**Official** Tour Matches

[Scaly piscine]

Reckon this sort of innings will be pretty common in the Ashes. Get through a most of the batting and then let the tailenders ruin all the good work.

England will stupidly call upon Flintoff who has never been any good at running through the tail, he'll bowl loads of overs and get injured as a result. Broad will try and bounce them out and get predictable. Anderson/Onions might do the job on a good day and they happen to be playing (for England) at the time.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Huh. Hauritz can bat a bit too, it seems.

I had him down as a proper tailender for some reason I can't now recall. FC record suggests he's ok-ish tho.

 

[scorpiogal]

Makes a 50 too.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

 

[scorpiogal]

Lee to make 50 and get out promptly, first thing in the morning

 

[Richard]

I think they did, but the ECB kind-of had to say yes, because Australia let us have a 12-a-side when we went down last time.

Wouldn't it be great if tit-for-tat refusals meant there was never another 12\15-a-side game ever on Ashes tours.

 

[NUFAN]

Huh. Hauritz can bat a bit too, it seems.

I had him down as a proper tailender for some reason I can't now recall. FC record suggests he's ok-ish tho.

Hauritz has a fair bit of talent with the bat especially in the longer format. In ODIs he is fairly ordinary for some reason though. I would say he's as good as Swann.

 

[Uppercut]

Huh. Hauritz can bat a bit too, it seems.

I had him down as a proper tailender for some reason I can't now recall. FC record suggests he's ok-ish tho.

Probably because he always seems to bat at 10 or 11 due to Aussie's ridiculously long batting lineup.

 

[Noble One]

Probably because he always seems to bat at 10 or 11 due to Aussie's ridiculously long batting lineup.

With his bowling average ballooning at NSW and Queensland, part of the reason Hauritz has been able to maintain his position in these teams is his semi-competent batting.

During his U/19 and Academy days, Hauritz batted above the likes of Mitch Johnson, Adam Voges, Aaron O'Brien and Chris Hartley. Obviously always had the natural talent with the bat.

 

[Noble One]

My impressions on Day 1 of the Ashes tour.

Always difficult to judge form based on the first meaningful hit-out for many of the players in months. Encouraging that Hussey, Clarke, Katich and Haddin all found some time in the middle, 80 to 100 balls at the crease is a far better hit-out than any net practise or T20 game.

Marcus North must consider himself lucky that he is probably a guarantee for the 1st Test. His failure would have been more significant if he was involved in a position battle with a non-injured cricketer.

Very similar start to the tour as happened in 2001. First 5 wickets falling for less than 150, then rear-guard efforts from the tail (and Martyn in 2001) helping to post a decent score.

Eager to see how the bowlers battle it out tomorrow. One bad innings will spell non-selection for one of Lee, Hilfenhaus, Clark, Hauritz and possible Siddle.

 

[pup11]

Well, that was a good work-out for the Aussie boys yesterday, but the disappointing thing is you would expect the Aussie top-order to handle a second-string Sussex in a better manner than this.

I think its about time the Aussie top-order start playing with a bit more responsibility, I am not just talking about what happened yesterday, but also in general, the Aussie top-order has been collapsing pretty regularly in the last 12-18 months and most of the time the lower-middle order has had to rescue 'em out of trouble.

Nice to see Lee and Hauritz score some runs, hopefully the selectors take note of this realise that the Aussies really don't need to stuff their XI with too many batsmen, as the bowlers have time and again prover that they are no mugs with the bat.

 

[NUFAN]

Have Australia declared overnight? Hopefully and surely they will.

 

[four_or_six]

Nice to see Lee and Hauritz score some runs, hopefully the selectors take note of this realise that the Aussies really don't need to stuff their XI with too many batsmen, as the bowlers have time and again prover that they are no mugs with the bat.

Is Haddin at 6 and five bowlers an option the Aussies would seriously consider? Eg. MacDonald, Johnson, Hauritz, two from Lee/Siddle/Clark.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Is this a three day game?

 

[pup11]

Is Haddin at 6 and five bowlers an option the Aussies would seriously consider? Eg. MacDonald, Johnson, Hauritz, two from Lee/Siddle/Clark.

Nope, as we saw in the 3rd test in South Africa, that sort of a combination leaves Australian batting line-up a bit vulnerable, my preference would be, picking six proper batsmen+Haddin+four bowlers.

Making Haddin bat in the top six puts added burden on his shoulders, its certainly won't be easy for him to keep wickets for a long period of time, and then be expected to perform at his optimum capacity with the bat too.

Not only that, McDonald's batting has showed no signs of being international class so far (barring his 60 odd in RSA), so it would be a bit too risky a ploy to just go in a test with only 5 out-and-out batsmen.

 

[pup11]

Is this a three day game?

Its a four day game, but both sides are allowed 12 players, so the game doesn't have FC status.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hauritz has a fair bit of talent with the bat especially in the longer format. In ODIs he is fairly ordinary for some reason though. I would say he's as good as Swann.

Nah he's not quite Swann level TBH. He can bat though.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Probably because he always seems to bat at 10 or 11 due to Aussie's ridiculously long batting lineup.

Ha, you're probably right, actually. Saw him at 10 and assumed he's a no-hoper as any self-respecting English 10 would be.

 

[Nate]

Nah he's not quite Swann level TBH. He can bat though.

For once I disagree. Reckon Hauritz is a better batsman.

 

[Uppercut]

For once I disagree. Reckon Hauritz is a better batsman.

Sorry mate, not a chance. Swanny has four first-class centuries. And 32 fifties to Hauritz's two.