australia, MacGill is a great player. I would like to see him play more.

 

[parttimer]

Dissapointed the ROW couldn't last 60 overs. I would have liked to have seen whether Watson could bowl with any reverse swing. No i'm not kidding...

 

[Adamc]

Great performance from MacGill, I'm sure many on this forum will still regard him as mediocre or worse though. Interesting to see what happens to the concept after the whitewash here, though the Test match at least was briefly competitive. It probably wouldn't have made a difference to the end result, but I maintain that the World XI would have benefitted enormously from having Sangakkara, Kumble and Pollock instead of Inzamam, Vettori and Boucher.

 

[Pratters]

I started watching when he was on 4 and except for that one ball from McGrath, I thought Lara was playing really well, trying to build his innings brick by brick. He did play that one loose shot off Brett Lee outside the offstump immediately after that square drive, but otherwise I thought he was very solid.

Lara was looking better as his inning progressed. Despite the lack of form and lack of meddling the ball properly initially, he looked as if he could finally go on to play a crucial inning. But after hitting some good shots by the end of the inning, he knicked one.

 

[Linda]

Haha, oh what a fizzog.
Nevertheless, gotta love a win and Stuart MacGills success - you can see what it means to him.

 

[Arrow]

Wow what a pathetic series. I dont think anyone in their wildest dreams would have predicted such a PATHETIC display from the world XI. I cannot beleive they could not make 200 in two test innings with that calibre of player. Cricket really is a funny game.

Shame on the selectors for not picking Kumble. He would have been lethal on this pitch and a few years ago he routed Australia on this very pitch.

 

[JASON]

The poor selections in this World XI were

1 Opener's slot should have been Andrew Strauss instead of Graeme Smith or even Trescothick.

2 Captain should have been Brian Lara or Rahul Dravid

3 Anil Kumble should have played , but this is not being disrespectful to Vettori who is a great bowler in his own right.

4 Sangakkara should have been the automatic choice for keeper , how the fumbling Boucher got there only God knows , particularly as Peter Roebuck has suggested that de Villiers is the number 1 SA keeper not Boucher.

5 The messing around with Inzy was in poor Taste by the selectors , just as bad as Inzy messing them up subsequently.

Other observations ... Bond would be in this World XI automatically if this match were played next year ... as shown by his performances since recovering from injury - see the latest performance at the following link
http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/NZ_IN_RSA/SCORECARDS/NZ_RSA-A_16OCT2005.html

Australia regardless of all of the above are the number 1 Team and they have proved themselves beyond doubt once again, England may have won the Ashes but the Aussies are back and South Africans and West Indies not to mention SL in the ODIs are in line for a hammering this Summer . And this series is just the beginning of their second coming .

 

[howardj]

Jacques Kallis was outstanding in this match. Total commitment - what a magnificent technique! His battles with Warne this summer will be enthralling.

 

[howardj]

The poor selections in this World XI were

1 Opener's slot should have been Andrew Strauss instead of Graeme Smith or even Trescothick.

2 Captain should have been Brian Lara or Rahul Dravid

3 Anil Kumble should have played , but this is not being disrespectful to Vettori who is a great bowler in his own right.

4 Sangakkara should have been the automatic choice for keeper , how the fumbling Boucher got there only God knows , particularly as Peter Roebuck has suggested that de Villiers is the number 1 SA keeper not Boucher.

5 The messing around with Inzy was in poor Taste by the selectors , just as bad as Inzy messing them up subsequently.

Other observations ... Bond would be in this World XI automatically if this match were played next year ... as shown by his performances since recovering from injury - see the latest performance at the following link
http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/NZ_IN_RSA/SCORECARDS/NZ_RSA-A_16OCT2005.html

Australia regardless of all of the above are the number 1 Team and they have proved themselves beyond doubt once again, England may have won the Ashes but the Aussies are back and South Africans and West Indies not to mention SL in the ODIs are in line for a hammering this Summer . And this series is just the beginning of their second coming .

I agree with your selections - all pretty obvious enough. Why they drafted Inzy into the side though, who knows. He was never going to succeed. Anyway, I don't know that Australia have had a 'second coming'. I still think England would be more than a match for them, and nothing that's happened in this game really alters my opinion. If anything, Australia's middle order looks even more brittle than in the Ashes.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I agree with Jason on all counts aside from Strauss over Smith. Smith averages 55 over several years of test cricket now, and I think he may have a very good summer in Australia if he can survive McGrath.

 

[honestbharani]

I think Australia may be onto something here with this bowling attack. With McGrath and Warne still there, it is a good time for them to play both Lee and MacGill regularly and see how they go with the selectors' confidence. Everyone says MacGill gets his wickets only on turners, yet, he hardly ever gets to play in other tracks. This attack of Australia looks good to succeed on any wicket, so long as Lee and Watson together can do a spell of 20-0-80-2 in a day.

 

[marc71178]

Read second part of the post.

Which is still irrelevant to the question you tried to answer.

 

[marc71178]

I agree with Jason on all counts aside from Strauss over Smith. Smith averages 55 over several years of test cricket now, and I think he may have a very good summer in Australia if he can survive McGrath.

Want to borrow Hoggard?

 

[chooka_nick]

Jacques Kallis was outstanding in this match. Total commitment - what a magnificent technique! His battles with Warne this summer will be enthralling.

Absolutely. He has a very... stern (that's a word for it) style of play, but a few of his shots showed real flourish. Should be interesting.