Ponting's assignments

[Richard]

good ... bowlers like Sami

 

[iamdavid]

Will be a very interesting year thats for sure.

In Sri Lanka the bowlers hold the key , 1-1 I reckon.

Zimbabwe will hopefully show some fight but at the end of the day they are simply NFGE , 2-0.

If the pitches in Darwin & Cairns are anything like last year the Sri Lankans will fancy themselves but Im gonna stick to the 'poor overseas' steriotype & say Australia will win 2-0.

The India series will be a classic (I hope) , the Australians have the potential to win the series if they play well enough , but they are up against an improving team in their own backyard , hopefully the full strength attack back together by then & the slip cordon all sorted out , they did nothing wrong in 2001 , they were simply beaten by 2 previously un-heralded players who played out of their skins.
If they play well again this time then I dont see why they cant take the trophy home.
Cant make a guess on this one it could be anything.

Pakistan , again should be entertaining but the pressure & persistance should see them home over the inconsistant Pakistani's.
Im not convinced as to how Mr Hameed will do out here.


I think how well Warne & McGrath come back (if at all) & who they pick at number 6...... as well as how that person performs , will be the key factors to Australia's success in 2004.

As for this team of the future stuff.....hmm.....to be honest I think India is the up & coming team right now , the steal & raw potential they showed out here was amazing.
South Africa have the ability , but like Australia , the individuals who have made them such a success are starting to age a little.
Zondeki is not test class yet although he's developing & Ngam cant stay fit for any longer than Warnie can stay out of the headlines.
Im yet to see alot of the younger generation of batsman , Rudolf is good but has some technical issues , Dippenaar is inconsistent in the longer form & Ashwell Prince just dosent look up to it yet , maybe soon as he has the talent but not yet.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

South Africa have the ability , but like Australia , the individuals who have made them such a success are starting to age a little.
Zondeki is not test class yet although he's developing & Ngam cant stay fit for any longer than Warnie can stay out of the headlines.
Im yet to see alot of the younger generation of batsman , Rudolf is good but has some technical issues , Dippenaar is inconsistent in the longer form & Ashwell Prince just dosent look up to it yet , maybe soon as he has the talent but not yet.

On the contrary I think that the individuals who are making South Africa a success are on the younger side.

Graeme Smith is yet to hit 25 and has accomplished so much already.

Jacques Rudolph has definite potential and that's starting to shine through.

At 26, Nel and Ntini have a good 10 years in them yet you'd think.

Shaun Pollock is only 30 and I think the fact that he cut down his pace will serve him well enough that he'll be playing until around 40.

Kallis is just 28, with another 10 or so years in him you'd hope.

Mark Boucher is 27.

Gibbs is 29 (will be 30 on the 23rd).

Martin van Jaarsveld is 29.

As I see it, South Africa could have roughly the same unit for 8-10 years yet.

 

[iamdavid]

On the contrary I think that the individuals who are making South Africa a success are on the younger side.

Graeme Smith is yet to hit 25 and has accomplished so much already.

Jacques Rudolph has definite potential and that's starting to shine through.

At 26, Nel and Ntini have a good 10 years in them yet you'd think.

Shaun Pollock is only 30 and I think the fact that he cut down his pace will serve him well enough that he'll be playing until around 40.

Kallis is just 28, with another 10 or so years in him you'd hope.

Mark Boucher is 27.

Gibbs is 29 (will be 30 on the 23rd).

Martin van Jaarsveld is 29.

As I see it, South Africa could have roughly the same unit for 8-10 years yet.

Well I guess it depends on your definition of 'future' compared with mine , I was thinking in the 7-15 years sort of range , some of the above mentioned may still be around , but I reckon Pollock & Kallis will be past their peaks.
Smith has acheived succes so far , but who has he acheived that against again , Bangladesh ( ) , England (until they worked out how to bowl at him) & the Windies ( :P:P).....but even then his technique was exposed.

 

[Richard]

If the pitches in Darwin & Cairns are anything like last year the Sri Lankans will fancy themselves but Im gonna stick to the 'poor overseas' steriotype & say Australia will win 2-0.

The Sri Lankans (and the Indians) have played overseas in conditions that helped them before and still accomplished nothing - because the major flaws are not in dealing with the conditions, but in the mind and simply continuing to play like you normally play.
Hence, I will be amazed, regardless of the conditons in D and C, if the result of that series is anything but 2-0 to Australia.
India may be starting to address the problem, mainly through John Wright, but Sri Lanka are still yet to demonstrate anything of the sort.
It's still a serious insult to both Sri Lanka and England to play the series where and when it's being played.

 

[Richard]

Well I guess it depends on your definition of 'future' compared with mine , I was thinking in the 7-15 years sort of range , some of the above mentioned may still be around , but I reckon Pollock & Kallis will be past their peaks.

In that sort of range, it's really not possible to think with any real certainty, as we've discussed before; the only "future" it's really sensible to discuss is 2-3 years down the line.

Smith has acheived succes so far , but who has he acheived that against again , Bangladesh ( ) , England (until they worked out how to bowl at him) & the Windies ( :P:P).....but even then his technique was exposed.

You forgot Pakistan.:P He did make 150 against them in a day.
The fact is, his technique is etched all over the minds of probably every bowler and coach in The World now, and still he's scoring truckloads of runs. For the last time, England did not "work him out", he just got unlucky (and to be fair he did have a share of fortune earlier in the series) in the latter part of the series.
His play outside off-stump in the air gets him out all the time - but he still maintains a massive average. And IMO it's not as if he can't change his strokeplay to make him hit in the air on the off less.

 

[marc71178]

You forgot Pakistan.:P He did make 150 against them in a day.

Which is all well and good until you see the attack he scored it against - hardly the most potent.

 

[Richard]

I never claimed it was - I was just pointing-out Mr. hoitink's omission.
Of course, it's not as if the bowlers themselves were so bad - Waqar and Saqlain have had their moments. They just bowled crap that day.
And Sami and Zahid bowl crap by international standards most days.

 

[Craig]

I was looking forward to Zahid, and wasnt I disappointed.

 

[Richard]

Why on Earth were you looking forwards to seeing Mohammad Zahid?
Not as if he'd achieved much in his international career before that,

 

[Craig]

Because I had never seen him bowl before.

That's why.

 

[Richard]

So you are looking forwards to seeing (insert name of bowler who appears rubbish and you have never seen bowl) bowl?

 

[Armadillo]

And Sami and Zahid bowl crap by international standards most days.

And how many times have you seen either of them bowl, a very Richard-like statement.

 

[Richard]

How many times have you seen K Eric Upashantha bowl? One at most would be my bet - but you don't need to have seen more than that to realise that he's one of the worst bowlers to have played the game internationally in the last decade or so.
Incidentally, I've seen Sami bowl plenty of times - only ever seen very brief highlights of Zahid (in the very Test me and Craig were discussing). But it was more than enough, along with the rest of stuff I've heard about his bowling.

 

[Craig]

So you are looking forwards to seeing (insert name of bowler who appears rubbish and you have never seen bowl) bowl?

YES!

He actually had a good start to his Test career and I heard he was pretty quick. But obviously he isnt now.

What is wrong looking forward to seeing somebody bowl no matter how good or bad?

 

[Richard]

Nothing, nothing at all!
I just found it a slightly odd comment as I'd never heard you say anything along those lines before.

 

[age_master]

im gonna tip An Aussie win in everything

well at least i got something right

 

[benchmark00]

well at least i got something right

haha nice post

 

[Mister Wright]

well at least i got something right

1) ICC Champions trophy?
2) Chappell-Hadlee trophy?

 

[benchmark00]

yeah but the original post was talking about all the test series, no mention of the one dayers