*Official* Third Test at the WACA

[Spark]

I was only listening on radio at the time so I can't tell but I imagine all the Australians, especially Haddin, and not just Johnson would've given him a real earful coming to the crease and between deliveries. Johnson certainly gave him his two cents worth after the wicket.

 

[Spark]

I can understand why they'd target Johnson. They obviously had no respect for his ability, which was fair enough given what he'd showed in both Ashes series so far.

Slight mistake today though.

Yeah I agree. I mean Broad on the TMSpecial wrap-up didn't say so explicitly but it was plainly obvious from what he did say that before today they didn't rate him.

 

[Son Of Coco]

"Just" outside off ? I might go watch another replay, it looked pretty wide to me, unless that's the channel you're referring to, that and he was berating himself as he left. Oh but it did swing away, does that count ? It really should have ended up in one of 2 places, the keepers gloves, or the boundary

That's the point though, that's where you bowl to Cook. (Thanks GIMH ) It wasn't that wide that he wasn't tempted to drive.

 

[Spark]

The shape certainly helped.

 

[Son Of Coco]

The shape certainly helped.

Yeah, exactly. You're not going to get him to play that shot when you're drifting in on his legs all the time or bowling short and wide though. You have to be up and around off-stump in the channel to get him to drive. After that, you'd be expecting an international standard bowler to get one to move every so often.

 

[Rant0r]

I'm prettu confident if you bowl there to him too much you'll have a long day. But yes, the shape helped

 

[Son Of Coco]

I'm pretty confident of the opposite actually. No team is invincible when you get the balls in the right areas. On the other hand, a good one like England will make you look silly when you bowl poorly.Taylor and Healy bought up the point re: how much the openers have had to drive through the cover to mid-off region today when looking at the wagon wheel. It's been the same for most of the series, a lot square on both sides of the wicket and nearly nothing through the arc from the bowler to cover. Pretty poor really.

 

[GIMH]

RE Anderson's mouth. Last summer that doctrine of Langer's leaked where he called him a *****. Since then he hasn't shut up, AFAICT.

 

[Rant0r]

I'm pretty confident of the opposite actually. No team is invincible when you get the balls in the right areas. On the other hand, a good one like England will make you look silly when you bowl poorly.Taylor and Healy bought up the point re: how much the openers have had to drive through the cover to mid-off region today when looking at the wagon wheel. It's been the same for most of the series, a lot square on both sides of the wicket and nearly nothing through the arc from the bowler to cover. Pretty poor really.

No worries, you keep bowling a metre outside off and see how you go

 

[Son Of Coco]

No worries, you keep bowling a metre outside off and see how you go

A metre outside off isn't in the channel though really. The fact is the ball did something to draw him into the shot. When I saw it I didn't think it was that far away from the stumps to be honest.

Spent a lot of years playing a decent level of cricket and being able to bowl a lot of balls on a good length around off-stump never seemed to do me any harm. Bowling isn't that difficult really, would expect these guys to have the tools to make life difficult for top batsmen if they get it in the right spot often enough.

 

[Rant0r]

Troy Cooley must be fearing for his job

 

[Son Of Coco]

Don't know why he has a job. It's an impossible ask to expect an international bowler to put 3 in the same spot. He's wasting his time. Would be better off hiring another tactician so we can come up with plans to bowl on Trott's legs again.

 

[Rant0r]

Rocket science. Send him a cable would you ?

 

[Son Of Coco]

I will. Will let him know that you understand how hard it is to maintain a consistent line, and that you don't expect it to continue past this innings.

Should I tell him to give up the off-stump line altogether, or should they go back to it occasionally just to see that it actually works?

It's rocket surgery, by the way.

 

[Rant0r]

You should tell him that you're now clean and every day is a bonus, how is that ?

 

[Son Of Coco]

It's difficult, the hardest part was realising I couldn't hit the same areas with the needle all the time. Accuracy wasn't a strong point. No point telling Troy though, he was my supplier.






(Disclaimer: This isn't actually true)

 

[Faisal1985]

Damn....just one night i miss cricket in favor of watching hockey and this ****er comes up with this spell...

Believe, Aussies....believe again.

 

[Son Of Coco]

It was a good one! Very, very good!

 

[Woodster]

Well, Australia's day, it's been a while since I've typed that. The stars must have been aligned, the humidity spot on, the breeze perfect, the condition of the ball spot on, and that all goes towards Mitchell Johnson being able to swing the ball, what a rare sight. That said, he bowled beautifully (now it's been a seriously long time since I've even thought about typing that!) got lovely shape into the right handers at decent pace, and caused endless problems for England's in-form line-up.

It was all going so well, Cook and Strauss seem to have weathered an early burst, the error between Haddin and Watson was awful with neither going for it. Should have been Haddin's, but there's no excuse for Watson not making an effort either. Cook finally got a drive wrong, and set Johnson on his way.

There was no stopping him from then. Trott, KP and Colly all caught out by the swing back into them. Bell then looked in awesome form again, surely a promotion in the batting order, if not for the second innings then certainly for Melbourne. Prior was unlucky, then seemed to get a pretty intense send off from Siddle and Ponting.

I must admit I love it when the verbals start flying, umpires far too quick to step in nowadays. What's up with exchanging a few insults, it doesn't hurt, just gets them pumped up, this is the Ashes at stake!

Johnson then ran through the lower order and deserved his 6-for, Harris also looked in better shape as the day progressed.

The Watson and Hussey partnership just saved Australia having to share the spoils for the day. Hughes, Ponting and Clarke all looked a little frantic at the crease and I thought Finn had turned the corner with those couple of early confidence boosting strikes, slightly fortunate with the Ponting one though. He simply didn't adhere to the lengths that brought about those dismissals. He's either too short or throwing down half volleys, perhaps I'm being impatient with his progress.

It's been an excellent pitch, batsman that have applied themselves have shown runs can be scored here, but there's always something in it for the quicker men. A battle between bat and ball is what everyone wants to see. Looking forward to day three already, advantage Australia as it stands.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Prior was unlucky, then seemed to get a pretty intense send off from Siddle and Ponting.

I must admit I love it when the verbals start flying, umpires far too quick to step in nowadays. What's up with exchanging a few insults, it doesn't hurt, just gets them pumped up, this is the Ashes at stake!

Again, disagree with Prior being unlucky. Played the short ball terribly. Was a poor effort on top of previous poor efforts against the short ball where he managed not to get out. The way he was playing it, he deserved to go. If he ducked the short ball to begin with, instead of getting himself tied up, he would've still been there. Similarly, don't think Clarke was unlucky for edging it on. Was a poorly executed shot against a ball that did just enough to find the edge instead of the middle. He would've been extra-ordinarily lucky if it missed the stumps.

Agree about the verbals though, enjoy seeing a bit of a stoush in the middle.