Nasher

I agree P-man. Any criticism of Haddin in particular is absolutely laughable. Since his return he's arguably become the world's premier keeper-batsman, with genuine first rate contribution from both aspects. AB de Villiers is the only close rival IMO. I couldn't be more pleased with his game. The criticism levelled at he and Lyon is just a classic case of people allowing their preconceived views to cloud their assessment.

Who comes in if Harris doesn't come up? Pattinson and Bird have both been playing in the BBL, but I'd want to see them play some four day cricket first. I'd have thought Doug the Rug would be next off the rank, given his early Shield form.

The common thread was that we batted well and scored a shit tonne of runs. The link between that and batting first is tenuous and based on nothing but circumstantial evidence.

Because those conditions were those conditions and these conditions are these conditions? With tosses, you can't take a strategy that worked on a pitch on the other side of the country and blanketly apply it to a pitch with different properties and conditions. As captain it's Clarke's job to determine when batting conditions will be at their best. Obviously he thought they would be at their best at the end of the game. I'll wait to see how the chase goes and how the pitch plays on day 5 before passing judgement. It seems a tad premature to slam the decision to bowl first two days in to a Test.

That was a bloody amazing spell of bowling.

You do realise all the kerfuffle is about Warner saying something to the media, and not on the field, right? Cook even said he wasn't bothered by Clarke's on the field sledge, it was Warner commenting on Trott's dismissal to the media that he took exception to.

Good luck to him, hope he's able to make a recovery. Don't like to see anyone suffer illness of the mind, not to mention that cricket is poorer for his absence. You'd reckon David Warner would feel pretty small now. Next time just leave it on the field, mate.

Jordan Silk has scored his 4th century in 9 first class matches after scoring 63 in the first innings against SA. How long...? Ed Cowan also 116 not out, with Alex Doolan at the crease. The other notable score in this match was 98 from 19 year old SA batsman Travis Head. It's the last day so this game will clearly be a draw, but it sounds as if it's been a very interesting match insofar as looking at young batsmen goes.

Anyone whose name is Ian but pronounces it "eye-an" has my vote.

It is what it is.

Pissing down with rain this morning here. I live half an hour south of Hobart and it tends to rain more here than it does there, but let's hope it's raining up in the "big smoke", so that play is abandoned and we stop running their batsmen in to form with the pie chuckers we've got in the 'A' side.

In the Tasmania vs Queensland game, Tassie 2/268. Silk 107, Cosgrove 74, Cowan 57*, Bailey 22*. Bailey's 22 have come of 20 balls, including five 4s; all the other batsmen had strike rates in the order of 50. Think someone forgot to tell him he's not playing on roads in India any more. Harris 1/86 and has been the most expensive of the bowlers.

Opening the batting now (2 not out) in his first Shield game of the year. Apparently has shed 16 kilos in a couple of months. He's 29 now, it's not too late to knuckle down and make something of his undoubted talent. I'd love to see him extract a digit, get fit and get himself picked. Not holding my breath though - and quite happy to have him help Tassie to another Shield if he can't. His batting partner is Jordan Silk, who already has two centuries to his name in 6 first class matches. Doolan, Hilfy and Ed Cowan also playing, though you'd think the latter is finished at Test level. Plenty of interest in this game.

With the way we've been batting in recent years, the "extra rest" he gets at batting at 5 instead of 3 is about 15 minutes.

Amazing that we're short of quality bowlers given our stocks of talent. What a disastrous run of injuries, almost unbelievable really. Alex Doolan pressing his claim for a place with a match winning century in the fourth innings against a strong NSW side. Also scored a 50 in the first innings, and his century was the only one scored in a match where no team managed to reach 300 in any of the four innings. I didn't see a ball of the game, but it sounds good in the context.

Bailey is busy scoring billions of runs with the Australian ODI squad. 156 of 114 balls last night if you don't mind.

Bailey is busy scoring billions of runs with the Australian ODI squad. 169 of 114 balls last night if you don't mind.

Wha, there was a ODI series on? I switched off literally the minute the last Test finished.

Ashley Mallett said Ashton Agar was easily the best spinner in Australia. He may be eventually, but he isn't yet. Shane Warne once said Bryce McGain was the best spinner in Australia. You might forgive me if I don't take MacGill's word as gospel.

Agree on those changes, Rhino. Would also like to add some man love for Ryan Harris. Considering that at 30 he looked a journeyman Shield bowler who had never been and would never be anywhere near Test cricket, his rise to first rate international bowler is amazing. His bowling Test average is superior to his first class record, and his batting is comparable. Let's just hope the string and chewy holding his body together can hold out a year or two more.

What about the idea of not using it for the line/impact elements of LBW? I.e. the pitching, bounce, impact part of the LBW are just always set to "umpire's call", and the DRS can only be used to determine if the batsman hit it or not. I think this would solve the problem of the players overusing it (i.e. batsman like Cook and Watson seemingly believing that they are immune to getting out LBW), and it takes away the annoyance of LBW decisions being reversed all the time when it's a marginal call. LBW is the only way to get out in the game where the decision is not black and white, i.e. requires judgement from the umpire, so my view is to leave that judgement with the umpire. For everything else (caught, bowled, stumped, run out, the "I hit it" aspect of LBW), it's clear cut: you hit it or you didn't, you were over the line or you weren't etc; the DRS should be able to manage that quite sufficiently without creating the problematic grey areas we are currently seeing in LBW decisions.

The difference is so subtle that it ceases to exist.

...for England? He's playing as a non-international player and has retired from Cricket in Australia. He could be the next Darren Pattinson.

Quick, rush Ed Cowan back!We're gone. The cupboard is completely bare. It's the Aussie equivalent of out: Pedersen in: Dunn.

P_man was talking about Wines being sensational, not Toumpas. Thanks for the long winded rebuttal, though