England v NZ & Aust 2015

[Quick Hands]

Victory by and innings and 40 - well done boys.

M Marsh seems to have established himself as a bowling all-rounder, but needs to improve his batting performances to maintain his position.

Good game from Siddle - pity he and MM weren't picked at Trent Bridge.

 

[Lindommer]

Well played Michael Clarke. To enforce the follow on (the first and only time in his captaincy career!) shows the quality of the man: it was more important the team strive for victory rather than he selfishly try to score the necessary runs to finish up with an average of 50 in test cricket. I dips me lid.

Good thing Shane Warne isn't a selector, Siddle took the most wickets in this test, 6. And Watson's replacement, Mitch Marsh, came in second with 5 wickets. Mitch isn't scoring as many runs as he might like but he's taking wickets, only the very best all-rounders (Dev, Botham, Akram, Hadlee, Kallis et al) scored runs AND took wickets simultaneously. At the same time. In the same match.

On the series wickets table Broad comes in first with 21 followed by four Australians, Starc with 18, Hazlewood and Lyon both with 16 and Johnson with 15. Wicketless Watson held up the ladder. One could argue in hindsight the selection of this squad could've been better and during the tour some selections might've been different. We keyboard warriors put up all sorts of weird and wonderful scenarios, one or two of which will inevitably be proved right. Well, I've been banging on for years what a waste of space Watson is as he's contributed bugger all with bat and ball, only to pull the very occasional face-savings innings out of his arse to keep his spot in the side. Even those infrequent contributions weren't good enough for me. Now he's gone we can look forward to his replacement growing into a decent test cricketer. On another note it's heartening to see the two young fast bowlers, Starc and Hazlewood, make significant contributions. Our pace stocks look good, but where oh where are our next lot of batsmen? I sincerely hope the selectors chance their arm and give a couple of talented young blokes opportunities to present their cases. Ponting made his test debut at 20 after all.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Think that's the worst 5 test series of cricket I've seen that I can remember (entertainment-wise). No tight matches. No twists and turns. Poor quality, especially batting from both sides. Some good bowling at times in helpful conditions

Basically whoever won the first day won each match.

It was almost whoever won the first session won the match, with the exception of Cardiff. Retrospectively, how bad does Haddin's drop off Root on 0 at 3/43 look now? (He goes on to score a match winning 138)

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Yep, totally agree. Forget about the result, there was some really ordinary cricket played by both sides across the series. England managed to do it that little bit less than we did and at crucial times. It was actually really anti-climactic in the end.

Our middle order batting clearly isn't good enough at the moment and we'll need to shore that up a bit, probably with Smith dropping down to four and searching for someone to play first drop.

 

[No4918]

Well done Clarke - deserved to go out a winner.

Couple of big holes left in the batting order. In some ways Rogers may be harder to replace due to a lack of openers and Clarke's recent form has barely see him contribute.

Couple of tough decisions also to be made in the bowling stocks. Siddle had an excellent test and I think it will prob be Starc left carrying the drinks. Some balls are unbelievable but he needs to be more consistent and Hazelwood has a big future.

Warne looked like a muppet saying the selectors made a shocker by not picking Cummins and then by the end of the test he must have wanted to hide in a corner. Or not, his ego is too great for that. He used to offer some good stuff in commentary but his relationship with Clarke and old grudges got in the way this series. Time to sack him, Tubby and Healy please.

 

[Braveheart81]

Couple of tough decisions also to be made in the bowling stocks. Siddle had an excellent test and I think it will prob be Starc left carrying the drinks. Some balls are unbelievable but he needs to be more consistent and Hazelwood has a big future.

Not sure how this fits in with Mitch Johnson.

I tend to think Starc has to stay. He was our leading wicket taker in the series. I think Hazlewood and Starc should be our first two pace bowlers picked now and the third spot is the one that is really up for grabs.

At nearly 34 I don't think Johnson is the spearhead of our attack any more and shouldn't be a guaranteed pick.

Johnson's batting is still useful but so is Starc's.

 

[Lindommer]

Prior to the two recent series against the WIndies and the Poms Starc had played 15 tests, and been dropped some nine times! After his outstanding performances in the recent Cricket World Cup there were many in the Australian cricket commentariat (me included) who called for him to be given a guaranteed run of tests without the spectre of being dropped. In the Caribbean Mitchell took 10 wickets and now in Blighty he was our top wicket-taker. And some here call for him to carry the drinks! What more does the poor bastard have to do to retain his spot in the Oz cricket team?

 

[No4918]

Not sure how this fits in with Mitch Johnson.

I tend to think Starc has to stay. He was our leading wicket taker in the series. I think Hazlewood and Starc should be our first two pace bowlers picked now and the third spot is the one that is really up for grabs.

At nearly 34 I don't think Johnson is the spearhead of our attack any more and shouldn't be a guaranteed pick.

Johnson's batting is still useful but so is Starc's.

Maybe. I tend to think Johnson will be ahead of Starc for at least the next home series and thinking he may retire around then. He was still the only bowler to offer any intimidation throughout the series.

Starc played an extra test than Hazelwood to overtake his wicket count and 11 of his 18 wickets were in 2 innings. That is the sort of consistency that has me worried. His 2 overs early on the last day to Broad and Ali were rubbish.

I didn't factor in Marsh's bowling so maybe we can carry the 2 lefties for a bit longer. His pace is lively and seems to get a surprising amount of bounce.

 

[No4918]

Prior to the two recent series against the WIndies and the Poms Starc had played 15 tests, and been dropped some nine times! After his outstanding performances in the recent Cricket World Cup there were many in the Australian cricket commentariat (me included) who called for him to be given a guaranteed run of tests without the spectre of being dropped. In the Caribbean Mitchell took 10 wickets and now in Blighty he was our top wicket-taker. And some here call for him to carry the drinks! What more does the poor bastard have to do to retain his spot in the Oz cricket team?

How is the bolded bit relevant in anyway? It doesn't exactly help your argument.

The fact that he was retained and Hazelwood dropped says you will be right. He still has some way to go and will be a very good bowler. He went missing at times though and should be criticised for it.

 

[Strewthcobber]

In the Caribbean Mitchell took 10 wickets and now in Blighty he was our top wicket-taker. And some here call for him to carry the drinks! What more does the poor bastard have to do to retain his spot in the Oz cricket team?

He is undoubtedly a wicket taker but I think the bowling attack as a whole is worse with him there because he can't keep it tight, he can't build pressure and he can't bowl to a plan. He doesn't cause wickets at the other end

Watching Starc bowl is so frustrating. He clearly could be a very good test match bowler, but he isn't one at the moment.

Just compare and contrast from the innings just gone

 

[Braveheart81]

It's a bit apples and oranges though. Siddle relies on his accuracy and consistency to be any threat. This is the first test he's played since 2014 where he took 12 wickets from 6 test matches.

I agree completely that Starc needs to improve his accuracy and consistency but realistically, he's vying to be the spearhead of our pace attack with Johnson at this stage. Their economy rates were very similar in the Ashes (both of which probably need to improve a bit).

Currently I think Siddle and Hazlewood are competing for a spot, Johnson and Starc are competing for that spearhead spot and then the third spot is open to the next best amongst the group.

Others such as Cummins and Pattinson are waiting in the wings for another opportunity which will presumably come before too long.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Maybe what's come out of this is that Starc and Johnson can't be in the same attack. One needs to be the shock bowler with other steadier guys around them to build pressure from the other end.

 

[Braveheart81]

Our series bowling average was 2 runs better than England's.

I don't think it's reasonable to point too many fingers at our bowlers.

First innings scores of 60 and 136 are realistically what cost us the series.

We scored more runs than England, took the same number of wickets but capitulated in the first innings twice.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Our series bowling average was 2 runs better than England's.

I don't think it's reasonable to point too many fingers at our bowlers.

First innings scores of 60 and 136 are realistically what cost us the series.

We scored more runs than England, took the same number of wickets but capitulated in the first innings twice.

Oh absolutely and I think I've been pretty consistent in my dismay at our batting performance. It was just an observation that our attack may be a little unbalanced at present, though I didn't think it would be an issue going into the series.

 

[Braveheart81]

I agree that our attack isn't perfectly balanced but I do think our best bowlers played the series. The balance will change soon because Johnson won't be there for much longer.

Getting through the series averaging 28 with the ball is pretty good.

Two atrocious first innings batting performances was the difference. The other three first innings scores were the three highest innings scores of the series (two by us).

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Yep, as I said upthread, 200 more combined between T3 and 4 in the first dig has us probably still in the series going into T5.

 

[Pfitzy]

Can someone just get Shane Warne the fuck away from a microphone?

"BIG SIXER!"

Are you twelve?

Just blathers on with opinionated shit, adds nothing insightful, and should have just stayed on Advanced Hair ads while hitting the fucking tanning salon. Its like an oompah-loompah was given the power of English speech, and then everyone regretted it.

Was Foxtel carrying the Sky commentary? I might have to get it or miss any form of audio as I set the damn thing to mute.

 

[barbarian]

Cricket wasn't on Foxtel.

I don't mind Warnie actually.
.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I'm OK with Warnie when he talks tactics and actually describes the action. There is some actual insight there.

It's when he and the other guys start doing their maaaaaaaate blokey routine that I get pissed off. I'm about done with it now and will be watching this summer with the sound down or the ABC commentary on radio.

 

[Quick Hands]

Joe Burns in the ODI squad.