Rogue

Haha, wowee. Siddle 3rd highest scorer in our first innings, top scorer atm in our second (and likely to stay that way unless Lyon overtakes him).

I better ban you, H_T. It's for our own good

Wow! Test cricket, hey chaps?

What a great innings by Clarke. Not only did he score 150, but he did it quickly too.

He played what looks like the next three Tests following his debut century and was then dropped until 1985, four years later. He played one Test in '85 and another, his sixth, in '87: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/8198.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting;view=innings

I had no idea who Dirk Wellham was so I checked out Cricinfo. In his first Test he hit 103 (and 24) at the Oval. However, he played a further five Tests (in Australia and England), finishing with a career batting average of 23. He didn't pass 36 in any innings bar his century.

On a similar vein, apparently in Watson's recent book he recounts a sledge he made about Stuart Law. Watson suggested Law was not a very likeable character and brought up the fact he never played Test cricket again after his one knock of 54* in a winning Test.

I dub it the Terminator argument.

^^ I thought I read today something about 14 years (re: St Kilda's complaining, reported in The Age). Haha. Smooth

Cricket boards always sound like they're being managed terribly: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/windies-froze-me-out-says-emotional-gayle-20110421-1dq2v.html

Hopefully the ICC rethinks the World Cup format, bringing some associates into the fold.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Haha, wow - that's ridiculous. Asked about the sixes, Watson gave this nice response:

White has been dropped from the side in the ODI series vs Bangladesh - Ferguson has replaced him.

Yeah - I'm not a massive fan. Anyway, the squad to Bangladesh has been announced. The squad is one smaller than for the World Cup, and D Hussey is squeezed out*. while Tait has been replaced by Pattinson and Kreza by Doherty. Shane Watson Brad Haddin Michael Clarke Mike Hussey Callum Ferguson Ricky Ponting Cameron White Mitchell Johnson Brett Lee Xavier Doherty //for Kreza James Pattinson //for Tait Steve Smith Tim Paine John Hastings I don't think it's surprising that there haven't been massive changes. I'm most interested to see what happens later in the year. *Imminent birth of a child, so who knows whether he would have gone otherwise. Perhaps White has been saved.

If I was him I'd do the same. He clearly doesn't love cricket, and T20 is far easier on the body etc. There's also less scrutiny, at least in one sense. Given he can make decent moolah as a T20 player, and is less likely to get injured, it's a smart career move.

Interesting perspective. http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/508563.html Hah. Hilditch has said he won't walk, but he will probably get bumped by the assertion that we need a full-time chief of selectors.

Ponting's just announced his retirement from captaincy. He wants to play on.

I completely disagree. What exceptional on-field abilities did he display? I'm pretty keen to know, because I can't see where you're coming from.

NZ getting over SA is why I didn't buy the idea that we couldn't win the World Cup - it's been a pretty open field (no pun intended).

You don't take wickets with wides. You do take wickets when the batsmen are under pressure though, and once Tait got smashed in those two overs the game was over - there was no pressure. Had we continued to build the pressure, as we had been doing up until that point (you would have noticed the run rate was constantly increasing, and weas up around 6), the batsmen would have been more likely to get out. I also disagree with the implication that Tait was the most likely to break the partnership at that point in the game. Each to their own, though. Ponting's played more cricket than me and he clearly thought the same as you. As an aside, if Ferguson had faced 22 balls - the number White did - and scored at his average career strike rate the Indians would have been chasing 270, which would have made for a pretty interesting game. To chase 12 runs in the last 14 balls doesn't sound much, but that's not the scenario - with a larger total to chase there would have been more pressure on the Indian bats throughout the innings so who knows how it would have gone. White did achieve a run out, which I saw someone tweet as the best (or was it only?) thing he's done all WC - perhaps a fair call (unfortuately, because I like White). - - - - Anyway, a shame about the result from an Australian perspective, but there were some good individual performances. D Hussey shone, and it was nice to see Ponting bat well. I think Lee's been pretty good since he came back into the side, too. It'll be interesting to see what the selectors do from here.

According to Cricinfo, Lee would have had him at the 15th if Kreza had fielded a little better. Anyway, as it happens your post is a nice segue into a comment I wanted to make re: Ponting's bowling changes. I was liking them until Tait was brought on. Watson and Lee had 5 overs left and Johnson 3, with ~13 overs to go. These bowlers were all going at less than 5 per over and the run rate was ~6. All the spinners had plenty of overs too (including D Hussey, who has gone for less than 4 per over). Tait was introduced into the attack and went for 19 off two overs. Not a choice I would have made, with Yuv and Raina at the crease. Anyhow, India's in the box seat from here - we need wickets quickly. - - - - - - - Ouch, Lee returned to the attack, was hit for six and the equation is now 16 off 29. I think it's curtains.

Argh.

I agree. I don't buy that we can't win the World Cup, or that our chances are near zero. We need to win three consecutive games and no teams - not even SA - are looking unbeatable. We're certainly not favourites, but it's a pretty open season. (I reckon most teams are lucky this World Cup isn't on a more seam-friendly continent, because SA would be super hard to beat then).

Good innings by D Hussey.