Cricket: Australia v. India v. Sri Lanka 2011/12

[waratahjesus]

I was calling for hussey or pointing to go. I did so looking forward to the ashes next year and wanting a settled and hungry team over there giving it to the poms. I'm still nit sold in another 12 months plus they will still both be worth there place and feel were wasting time getting youngsters experience

 

[Inside Shoulder]

What exactly do you not like about his captaincy? He has rotated his bowlers well, set excellent fields and been spot on with toss decisions and bowling tactics.

I just don't understand the hate.

Idont like Clarke but its pretty hard to be critical of how he's going as Aus captain...and also in the chick pulling stakes - I can see now why he dumped that aging scragg Lara (Bingle that is)

http://www.kylyboldy.com/bio.html

 

[cyclopath]

I have to agree with IS - I have never been a fan of Brand Clarke at all, but you'd have to be pretty churlish to say he's a poor captain based on his tactical displays thus far. And unlike Ponting, who inherited a great team (albeit, about to decline), he has not had that luxury. His batting today was superb. I raise my virtual hat to him on that alone. Also good to see Ponting show a real sense of pure enjoyment at getting the 100 - good on him.
That top 3 really needs to get itself sorted though.

 

[tigerland12]

I hate all the Clarke hate.

The bloke has never done anything wrong, people hate him for the type of bloke he is. Which is ridiculous, he is essentially judged on his looks and not his performances and captaincy (which might I add are pretty dam good).

I could rage about this for hours. But the hate Clarke gets is completely un-justified in comparison to someone like Quade Cooper, who probably has earned it through many poor acts in judgement.

Clarke to make 300, Hussey to make a 100 and we will bowl India out before Tea on Friday.

 

[barbarian]

Kudos to Clarke, Ponting and... the selectors. Kept the faith in Ponting and Hussey and they came good. I confess to being one of the many who advocated getting rid of one or both of them, but now they are the best we've got. Funny how quickly things can change. Now the pressure is right on Cowan, Warner and Marsh, who have all been lauded at various times in the last six months.

WJ this idea of throwing youngsters in to give them 'experience' is a bit silly. Firstly there aren't too many good young batsmen around at the moment, and secondly the notion that simply playing heaps of tests turns you into a champion is baseless. If we turf out the in-form Ponting and Hussey and throw in, say, Nick Maddinson and Usman Khawaja, two things will happen- a) they will both struggle for runs, and b) we will collapse more often and lose tests. Is that a good environment to be starting your test career in?

The blunt fact is at the moment there are no good young bats who are ready for test cricket. Yet. And until that happens there is no point throwing in people simply because they are young. We should still be picking our best XI cricketers every game, and now you would have to say Ponting and Hussey are up the top of the list. For now, anyway.

 

[waratahjesus]

I know what your saying barbs, but for me, the ashes is far more important than this summer. If hussey or pointing go down and we need to replace them, how do webif there is no one ready?

Pointing and hussey are in form now, sure, if they start failing they will get a lot more time than a young guy based on past glorys. I can't help but feel carrying both of them in the side will have an effect long term.

If they dominate the summer and the top three keep collapsing, the top three won't really deal with the pressure of reliance for instance. There's lots of ifs and buts, I was calling for it earlier in the summer, suppose I have a bit of egg on my face, there playing well but I still stand by increasing the depth for England now not later.

 

[barbarian]

Yeah but all of your analysis is based on a flawed premise- namely that simply playing lots of test cricket makes you better at it. There are a few examples that proves this to me:

1. The recent spate of debutants performing very well the top level. Guys like Pattinson, Philander, Marsh, Cowan, Ashwin, Peterson. Clearly they didn't need much time to find form at the top level.
2. The fall of someone like Phil Hughes, who has played for the best part of the last year at the top level but has struggled and struggled and struggled some more. It was clear he wasn't just going to improve because he was playing more.

My theory is that selecting new players can only work when they are ready. In the case of batsmen this means scoring a lot of runs in Shield and Australia A games. Time is not really a factor- when a player is ready they should come in and score runs from game 1, experience doesn't mean too much, form is everything. At the moment there is no-one who fits this bill. But that could change in a month.

I understand your point about playing with the Ashes in mind, but to me it is like 'building for the world cup'. I would much rather see us try and win every game and build momentum that way, rather than throwing in unprepared youngsters and losing, which history has shown doesn't guarantee eventual success at the big show.


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[Scotty]

I agree with Barbar. How can we drop the form players in the side? The only thing I would consider is playing around a little with the batting line up. Hussey or Clarke can bat 3 and get one of the younger blokes down the order. I have some doubts still over both warner and Watson as test openers and certainly if the are opening together. I would love to see one of them at 6 in the lower order counter punch or truly punish you sort of role. As a batsmen I would go for warner first in this role but with watsons bowling being so important it is probably time for him to drop down the order.

When fit:

Warner
Marsh or Cowan
Clarke
Pointing
Hussey
Watson

If Watson isn't fit open with marsh and Cowan and put warner at 6.

 

[Gagger]

I like him, but how is Warner an opening bat?

Surely this is based on the Hayden philosophy (which was flawed in the final years), which when it worked was based on a much stronger middle order and bowling attack that meant batting collapses didn't matter. We are missing both of those premises for this to work.

 

[Scotty]

Warner is an opening bat for the same reason sehwag is. Hit and miss. Hit wins you a game. Miss loses you a game if the middle order isn't performing.

If he opens it has to be with a more conservative partner.

 

[spooony]

India looking down the barrel of a gun. Clarke draining what little life they have out of them. Two good test matches on. At newlands theyre batting on a pitch thats got about 2000 runs in it.

 

[Moses]

I hear what WJ is saying about focussing on the Ashes, and actually reckon the selectors are doing a pretty good job of that. Just look at how Cowan bats with Punter to get an idea of the mentoring these young blokes are getting..

 

[Gagger]

. Miss loses you a game if the middle order isn't performing.

Missing far more often than not and with a flaky middle order.

 

[Karl]

Crowds like this are a National embarassment.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...-obscene-gesture/story-e6frg7rx-1226237225021

I don't blame him for saluting them in appropriate fashion.

They should have a series of microphones and little cameras around the outside of the ground running the sound and image through software that will distinguish certain words and phrases, then identify the yobs responsible for this sort of rubbish so they can be fined and banned from all cricket grounds for a year.

 

[waratahjesus]

Mentioning family etc is wrong in any context.

I find Kevin chiming in a bit fancy though. I've witnessed both Indian crowds and the poms and would have to question denouncing Aussies and nit the behavior in general.

 

[Moses]

Hey Virat,
How many are you averaging with the bat this summer in Australia?

Only 1? That’s unfortunate. Lucky you’re a nice bloke!

 

[tigerland12]

Warner needs to be persisted with and when Watson comes back Marsh or Cowan should make way.

That way Watson can move down to 6 and everyone else can move up.

 

[Brumbies Guy]

Clarke's innings this afternoon showing all the hallmarks of why I dislike him. Massive expansive drives missing the ball by a hair. Lets see if he makes it to stumps on day 1 at the SCG, I doubt it.

I hate when this happens

 

[Karl]

Post 98 = funny.

 

[spooony]

329

Hey Virat,
How many are you averaging with the bat this summer in Australia?

Only 1? That’s unfortunate. Lucky you’re a nice bloke!

There was something in his eye