Axis of Bob

Yes the pitch is green, but we did bowl well, especially Siddle and Pattinson early on. Starc was erratic, but bowled some corkers in between. It will be interesting to see how we bat on this pitch, especially against the new ball.

So you've seen enough at state level to know he's not good enough, but at the same time not enough to know if he's worth a spot? That's nonsensical rubbish and you deserve to be called out for it. I like Warner. Is he good enough? I don't know, but the signs are good. What he does well is go on when he has the chance, which is a great trait for an opener. Guys like Sehwag, Gayle and McCullum are dangerous because they can change the game quickly. It makes the game easier for their batting partner because the bowlers are on the defensive. I'm more than willing to be patient with him, because he seems to be made of stern stuff too. While everyone is very excited about Pattinson and Cummins, I think that it's important to realise that these kids are going to be inconsistent. They'll have good days and bad days. They need a senior workhorse to help them out on the bad days and shoulder the workload. Siddle is perfect for that role. I also thought he bowled well without luck and would surely keep his spot for the moment.

I agree, in part, Nasher. Most people wouldn't know what is wrong with his technique as they would only look at the result. Most of the 'technique' issues raised by armchair pundits have been rubbish. That said, Martin is exactly the sort of bowler he will struggle with the way he plays. However, Martin is generally pretty tough on most lefties. Hughes just plays the game a different way, because he struggles to score through the onside as he can't get around his front pad. Therefore a bowler who swings it away from him can afford to bowl a leg/middle stump line to him, which forces him to play at a lot of good balls. If a bowler did that to, say, Mike Hussey, then he'd be worked for runs through the on side all day. I don't have a problem with his dismissal yesterday, though. That's his scoring zone, but he just didn't get over the ball enough. It's one of his great strengths, the cut shot, and his technique means that he can cut balls far closer to him than most batsmen. It's a style you often see at lower levels of cricket. It doesn't make it bad, but it presents a different set of challenges.

Michael Klinger. Couldn't get a spot at Victoria because he was behind: Elliott, Arnberger, Mott, Hodge, Moss, Harvey, etc. Of those, Arnberger was from NSW, Mott from QLD, Moss from NSW. We have also brought in Chris Rogers, Graeme Rummans, and I'm sure others whose names escape me at the moment. These have been designed purely to win games in the Sheffield Shield, not produce Australian players. Look, right now, at our Shield side (although we are giving more opportunities this year). Chris Rogers won't play for Australia again, yet we have brought him into the side from WA. Peter Handscombe can't get a gig despite churning out runs all year. Michael Hill made runs last year, yet can't get a gig. Brett Forsyth can't get a game. Keath has been struggling a bit, but if you're trying to churn out Australian players then you'd accept that. The other side is that participation in Victoria is declining. NSW grassroots cricket is very strong, but not so in Victoria. A strong Victorian side is all well and good, but kids don't say 'I want to be like Chris Rogers'.

"This interesting and rare surname, found widely recorded in Gloucestershire, is the Anglicized form of a Dutch name which may have arrived in England at two periods in English history. Firstly, it may have arrived in Gloucestershire when Edward 111 brought Flemish weavers over to teach their craft to the English, with many settling in the Cotswolds. More likely however, the name followed later from Holland due to the religious persecution of French Huguenots, by the Duke of Alba who suppressed the Protestant revolt in the Netherlands (1567 - 1572), and who fled to nearby countries." Read more: http://www.surnamedb...k#ixzz1ezf4QtWj And jcb, I'd let go of the Nasher bashing. You're not exactly covering yourself in glory. Nasher is clearly a racist. He obviously hates all anglicised dutch aboriginal Turks. What a shameless racist.

Rubbish, titan. Don't let your blind hatred of Haddin stop you from acknowledging the quality of his inning at that time. I am not Haddin's number 1 fan, but he played a fabulous innings to help us win the match. He was facing some really top quality bowling and the ball was decking around. He was solid and patient when we needed it and Hussey was still in, and he counterattacked at exactly the right time after tea to give our inning momentum when we needed it. It was a fantastic chase, not just because it was a 300+ run chase on the last day with the ball moving around, but because of the quality of the bowling. Steyn, Morkel, Philander and Tahir bowled very well, yet we were still able to chase the target down on a difficult pitch. Ponting was excellent, but Khawaja's effort on day 4 was superb at that time. I'm not sure he's the best against spin, but he's a top talent with an excellent temperament. Johnson returned to the sensible batting that made him a dangerous lower order batsman in the first place, and was exceptional in providing support and also guiding us home after Haddin went. Fantastic game - all 5 days. Great pitch that game everyone a chance: Philander decking it around, Tahir and Lyon getting wickets, Cummins exploiting the pace and bounce, yet also Amla scoring 100 and many half centuries through the game on each day of the test.

That's exactly what I was about the write. It's such a unique game, Test cricket, and brings elements that are very hard to find in other sports.

Wade seems to be a quality player who could play for Australia. He's probably still behind Paine, though. His keeping seems to have improved a lot from the bits I've seen this year and he's certainly making runs. I think Paine has him covered, but he's certainly not doing his prospects any harm. It's a good problem to have, especially with Haddin being towards the end of his career.

They need to be good enough. Cummins is.

Nuggets, you are arguing against your own points. The Ashes team was a young team, and it was thrashed. The team is still young, yet you want to throw more young players into the mix? Hussey had a bad game, but is still batting very well. The only 'old' batsman that you could be looking to replace is Ponting, but I don't think he's yet ready to be dumped. He's still got a few more credits in the bank. You said that Khawaja should never have been dropped .... but the player he was replaced with was Shaun Marsh, who has since averaged nearly 60 in tests. So list your team, as you would want it now, Nuggets. What is your Australian XI. Also, it's Alex Keath. He's not playing because he can't make runs at district level at the moment. He will, but these things take time. You can't just throw kids in and expect them to perform. He needs development and he'll do that through the Futures league until he starts putting it together.

Australia are in a position of rebuilding but, like the Dees, you can't just cast off every experienced player and play kids. If you do then they will get smashed and that may be worse for their development than not playing at all. Cummins looks are real talent but the next top line young fast bowler, in my opinion, is Josh Hazelwood. Very tall, quick enough (mid 130s), consistent and has a great seam that can move the ball in the air or off the deck. Quality prospect. Australia is lucky that we actually have a very strong group of young quicks coming through. Hazelwood, Cummins, Pattinson, Starc (although others rate him higher than I do at the moment). The bowlers we have at the moment, Harris aside, are pretty average. Siddle is honest, Copeland has faults, Johnson has even more (but lots of talent), Lyon and Beer are inexperienced. Our future batsmen don't look quite as strong at the moment, with the leading players probably being Khawaja, Maddinson, Marsh x 2 (Mitch is super talented, but doesn't seem to know how to build an innings yet - but should be very good), Paine/Wade, Smith, Warner (probably better than is given credit for), Hughes ..... but the quality doesn't seem to be as high. Nor the output yet. I think we'll need some older heads to stay around, especially in the batting, to help shelter the youngsters from the heat a bit.

They have a whole new selection committee. What exactly did you want to do to fix up CA? Also, just to annoy you, are you aware that the probably next 3 test debutantes are going to be from NSW? Nothing to do with state bias, but rather because they are the best players in the pipeline

Well Clarke's innings in the first dig was a thing of beauty. When the pitch flattened out a bit batting became quite easy. Unfortunately it was the 4th innings by then! We had a lot of players that didn't adjust to the seaming pitch. Haddin was the most susceptible. I dare say he is close to the end than the beginning. Especially with Paine as the heir apparent. But he's luck Paine isn't fit yet. Ponting hare earned chances. He certainly hasn't used them up yet. As for Hughes, I think he'll be a good player. But not yet. It depends if we stick with him because he's the future, or whether we flick him because he is struggling. Inverarity said something about investing games in those that we should be investing games into. Hughes is probably one we should be investing games into. Khawaja is a great looking batsman though. Watson opening is a bit of a worry on a seaming deck, though. Interesting decision if Marsh doesn't play. Play Watson at 6 and open with Ussie? 6 probably suits the counterattacking style of Watson more in the longer format.

This has been some innings by Clarke.

Pretty much because he was playing as an undersized ruckman in a TAC team, I would assume. Not many of them get drafted. He's also not the world's silkiest kick, but he's got a big tank and a good head on his shoulders.

Oh, and Katich must be some sort of tool. It was interesting to hear the response from Clarke. He said all the right things, but he also mentioned the dressing room harmony being important. Don't need to read very far between the lines there.

I was watching the game. It was a game decided by the toss and the first 10 overs of Victoria's innings. Starc and Hazelwood bowled brilliantly early and Victoria was lucky to only be one down. The ball was swinging around and batting was tough going. The Victorian openers had to do their best to survive and we lost 4 early wickets before the pitch settled down. Once the pitch settled down it was a batting paradise. Hodge and Quiney did as they pleased on the postage stamp of a ground and a pitch that may as well have had lane markings. The NSW innings was just more of the same and bowling was near impossible. Hazelwood (especially) and Starc are very promising young bowlers. Starc has all the tools to be really good, but sprays it around at the moment. Hopefully with maturity he can get more consistency. Hazelwood will be a star. Giant of a kid, bowls mid-130s and hits the seam regularly. He is as close to Glenn McGrath as you could get. He'll be a regular national bowler if he stays fit. For the Vics it was only Herrick that looked to have any penetration, although he tends to spray it around a bit.

I don't think he has been underrated. I think he's where he should be ... as one of the 10 best cricketers this country has ever produced. I think Border was better, IMO, because he was a class above his team mates and faced some of the best bowling there has ever been. Ponting is better than Border. Gilchrist I think is over rated, but he did change the way the game is played. Miller I would love to have seen, and it's hard to argue with his selection. I believe that bowlers win matches once you get to the very top level. When the best teams play each other they can both bat well and deep - it's the bowlers that set them apart. With that in mind I'm happy with McGrath above Ponting. That said, the Don is still number 1. When you are twice as good as any batsman in history then I think you've earned it! Benaud I think might be a little high, but it's hard when I didn't see him play.

Certainly since I've been around. Being one strike away from losing the series ..... twice ...... and getting crucial hits to stay in the game. Cruz should really have gone harder at that fly ball. If he takes it the Rangers win the whole thing and he can spend the whole winter getting a bruised arm better. As it is, he squibbed it and now they have to face Carpenter in game 7 with a depleted bullpen, away to a team than now has all the momentum. Sometimes you just have to go when it's your turn. He didn't and it could cost them the whole thing. Great game. It had everything.

World Series. Game 6. Just sayin' ......

Yep, it's been a good day of cricket, Jack. We bowled very well. Same as the first match, where we have been relentless in our bowling discipline. Just over 2 and a half an over during the Sri Lankan innings. As for Lyon, I think he has a lot of promise. I like the way he is able to drop the ball on the batsmen. Probably needs to develop a bit of variation, but his stock ball shows good signs. I also thought that Hughes looked very good in the time he and Watson batted before stumps. Very composed against both pace and spin.

That stage was incredible. Evans' chase down on Galibier, both days, may win him the tour. He did it completely by himself from both sides of the Galibier and took 2 minutes the first day and 1.5 the second. Simply incredible stuff. Cadel deserves to win this. He's now in a great spot, but there is a lot of hard, hard work to do.

I don't like people practically giving Evans the Tour already. There are 3 big mountain stages including a mountain top finish at the Alp d'Huez leading into the time trial and the race could be turned on its head on any one of the next 3 days before the time trial. At their best, all of Contador, Andy and Frank Schleck could outclimb Evans. With three big mountain stages, Evans could be knocked out at any stage. That said, Evans' climbing form looks really good. Evans' big weapon is, of course, the time trial. He should beat all of th GC contenders pretty easily, especially Frank Schleck and Voekler. If he is behind any of them by less than about 45 secs going into the TT then he should win, but Contador is probably the best of the rest of the time trialists. That first day crash on an innocuous stage could well be decisive.

Please tell me that 'something' is ' how to spell'.

At least we aren't South Africa! I usually think Peter Roebuck writes shallow emotional rubbish, but he made a good point today in his article. We simply weren't good enough but other teams still feared us. Not because we could bat or bowl, because we couldn't, but because we were Australia and teams knew that we would fight and fight. We fought, but it wasn't enough because we just weren't good enough. Not being good enough is not a problem South Africa has. But they still can't win.