titan_uranus

He'll play for sure. No way they'd let Khawaja play for NSW in a 50 over game if they thought there was any chance he was going to bat at 3 on Boxing Day. Plus Ponting is strong enough to play through it.

The whole wildcard thing shows exactly what's wrong with the conference system. Of course for NFL they have little choice but here for AFL the mere suggestion of it is ridiculous.

That's not what I said. I said it was a 'benefit' of having four quicks. We did not choose to play four quicks for this reason, we did it because the Perth pitch offered something for pacemen and this was a good way to avoid the spinner issue. Not only has England played just four bowlers for each match, but Anderson and Finn have played all three Tests so far, whereas for us Siddle is the only one to have played them all. And for England, Anderson and Finn bowl lots and lots of overs because there's not a lot of support, whereas Siddle didn't have much to do in Perth.

If Anderson doesn't play and Ponting does, this could be the spark Ponting needs to make some runs. This is another benefit of playing four quicks, they get to bowl shorter spells to stay fresher for longer. Anderson and Finn will be exhausted and there are still two Tests to go.

Glad South Africa won. Hopefully they keep this form up and knock India over another two times to become the number 1 side. They deserve it more than India does. India just accrues points by belting teams at home without putting in decent performances on the road.

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.

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? Ain't hindsight wonderful?

Watson made his fourth 90 today. He is worse than Slater. Good lead now, 323, another 100 and that will be very nice.

If Johnson bowls in the second innings like he did in the first, we will need only 250-300 runs on the board to win. Of course there's no certainty at all in that. I'd hope we bat for the majority of the day and get at least another 200 runs, which would push the lead over 400. South Africa made 414 two years ago but the pitch was dead that game and England's batsmen, for all their success so far, aren't as good as the South Africans were. Hughes' technique is flawed, possibly fatally. He is riding on the credits he received from the tour of South Africa. The only reason he made runs then was because the Proteas kept giving him full stuff, not short stuff. I don't think his technique is anywhere near sound enough to be a Test opener. Ponting is basically gone. He will never move down the order, so it's number 3 or retirement I would have thought. And he's not making runs. Problem is, I'm sure he'll want to stay as long as he can, his ego is enormous. It's a problem.

Mitch!! 3/4! Swinging it nicely, getting Cook Trott and Pietersen with swing. Life back in the test.

Crap start. Haddin and Watson let an edge go without moving, and far too many runs are being scored on the leg side.

India 9/136! Go South Africa. Steyn and Morkel showing Harris and Hilfenhaus how to use a new ball. Finally, the criticism is being heaved upon our batsmen. Watson, Katich, Hussey and Haddin seem capable of playing against swing. Hughes, Ponting, Clarke, North and Smith don't. Funnily enough, the first four have all done OK so far this series, Hussey and Haddin especially, whilst the last five have hardly looked like scoring runs.

Oh geez, Harris was terrible. Hilfenhaus was OK, but far too much rubbish overall. This Test is going to be a lot like Adelaide I think.

Im afraid of what their batsmen will do...this pitch isn't that bad. Siddle and Hilfenhaus showed that. Poor top order batting.

Argh, Hussey just went out. To Swann. And we don't have a spinner. Smith is not good enough for no. 6 and thus shouldn't be in the side.

Not sure. Bravo and Ross Taylor were last year. Will have to investigate.

Watson out now. 4/36. Worse than Adelaide. That's the only decent ball too, the first three were crap shots. The batsmen aren't good enough but the bowlers get rotated. Smith in now. We are gone.

England have won the toss and will bowl first. Poo. Edit: And Ponting said he wouldn't have bowled first too if we'd won the toss. I'm afraid we're going to get a repeat of Adelaide. Green top + a top 7 containing Phil Hughes, Steven Smith, and an out-of-form Ponting = no confidence at all.

Big risk here, we've named Beer as 12th man, so we're playing all of Johnson, Siddle, Harris and Hilfenhaus, as well as Watson. So the spinning duties will be handed to Smith and Michael Clarke, if required. I wonder if Ponting will consider bowling first if we win the toss. After all, we need 20 wickets and with four pacemen the best time to bowl might be today.

How many times has Hilfenhaus taken 5 wickets in an innings? 0. In fact, his best match bowling figures are 5/70. Siddle has three five-fors, two against England. Statistics can be used any way you like, but I think this one matters. Furthermore, Hilfenhaus has no weapons after the shine wears off the new ball. And even then, he wasn't swinging it a lot in Brisbane. He was dropped for a reason. I think there is a bigger difference between Siddle and Hilfenhaus than you think.

Me too. Partly because I honestly cannot believe they are going to drop Siddle. And if they do drop him, let's not make a mistake, they'll be dropping him for Hilfenhaus, not Johnson. Bollinger was brought in for Johnson to be the strike bowler, the 'golden arm'. He failed, due largely to a lack of fitness, so he must go. Whether we agree or not, Johnson has been deemed the replacement (personally I don't). Now, Hilfenhaus was dropped because he was impotent, and Harris was brought in to do similar work (i.e. bowl with the new ball, swing it a bit, do some hard yakka when required). Siddle does a similar job. If Siddle goes, Hilfenhaus will take his spot in the order. All this talk about Siddle vs Johnson is nonsense. It's also ludicrous that Hilfenhaus is even in the squad, let alone the XI.

Yep, I'll go with South Africa too. Steyn and Morkel will hopefully get the edge over Gamhir and Sehwag, and with Raina and Dhoni susceptible to the extra bounce I think South Africa will fare better.

There's a mouth-watering Test beginning tomorrow, between two strong teams. Should be a gripping encounter. No, it's not Australia-England, rather its South Africa-India. But instead of being played on dreary featherbeds in the subcontinent, India's actually travelling somewhere, and the pitch at Centurion is going to be fiery. Hopefully Steyn and Morkel destroy them.

Crazy game. Victoria batted most of its bowlers instead of White and Hussey, and England bowled their batsmen to ensure a declaration was reached. It ended up with McKay and Herrick taking 80 runs in 19 minutes off Strauss and Morgan! Now Clint McKay is sticking it up the selectors by taking English wickets! 3/36.

You put forward your arguments well AoB. I know Smith is a batsman who bowls, not a bowler who bats. With that in mind, I still don't rate his batting at Test level. Hughes is not in any form at all, and it's a slap in the face to players like Shaun Marsh who are plugging away at Shield level for no reward. I also disagree with your statement that the Ashes are gone. Yes, England is in the box seat, but for mine whilst the series is still alive I'd like to see us at least try. We have Bangladesh next year, that can be where we begin to experiment for the future. Right now, we ought to be picking the best batsmen and bowlers in the country.