titan_uranus

And the HUN today ran a story about how Hawthorn had signed all its premiership players, Crawford included, for next year. But good timing for Crawford. I thought he was wrong to try another year, so this is the right decision IMO. Go out on a high note.

India's bowling a negative line outside off stump with all but 1 fielder on the off side. We scored 42 runs in a session, and lost Katich, because we weren't playing at any of the balls. It's up to the Australians to have a go, try to work the balls onto the leg side. Despite it being negative/defensive/whatever from Dhoni, we're the ones who need to win, not India. Katich scored 10 runs in an hour and a half. It's all good for India. We have to be past their score by the end of the day if we want to win, and that isn't going to happen if we don't play shots.

Suggested on cricinfo that he didn't see India swap Mishra (poor fielder) for Vijay (young, good fielder). Totally agreed. Dravid surely will retire after either this series or the England series beginning next week. I think he's playing based only on his reputation, not his form, which is very poor. They might play as good cricket as us, if not better, but they won't sustain it. I would have expected White to get a bowl sometime yesterday morning. If they did play him for his batting, then why isn't someone like Hodge or Marsh playing instead? If not, why didn't he bowl? He seemed to do alright on Day 1. I'm a bit worried about Clarke actually. Apparently Watson was padded up during the Katich-Hussey partnership, and Clarke wasn't. He didn't bowl, and he fielded at slip, where he doesn't usually field if Hayden is playing. Which all suggests that he's below fitness.

So much for keeping them under 400. It would be nice if we kept them under 500 now. 0/93 off 27 overs in that session. Ganguly looks like he'll make a century. There isn't much chance that we'll win it now.

Ganguly and Dhoni having no problem scoring runs off Lee, Johnson and Krejza. Watson's doing better in the runs department, but he's bowling consistently outside off stump and they're leaving him. So, not only are we leaking runs, but we're not at all dangerous. I think we've beaten the bat once in this session. If we don't get a wicket before lunch, it will be 2 wickets in the last 3 sessions.

Johnson dropped him too, and his catch was much easier and should have been taken. But at least we got him out. As for the score, I'd put us in front only because they were 0/98 after 17 overs or so. To take 5 for 220 odd from where they were I think is a positive. But the work's not finished yet. Definitely gotta get them out for less than 400. If we can get Dhoni before he gets going that'll be a good chance of happening. As for Lee, I think he struggles on these Indian pitches. Hopefully he'll improve in Australia over the summer (but you're right, he's going to take plenty of wickets against NZ regardless of how well he bowls).

Quite an unbelievable start to this match. At lunch India is 3/122, Krejza having first being belted all over the place, but then the wicket of Dravid seemed to give him confidence, and he then bowled Sehwag. That's what we needed. Obviously we'd prefer not to have to concede so many runs, but at least Krejza is taking wickets. And we need wickets. I'd go so far as to say we levelled the session, especially considering where it could have gone. But there's still the small matters of Tendulkar and Laxman, who we couldn't get out in the last test. And also Ganguly and Dhoni.

Absolute disaster is Krejza. I was hopeful, but look at this: 3 overs, 32 runs. Sehwag just doesn't respect him at all. Both batsmen are smashing him all over the place, and take singles with ease. 17 overs, India 0/96. Still 30 minutes until lunch. Edit: How things change. 2 more overs, 2 wickets fall, including Dravid to Krejza. 2/99.

This was discussed earlier this year: http://forums.demonland.com/index.php?showtopic=11573 As I wrote there, we should never have been in a position to tank in Round 22. We had so many matches earlier in the season that we should have won.

Match is just about to start. Ponting called the toss incorrectly, so Dhoni chose to bat first. That almost automatically rules out an Australian win. More importantly, though, Krejza is playing! Stuart Clark has been dropped, Cameron White retains his spot. Obviously the selectors want batting down to 8, but know we need another spin bowler. Clark isn't damaging enough, and we already have Lee, Johnson and Watson in the pace department, so I'm fine with Clark out instead of White. Gambhir isn't playing. Murali Vijay will open with Sehwag. I'm predicting a draw, considering that India don't need to push for a win.

Just as we thought the ICC had beaten the BCCI: India may play banned opener Gautam Gambhir against Australia India's complaining that the decision was made without a proper hearing and without taking evidence from Gambhir. The judge just used the footage as enough evidence to charge him. Let's hope the ICC stands up to the BCCI.

Yeah, I expected the appeal to be held off. The BCCI has a lot of power, I'm surprised they didn't win this battle. And it helps the Australians dramatically. Too right HT. Which is why the toss is so important. If we can get in first and set a nice score in the first innings, then maybe the match will play out a bit more like Bangalore than Mohali (provided the pitch is good for batting). In Bangalore we had a big first innings, which I think helped us bowl to the Indians. If we bat second, with a 500-600 deficit to chase, well you can probably write it off then. I would bring Siddle in for Clark. Clark's only taken 2 wickets in 4 innings, and he just isn't dangerous enough. In the second innings in Delhi he consistently bowled a ridiculous line outside off stump to Gambhir when we were in need of quick wickets. Yes, he's economical, but I think Siddle's aggression is more highly required at this point in time. Cameron White's batting in the second innings may just have saved him from being dropped for Krejza. But that's a 50-50, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Krejza come in.

I have been informed by the club that this logo is an old logo. Why it is called 'new_logo' we won't know, but according to the club, this is an old logo which we can 'disregard'.

Not to mention the fact that he promised lots but never delivered.

Agreed. We played shocking football, no doubt about it. It's quite embarrassing to be in the crowd and hear nothing but Melbourne supporters shouting abuse at the team because they don't kick the football. And you're right about Wheatley. He was over-rated by some just because he can kick 50 metres.

Good one Deeman. As for your conspiracy theory, I don't think so. But it would be a hell of a plan if it was true.

To be honest, I thought about it a bit before I did it, but I figured, if it was top-secret or something, then it definitely wouldn't have been sent to me. At first I thought it might have been an old logo from the 50s or something (I wouldn't know) which is why I asked if anyone had seen it before. I guess it's probably just an unofficial logo of the club.

I'll try. Probably not though. Yeah I think from the way Jimmy's been going about it so far, this isn't the kind of thing I would expect from him. That's not to say I don't like it, because I do, I just don't think this will end up being our logo. I should just remind people that this was accidently (I believe) sent to me by the club, and might not represent anything at all.

Whoa. Had no idea about this until just now. Surprised me somewhat. But I understand. After being shopped around, I'm guessing one of the West Australian clubs has made some sort of offer in the PSD, and CJ feels he'll do better at a club that wants him. He had enough time to earn a spot on the Melbourne list, but didn't. A couple of good games this year doesn't make him a required player, and both the club and Chris knew that. One could argue that it's a problem that we can't retain our players and that no one wants to play for us, but one look at McLean donating $10,000 of his own money to keep the club afloat shows that there are still those who care about the club. Put simply, I don't care that he's gone.

Got an email from the club today in response to a membership enquiry, and attached to the email was the file 'new_logo': Is this a sign of things to come, or is this an old logo?

Tait wouldn't help, the problem is we need a spinner. Plus I don't think Tait is good enough at Test level. Warne is gone. Get over it. (I'm not sure if you were being serious or not though) I'm not convinced that Symonds will be the saviour of this team. Has anyone noticed how badly he's doing in Queensland? Ineffective bowling and terrible batting. It's quite concerning.

Well folks, Test number 3 is upon us. Team changes are as followss: India: IN: Kumble OUT: Harbhajan Australia IN: Clark OUT: Siddle Siddle was unlucky to go. Harbhajan out is a positive for us. India won the toss, batted first, and in the third over Lee took Sehwag LBW for one. Score is 1/16.

Well said Demonland.

A possible conclusion, but Hawthorn would disagree. I think Hawthorn got improvements on their draw based on their success this year. However, you're right in that Carlton and St Kilda seem to have been the biggest winners/losers in terms of their 2008 seasons. Nothing the AFL says will justify Carlton's fixture in my mind.

I wonder what will happen when Collingwood is meant to play there, what with Emirates being their major sponsor and Etihad, their rival, being the naming rights sponsor of the ground. I wonder if there will be any problems there. Though I know there haven't been problems previously (e.g. us and North with iPrimus playing at Telstra Dome)