Write them off at your peril. Back to the wall stuff. MJ has found his mojo. Watson, Hussey are shining lights with the bat. God help England if ever Ponting & Clarke kick into gear. Looks as though it is 1-1 and they head to Melbourne; centre stage. The series is alive.

Yes, the series is alive but this could be Australian cricket's one swallow for the summer unless Punter strikes some form with the bat and a spin bowler materialises from the heavens.

Cricket is very different to AFL but I do like the analogy between our situation in test cricket and the way Melbourne fell away late in Daniher's reign as coach. The differences were that we could have seen it coming better with the cricket as Warne, McGrath, Hayden, Langer, Gilchrist and Lee were nearing the end. There's no draft in cricket but we're blessed with a fantastic cricket nursery (our Under 19 team that won the World Cup is chock full of talent).

The answer now is to persevere with Hughes and Smith and I like Cameron White for his aggressive attitude. Perhaps he might get another test chance after the World Cup notwithstanding that he's a Victorian.

Other than that, we still have an enormous battle on our hands to save the Ashes. Even if we can salvage a win or a draw in the Boxing Day test, we need to win the toss and hit a big first innings score in Sydney. If we're going to rely on a bloke who's had a couple of month's first class experience and best figures of 3fer to spin out the Poms and it works, I'll shout "a Beer". Who is he?

Hussey's now gone past Cook for series runs. What a legend. Those pull shots he kept playing, despite men on the legside boundary, which he regularly beat, were outstanding. Pity he ended up going out to a pull shot.

Ponting's got a fractured finger. If he can't play in Melbourne things get very interesting. I suppose Clarke will captain the side, which I don't like at all, and I suppose one of Khawaja or Ferguson comes in for Ponting. I'd prefer to see David Hussey or White though. And what will the batting order be? Clarke is hardly in the form required to bat at 3, so will we throw a youngster in the deepest of deep ends and send in a debutant at number 3 in a crucial Ashes Test? What other choices do we have?

Write them off at your peril. Back to the wall stuff. MJ has found his mojo. Watson, Hussey are shining lights with the bat. God help England if ever Ponting & Clarke kick into gear. Looks as though it is 1-1 and they head to Melbourne; centre stage. The series is alive.

Ain't hindsight wonderful?

Ponting fracture confirmed by X-rays.

What now for the captaincy?

England 9 down within the hour..classic, who would have guessed this after day 1!!!

Harris 5 for..

EDIT: England All Out within the hour..classic, who would have guessed this after day 1!!

Harris 6 for 47 B)

Edited December 19, 201014 yr by why you little

Hauritz 110 n.o. in the Shield game.

The answer now is to persevere with Hughes and Smith

As Dean Jones said when referring to Hughes' technical flaws, getting dropped and spending time (3 years in Jones' case) out of the side really working to address faults is not a bad thing for a young player. It's far easier to work on these things outside of the international cricket arena. Plenty of good players were dropped early in their careers, only to return - Martyn and S Waugh instantly come to mind. I don't think the answer is necessarily to 'persevere'. On Smith, I'm not even sure he's a long-term solution, let alone a short-term solution.

Plenty of good players were dropped early in their careers, only to return - Martyn and S Waugh instantly come to mind.

Hayden.

The Don and Jeff Thomson

Well that was quick. Reminds me of last year, this big turnaround. We thrashed them at Headingly, they came back and won the next game at the Oval.

Despite him being woefully out of form we need Ponting to be fit to play. Otherwise we'll be playing someone new at number 3 for the most important Test in the last four years. I don't want Clarke at 3, he's not good enough, and how would Khawaja go debuting on Boxing Day in front of 100,000 people at number 3? It could be David Hussey or Cameron White but they're probably not in selectors' minds, so we need Punter.

The other call will be the bowlers. Will we go with the same four quicks and use Smith as the spinner? I think Melbourne demands a spinner much more than Perth, and unfortunately that makes Siddle a possible casualty. It's down to Siddle and Hilfenhaus, they each only took one wicket but I reckon they like Hilfenhaus' outswing with Johnson's inswing.

I recall Border played for Australia with broken bones in his fingers so I dont think it excludes Ponting at this point.

I would doubt Australia will go into the Melb test 1-1 without their Captain. I dont see as has having a reliable replacement either if by chance it were decided to rest Ponting. Neither Khawaja or Ferguson are playing long innings at the moment.

I doubt they will change the squad/side for Melb. While we might need a spinner. We dont have one. Michael Beer played the Shield game vs Tasmania and hardly starred.

can the team carry Clarke again?? Not only is he out of form, the Back injury is still there. Backs do not heal in weeks.

we need a number 4 for the next 2 games. Who is the right person?

can the team carry Clarke again?? Not only is he out of form, the Back injury is still there. Backs do not heal in weeks.

we need a number 4 for the next 2 games. Who is the right person?

D Hussey?

D Hussey?

he would have to be under extremely serious contention, Ponting is also such a worry right now-But he is the captain, but he has made about 30 runs in this series...Big decisions and late nights this week.

My God that was a belter of a pitch at the WACA, more of those please. Batting and bowling both achievable with application.

Edited December 19, 201014 yr by why you little

he would have to be under extremely serious contention, Ponting is also such a worry right now-But he is the captain, but he has made about 30 runs in this series...Big decisions and late nights this week.

My God that was a belter of a pitch at the WACA, more of those please. Batting and bowling both achievable with application.

Will Siddle keep his spot, or will they bring Doug or Beer in?

Vics had big win over SA ,Holland got 4 wickets in send innings,impressive effort given how bad we have been in the Shield

siddle would be stiff, but we got to win this test. is he going to take wickets & or hold up an end??

siddle would be stiff, but we got to win this test. is he going to take wickets & or hold up an end??

1/25 off 9 overs and 0/8 off 4 overs is ok effort

1/25 off 9 overs and 0/8 off 4 overs is ok effort

as i said he would be stiff, it will depend so much on the pitch and weather i am guessing.

Vics investigated on ball tampering? anyone know anymore on this

Greg Chappell reinterated that Clarke as VC is the next scheduled person to be captain Australia if and when Ponting retires.

Cant see him being dropped at this stage. He does need to score runs in Melbourne though. If Australia was to lose Melb and Clarke had double failures again then his spot gets interesting.

Barring a change for Ponting (unlikely) they will go in with the same squad.

Ball tampering article on the bible cricinfo....

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/493336.html

Nasty offence that. While White is not necessarily the person responsible, it a bad accusation to have under your captaincy.

Re ball tampering, i heard it was the umpires assessment of the ball after day 2 when they made the report.

Not at all good to have on the CV,lets hope this gets worked out.

If Ponting plays next week he must go down the order. An out of form Batsman with a broken finger is not right for no 3.

Clarke has got to prove his fitness, and i mean this time really prove it, he should never have played in that first test, he couldn't even walk properly. If he fails on Day 1 at the MCG the crowd will crucify him.

7 days of hard work & long nights.....

Anyone keen on joining my foxpsorts Big Bash Fantasy league

the code is 3342-407 and Foxsports Big Bash

Ain't hindsight wonderful?

Certainly is.

Whilst all the talk on Australia's first dig of 268 was all the criticism of the failure of the top order. Many forgot that in the Test Match - England were yet to bat and that there was still 4 more days play; three more innings to take place, not forgetting a total of 268 to erase on a pitch offering a fair bit for the bowlers; particularly if they bowled well.

The conclusion of Day 1 showed enough promising signs for me from the bowlers to come to the conclusion that this test match was not over. MJ was bowling with noticably better reach and Harris whilst a little inaccurate was getting good swing.

According to the SEN scribes, i have just heard that the Australian 12 will be unchanged for next week....

Edited December 19, 201014 yr by why you little

Plenty of good players were dropped early in their careers, only to return - Martyn and S Waugh instantly come to mind. I don't think the answer is necessarily to 'persevere'. On Smith, I'm not even sure he's a long-term solution, let alone a short-term solution.

You can add Langer to the list as well. All were given more than one test on return and, in this case, there's a shortage of alternatives so they'll stick with Hughes at least for Melbourne and probably for Sydney assuming Katich is gone for the duration.

BTW: Where do England's cricketers stay when they're on tour in Sth Africa?

With their mums.

According to the SEN scribes, i have just heard that the Australian 12 will be unchanged for next week....

I doubt they will change the squad/side for Melb.

Ponting will bat at 3. Clarke will bat at 4. They need to get some form. Given we have the same squad there positions clearly aren't in doubt. They wont move Smith up the order now upset Hussey's rich vein of form.