Watching a bunch of overpaid pansy boys play cricket? No thanks. Cricket died for me a long while ago... If India and Pakistan were to play test cricket again, maybe I'd watch it.
No, not at all. The Aussies are rather disappointing as of late, had they been firing on all cylinders & this result stood, then it would have been sweet.
Ian Chappell and Ian Botham almost got in a biff in the Adelaide Oval car park today . Apparently Botham's already knocked Chappo of a bar stool in the 70's.
I put this fiasco partially down to the selectors. The main issue with the Australian side at the moment is that we have no continuity in our squad. We keep chopping and changing its difficult for certain players to find form. We need to cut Marcus North and maybe Doug Bollinger and bat aggressively at the WACA if we want to give ourselves a chance.
Also our field placings are just odd. I don't know what Pontings thinking but they've been as put by Shane Warne, 'a bit funky' the past two test matches.
Australia don't seem to have plans to get people out. They just sort of bowl in whatever fashion, without consistency, and Ponting tries to set a field to cover the poor bowling and hope to fluke a wicket.
England, for several years, have been very good at coming up with plans to attack batsman and being controlled enough to stick to those plans.
Australia don't seem to have plans to get people out. They just sort of bowl in whatever fashion, without consistency, and Ponting tries to set a field to cover the poor bowling and hope to fluke a wicket.
England, for several years, have been very good at coming up with plans to attack batsman and being controlled enough to stick to those plans.
We don't have a plan in any respect of the game whatsoever. Bowling, batting, fielding and selecting is all just pointless trial and error.. and more error. We don't have smart pace bowlers like Lee or McGrath anymore and we don't have a spinner even a fraction at the level of Shane Warne.
Ponting, Clarke, Haddin, Hussey and Katich are all very capable batsmen though. I just think their attitude is all wrong. Clarke batted aggressively and used his feet against Swann in the second inning and that's really what we need right now. Aggressive, confident batting because we have the ability there.
Our attack is in disarray. I thought England would miss Flintoff but Swann has really stepped up and now he's spear-heading your attack.
That probably comes down to not really settling as a team and I blame the selectors for not persisting with the one group. We had a 24 man squad two weeks before the ashes started. Its unacceptable. England on the other hand have prepared beautifully for this series.
Only stayed up until Lunch, but that was a cracking burst from Johnson.
What the fuck were Haddin and Watson playing at on the one Strauss edged between them?
Watson should have got it, but why on earth would a wicket keeper not throw himself at everything that is in his general vicinity?
I don't know what the Perth pitch does late in Tests (should Australia have played a specialist spinner?), but a lead of 350+ would seem a pretty intimidating target.
Only stayed up until Lunch, but that was a cracking burst from Johnson.
What the fuck were Haddin and Watson playing at on the one Strauss edged between them?
Watson should have got it, but why on earth would a wicket keeper not throw himself at everything that is in his general vicinity?
I don't know what the Perth pitch does late in Tests (should Australia have played a specialist spinner?), but a lead of 350+ would seem a pretty intimidating target.
I think the fielding is a confidence and focus thing. We probably could have gotten England out for an even lower score if we broke that opening partnership sooner. I was really happy with how we bowled and fielded though as we settled into that innings. The main difference was Pontings field placement, standard for fast bowling and it worked fine.
From what I've seen in the pitch, its still quite green and I reckon that will keep the pitch together nicely. Probably a good decision not to pick a spinner, but the good thing about having one is that it can break the cycle if you find yourself attacking a settled partnership.