Nasher

Jones didn't come from anywhere near as low a base as Bail though. Jones had too many rushed "kick and hope" type kicks; his issues were more around decisions and timing. Bail just misses the target. I haven't thought about it very hard at all, but off the top of my head I can't think of any players in recent times who have managed to transform their kicking to such a degree that Bail needs to. I only draw examples like Ward, Godfrey et al who started out terrible and weren't any better by the end.

Urgh. Please, please tell me it was obvious that I was kidding!

He was banned under the "no aliases" rule. Considering he is a semi-regular poster here and signed up again especially for that, I thought it was inappropriate. He's welcome to continue to post under his usual account and I have told him as much.

Spot on I reckon Mark. I was a teenager during the merger years and wasn't a member so I had no involvement, and expect that if it were happening now I'd vote "no", but I can fully appreciate why people would vote "yes" if they felt that death was the only alternative. It was a very extreme situation and it's completely understandable that it polarises people, but slamming the "yes" voters is absolutely not on IMO. I can't imagine that any of the members who voted on either side had anything but what they believed was the club's best interest at heart. Those who were administering propanga is another story, but I have no qualification to comment on that. I'm only talking of the "rank and file" members.

I've permanently banned "no merger" and PM'ed his other alias. I'll leave it to him to out himself if he wants.

Yes, he just kept walking. You make it sound as if he burst in to tears. We're 5 pages in to this thread and still nobody's been able to tell me what the correct reaction would have been, especially when Neeld's body language after his comment suggested the conversation was over. Apparently walking over and taking a seat is equal to a tantrum.

wtf bub? It's the folk on here having a whinge, not Cale!

I agree with everything you've said there. Except that by all reports Neeld either said "kick it down the line" or "kick it on your right", so even though he said it with a grumpy tone, it barely qualifies as a public humiliation so the entire point is somewhat moot.

Not wanting to look someone in the eye when you're already completely humiliated is a completely normal human response. Being able to do so doesn't make you tougher or more of a man, it just means you have a higher tolerance for personal humiliation. I'm a very emotional person and when my negative emotions like humiliation or anger are at their peak, talking to me is a complete waste of time - I'm not going to hear a word you say until I've had a moment to let it boil over. Everyone reacts differently.

What should he have done instead? He reacted pretty much the same way I would have to be honest.

Just to respond to myself: apparently Paine is playing in the NT league this season in order to gain match fitness. I've never heard of anyone playing in that league during the "off" season before, but I suppose chasing an English county contract would've been difficult given how long he's been out for now.

I'd like to see Paine play a game of cricket some time in the future before backing him in. I do think he's still in the frame for life after Haddin and frankly I think this is a good problem to have, but his recovery from this injury has not been encouraging so far.

Uhh, you realise this guy is essentially just a spotter, right? This is essentially an entry-level position in to the footy industry for those who don't have a passage in through playing. All the clubs have lots of guys on the payroll like this, both full time and part time, including ours. There's a guy who used to be a regular on Demonland that made his way in to the footy industry this way. The "tried and proven" candidates all have better jobs. Asking for Pelchen or "the Geelong guy" to fill this role would be like asking for George Calombaris to apply for the role of kitchen hand.

Damn, shame I missed it. I was out of bed at the right hour too. Shame Clarke didn't sent Lyon in to get the last couple of runs with Harris - that would've been fitting! It's not often that a specialist bowler wins MOTM for his outstanding performance with the bat - absolutely no doubt Harris (ably supported by Lyon) was chiefly responsible for this win with that innings. Edit: Also, seems laughable that it wasn't that long ago that Bob and I were bemoaning the lack of batting power in the tail. In the last six months, every single one of Siddle, Harris, Lyon and Pattinson have contributed an important innings with the bat - and Hilfy is capable of an amusing cameo of unconvincing fours when the mood suits.

Warner's first test wicket! Wouldn't it be funny if after all this dicking around looking for a spinner post-Warne, Warner turns out to be a test-grade leggie? Ok, fanciful thinking (especially since the ball that took the wicket was rubbish) but I got a chuckle out of it.

It was a great final in the end that came right down to the wire even though there was a full day to spare. The chase was absolutely gripping: Butterworth and Faulkner had them absolutely on the ropes after taking 5/5 on their middle order. Tassie only needed one more wicket before being in to the bunny tail of Boyce and McDermott, before that lumbering goof Magoffin managed to nick enough 4s to chase down the total in the end. Faulkner and Krezja were bowling to them for the last 10 runs and were both so bloody close to taking wickets without success that it was making me feel sick. Chris Hartley on the other hand is all class and thoroughly deserved his MOTM for the victory. I'd say he and Eddie Cowan were the only two batsman who looked solid for the whole match. Also I think a "well done" to the Gabba curators are in order, the pitch was the reason this was such a great match. They could quite easily have prepared a road so that Queensland could just but for three days and set Tasmania an unchasable target and have the match peter out in to a boring draw giving QLD the Shield, but it was nothing like that. It had lots in it for the bowlers, which was to the strength of both teams. Bloody glad Foxtel backflipped on their decision not to televise it, too.

Well it would seem that I'm in the minority, but I reckon they look great. Nothing wrong with looking classy from time to time.

Centuries to Cowan (what an amazing two seasons he's had) and Ponting (his three scores since being given the axe from the ODI side have been 75*, 130 and 111), WA dismissed for 241 in the second innings. Tassie's total for outright victory is 21 - pretty sure they can manage that Jackson Bird's figures for the match were 11/95. You'd think the bowler would win the MOTM award - not that any of you care Oh, and some guy from India retired the other day.

If Tassie can roll WA in the Shield in the next three days then they'll hit the top of the Shield table, and where they play just depends on the result of the Queensland/SA game. Looking good so far after skittling WA out for 142 and are 1/72 in reply. How great would it be to have Ponting lead Tassie to a Shield victory?

My advice: elope.

Beer has disappeared from the scene, but that's hardly surprising. He was always a left field selection and had barely played any first class cricket when he got the callup, and I think he was just as surprised as anyone. Just another selection out of desperation rather than merit, but then again, the same could probably be said of Lyon.

It might not sound like much, but I reckon that's asking a lot Macca. There weren't very many top class leggies around in the world pre-Warne and not much since (the fact that we managed to produce Stuey Macgill at the same time was rotten luck timing wise). I don't reckon we'd be counting on one turning up any time soon.

You were saying? On those totals, we could've enforced the follow on and won by an innings. I picked it, dammit, but Clarke blew it for me

Reckon Zaheer Khan could look Virat Kohli in the eye after that effort? Edit: And on that note, why does Ishant Sharma bat after Zaheer? Obviously he's not great with the bat, but at least he treats his wicket with some regard. I know which of the two I'd prefer to have down the other end. If he can learn to cope with those bouncers, I don't see a reason why he couldn't become passable with the bat like Peter Siddle or Ryan Harris.

Chances of Michael Clarke beating his highest test score?