Lost it when Bresnan and Swann made those cheap runs at the end.......50-60 of those runs were worth 120 in scoreboard pressure.
Harris had tired and Bird was bowling medium pace rubbish at that stage....in fact were are in danger of burning Harris out again if Clarke keeps throwing him the ball everytime we need wickets
England spread the workload better...Anderson didnt have to do much this test because Broad stepped up...
Lost it when Aleem Dar inexplicably gave Bresnan not for shouldering arms to a ball hitting the stumps off Bird ! How can you possibly give benefit of the doubt to a Batsman not bothering to use their bat ? Terrible umpire.
Well, the POMS have certainly had the best of the batting days...by far. That score of ours in the first dig on that day, worth closer to 350 on day 1 & 3 conditions.
Will be galling if we go down 3-0.....apart from 1 test, we haven't been anywhere near that bad.
This is a complete blow up IMHO. One of my early bats (Slazenger btw) had a coating called Polyarmour, which was popular at the time. What if this coating were found to diminish the hotspot showing up on edges ? What about pig skin ? Should stuff like this be banned just because it might interfere with the technology upon which DRS is based ? As far as I'm concerned you can put just about any coating (within reason) you like on a bat as long as it still conforms to the legal requirements of bat size, shape etc as has been set down by the MCC/ICC for years (with a notable change to the law regarding the base bat material in 1979/80).
As an ex-bowler, what is more concerning & more akin to cheating is the ridiculous size to weight ratio & sweet spot area of modern bats......
Like this one?. I think this is about a 72-74 Version. I had the '77 version and it had red/white and blue stripe across the front.
Great photo, no mine was a couple of years later....my first proper bat (Size 6) was a cleanskin Slazenger with the diagonal blue & white stripes on the front (Allan Border used one). Got that about 1978. It was my 2nd bat (about 1980 I reckon) that had the Polyarmour...it was Kim Hughes Autograph !
This is a complete blow up IMHO. One of my early bats (Slazenger btw) had a coating called Polyarmour, which was popular at the time. What if this coating were found to diminish the hotspot showing up on edges ? What about pig skin ? Should stuff like this be banned just because it might interfere with the technology upon which DRS is based ? As far as I'm concerned you can put just about any coating (within reason) you like on a bat as long as it still conforms to the legal requirements of bat size, shape etc as has been set down by the MCC/ICC for years (with a notable change to the law regarding the base bat material in 1979/80).
As an ex-bowler, what is more concerning & more akin to cheating is the ridiculous size to weight ratio & sweet spot area of modern bats......
Starting to look like the 2nd test might have been a rogue result... the poms are not that good I tell you!
They're struggling when they have to play their old trump card.........the English weather !
Seriously, the Aussie team should treat these next two tests as the first stages of re-gaining the Ashes down here this summer. Treat it as the first part of a 7 test series. Keep the momentum & keep prising open the cracks that are appearing in the POMS line up. Don't let up, & settle on a basic lineup now. Gee Harris is class.
"we got absolutely nothing from our small forwards"
"they are a Top 4 team and it clearly shows the gap between us & the Top 4 teams"
"I can't think of any of our midfielders who would be in the Top 6 players in the match"
"we need a massive improvement on tonights performance, we'll just worry about the Bulldogs next week and not the other games"
Malthouse being interviewed by Richo post-match.
Also pretty telling his comments when Richo asked if they did enough to help out Murphy.....Malthouse basically said that he's got to do something about it himself.....almost a public baking.
People are forgetting McInnes, he would be stiff not to come straight back in after a week off.
And of the 2s, Duigan has probably played his three best games in a row for some time, two of them as a half forward!
Adrian Hickmott II (or dare I say it - Aaron Hamill)?
Neither of whom were quick both both blooody hard at it.....
That would be awesome if it turned out - however, Hicky was one of the the best contested marks for size I've ever seen.....and compared to Duigs, was an elite kick for goal. Very, very classy player to go along with the guts.
This whole problem is a result of that weak c#%t bending over for the Indians. Tell em to take their cash and shove it up their ass.
No more champions league trophy prior to a Test Series
Pick a 16 man squad for Test and one day cricket. Proper cricketers, not Glen Maxwell, X Doherty or Clint McKay. Guys who might become champions of the long game.
Fark off the BIG BASH crap.
If they (CA) are serious about getting back the Ashes, they would cancel the frigging OD series vs India that's been slotted in between the two series !......get ALL the players back in Australia & tell them they ALL MUST play every single shield game (at least 3-4) before the 1st Test in Brisbane.......Test team to be picked on performances in these games.
I should point out, my rationale for going this way is that we have struggled to take wickets and therefore have had huge run chases ahead of us with the top order crumbling under the pressure without a technique.
OK, Sheiky, I have to say that you talk a lot of sense cricket wise mostly......but I can't really agree with this. We've bowled England out for very manageable scores in 3 out of 4 innings.......the one we didn't the bowlers had less than 3 hours rest from one innings to the next courtesy of our inept batting display. Pretty hard to back up after that.
And as for Wade as keeper.....he was dropped because his keeping was horrid, particularly to Lyon, who must surely come in for the 3rd Test while the Poms keep preparing pitches tailor made for Swann.
Pattinson, if he wasn't injured, he'd have been dropped anyway. Bird to come in & hopefully Harris can back up without breaking.....if not, Faulkner to get a game & see what he's made of.
Gee, no batsmen really wanting to put their hand up from the Aust A side either......couple of good bowling efforts though.
Well done by the Aussies to get that close, but we should have never been in this one.
Bowling going nicely, but the dearth in batting continues.
Top order dismal in general, and simply not good enough.
You can't rely on a tenth wicket partnership to add some respectability to the teams total.
Switch in Uzi for Cowan at Lords I reckon. Leave bowling as is, or maybe Bird in for Starc.
Agree with both....Starc gone. Birds pressure at one end will be invaluable. Poms much vaunted bowling not looking as good as everyone made out apart from Anderson.....who might be a little tired still come another 5 days starting Thursday perhaps. We played (mostly) Swann pretty well. There should be a team pact for the rest of the series...DO NOT give Broad a wicket & pepper him continually when batting.
