titan_uranus

A fit Hewitt at his best is good enough to beat anyone on grass. That's only Federer's second loss on grass since 2003, his first ever loss in Halle. He might be on the wane slightly but you've still got to produce good tennis to knock him off on grass, so well done Hewitt. He has to hope he gets a half-decent draw this year. How many times does he end up with Federer in the third or fourth round?

Nadal back to world number 1 after smashing Soderling 6-4 6-2 6-4. Second year in a row Soderling's beaten the world no. 1 and defending champion then lost the final.

I didn't think she'd be able to beat Serena. Now I have confidence. I mean, Jankovic should be relatively easy compared to Serena and Henin. Wow. Who knows, maybe she might go all the way...

And Federer's lost in the Quarter-finals, which is the first time he hasn't made it to the semi-finals or beyond since 2004. 23 consecutive grand slams he'd made it to the semis. But Soderling got him in 4 sets.

Stosur beat Henin at the French Open! Now for Serena...

An issue that has to be dealt with: http://www.cricinfo.com/srilanka/content/current/story/460510.html Mahela Jayawardene, in his 12 years of Test cricket, has played a total of 4 Tests in Australia. Sri Lanka haven't played a Test outside of the subcontinent since they were here in 2007, they haven't been to South Africa in 8 years and they haven't been to England in 5. It's ridiculous how cricket is dominated by Australia, England, South Africa and India. There should be a minimum number of Tests for each nation, and the new system, which should preferably be a Test Championship of some sort, should ensure that touring is fair and spread out. If there was a Test Championship then Tests between Australia and teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies would have more meaning, which would make it less of a pain to schedule in our summer.

Clarke has to go. Anyone could lead the team we've got to the record he's led it to. Let's not forget who we played in that time: Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and then the World Cup. A good leader, clearly, and will definitely be the next captain of the Test side, but he is the clear weak link in the batting line up of the T20 side. Furthermore I'd be looking at removing Haddin from the T20 side too. He isn't the prolific run scorer he should be in that form of the game, and Tim Paine does it much better. Plus it gives him more time off to keep himself right for the Test and ODI teams. Kieswetter for England is a good example. Prior's been dropped from the T20 side. Finally, I'm not convinced in Mitchell Johnson at T20 level. Especially when Doug Bollinger can't get a game. Bollinger tore it up for Chennai in the IPL. Johnson, like Haddin, should probably make way which will give him more time to focus on Test and ODI cricket.

Yes, batting first helped us lots didn't it? Or more aptly, England choosing to bowl really stuffed them up, didn't it WYL and JJC? Our top order isn't great: it's boom or bust for Watson, Warner and Haddin. Clarke is too slow as well. Too often it's the Hussey brothers and White lifting us up. And opposition batsmen know that we have weak links in the bowling, namely Watson, so they target them whilst just going for survival against Tait and Nannes. We're still a good team, but clearly we're not the best.

What an unbelievable game of cricket! I wasn't sure that Michael Hussey was good enough to get a spot in our T20 side but he's shown why. 60 off 24, with 22 off the last over to win us the game. Wow!

Check this out. Surely this is a first?!? KA Pollard st †Kieswetter b Swann 0 0 0 0 He was stumped off a wide, thus he didn't face a ball yet went out (that's possible if you're run out, but not usually otherwise). It also means England took two wickets off one ball, as the records will show that Gayle was out to ball 3.3, and Pollard was also out to ball 3.3 (at least that's what Cricinfo's scorecard says).

Well yes, true. But Harris would then be in the same boat. To be honest, Johnson's the least-proven performer at T20 level. I'd be inclinced to not play him in T20s and get him to focus on Test cricket. Either way, I still think Bollinger should be in the squad.

Can someone please explain to me how Doug Bollinger has missed out on selection for the T20 World Cup? Ryan Harris, who was bordlerine useless for the Deccan Chargers this season, gets Lee's spot (a spot that Lee should never have had; time to retire Brett), whereas Bollinger starred for the ultimately successful team, and made the All-Star side. Ridiculous decision. Shows how little our selection panel knows about T20 cricket (which, let's be honest, is not exactly important when compared to Test cricket).

Martyn's been axed from their squad. Played 1 game. Didn't do well. Agree. Hussey is more suited to 5 anyway. ODIs show that.

Katich in supreme form at the moment. 106*. Shared a 155 run partnership with Hussey, who just went out for 67. Again caught behind after nibbling outside off. Seems to be a bit of a problem for old Hussey. But at least he made some runs. Leading by 213 currently. Need at least another 150 to be safe. I'm sure Ponting will want a lot more than that though. Edit: 4/247. Katich gone for 106. Lost 2/1 in 2 overs. Need to be careful now, the lead's not enough and we've got a flaky middle order to come. Haddin and Johnson aren't in good batting form.

All out 231. North 9. Hussey 22. Lots of starts but only Katich looked settled, but he got done on 88 by Vettori.

Gonna be hard to care about cricket when there are much more important things happening today... Australia 2/63. Ponting just run out for the second time in consecutive innings. Just a bit of a wobble here. Time for Hussey to stand up.

Absolutely amazing stuff Two Sheds.

I think the second is more likely than the third. I think Hughes is actually better suited to batting at 6, where he can counter-attack if necessary, or pile on runs before a declaration. His practice with opening the innings also allows him to take things slow if required. So I think he could bat down the order, allowing the Watson-Katich partnership to be preserved. Agree, and you have to give them credit for this. Most (me included) didn't think North deserved his spot in the team, but he did what was required. Hopefully he carries his form through the series, and into the Ashes.

Game over. Australia 0/106, Hughes scoring 86 off 75, Katich 18 off 65. NZ bowled out early for 407. Hughes is going to feel very hard done by if Watson is fit, as it seems unlikely the selectors would drop Hussey to keep Hughes in the team. But once again, as it was through 2009, Hussey seems the most vulnerable of our batsmen, and he was the only one not to look at all comfortable in this Test.

Awesome win to Victoria. Quite unbelieable that Queensland could bowl for 2 days to take just 9 wickets, and we take half a day to take 10. Big gap in ability between the two sides, and it showed in the final. Queensland only made it this far due to their tail continually chipping in, and when they don't, like this match, they don't score enough runs. But superb stuff from Victoria to fight back from 6/75 to win by 450+. Wade MOM, and deservedly so. Also, NZ are 5 down in their follow on innings, still 140 runs or so behind. At least Vettori's still in. And also, Bangladesh have just made 419 runs against England. That's pretty good for them. More so considering they were 8/314. The ball was swinging when Hussey came in. By the time North came in (not too long after though), it wasn't swinging as much. Still, it's true to say that their bowlers aren't exactly top-class (Vettori aside). Pakistan's were a lot better.

NZ 0/36 in their follow on, after losing 6 wickets in an hour to be bowled out for 157. Doing well to not have lost a wicket so far, but they're a long way behind with about half the Test remaining. Weather permitting, a win is on the cards for Australia. And at the MCG, White is bowling himself for the first time in who knows how long. He'll say it's because Wright can't bowl, but truth be told, I reckon he's hoping he picks up a couple of wickets, if only to show selectors he can do anything Steven Smith can do. To be fair, their bowlers are OK, and conditions were slightly worse for Hussey than for North. But he still failed. I can't understand how the same man can be so utterly dominant at ODI cricket (he rarely gets dismissed for less than 30 and he always, always, does his job), yet one week later when the whites come on he suddenly looks timid and fails. The answer might be to drop him down the order, as he bats at 6 in ODIs. Clarke is more than good enough to bat at 4, and North might actually benefit from moving up the order.

Well, I guess you have to congratulate North on his century. Whether he likes it or not, he was lucky to keep his spot, but he's done exactly what he needed to do. Interestingly, on each tour North's had, he's scored a century in the first innings of the tour (debut in South Africa, Cardiff in the Ashes, now Wellington). Plus his first innings of the summer (a 70 something) was his highest for the summer. So it'll be interesting to see if he keeps going through this tour. As for New Zealand, again it's Vettori that saves them. It borders on ridiculous how many times he comes to the crease with the team in strife. But he's reliable and skilled. Good man. And Victoria's done the job in the Shield final. Lead by 629 runs. Payback for a few years ago when Queensland batted till they reached 900.

More aptly, bat until we're bowled out. The way we're going we could bat all day. The contest is over.

Victoria cruising at the moment. Let's hope one (if not both) of Jewell and Quiney push on to 100. Meanwhile North's day of reckoning has come. 4/176. We need a big innings here.

Watson out with a hip injury: nothing too serious I don't think. Gave Hughes another go, but he threw it away after a good start to be out for 20. Katich and Ponting playing well. Some were getting into Katich because he wasn't batting well for NSW in the Shield. I say that's no problem if you're performing at national level, which he is. 1/84 Edit: Now 3/115, Hussey failing (again), making 4. Katich the rock at the moment on 40. Big moments now for Clarke and North. And Queensland's all out for 257, so we take a 48 run lead into the second innings. This is epic now. One big partnership from the top 6 could be enough, but we certainly can't afford to be 6/75 again.