titan_uranus

Fair point. However, Jayawardene has scored a Test century against every other country, and in every country except South Africa. 27 centuries in total. Not all Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan batsmen average 55, nor do they all hold records like Jayawardene. He stands above most other sub-continental batsmen.

Mahela Jayawardene is perenially under-rated by those outside of Sri Lanka. A star. 9000 runs at 55. Not Bradman, of course, but close to the best batsman in the world at the moment.

Damn straight JJC! But I can't get there today to watch them... Rogers, Hussey and Quiney hopefully are good enough to ensure they don't put in 2 consecutive failures. I worry a bit with Hussey at 3. He's not in terribly good form. With our top 6, though, 190 odd runs on the 4th day should be gettable. Horrible cricket pitch. But I've followed the game: the first 4 wickets fell in the first session due to good bowling (and swing-favourable conditions). Most of the 7 Sri Lanka wickets fell not to rash shots but to good balls (just weren't enough of them from the Indian bowlers). Let's not forget that Sri Lanka can win this match, needing 8 wickets on the final day, with Muralitharan in their team. It's not going to happen, but at least one team has a chance.

Victoria on the comeback: WA 7/155. Voges and Ronchi out in the last 4 overs. Their lead is 186. We're still a good chance to pull it off.

We conceded points for the first time in 21 months. That's a long time. Our bowling stock is seriously reduced, which might explain part of it. Nannes, Siddle, Harwood, Wright are all missing. But we failed with the bat. And the top 6 is still pretty strong.

Not happy with today's play at the MCG. Got them out for 277, but now we're 7/205. Middle order collapse. Missing Hodge I guess.

Good news for Richie Benaud fans: he's staying on for another 3 years in a downgraded role: http://www.cricinfo.com/australia/content/...ory/434568.html No more commentary after this season, but he'll be there for other things.

A bit going on in cricket at the moment. 1) There's a possibility that the 2011 Ashes Test could be moved from the SCG to ANZ Stadium. Bigger crowds and more money is a factor: http://www.cricinfo.com/australia/content/...ory/434042.html Would be sad IMO if Test cricket was moved from the SCG. ODI and Twenty20 would be good at ANZ though. 2) Wash out in Mumbai last night (which is a bit sad in that it was to be the first cricket in Mumbai since the terrorist attacks last year). Watson named man of the series (not Hussey?) 3) There's still a lot of talk about replacing Hussey with Hughes, and batting Watson at 5 or 6. It's going to be a tough decision. Lee/Clark vs Hilfenhaus and Hauritz vs Krejza are also being considered by CA.

No, he hasn't yet. But I'm not convinced that Hauritz is any good at Test level. Krejza turns the ball a lot more (or at least seemed to). At the moment Hauritz is the best we've got, but IMO he's not a long term solution and we still need to find someone else. Might be Krejza, might be Holland, might be someone else.

You do realise that they were going to play Krejza in Adelaide, but had to use Hauritz because Krejza rolled his ankle a couple of days before the match? Hauritz was picked from the wilderness, and has done well, but he might not be where he is right now if Krejza had not have rolled his ankle that day. Krejza got one more Test in Perth, in which he did poorly, and hasn't been seen since. But his Sheffield Shield form has been OK. The big thing I've noticed is his economy rate is down. You also do realise that the Test we're talking about was the 4th and final Test in India in 2008. If Ponting had been suspended, he would have missed the Brisbane Test.

Not if they were told to bowl spinners to ensure enough overs were bowled. Ponting had no choice. I'd be happy to bet that he would have prefered to bowl the quicks, but he had no choice but to use White and Krejza to get through the overs.

I believe he was under orders to speed up the over rate. Regardless, as RR said, the two aren't mutually exclusive. White and Krejza were taken to India as designated spinners. The selectors put the burden on their shoulders to take wickets, especially 4th innings wickets. The fact that they didn't should have reflected more on them than Ponting, but it didn't. It was not the best way to go about winning the match, but that's not to say Ponting lost us the Test.

Well, I'm a bit surprised they made it to 170, but we should still make it OK. The pitch isn't as bad as India's top order made it look. One decent partnership should be enough.

Johnson and Bollinger! Beauties! 3/23 after 7 overs, Tendulkar's gone. Edit: 4/24! And Dhoni was actually out, but wasn't given due to a lack of an appeal. What a start! Edit 2: Now 5/27!!! This is fantastic!

Yeah that was some match. I got a score at about the 30 over mark, when Hussey and Hodge had gone, and I didn't think we had a chance. I'd never even heard of Aaron Finch. 7 first choice players unavailable. Victorian cricket is so strong at the moment.

I think it evens things out, frankly. Quite a few blunders of late, but the way they've managed to get decent, international-quality players over to India on such short notice, and ensure that the team's stability hasn't fallen apart, deserves credit.

What an amazing match. 175 to Tendulkar, and India loses. How would you feel? White and McKay leading the charge for Victoria. White's innings was the first typical White innings we've seen in a while. 5 sixes. If we get up and win this series it will highlight the strength and resilience of Australian cricket. Probably 6 or so of our first-choice XI aren't available for selection.

Definitely should have got the call up before Henriques, and should play once he's over there. Good fill in for Hopes. Hodge has the ability to come back in and make runs, but I guess the selectors will use this somewhat easier summer to look at new talent. I would just like to see Hodge (and Rogers, for that matter) get some recognition from CA for their continual dominance in the Sheffield Shield. Possibly Hughes back to open and Watson into the middle order.

Michael Clarke's no certainty for the First Test in Brisbane on November 26: http://www.cricinfo.com/australia/content/...ory/433004.html Possibly an opening for Hodge to replace him in the middle order?

No they're not. They're going nowhere and don't deserve to be playing Test cricket. Very true. And sad. Give it up WYL. The idea that every captain should bat first 100% of the time is just out-dated and wrong. As RR said, Waugh could have bowled first on roads and still had a result.

Well then you wouldn't make a very good captain.

I'll agree with that. Our choice of opening batsmen in ODIs seems to be slightly haphazard. We've had something like 8 different opening partnerships since January. Should be Watson and Haddin IMO. As for spinners, Hauritz is doing very well in limited overs cricket at the moment. He'll start in the First Test, but if he doesn't perform, I dare say the selectors will be keeping an eye on Krejza, who seems to me to have worked hard on bringing his economy rate down. Why is Hussey playing in India? Because he's our best batsman at the moment, that's why! Have a look at his form. 4 ODIs, 3 50s. Continues to anchor the innings, especially when we lose a couple of quick wickets. He's doing a fine job. His spot in the Test team is under threat, but his century at The Oval will probably keep him in in Brisbane. No runs there, and he'll likely be chopped. What did Hayden playing too long have to do with it? Hughes was just coming off completely destroying the world's best bowling line-up in foreign territory. That's a pretty good formguide and preparation if you ask me.

Johnson was rubbish. I don't understand why Siddle only bowled 5 overs, whereas Ponting kept bringing Johnson back on. Good bowling performances from Bollinger and Watson (who surprised me with his ability to get the ball to hit the pitch). I'll bet there were a few nervous Aussies when Harbhajan got going though. More crap. In Tests yes. But in ODIs, the pitch doesn't always break down to the extent that there's a definite advantage to batting first. Add to that the fact that bowling in the second innnings can be difficult if there's dew around (which there has been), and there becomes a case for bowling first.

Rogers, Hodge, McDonald all made centuries vs South Australia. Victoria is such a strong team. It'd be nice to see one of them get back into the Test side.

Lee is out of the India ODI series: http://www.cricinfo.com/indvaus2009/conten...ory/432176.html This scheduling is beyond a joke now. Why we have to play 7 ODIs now is beyond me. I think the Champions League wasn't originally meant to be directly before this series, but still, right before a home summer, having been away since basically late February, it's nonsense.