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South Africa vs Australia

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Australian Cricket is making good progress, isn't it?

Clarke is growing on me as a Captain.

Ponting's handling of Hauritz eventually convinced me he was never a great captain, he just happened to Captain one of the greatest side, by virtue of being a super talented Cricketer. As a leader, he fell short.

Clarke on the other hand has been quite smart so far, and gives the guys a chance. None of the senior players like him, but i should imaging guys like Lyon, Cummins, Hughes etc would look up to him. Why not? So far he has stood up for the team as a player, and backed everyone to play their natural game and seems to be getting on well with Arthur too.

Probably the main reason for Katich's sacking was because Pup and him never got on very well. Well, if it's for the good of the team...then i say, why not?

I for one am very pleased to have Australia fighting back at the top level.

They seem to have found a pretty good bunch of Bowlers, which is the hard part in Test cricket. Johnson's foot injury may come as a blessing in disguise. His career is finished by no means, but he will come back stronger if he plays a bit of shield Cricket. Hopefully their batting will find a groove soon too.

Warner seems to have better technique than Hughes actually. I was quite pissed off that Hughes followed the ball outside off once again. That shot was not on and not required. I'm not really sure he is aware of where his off stump is at all. For a opener that is a big problem. Top Bowling sides like England and SA will be able to exploit that, and he needs to work it out for himself. But he is also the only Aussie other than Clarke to have scored a century recently. So dropping him would be harsh. Technique is not the problem for Warner though, his temperament for the longer form is still untested even at First class level. He is an unknown quantity, but that doesn't make him a bad player....
 
I think Cricket should go the way of Davis cup format in Tennis, when it comes to bilateral tournaments.

The standard tournament should have a t20 game, one day game and two test matches followed again by a t20 and one day game. If the teams are off high quality or closely matched, and there was a chance of still retaining attendance in-spite of increasing the games, the number of test matches and t20 matches in the series could be increased. There is simply way too much Cricket on, and it could result in people losing interest in Cricket.

India struggled to fill the grounds at Eden Gardens for a test match last month...which has kinda never happened before. They even gave away tickets free of cost for schools.
 
There's great young strength in depth there. Especially in the bowling stocks. Starc, Cummins, and now Pattinson - who looks the fucking meeting. Late swing is something you can't learn. Anderson ripped Australia apart last year with it, and now Pattinson's got it. Interestingly they can all swing the bat too, Australia could go pretty deep at the minute.

I like the look of this all rounder they've brought in in Christian too. Throw in Nathan Lyon too and finally they've got a finger spinner worthy if the name. It'll be very interesting to see how he goes against the Indians on a flat track though, thats the test.

Fuck Haddin off and bring in Wade and there's a real side to build on there.

Phil Hughes by the way KJ. What the fuck. If I was NZ, I'd put 4 slips and 5 gulleys up against him in Hobart, he's that fucking predictable.
 
He is infuriating. For a player who has shown an appetite for the big innings, it is inexplicable how he has still not worked on the two problems he has had since debut. Both down to shot selection. He has no idea which short ball to leave and which one to play. He also keeps fishing outside off......surely someone would have told him about this by now?

Agree on Wade too. I have seen very little of Christian, but i'm not so sure he can be better than Watson or Symonds before him.

Good times....i look forward to the India series. Indian bowling has also been rejuvenated by the influx of some new players. I hope they don't judge Lyon by his performance against India. So far he has been an absolute gem. Quite a smart chap too, from the way he lets Clarke do the field placements and just adjusts his line and length to suit it. Eventually, he will start using that as a technique to plot batsmen out.
 
NZ currently 6 for 68 in the second test in hobart. Pattinson absolutely ripping through them again.
 
[quote author='Dave' link=topic=47481.msg1430134#msg1430134 date=1321910136]
Ok firstly I thought Smith was older than that and I agree de Villiers is very good but I am not convinced by South Africa's top order or their lower order where as England's top order is excellent and the amount of times England's tail has got them out of trouble recenty just shows in my opinion we are ahead of any other team batting wise but I would say that wouldn't I?!

Can't wait till July.
[/quote]

Pretty sure India have the best batting lineup in world cricket at the moment - despite their bizzare series in England earlier this year.

I also think South Africa have more talent than they display whereas the current Aus test team is getting a lot out of its players. SA seem to play too defensively in the early stages IMO. When Australia were dominant the reason they kept winning was they scored runs quickly - they ooozed confidence and tried to dominate every time. They scored runs quickly and this gave them plenty of time to bowl the opposition out. Kallis is an awesome batsman - as already said - but have a look at his run rate and compare it to the top 6 in Australia's order from about 6 years ago.

Australia have got a good future in the bowling; a couple of honest spinners and 3 or 4 really top talents in the fast bowling stocks. Whether they chase the money in India could prove the problem for them.
 
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=47481.msg1440436#msg1440436 date=1323390859]
How unbelievably unbelievably brilliant is Virender Sehwag by the way?
[/quote]

He's Warner's hero too, apparently. Not a bad player to try and emulate.
 
[quote author=Wizardry link=topic=47481.msg1440452#msg1440452 date=1323397758]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=47481.msg1440436#msg1440436 date=1323390859]
How unbelievably unbelievably brilliant is Virender Sehwag by the way?
[/quote]

He's Warner's hero too, apparently. Not a bad player to try and emulate.
[/quote]

There's something about Warner that makes me want him to succeed. I think he's just a pretty honest, down-to-earth sort that it'd be good to see do well.

He's got a fantastic record recently in the longer form, if he can translate that into Australian form he's onto a winner. I think his upcoming innings in this NZ test is vital. If he can outlast Hughes at the crease and show a modicum of form he'll likely get the nod against India alongside Watson opening the batting and then it's really up to him to lose that spot.
 
Another 5 wicket haul for Pattinson.

Against Zew Nealand I know, but still that's an impressive start for the young man. Late swing - he's got it, and it'll scare the shit out of any batsman going.
 
And Hughes has gone for 4. Typical.

KJ - this joker has got to go I'm afraid. If you can't cut it on your own deck against New Zealand...
 
Looks like the Aussies have a good bunch of young quicks to build on, but with Ponting, Hussey and Hadin all near the end their batting looks dodgy.

That pitch was pretty woeful considering it was the first day of a test match.
 
Haha recovery?? what recovery?? These jokers can't bat. Love how the pitch will be to blame...was ok when NZ got bowled out for just 150.
 
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=47481.msg1440469#msg14404
69 date=1323405857]
And Hughes has gone for 4. Typical.

KJ - this joker has got to go I'm afraid. If you can't cut it on your own deck against New Zealand...
[/quote]

im coming around to that idea. He can play some sweet shots...but he first needs to figure out where the fick his off stump is with reapect to the ball. I have played cricket at a competnt level as a fast bowler....(well medium pace pie thrower compared to this standard)....and its the easiest weakness to exploit.


He should do the figuring out in sgield cricket.



Aus should open with Marsh and Warner. Khawaja at number 3 and Ponting at 4 four for now.
 
Sehwag speaks like he bats. He has got the most incredible confidence i have ever seen in a man.

I always thought he would be the first to do 200 in a odi, but Tendulkar beat him to the mark.


I think Sehwag would do 300 in a day in test cricket once too. Hardcore Cricket fans would know how incredibly hard that is to achive. He got pretty close to it once before......
 
Re: Re: South Africa vs Australia

[quote author=Wizardry link=topic=47481.msg1#msg1 date=1323397382]
[quote author='Dave' link=topic=47481.msg1430134#msg1430134 date=1321910136]
Ok firstly I thought Smith was older than that and I agree de Villiers is very good but I am not convinced by South Africa's top order or their lower order where as England's top order is excellent and the amount of times England's tail has got them out of trouble recenty just shows in my opinion we are ahead of any other team batting wise but I would say that wouldn't I?!

Can't wait till July.
[/quote]

Pretty sure India have the best batting lineup in world cricket at the moment - despite their bizzare series in England earlier this year.

I also think South Africa have more talent than they display whereas the current Aus test team is getting a lot out of its players. SA seem to play too defensively in the early stages IMO. When Australia were dominant the reason they kept winning was they scored runs quickly - they ooozed confidence and tried to dominate every time. They scored runs quickly and this gave them plenty of time to bowl the opposition out. Kallis is an awesome batsman - as already said - but have a look at his run rate and compare it to the top 6 in Australia's order from about 6 years ago.

Australia have got a good future in the bowling; a couple of honest spinners and 3 or 4 really top talents in the fast bowling stocks. Whether they chase the money in India could prove the problem for them.
[/quote]


Agree completely on SA and Aus.


India have pretty good reserve strength in batting. Guys like Rohit Sharma, Kholi, Pujara and Rahane are pretty good value for a long future in Test Cricket. They are just waiting for the big 3 to call it a day, but unfortunately for them these 3 along with Kallis are some of the best performing cricketers at this moment in spite of their age.

Indian bowling leaves a lot to be desired. The bench strength is not there in pace. But once they dropped the Turbanator the abundance in resereve is pretty clear to see in spin reserves. Ashwin debuted with a 5-for and a century in the same innings....it doesnt get much better than that. Ojha has had a very succesful stint in county cricket averaging less than 25 and he looks the biz when given a chance. But im most excited by another Rohit a 6'5 leg spinner bowls at 90kph like Kumble used to do and he reminds me a lot of Kumble in the way he gets wickets.

But the pace battery is thin...Khan is worldclass but injury prone. Ishant sharma has found his rhythm and pace back, bowling consistently close to 90mph. Sreesanth is nut case who nobody knows what to expect...but can be a handful on his day and is also injured. Praveen Kumar as we saw in England is a swing bowler and can move the ball miles at mild pace and keeps a tight line....he is not the most threatening of bowlers. Irfan Pathan has found his bowling form and swing back. He was believed to be Kapol Dev's succesor as a bowling allrounder....but it all fizzed out.

The latest additions are Yadhav and Varun Aaron both can bowl over 90 mph, which is rare for Indian bowlers. But the jury is very much out to see if they have the talent to make it large. We will see Yadhav on boxing day against Aus. Aaron was also selected but pulled out injured.


The England tour came at the wrong time for india...most of them were on a high after winning the world cup. Half the squad arrived fron windies and half arrived from India fat and unfit....did you see Khan's shape? He sure was packing a lot timber. They played one 3 day match before the start of the series. You compare that to see how England had a 2 month preparation before Ashes, It is a little wonder they fell like a house cards to injuries and lack of form. The fire was not there. Its a good thing they lost the number 1 ranking, now they have aomething to fight for....
 
Something weird has happened. Despite 15 years of better judgement, and against every instinct in my body, I like Ricky Ponting. I've always had a grudging respect for him (well his batting and fielding talents anyway), but I saw him interviewed the other day and it dawned on me that he came across as quite humble, and I actually quite like him.

That said, he was that late on his LBW yesterday he almost didn't make the replay. First time I've seen a top order batsman walk on an LBW.
 
Oh and Pattinson looks the goods alright

He was on the radio the other day, saying how his brother Darren was lording it over him on account of the one test he played for England.

James will have the bragging rights over the turkey this Christmas, I feel.

He looks like a reasonable bat too (for a #9). If he stays fit there's no reason why he shouldn't take 150+ test wickets.
 
Warner has the exact same mentality to batting as Virender Sehwag!!!!

i flipping love it...


these guys are so exciting to watch it. I hope the selectors give him a pretty long rope. Sehwag was not a success story from day 1.....Credit to Ganguly for backing him and making him unleash the potential he had.

An article on Guardian about the two of them...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/dec/08/virender-sehwag-david-warner

glorifies Sehwag a little too much, but it's not way out of order. There is a opener doing the rounds in Ranji playing for mumbai....he is called the Mumbai Sehwag! I have a feeling we are going to see more of these players and this will take Test cricket to the next level. If the bowlers attack, so will the batsmen.
 
Hughes out caught behind.

That's surely his last test match for a while. Especially now Warner's made a half century.
 
[quote author=TheFasterBlade link=topic=47481.msg1441550#msg1441550 date=1323571147]
Something weird has happened. Despite 15 years of better judgement, and against every instinct in my body, I like Ricky Ponting. I've always had a grudging respect for him (well his batting and fielding talents anyway), but I saw him interviewed the other day and it dawned on me that he came across as quite humble, and I actually quite like him.

That said, he was that late on his LBW yesterday he almost didn't make the replay. First time I've seen a top order batsman walk on an LBW.

[/quote]

Hussey's done it. Although I suppose you could argue he's not a top order batsman.
 
Why is Michael Clarke swinging at balls 4 feet away from his off stump 8 minutes before lunch?
 
Very true. At least Warner was a shining light in the middle of all of this.

I'd be quite tempted to give the team a very clean start, and remove all the oldies in there.

Ponting, Hussey...Haddin. All have to go.

It's not based on age, it's based on results. They have to bring in the results now, for them to be playing. If they are not bringing the results and not performing , then they are just standing in the way of a youngster from gaining that experience for better results in the future.
 
That Kiwi attack is pretty average to say the least, but on that pitch and with the help of the Aussie batsman, they were made to look like world beaters.

If you're talking test match cricket i don't think the Indians have the best line up either. Loads of great names with fantastic records, but most of them are well past their best and mainly only perform on home soil on a regular basis (flatest tracks in world cricket by a mile). Most of them will perform well below their averages on this upcoming tour.
 
Yeah,

it was an outstanding century from Warner; I agreed with Ryan that he was good and love his attitude (at least the one that comes through on the media) but I did question whether he had the termperament for a long, tough innings. I'm a lot more confident now.

Will be very interesting seeing he and Sehwag on the same pitch in a test match. Looking forward to it. I watched him play an unbelievable innings of 195 against the Aussies a few years ago and get pasted by Ganguly for not being resposible. To be fair it was a stupid way to get out in the last session when they had the next day but what an innings. He played it like an ODI and just kept going.
 
[quote author=Kenny4PM link=topic=47481.msg1442118#msg1442118 date=1323686941]
That Kiwi attack is pretty average to say the least, but on that pitch and with the help of the Aussie batsman, they were made to look like world beaters.

If you're talking test match cricket i don't think the Indians have the best line up either. Loads of great names with fantastic records, but most of them are well past their best and mainly only perform on home soil on a regular basis (flatest tracks in world cricket by a mile). Most of them will perform well below their averages on this upcoming tour.
[/quote]

Sachin and VVS for starters perform as well as if not better in Australia than any other country in the world. I haven't looked up the averages but that would be a gut feel; plus Sehwag does well in Australia.

India's top batsmen are those with a great technique and the ability to play horizontally; it lets them score runs on spinning tracks and allows them to attack fast bowlers on bouncy wickets. No coincidence that Tendulkar, VVS, Dravid and Sehwag would be some of the most successful batsmen to have hit Australian shores in the last 25 years. In fact, apart from Lara of the modern players, I can't really think of any others who have had anything like the same success either against Australia's bowlers anywhere or on Australian pitches.
 
I think only 2 of the current indian batsman maintain their averages inside and outside of Asia (Sachin and Dravid), however Sehwag averages something like 62 in Asia and 37 outside (only around 5 tons and 6 50's in 60 odd innings).

Dhoni averages around 30 outside of Asia

The likes of Sachin, VVS, Dravid and Sehwag are all modern day greats no doubt, but personally i think that Sachin and VVS are well past their best.

If India go in with 7 batsman, imo it's a dead cert that a min of 5 of them will finish the tour with averages less than 40.

This is the worst Australian side in years, yet i'd back them to beat this Indian side on home soil or to at least come very very close to doing so.
 
Dhoni's batting in Test cricket has been poor for a while....even in India.

But India's recent success has relied heavily on it's openers. Both Gambhir and Sehwag are very aggressive, and they don't get bogged down when the ball is doing a lot and the bowlers are attacking. They give as good as they get. As a resuly, even if they get out early, you often had a healthy score on the board for Dravid and Tendulkar to build on. VVS excelled in counter attacking, or bringing the bacon home. He is a terrific finisher who can bat with the lower order.

In England, earlier this year, that didn't really work out as they were both either out injured or playing with an injury...it left the middle order with too much, and VVS has never played well in England (that's the one weakness in his game. He is not as good at adjusting to lateral movement as he is able to adjust and attack bounce). He has great record in Australia and South Africa.

Tendulkar averages 53 in England and 60 in Australia. You can count the number of batsmen who have a better record than that with one hand.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/35320.html?class=1;host=1;template=results;type=batting
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/35320.html?class=1;host=2;template=results;type=batting

Dravid averages a whopping 68 in England. I can confirm no current-England batsmen averages more than that in England. He also averages a respectable 48 in Australia.
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/28114.html?class=1;host=1;template=results;type=batting

Gambhir also has a rounded record without any specific weakness, but this is the first time he will be playing a Test series in Australia.

This "Indian batting struggles outside subcontinent" is a bit of a myth actually. That's true for some of the limited overs players. For example Suresh Raina has a definite weakness against bounce, but it doesn't really apply to the Test line up on the whole.
 
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