titan_uranus

If anyone out there needs convincing that Test cricket is the premier form of the game look no further than this match. One team chooses to bat in iffy conditions and gets rolled by a team supposedly a lot worse than it. That team then fights back, first with the ball, then with the bat, only to slip away again. But just when the Test looked gone, a fighting 9th wicket partnership provides hope, and 3 wickets before tea leaves the contest even. Great stuff. My view on this is that whoever we bring in couldn't do any worse than North. White's had a taste of Test cricket (and tough cricket it was too, in India in 2008) and is in good form for Victoria. He is a natural leader, possibly could develop into an Australian captain. He's also only 26. Furthermore, he fields at slip, and he can bowl part time wrist spin (which at the moment couldn't be that far behind Stephen Smith's). He's the best option at the moment, and he should take North's spot in Hobart. Siddle needs a few wickets in this innings, just to keep his place secure. He's bowling just OK at the moment, very unlucky in the 1st innings in Sydney, but only 6 wickets in 4 Tests this summer. Not enough. With Hilfenhaus probably back for the NZ tour, he needs to improve.

Gonna need this last wicket real quick this morning. Then Watson and Hughes will have to set a massive platform. Watson is the only member of our top 7 that is in any sort of form. This could be a defining innings for Hughes, Ponting, Hussey and North.

Time to drop North. Not good enough. His big scores come only when he comes in with runs on the board. When he comes in with the team in trouble he invariably does nothing. We can't keep someone like him at 6 when he isn't contributing. Hughes was dropped in better form that North is in right now. I mean, that shot he played to get out yesterday, just hanging the bat well, well outside off stump, was atrocious. Time to go. Replace with Cameron White, George Bailey, maybe Andrew McDonald, promote Brad Haddin, maybe drop Watson down the order (prefer not to though). Maybe even drop Hughes down the order (his style might suit lower order batting more than opening, but I highly doubt that would ever happen). And he just dropped an absolute sitter. This is Ponting's second bad read of a pitch in 6 months (the first being the Oval in the Ashes). I think he's the only person in the world that would have batted yesterday. These days, Test cricket is more about taking 20 wickets than making lots of runs. IMO, the captain at the toss should be thinking, 'when is it going to be best to bowl on this pitch', rather than bat. Everyone else knew that Day 1 was going to be the best time to bowl. Bad call, Punter. Also, Mohammad Asif = world's best pace bowler. No question. Also, Chris Rogers should have opened, not Hughes. Current form puts Rogers above Hughes.

Think of it as this: Ponting is declared unfit. Hughes is brought in, and it's close to certain that he will open. The choice is clear: Katich or Watson moves. By sending Watson to 6, the selectors IMO send a message to Watson, along the lines of 'yes, we could have left you at the top, or moved you to 3, but we choose to move you to 6'. That's what I meant by punishment.

Hilfenhaus looks set to miss the rest of the summer now. Not good. But at least that keeps Siddle in the team... OK, but then you say: So you're OK with Watson being moved down the order... If Ponting doesn't come up (which I think he will), then Hughes comes in. Unless the selectors want to try something drastic, they're going to move either Watson or Katich out of the opening positions and play Hughes as an opener. I would have thought that Watson, to ease the load on him with his bowling, would be a prime candidate to move down the order. Incorporated into that is a bit of punishment for his antics.

Good article from Ian Chappell about the current standings in Test cricket: http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/440349.html

I reckon a good way to punish Watson would be to demote him down the order in the event that Ponting can't play. Drop Watson to 6, bring Hughes in. And there's going to be a massive decision with regards to the pace bowling line up. It seems that Hilfenhaus and Siddle will be fit for Boxing Day. But Bollinger was almost man of the match in Perth. I'd play Siddle and Bollinger, and ensure that Hilfenhaus gets properly fit and plays some cricket for Tasmania.

51 runs with 1 wicket remaining. Should be an interesting session. You'd think we'd take the wicket pretty quickly, especially if Johnson and Hauritz have gotten better. Johnson especially. As for Boxing Day, there are a number of possibilities. One is to bring in Hughes, and drop Watson down to 6, pushing North to 5 and Clarke to 3. I think this might be the outcome. Another option is to play Hughes and drop Katich to 3. Unlikely I would have thought. We could also bring in George Bailey or Cameron White to 6, North to 5 and Clarke to 3.

7/520 declared. 5 runs short of breaking the record for highest score with no century. Still, it's the biggest Australian score ever without someone making a century. Haddin played beautifully. The only bad shot he played was the one he went out to. It will be interesting to see how we bowl to Gayle after Adelaide. Hopefully McKay gets some success.

This continual failure of our batsmen to make centuries is becoming a bit worrying to me. Not because I'm desperate to see 100s, but it shows a lack of concentration or application, and it robs the team of momentum and the chance to dominate even further. However, Katich's dismissal just lenghtens the list of near-misses in Test cricket over the last month. Some of the cricket recently has been amazing. The NZ-Pakistan series was close, and thus exciting, the India-SL ODI was amazing, the Windies have put up more fight than most imagined possible, and the first day of the RSA-England Test was a close battle. Agree. Smith is not even close to being a Test-quality bowler. He's a batting all-rounder at the moment. Krejza and McGain are well in front of him. If we want a leg-spinning all-rounder we should pick Cameron White. 3 bowlers? They've got Anderson, Broad, Onions and Swann. That's 4... However, Anderson's got a knee problem, Onions has pulled his calf, and Broad was seen doing a lot of stretching in the field. We may well see Collingwood and Trott continue bowling their part-time nothings if those injuries are serious.

Yes, whoops to WYL and JJC. Victoria has just won by 6 wickets. Brilliant stuff. If White can get some continued success for Victoria he might get another chance at Test level, but as a middle order batsman rather than a spinner. He is only 26 and has leadership abilities that far outweigh Michael Clarke.

Members of the team didn't want him as captain any more, and he got [censored] off and left the team when they went to NZ. Then he didn't play domestic cricket, so the PCB didn't consider him for their tour here. Really disappointing. He averages 50.09 in Tests and secures the no. 3 spot. Quite unbelievable, really. Carrying the bat isn't exactly something easy or common. The amount of 90s scored of late, and that stat, make this one of the most interesting cricket seasons of late (even if some of the matches haven't been as interesting as others). Absolutely brilliant cricketer, is Vettori. There's basically nothing he can't do. Mind you, he was dropped on 97. Almost lengthened the list. Incidentally, Victoria requires 79 runs off 36 overs with 7 wickets in hand to beat SA today. Would be a remarkable result if it happened. And it would co-incide with Tasmania beating WA in similar fashion (declaring behind on 1st innings, only to chase down the target on the 4th day).

Their scorecard reads 44*, 9, 6, 0, 0, 0. 3 consecutive ducks from the middle order. They need Younis Khan back so badly. And he's not in the squad to tour Australia. Mind you, they way we've been bowling to the Windies, there's no stopping the Pakistanis from finding some form here.

Congratulations to the Windies for playing probably their best Test cricket in 5 years. Dwayne Bravo really sets their team up. That performance would usually get BOG honours, but it's hard to go past an opener who carries his bat and makes 164 (with the next highest score being 27). And an under-pressure captain to boot. With Siddle unlikely, and Hilfenhaus still out, a pace spot opens up. If the selectors are desperate to ensure we win, they should pick Stuart Clark. But if they want to choose someone with an eye to the future, they should pick Clint Mackay. Hauritz should not be guaranteed his spot in Perth. On our tour of South Africa we played McDonald instead of a spinner and we won 2-1 on pitches that didn't take spin too well. Perth doesn't take spin too well. I'd be inclined to bring McDonald pack. His medium pacers are better than most give him credit for, and he did little wrong in South Africa. I'd be telling Hauritz to go back to NSW and get some wickets. The two big worries in the middle order are Hussey and North. Hussey gets one last Test. Another failure and it will probably be time to look at a replacement. Callum Ferguson couldn't have done his ACL at a worse time. Maybe George Bailey? Or, of course, we could drop Watson down the order and open with Hughes/Jaques/Rogers (one of whom may be brought in anyway if Katich doesn't come up). Batting Watson at 5/6 would also help him bowl more overs. As for North, he has a major problem of making tiny scores, interspersed with 100s. He also seems to do a lot worse when he comes in at a critical point, rather than when we're cruising. I'm not convinced that he's the answer at 6, despite his 3 centuries. Continual sub-20 scores hurt. My team for Perth: Watson Katich (subject to fitness) Ponting Hussey Clarke North Haddin McDonald Johnson Mackay Bollinger

Well then, Australia has a fight on its hands here. Conceding 451 runs was bad enough, but then to lose 7 for 127 to collapse from 3/312 to 439 all out is pretty poor. In fact it's crap. Siddle is apparently injured (hamstring) and is unlikely to bowl today. That's going to make things very difficult. Hussey's innings did nothing to ease the pressure on him. Far too slow. The bowling was good, but not that good. It's amazing how many milestones have been missed in international cricket in the last few weeks: Shane Watson 96 Brendan Nash 92 Simon Katich 92 Ross Taylor (NZ) 97 and 94 Angelo Mathews (SL) 99 (run out!) Virender Sehwag (India) 293

Hilfenhaus is out of the 2nd test with knee soreness: http://www.cricinfo.com/ausvwi09/content/c...ory/437450.html Bollinger will almost certainly play. Deservedly so. Clint McKay gets Hilfenhaus's spot in the squad. A bit unfair on McDonald, maybe. But it may well signal the end of Stuart Clark.

Agree with a lot of what's being said here. Day 1 showed that the Windies' bowlers aren't all hacks. Roach looks good, Rampaul is OK, Taylor is the best of the lot but injury ruined him (and he's gone for the series). It's their batting that's abysmal. Chanderpaul's shot in the second innings was inexplicable and completely un-Chanderpaul. I was shaking my head when I saw that. I don't know what prompted him to do that, considering how unflappable he was 18 months ago. Anyone waiting for a decent contest will have to wait until the limited over stuff begins. Pakistan is the best T20 team in the world and they're good at ODIs too. Katich Rogers Jaques Hughes Daylight Daylight Daylight Daylight Watson That's at the moment, though. Selecting with a view to the future would put Hughes above Rogers and Jaques. Watson is hopeless. He's only there because he can bowl. He would never have been selected in the first place if it wasn't for the fact that he provided insurance for Johnson in England. He isn't good enough and should either drop down the order, or, better still, get lost. IMO Rogers > Jaques at domestic level, but Jaques has performed at Test level. Rogers had one go at it and failed, which probably sticks out in selectors' minds.

It's time to go: Watson. 5 lbws in his 6 innings as opener. 10 lbws in his career. Hughes was dropped because of a flaw in his technique. If this isn't a flaw in Watson's technique I don't know what is. Bring in Hughes, or even Jaques.

As if the Windies needed more problems, Sarwan is out. They replace their second best batsman with a debutant, Dowlin. We're batting first too.

Poor Vettori. They come out after a 2-3 hour rain delay, he gets himself to 99, then he gets out on what ends up being the second last ball of the day due to bad light. And Rahul Dravid has overtaken Allan Border in terms of number of runs scored. Run out for 144 when the bowler dropped a return catch and it somehow deflected down onto the stumps!

Very odd selection. Murali is fading, Mendis is good but terrribly erratic, and Herath is just OK. Only one strike bowler, who's playing about his 4th Test. Should have played another paceman. A good example of that could be the Brisbane test last year. NZ won the toss and sent us in, then bowled us out for 214. That showed that to be a good decision. We went on to thrash them with a strong second innings, but that's more to do with their poor batting than their decision to bowl first. The pitch that day was a green top, and it showed on the first morning. Oh boy do I love statsguru. What a gem of a site. Here here. Keeps NZ cricket from being a total disaster. Just passed Warne for the most runs at no. 8. But yes, he was dropped on his first ball. Had that catch been taken Pakistan would have been batting before the end of play yesterday. Meanwhile, it's raining in Dunedin. What a surprise.

More brilliant Indian cricket on show. 2/417 after 1 day. Yep, 417 runs in one day, and only 2 down. At least New Zealand pitches are good ones. 6/250 odd after a day. Pretty even that. I guess, Edgbaston in 2005 aside, when we win the toss and bowl first there's usually a reason for it. Batting first is the generic thing to do if there's nothing abnormal or extraordinary about the pitch, so even in matches against high quality teams (like the 6 we played against South Africa, where we won the toss and batted in all 6), there's not always a massive advantage.

It's not just this season. Last season they came last despite having international quality players regularly in their team. The SCG pitch is a factor. But they don't play all their matches there. The Collingwood reference was that I feel the same way about NSW as a Victoria supporter as I do about Collingwood as a Melbourne supporter. Nothing to do with success.

I did. Don't know what to make of that. Doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Recent articles about Hodge seem to paint the picture that he is loving his time with Victoria and that he wants to continue to do his best for the state in the hope that he gets the call up to Australia again. How he didn't get selected in either the Australian or the All Star team for tomorrow night's match is beyond me. NSW is a joke. Full of international players, yet from 2 matches they have 0 points. Only team to have 0 points so far. You'd think with Jaques, Hughes, Katich, Clarke and Haddin batting, and Clark, Bollinger, Lee and Hauritz bowling for you, that you'd do a bit better than that. NSW in cricket is akin to Collingwood in AFL.

Woohoo! Well done Victoria. I got a bit worried with the rain delays, but class prevailed. Rogers and Hussey made up for their first innings failures. Great stuff.