The Cricket Thread

[blackie]

fair figures george,
my team lost
knocked them off for 137 in 34 overs, on a postage stamp of a ground, and then proceeded to roaly f*&k ourselves up, getting bowled out for 130 :'(
i made a very poorly compiled 39, consisting of about a million play and misses (yep, more than wayne carey) and general swinging from the ass, before smashing their cocky captain over his head for a 6 and a 4 off consecutive balls
and now they want me to play 3's :S
didnt even get a proper pre season after the broken thumb, only have had 4 hits, and 50% of those have been in a match.

on the international scene, i thought it was awesome that cam white got picked. im a big fan of him, and for a while thought he might be the next captain of Australia, but it was not to be. although i doubt clarke will ever do well as captain, because he only seems to make popper runs when it doesn't matter. honestly i think hussey would be a good captain, but once again hes to old.

Im also waiting to the the debut of doug bollinger. managed to catch a few state games last season on foxtell, and from what i saw hes awesome, although its going to be so hard for him to break into the test side, unless the sore elbow of clark rules him out of the next one, and even then they might go with someone else.

Finaly for another Victorian, im sad to see that david hussey isn't getting much of a go. hes as dominant if not more than brad hodge, and can play all facets of the game, with his part time off spin, excellent fielding and batting skill, but like white, i think the selectors don't properly rate him, and sadly his chances will be limited, even though he could make such an impact on the Australian one day/ twenty/20 side as well as the test side.

and thats it for now

[optimus1]

Good to hear all your thoughts on the cricket guys! I was kinda hoping on seeing a thread like this on the boards, since there was an AFL one going on before.

Im annoyed at all the slowing tactics of the Indians, but wouldnt Punter do the same? But i was hoping for another Sydney miracle (like Clarke's 3-For earlier this year?)

My thoughts on the current team are that Cam White and S Watson should not both be on the same team, it should be either one or the other (although im leaning towards White, i cant stand Mr 'Injury' Watson)

they should have bit the bullet and put in an in form quick - like Ashley Noffke
I have my bias of couse, being from Brissy originally

All this action makes me want to join my Uni cricket team (i tend to stand out being the only Filipino playing!)

[STL]

Nofke's very good. I heard he spent this winter in England. I'd love to see him in for the Ashes.

Like Optimus1, I think Clarke especially is overrated as is Watson. But Clarke more so. They keep talking about him as the future captain and yet he's not shown the form that merits it. He hasn't been a match winner with the bat for a long time now. Lots of inconsequential runs when the pressure is not on. I would love to see D. Hussey in his spot (even though he only made 8 today for the Vics .

Hodge's time is up and I feel for him. Does anyone remember the period? He'd made a double ton in Perth and a reasonable half century in Sydney with not much going in Melbourne. Then he was axed for the next tour b/c he had not "scored enough runs in the domestic competition". Guess who they put in? Clarke. And guess what, Clarke had not even been scoring runs in the then Pura Cup. It was shattering for me so I can only imagine how Hodgey would've felt. The reason the selectors put it was farcical. In any other country, Hodge would've been a walk up start.

As for India's tactics. Yeah, they're annoying but Ponting himself in the 2006 Ashes wasn't exactly hurrying along with impending defeat on that final day where he made that massive century to save the match. And thinking about that makes me sad cos next year I start full-time work which means no more watching the games till early in the morning with the boys anymore.

[jacksplatt11]

Clarke has been one of the biggest front runners in the AUS team for some time now, making runs when the team is performing, then when we're in a bind, he goes missing. For reasons unknown, but probably because he plays for NSW, he is the selectors favourite son. I would much rather see D. Hussey in there instead of him.

Gotta agree with you there about Hodge, he will go down as one of the unluckiest cricketers ever. To perform as well as he did domestically, and to never get selected for the AUS team until he was 30, then after 6 tests, 503 runs at 55.58, then dropped? Very perplexing...

Stuart MacGill also is very unlucky, His test record speaks for itself and he was only ever a replacement for Warne. If he was born 20 years before or 20 years after Warne's career, he would've been our 1st choice spinner. Very unlucky to be playing at the same time.

Like you said, either of them would easily walk into any other countries team.

[i_amtrunks]

Clarke and Watson are extremely over-rated, Nofke is no bunny with the bat, I'd much prefer to have him in place as an "allrounder". Lee used to be an almost allrounder for a couple of years, but in the past 2-3 seasons his batting ability has dwindled again. Not that it matters, Watson will go when Symonds is re-instated, unless he goes and does another stupid thing.

I'll never understand the love in for Clarke or Watson, neither have really deserved their spots, and I honestly believe that the Aussie team was at it's strongest when Clarke was dropped and Hodges took his spot.

We really miss having a Gillespie style tail ender, someone who can come in and support, Clark and Johnson are tail end sloggers, great for ODI and 2020, not so great for tests.

And am I the only one who would love to see M. Hussey open the batting like he did so many times for WA? Katich would make a good #4, he is similar in style to Martyn who was very underrated, and with D.Hussey at #5, Symonds at #6 and White at #8 it's a strong batting lineup with better bowling ability than the one we currently have.

Not that it'll ever happen, with Clarke the VC, poor Hussey with his cricketing brain he would make an ideal captain/vc.

[STL]

Yeah, Hussey cor captain for me too but he's got no chance as he and Ponting will run parallel for the remainder of their careers and the selectors have all this faith in Clarke that we all agree is pretty unwarrantted.

Do you guys really think Watson will go? I think he's a big favourite of the selectors. I don't know why but my impression with him is that they've always liked him but worried about his injury prone nature.

And I do not think Martyn was underrated by the selectors. I think they loved him but I think the rest of the public didn't. I absolutely loved him. He was one of the classiest cricketers I ever saw next to Mark Waugh. He had a stellar career but I always felt that he could've achieved more. He won them on his own bat the last tour of India and was a cornerstone of their batting for a long time. But the public never warmed to him in my opinion b/c of his quiet nature. But that made me like him. A quiet achiever who let his record speak for itself. Martyn unfortunately will never be remembered for his great contribution to one the greatest teams ever under Steve Waugh. He gave them that class as well as grit. I remember a test match where the Aussies were staring down the barrel but he battled on and gritted his way through to make a century with the tail and give the others a fighting chance. They went onto win the match. Can't remember which test it was but it was definitely one on home soil. Martyn's growth was amazing b/c he adjusted his games to all the deficiencies that people claimed him to have. Too impatient, too flamboyant, too much of an onside player, yadda yadda.

To compare Katich with Martyn though is unfair. Katich will never be as an attractive strokemaker as Martyn ever was. His innings aren't as well constructed as Martyn either. Martyn would keep the scoreboard turning over so non-chalantly that you were always surprised when you looked at hte scoreboard and wonder how he was already at 50 or 100. That made him damaging as a player and very important b/c he balanced the player at the other end who was either steamrolling along or struggling. He just kept things moving. Katich doesn't have that. Katich I don't think has a place in the Australian team in the long run either. Maybe for a few series but I think they like his record in India and need his grit in India b/c of just how tough conditions are.

[i_amtrunks]

To compare Katich with Martyn though is unfair. Katich will never be as an attractive strokemaker as Martyn ever was. His innings aren't as well constructed as Martyn either. Martyn would keep the scoreboard turning over so non-chalantly that you were always surprised when you looked at hte scoreboard and wonder how he was already at 50 or 100. That made him damaging as a player and very important b/c he balanced the player at the other end who was either steamrolling along or struggling. He just kept things moving. Katich doesn't have that. Katich I don't think has a place in the Australian team in the long run either. Maybe for a few series but I think they like his record in India and need his grit in India b/c of just how tough conditions are.

Sorry I worded my statement a little wrong there.
By no means is Katich as classy as Martyn, nor does he have the shots that Martyn had, but he is the same in the fact that he will hang around and support the other batsmen, scoring (comparatively) slowly, to make sure he is around as long as possible. Katich would be much better in his support role in the middle order, being an opener does not afford him to play in the style he played so well in the Sheffield Shield.

Hussey on the other hand is a versatile player, much like Langer was, if he sees that Hayden is having a rip snorter he can reign himself in and support him, while if Hayden is struggling a little, Hussey can step up and dominate.

But I concur, Katich is a short term placement, and I personally believe that Jacques is not going to be around for a long time either, Rogers may be given another chance, but again I dont see him being a long term player. Not sure who will step up, will be watching the batting stocks in the Shield this year, as I think we have our fill of pace bowlers (Siddle, Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Noffke, Bracken and Bichel ) and our spins stocks are abysmal (Hauritz, Cullen, Bailey, Casson, Krezja).

I fear though that D. Hussey, Voges, and even Noffke will be mostly used as ODI players, like Hopes and Bracken.

[Borgeman]

i dont rate watson - i know he has been plagued by injuries, but i never thought he showed enough with bat or ball to be rated as high as he has. i dont see his bowling to be that penetrating to be honest

George

[jacksplatt11]

Looks like Siddle will make his debut in the 2nd test, taking an injured Clark's spot.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/indv...ry/374178.html

[STL]

Looks like Siddle will make his debut in the 2nd test, taking an injured Clark's spot.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/indv...ry/374178.html

He's got a lot of promise as a strike bowler. I haven't seen much of him but last year I saw a bit on Fox of him and he's a pretty smart bowler. It's going to be a massive challenge for him though and best of luck to him. The funny thing is that I honestly can't think of another strike bowler that we could call on. I can think of a lot of handy bowlers but no one who's a strike bowler.

'Tis a time for bowlers but the way the game is progressing less and less bowlers are going to be produced.