*Official* Tour Matches

[GotSpin]

Yeah well done to Strauss, who cares if he got out straight after making 100.

It's a very weak SACA bowling lineup apart from George in this game. The Australia A match should be another step up.

Does anyone know who will replace the injured Mitchell Starc in the A game?

Copeland?

 

[GIMH]

I thought Strauss was already in good nick?

Has had a poor time in Tests since the last Ashes. His ODI form at the end of the summer was stellar though. Some believe form is not transferrable between formats so whether he was in good nick or not depends on where you lie on that I guess.

 

[Spark]

Copeland?

Harris? He's not in the squad already.

 

[GotSpin]

Harris? He's not in the squad already.

Oh yeah probably Harris then. He should be in the ashes squad though anyway.

Glad Starc is sidelined somewhat. Copeland so much better

 

[King Pietersen]

Strauss out for 102 from 121. Cook has moved to 92* from 143. Not a bad effort from the openers, would be very handy if those 2 can get us off to some cracking starts. Takes the pressure off the likes of Pietersen and Collingwood and will allow them to play a more natural game, especially Pietersen.

 

[TumTum]

Good to see Strauss drying up his runs before the series.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Ballsy declaration from us. I suspect under Fletcher we'd have just batted on to give Trott and those to come some time in the middle. Flower, however, seems more about the bottom line. Welcome change, tbh. Loathed the XIV-a-side glorified nets we used to have.

Read in the paper (so am taking it on trust) but apparently our win over WA was the first time we've won the opening FC fixture of an Ashes tour since 65/66.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Effing weather.

She's a draw then. Good to see Cook get some runs in any event. I suppose that's our XI absolutely carved into granite now, short of injuries.

 

[NUFAN]

Copeland?

Harris? He's not in the squad already.

I just read this
"Australia selectors are expected to name Starc's replacement in the Australia A squad by Saturday. All four members of the National Selection Panel - Andrew Hilditch, Jamie Cox, David Boon and Greg Chappell - are at the SCG to watch the encounter between the Blues and Bushrangers."

 

[Jacknife]

Effing weather.

She's a draw then. Good to see Cook get some runs in any event. I suppose that's our XI absolutely carved into granite now, short of injuries.

Unless Tremlett tears it up against Australia A,like you say, that should be the starting XI.

 

[Howe_zat]

England's batting performance in the warm-ups, then, is as follows:

Cricket Records | England tour of Australia, Nov 2010 - Feb 2011 | Records | First-class matches | Most runs | Cricinfo.com

So only Trott and Prior have missed out for far. KP and Colly's averages look pretty good when you consider the strike rate, which is pretty aggressive across the board. 5 of the top 6 have made fifties. Strauss' figure are damn good.

 

[Noble One]

England's batting performance in the warm-ups, then, is as follows:

Cricket Records | England tour of Australia, Nov 2010 - Feb 2011 | Records | First-class matches | Most runs | Cricinfo.com

So only Trott and Prior have missed out for far. KP and Colly's averages look pretty good when you consider the strike rate, which is pretty aggressive across the board. 5 of the top 6 have made fifties. Strauss' figure are damn good.

The Australia A v England XI game will give a better reflection on how the batsman are travelling. Scoring runs against Duffield, Hogan, Beer, Edmondson, Lang, Haberfield and O'Brien is very low on the list of challenging bowlers to face.

 

[Howe_zat]

Fair point Noble, but any state attack is going to be better than any county attack - I notice you left out George, who got smacked around a bit in the second innings.

These figures are encouraging but not brilliant. I'm not going to go nuts. It's just refreshing to have England actually start a tour well, usually they're getting embarrassed by the state sides at this point.

 

[Pothas]

Strauss scoring runs is very encouraging, he had a very poor summer without anyone really noticing and he is obviously key to England doing well.

 

[Noble One]

Fair point Noble, but any state attack is going to be better than any county attack - I notice you left out George, who got smacked around a bit in the second innings.

These figures are encouraging but not brilliant. I'm not going to go nuts. It's just refreshing to have England actually start a tour well, usually they're getting embarrassed by the state sides at this point.

I find that very hard to believe. The attacks turned out by South Australia and Western Australia are well below a decent standard.

The reason England has started to the tour well is because the fixturing has been relatively kind thus far. Last tour you started FC games against this team. Hard to find form when playing against McGrath, Lee, Clark, Bracken, Hauritz, Casson and Henriques (not that England played poorly either).

I guess that is why everyone is looking forward to the 'A' game. Australian fans are so eager to see how our backup players are going, and England fans want to see if England mean business.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Nice innings by Strauss and Cook today. I'm sure England would've liked to have more of a bowl, especially when Anderson started off with 2. I think that sort of scoreline is more like what is expected of them (and I don't mean that in a bad way, they're building up nicely so far) against teams like WA and SA.

Will be interesting to see how they go against Australia A, if they continue to gain momentum into the Gabba I'm sure more than a few Australian supporters (including me) will be a bit nervous.

I do like the way they're giving both the bats and the bowlers a chance to get some game time in.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Very good workout.Shame the weather denied the win.

Great to see the side scoring runs now and all bar Trott have made runs and the bowlers are all chipping in as usual.Things have gone well,lets hope for more of the same next week whatever side we put out.

 

[Howe_zat]

Here's the England bowling figures btw.

Cricket Records | First-class matches | Records | Most wickets | Cricinfo.com

Ought to be remembered that Swanny's really been cleaning up the tail, the seamers have done the hard work. Pleasantly surprised by Jimmy. The jury's still out on Finn, I remain uncharacteristically optimistic.

 

[Howe_zat]

So I just found this

Cook, Strauss tons light up draw | Cricket Photo Gallery | Cricinfo.com

on cricinfo's gallery of the SA match. Is it just me, or does #5 remind anyone else of -

http://i53.tinypic.com/2r5uki0.png

?

 

[Nate]

No official word as to who is replacing Starc then? Big opportunity for Copeland, at least for NSW.