**Official**VB Series 2005 Australia,Pakistan,West Indies.

[FaaipDeOiad]

Butt
Hameed
Youhana
Inzamam
Malik
Razzaq
Afridi
Akmal
Rana
Akhtar
---
Sami/Rao/Khalil/Gul etc.etc.

Given that Malik currently cannot bowl, would you really want to rely on having only five bowlers in the lineup, thereby requiring all three front-line quicks as well as Razzaq and Afridi to bowl 10 overs every game? If/when Malik can bowl again I can't fault this lineup, but right now I'd be inclined to stick with Hafeez for his bowling ability, and maybe put him in for Hameed at 6 and give somebody else a shot at opening. It's not ideal, but as far as I can see it's either that or pick a fourth specialist bowler.

Kaneria could be an option in that respect.

 

[Jono]

Nah that's fair enough. I haven't really been up to date with teh Malik situation, and if he still can't bowl than yes, Hafeez must be in.

Wasn't he sighted too though? And yes, Kaneria is also a possible option.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Nah that's fair enough. I haven't really been up to date with teh Malik situation, and if he still can't bowl than yes, Hafeez must be in.

Wasn't he sighted too though? And yes, Kaneria is also a possible option.

Yeah, well with the ICC... who knows. Malik is currently prohibited from bowling until his action has been corrected, and while Hafeez has been reported nothing has been done about him yet.

Personally, I think Kaneria would be the best option, but Pakistan's top order batting has looked so brittle of late that a four man tail (with all due respect to Rana's batting) could be a major problem. Things will be looking a lot better for them once Malik can actually be an all-rounder again, if that happens.

 

[marc71178]

I suppose they meant that he could never play well at number 8 for Australia, and he didn't, really...

Yes, but yet again Pratyush has deliberately twisted something I've said, bit like in his signature as well.

 

[Duncan]

If Afridi and Razzaq can consistently smack around the Ozzies like they have done this whole series, then the Indians are gonna be in trouble. Not a bad performance from Pakistan overall, they really should have won this match. They would have if the umpires weren't such blatant cheaters.

 

[Swervy]

If Afridi and Razzaq can consistently smack around the Ozzies like they have done this whole series, then the Indians are gonna be in trouble. Not a bad performance from Pakistan overall, they really should have won this match. They would have if the umpires weren't such blatant cheaters.

hehehehe..one has just got to laugh

 

[Crazy Sam]

Australia's batting averages (not including yesterday's game):
Clarke - 74.60
Gilchrist - 19.25
Hayden - 10.50
Katich - 30.75
Lehmann - 43.50 (3 not outs in 5 innings, HS of 49*)
Ponting - 23.83
Martyn - 65.66
Symonds - 27.50

Katich and Lehmann failed yesterday with the bat so their series averages would go down to around 25 and 30 respectively. Interesting to note that Symonds finished the series with a better average than ponting, hayden, gilchrist, katich....

 

[sledger]

hehehehe..one has just got to laugh

hehe one does, albeit for all the wrong reasons.....

 

[marc71178]

hehehehe..one has just got to laugh

Well it is pathetic!

 

[Top_Cat]

They would have if the umpires weren't such blatant cheaters.

 

[Gangster]

Come on now, even as an Indian who has no special fondness for Pakistanis, I can see that the umpires gave horrid calls! Even the cricinfo commentator noted it in the ball by ball!

 

[Top_Cat]

Come on now, even as an Indian who has no special fondness for Pakistanis, I can see that the umpires gave horrid calls! Even the cricinfo commentator noted it in the ball by ball!

No denying that. If you read back, it was more to do with whether they are 'blatant cheaters'.

 

[Zinzan]

I personally don't think Aussie's dominated the ODI's. Certainly their test team is a cut above all others [IMO] but their ODI team is only slightly better then the other ODI nations.

Also, Lee didn't ball well throughout the tournament. He got hammered thrice. That's too inconsistent for the man of the series award IMO. It should have gone to Clarke or Inzamam [second choice]

Evryone gets hammered once in a while in oneday cricket. Lee's got hammered 20% of the time and looked absolutely potent the other 80% of the time.

Anyone who doesn't think he looked dangerous in the VB series, obviously have never played cricket at a decent level.

 

[Blaze]

Possibly one of the worst VB series ever.

Just out of interest how many times have aussie missed out on the final series?

I can only think of two occasions. NZ v.s SA in 2001, i think.

and WI v.s Pakistan back in the nintees.

There must be more than just those two.. surely?

 

[chaminda_00]

Possibly one of the worst VB series ever.

Just out of interest how many times have aussie missed out on the final series?

I can only think of two occasions. NZ v.s SA in 2001, i think.

and WI v.s Pakistan back in the nintees.

There must be more than just those two.. surely?

I think they might have missed a couple back when the Windies team of the 80s were around, i think

Next VB should be better, the might Sri Lankan are coming. They should give them a big test, probably bigger then the ashes.

 

[Mr Casson]

Possibly one of the worst VB series ever.

Just out of interest how many times have aussie missed out on the final series?

I can only think of two occasions. NZ v.s SA in 2001, i think.

and WI v.s Pakistan back in the nintees.

There must be more than just those two.. surely?

I don't think there are actually.

I don't think this VB series was one of the worst ever - I'll reserve that for last season's.

The NZ/SAF/AUS series was the best one I've seen. At least this season it was competitive most of the time.

 

[Scallywag]

Come on now, even as an Indian who has no special fondness for Pakistanis, I can see that the umpires gave horrid calls! Even the cricinfo commentator noted it in the ball by ball!

There were two bad calls, Gilly given not out and Watson given out.

I will watch with anticipation when India play Pakistan so we can watch a game where there is no umpiring mistakes or where there is exactaly the same amount of bad decisions given to both teams.

 

[Zinzan]

Possibly one of the worst VB series ever.

Just out of interest how many times have aussie missed out on the final series?

I can only think of two occasions. NZ v.s SA in 2001, i think.

and WI v.s Pakistan back in the nintees.

There must be more than just those two.. surely?

I can't think of any other occasions. The 2001 series was funny because, NZ beat Aust 3-1 (in the 4 games), Aust beat S.A 3-1 and S.A beat NZ 3-1. It was quite bizarre. Then of course the bonus point rule mean't NZ had to lose the last game Badly to stop Aust advancing to the finals. Some great crciket in that series. In fact it was only an amazing Beaven Innings that saved Aust from going down 4-0 in that series.

 

[chaminda_00]

There were two bad calls, Gilly given not out and Watson given out.

I will watch with anticipation when India play Pakistan so we can watch a game where there is no umpiring mistakes or where there is exactaly the same amount of bad decisions given to both teams.

Only two bad decisions by the umpires, a pretty good game all in all by the umpires, compared to 1st Final though. Also their was one decision each to both sides, can't really see how someone said that the umpires are blantant cheaters

 

[Blaze]

Only two bad decisions by the umpires, a pretty good game all in all by the umpires, compared to 1st Final though. Also their was one decision each to both sides, can't really see how someone said that the umpires are blantant cheaters

They arent cheaters but the rub of the green generally goes with aussie when they are at home..