***Official*** West Indies in Australia

[Slow Love™]

Edwards getting some good reverse swing now...

his accuracy is way off but if he can get a few online

Yeah, Edwards looked really pumped the previous over, and was absolutely charging in. Unfortunately for him it ended up being fairly expensive, but there were some good deliveries in there, and he trapped Watson close to in front. Gets a fair bit of skid off the pitch, too.

 

[Slow Love™]

Fidel finally nails Watson. It really seemed like he gave himself a big chance against him, looking at this little spell. Quite fiery.

 

[Slow Love™]

Awkward drop there from Whoopi - would have been a very big wicket, too. He got there comfortably in the end, in spite of Warne getting in the way a bit - it just fell straight out of his hands on the way down.

 

[Dasa]

It's been pretty good stuff from the Windies so far...although they've bowled a lot of 'hit-me' balls, they haven't done badly at all. 303/7 with Ponting out is a very good effort so far....atrocious over rate though.

 

[Nate]

I won a bet against my mates that Collymore would take 3 of the first 5 wickets. He`s awesome.

Go Bracken!

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Superb innings from Ponting.

All the Windies bowlers were fairly good today, quite accurate and most got a bit of movement here or there. Collymore was especially good though.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Good beamer.

 

[Nate]

Hah, we can`t see it. Good resistance from Lee and Warne here. Bracken to make 30-odd.

 

[Slow Love™]

Yeah, I can't see it either. From the scoreboard, it's looking like either Warne's doing really well or the WI bowlers are letting this slip. If Australia can somehow get to 400 or above, the West Indians would have to be pretty disappointed.

7/340 at stumps.

 

[luckyeddie]

What's with the sudden fashion of winning the toss and putting the opposition in?

Dumb, Chanderpaul.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hah, we can`t see it. Good resistance from Lee and Warne here. Bracken to make 30-odd.

In his first over...



With the ball...

 

[age_master]

Bracken to make 30-odd.

 

[Mister Wright]

So McGrath stays in longer?

He has a big chance tomorrow...

 

[Mister Wright]

Whilst I agree witht he latter statements (batting well with the tail), how can you possibly be so sure hes not ready for number 4 when he's had a grand total of one Test there? If anything, a move to number 4 could be looked upon as a way to get Clarke away from the moving ball (second new-ball) so he can play his shots to a ball, say, 30 overs old. That certainly was part of the reason Mark Waugh was moved to there from 6 (as well as being the best shot-player in the side).

As it stands, I don't think Martyn should have been dropped in the first place but in his absence, who else should bat at 4 really? Katich? One-paced. Gilchrist? Has to keep. Ponting? No. Love? Not a long-term option. So who else, with minimal disruption to the line-up, could bat there?

Is Clarke really a long term option though? First class statistics don't lie (generally). Clarke came into the side averaging 39 in first class cricket, and he now averages 37 in test cricket. He has not scored a test century in 12 months and in that time only has two half centuries.

 

[Mister Wright]

Brett Lee has made the excellent decision to concentrate on line and length instead of bouncers and yorkers!

What? No more bouncers!

If this makes him a better bowler, I am all for it. It means we can have someone like Shaun Tait leaking the runs, instead of Lee AND Tait doing it!

I can see it now. Lee gets hit for 2 fours in an over, he's going to revert to the short stuff. He's not a smart enough bowler to consistently bowl well. Hell, he's 28 or 29, you'd think he would have learnt by now. He has been averaging mid-high 30s with the ball for half a decade now.

 

[Mister Wright]

it was sunny for all of the last 2 days actually and that was when bracken did the bulk of his bowling.

And he wasn't that successful. One of his wickets in the 2nd innings was an absolute birhtday present from Sehwag.

 

[Jono]

Haha I remember that shot from Sehwag. The commentators were laying into him after that shot, it was obvious Sehwag said had no respect for Bracken's bowling at all.

Bracken was ordinary at the Gabba, that's why he was dropped the next test for Brad Williams aka Butthole.

 

[Mister Wright]

Chanderpaul wins the toss and bowls. Not sure it's a great move, as the wicket will probably be fairly flat after a short time.

Hoping Hussey goes well... he sure deserves it.

Man, I couldn't believe Chanderpaul bowled. Especially considering his bowlers hardly got one to swing early. They were lucky to get the wickets they did with an excellent spell from Collymore and our very poor middle order.

 

[Slow Love™]

Is Clarke really a long term option though? First class statistics don't lie (generally). Clarke came into the side averaging 39 in first class cricket, and he now averages 37 in test cricket. He has not scored a test century in 12 months and in that time only has two half centuries.

LOL, were you at the game today, mate? I had a feeling that when we saw you you'd be bagging Clarke. I have to say though that at this stage, it's hard not to acknowledge the fact that there are some problems. If he doesn't do something impressive this series, it'll be interesting to see just how much patience the selectors have. I still think he's essentially got what it takes to be a big success in test cricket, but that doesn't necessarily mean he won't get a spell out of the team due to poor performance. Hell, it happened to Steve Waugh.

I hope he does really well though, myself.

Incidentally, how did you think Watson batted today?

 

[Mister Wright]

Looked like he was a bit non-plussed at Richie's rambling there. I think Richie's hanging on too long personally - he should have retired after the English season.

Couldn't agree more.