H_T

He bowled well. I'm surprised late in the Vic innings when Vettori was bowling, QLD's skipper Simpson didn't give him enough protection to stop those singles and 2's on the on-side. Hussey & MacDonald milked 8-10 runs off Vettori's last over with just single's and 2's on the on-side. Then, the game was well and truly over. From memory it was something like a 7-2 field ! Vettori himself, with his experience should have recognised this when they ran the first two.

Hopes had a go at the other bloke, it wasn't on purpose. Fact is the Vics had another 7 balls to face to get one run if they did take the catch. The Vics were in raptures. Bordering on hysterical in the stands. Won by 6 wickets.

Sure did, thanks to another match winning and man-of-the-match effort, this time the other Hussey ! B) Did anyone see the last ball, where Hopes and another Queenslander looked at each other in dismay as to why each other let the ball drop to the ground ? Priceless. Another Prelim win over Queensland in the big bash. Beautiful !

So ? Ricky Ponting got man-of-the match for his 209 in 3rd test, yet was dropped on 0. What have you got to say about that ? The fact is they both made the most of their opportunities. If Pakistan were any good they would have made the 173 with ease. And maybe Asif was then a chance for the MOTM, but it didn't pan out that way.

Christ almighty ! Yes, he got dropped, but he more importantly dug deep and scored the runs, unlike the other batsmen apart from Watson & Siddle who chimed in. Give it a rest.

Hussey gets ~140-odd runs in an innings which erased a deficit and produced a 173 run lead ! The Paki's fail to get the target thanks to some intense pressure by the Aussies and some inexperienced Test batting. And you wouldn't say that Hussey's innings was gritty & gutsy on that pitch ? WYL ?! C'mon. I'd say that his innings in particular and partnership with Siddle (~40 odd runs) was Man-of the-Match stuff. It won the Test & the series. WYL, you're in what you would call a real "purple patch".

Bingo. There it is.

Dokic gets down on herself very quickly. She has a temper. It's in the genes. Lucak did play well in the first set, was with Nadal, but had to win the first set to have any chance. After Nadal took the first, he just went BANG! in the second and pretty much man-handled Lucak on court. That Santoro record will be one for the records for sometime to come.

Watched Inside Cricket last night WonnaJurrah, and Brad Hodge was interviewed and let it be known that there is one player in doubt for tonight. He said it is an International player....Mark Waugh thought it might be D.Hussey.

Jelena Dokic and Peter Lucak are both out. No surprises there. Dokic's lead up to the Aussie Open hasn't been the best preparation.

Younis Khan is to return to the pakistan team to play in the 50 over format game. Apparently he will be the skipper for the series. I suppose that will inject some interest for the series.

The 3 wins still covers up cracks in the team that will be exploited by the Sth Africa's, India's and England sides of this world. Winning against lowly ranked teams in WI and Paki's should have been like "shelling pea's". If these two teams (WI & Pak) were 10% more professional and took catches when required, the results and the flak by the Australian media on the Australian team would have been far different. I don't expect we'll see much different in the 50 overs format at the end of the day. However, it wouldn't surprise me to see some magnificent innings by the likes of Gayle & Umar to put their sides in good positions at some stages of the games before the finals. As for the Twenty/20's...that is just hit & giggle, anything can happen.

Siddle has taken a couple of wickets in Farhat and Malik has 2/20 off 11.

Food for thought. Instead of a World Cup we could have the leading two nations in Australia v USA, we could call it the battle for the Goggles or something. (corny I know). Actually, I think they've already done something along this concept in Melbourne a year or two back.

nO ReaSoN.

Batting well the skipper and 007. I'd really like to see them bat on and make "BIG" (sorry 45h16) scores. It's about time Punter got a double century. edit: - 8 runs from the 200 partnership.

No problem. What are your thoughts ? I've heard player feedback both positive and negative. Positive in the concept. Negative that there is already too much tennis. If it is a 10 day event I'm sure they could accomodate it and choose their own tournaments throughout the year.

Ah yes. Indeed. Leaving the keys in the car. I suppose we could forgive her, being blonde and all..

What is there to protect ? His back ? His Aston Martin ?

2/52 with both Aussie openers out after winning the toss and batting. Why is Clarke coming in after M. Hussey ? Strange.

Apologies...I thought I saw on table on fox cricket after the match, both warriors & bulls on 6 points, so I gather they've both had 2 wins - as the Vics have. We have to win then. edit: Saw the table again since. They are both on 4 points with Vics on 4 points, confirming that the Vics are a better chance than I first thought. Must have been hallucinating.

Put it this way, a win over tassie like SA had over the Vics will give us a chance for the Prelim.

We need a BIG win over Tassie. We have a very poor Net Run rate thanks to the big loss at the hands of SA. That's why I stated "more than likely". It's possible, but we need a massive win on Friday. edit: also the Warriors and Bulls play each other so who ever losses and Vics win it will come down to run rate. Vics are well into the negative though.

NSW - Homebush interrupted by rain again *sigh* - typical Sydney weather. Reduced overs, looks as though the Bulls have done it easy. The Redbacks are already in the final, and it will more than likely the Bulls or Warriors for the Prelim.

This LINK will work. If it's around October, I think it could work. After the US Open in early September; before the ATP Master Series in November/December.