titan_uranus

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.

6/199 at stumps. McGain getting rid of both Hartley and Broad. Good on him. Close match this.

4/121 at tea. Hartley and Broad dropping the anchor. Suits us I guess. The longer it takes them to make their runs, the better our chance is of not losing. Wade is a good cricketer. Very good, in fact. But interestingly, and showing the depth of Australian cricket, he would have to be 3rd, maybe even 4th, in the pecking order. Haddin leads, and deservedly so. After Haddin, Tim Paine, Chris Hartley and Graham Manou are all in contention. Paine would be the choice for ODI/T20 cricket, whilst I reckon Hartley should be the next Test keeper (don't know how old he is though). Manou is better than the others with the gloves, but doesn't hold a candle to any of them with the bat. But he has credits, having filled in for Haddin in England and India. Wade probably thus falls into line behind each of these guys. Yet maybe in any other country he'd be the deputy*. *Except West Indies, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where he'd be in the team already.

This is true. NZ, in NZ, where the pitches are likely to be spin-friendly to accommodate Vettori and possibly Patel, make for an easy debut. Harwood, Siddle and Nannes are the ones out. Good bowlers, all of them, but Hastings and Wright have been exceptional. Wright especially. He missed out on being Shield player of the year by 1 vote, and he only played half a season. And with White back in the team, our batting line-up is as strong as it can be, with Hodge retiring.

Word on the street is that Smith is in line to take North's spot for the first Test. I'm not entirely sold on this. Whilst I think North should make way, I don't think Smith's ready. Of course, the person who should be playing, White, is in the wrong country (but has an important job to do nonetheless). As for the Shield, we just need someone in the top 6 to stand up and make a big score for us to be safe. With a top 6 of Rogers, Jewell, Finch, Hussey, White and McDonald, we should be able to make enough runs to at least hold out for a draw. Queensland's strength is undoubtedly their bowling, but away from the Gabba where the pitch does half the work we should be OK.

Here we go again. Western Australia needs 106 for victory. And they're 2/1 afer 7 balls. Here come Queensland. Edit: Now 3/1, with North making a golden duck. Very, very lucky to be going to NZ. WA's top 3 have made 1, golden duck, and golden duck. Edit 2: Now 5/27. Still need 79 runs for victory. Queensland could well win this. Hopefully it won't matter, as Victoria leads Tasmania by 160 runs on first innings, and Tassie are currently 2/3. Wade made 50, but our tail didn't kick on like it can. Shouldn't matter, though. Edit 3: But Tasmania are 5/18. Wright has 9 for the match. Game over.

In great news for Victoria, Queensland have been bowled out for 106 in reply to Western Australia's 286, and WA have enforced the follow on. Hopefully Queensland can't come back from this one, and if they don't then we'll host the final regardless of what happens in our match vs Tasmania.

Disappointing for Cameron White I reckon. Beaten to the squad by Steven Smith, as well as North who holds his place. Likely starting team: Watson Katich Ponting Hussey Clarke North Haddin Johnson Hauritz McKay Bollinger Same team we played in Perth. I can't see Smith taking North's spot (though it wouldn't be such a bad thing), and there would be doubts about Hughes batting at 6.

I agree too. Clarke is employed by Cricket Australia to play cricket. How many other employers would allow you to quit for an indefinite time because your idiot girlfriend can't control her own life? He shouldn't have left NZ. We have phones and the internet now.

With Clarke returning home, and thus uncertain to be a part of the Test squad, Marcus North's chances of going to NZ are probably strengthened. But I like Peter Roebuck's squad, which has Steven Smith and Cameron White in place of North: Watson, Katich, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Smith, White, Haddin, Hauritz, Johnson, Bollinger, Cutting, McKay. With Copeland on standby I'd be starting with the same XI from the Australian summer, but switching North for White and Siddle for McKay. If Clarke is unavailable North will keep his spot.

Not exactly sure how my post was 'carp'. When you lose your 5th wicket, and you lead by just 50 runs, that's not a good position to be in. Considering our last two innings have been for scores of 199 and 104, things weren't looking good. Wade and Wright obviously fixed things for us, and brilliant they were. To get to 378 after being 5/111 was a sterling effort. Pity neither got to 100 though.

We're in massive trouble now. 5/133, a lead of only 58 runs. Losing Hussey to the third ball of the day hurt. Losing Jewell and McDonald as well has basically killed us. We desperately need Quiney, Wade and Hastings (very much an improved all rounder who may find himself playing for Australia soon) to get our lead to 200. Hopefully our bowlers can make some inroads, because we need the 6 points from this match.

And here we were thinking that the West Indies were on the path to improvement... They've just been beaten by Zimbabwe. Yes, Zimbabwe. A team that plays the majority of its cricket against Bangladesh. Not to mention having no functioning home, and very few international-quality players. And the Windies had Benn, Chanderpaul and Gayle back in their team. Hopefully in the Test arena they remain competitive, but their recent ODI and T20 matches have been abysmal.