*Official* Tri Series (Ind, NZ, Aus) Thread

[TendulkarFan]

Bevan's innings made me sick. In the end we won so it's all good, and I know he was injured, but I know he's better than a strike rate that hovered around 50 for most of the innings. Clarke should have been sent in before Bevan anyway. If Bevan is the finisher he should come in after Clarke and then do the 'finishing'. If he were to get out early then who would do Bevan's job?
Besides, sending Clarke in earlier gives him a chance to play some shots and get Australia closer to that 280 they wanted.

I disagree. Bevan came in when the score was 129-4 with more than 22 overs to go. The pitch wasn't helping stroke-making and the Indian spinners were going very strong. The need of the hour was good defense with quick running between the wickets thus building a strong foundation for slog at the end. Clarke may have been able to perform better than Bevan under the circumstances but Bevan is a seasoned vet who has "been there, done that" several times before. A tournament final with 100,000 spectators against you is not a good time to experiment. Ponting went with his experienced horse and I completely agree with him. Bevan built the foundation on which Clarke thrived.

 

[Gaijin-san]

Yeah man, that's a good point, but what I was saying is that I just thought the smart thing was to have Clarke in front of Bevan. I think if he's going to go in beforehand he's got to keep the scoreboard ticking over rather than striking at 50ish. In the end it came off because Clarke did what he did. But he could really have done that at any stage. Although that's not to say Clarke is a real slogger all the time, he knows how to play the smart and controlled innings. Just makes more sense to me for him to come in front.

 

[Mr. P]

The series has been over for a while now. Can someone 'un-top' this thread?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Done