The "No-Loyalty" XI for the Gabba

[pasag]

Funniest thread.

 

[Matt79]

My turn to dig out this thread. Hope Langer and McGrath can turn it around.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

My turn to dig out this thread. Hope Langer and McGrath can turn it around.

Yeah, I'm a bit worried too, especially about Langer. He's only averaging 93 for the series now.

 

[Complicated]

I wonder if Lee, will be dropped for Tait / Johnson at some point in this series?

 

[BoyBrumby]

I have to say the Sky team were being a little previous in the reposting of the McGrath obituary in the lunch break, Atherton especially (although with his record against the great man one can possibly understand him enjoying a spot of schadenfruede at his expense). He did looked pretty ordinary pre-lunch admittedly (I crashed & burnt after so didn't see the last two sessions), but it is a truism that when players get to a certain age a blip in form is seen as terminal. Dead flat track & a bruised heel would hamper anyone's effectiveness.

Whether he should have played with his heel is rather more open to debate, he's not 100% for me & with the 4 man attack someone really should have taken a firmer hand. It's a no-brainer that any player worth his salt (especially seamers, who're not generally renowned for their acumen as a group ) is going to want to play; the question is really should he have? It was reported on Sky here the final decision was left up to McGrath because "he knows his body best" & then at the same time people are saying "he'd need his foot amputed to miss the test". Slight contradiction for mine...

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

McGrath's spell immediately after lunch on day two was his best of the match, and he had a fair bit of life about him and consistently troubled Collingwood with some seam movement back into him. He was very flat at times though, which could be related to fitness issues or fatigue or age-related waning of his powers or whatever. Hard to say on one innings, really.

 

[Matt79]

Yeah, I'm a bit worried too, especially about Langer. He's only averaging 93 for the series now.

Yeah, I know, but after the beat down I took for this after the first test, I'm looking for any consolation. A harsh view would say however that its 2 good performances and 1 bad effort for Langer, and in only one of those efforts did the other team actually front up, while McGrath is probably 1 good performance and 2 bad.

That said, Jaques also may well have been fairly drained after two days in the field and got out cheaply. Whether a younger man might have been able to stay fresher, or whether he would have missed the 100 tests of experience Langer brings, or whether it was a ripsnorter couple of balls that would have got most batsmen, will remain a point of conjecture.

I'm not writing them off again, they are champs and I've learned my lesson about that for this summer, but if we lose this test, they will again find themselves under pressure.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Yeah, I know, but after the beat down I took for this after the first test, I'm looking for any consolation. A harsh view would say however that its 2 good performances and 1 bad effort for Langer, and in only one of those efforts did the other team actually front up, while McGrath is probably 1 good performance and 2 bad.

That said, Jaques also may well have been fairly drained after two days in the field and got out cheaply. Whether a younger man might have been able to stay fresher, or whether he would have missed the 100 tests of experience Langer brings, or whether it was a ripsnorter couple of balls that would have got most batsmen, will remain a point of conjecture.

I'm not writing them off again, they are champs and I've learned my lesson about that for this summer, but if we lose this test, they will again find themselves under pressure.

I actually assumed you were joking with Langer. Seriously, he won't be under pressure at all. If Jaques was to come in next test it'd be for Martyn or Hayden, Langer has secured his spot until the end of the Ashes at least with his first innings performances, and suggesting that he's got problems because he got out once after making 82 and 100 in the first test is just silly. Every batsman gets out cheaply sometimes. Ponting could edge to the keeper first ball today, it wouldn't put him under pressure for his spot.

 

[Matt79]

I know, tongue was firmly in cheek.