Macca
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Everything posted by Macca
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Stage 3 ... live coverage from the official site Jean Francois Pescheux's view ... Up-down, left-right
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Going to be tough for Warner if all the other batsmen get runs in the warm up games. By all accounts Watson is back bowling again - though he didn't bowl in the just completed warm up game. Probably don't want to risk him If he is fit to bowl then Faulkner may miss out. I reckon Patto, Starc and Siddle will start in the 1st Test although Siddle's form isn't great. He normally steps up though so I think he'll play. I'd have Bird or Harris starting but I'm trying to read the selectors minds (is that a pointless task, TD?) You'd reckon Hughes will play and possibly bat at no.5 (where he batted in the 1st innings of the first warm up game) We might get an indication on which batsmen are earmarked for the 1st Test by who plays in the 2nd warm up game (starting tomorrow) If Rogers gets a score he could play himself into the team. The pleasing news is that we got some good practice from the 1st warm up game. Would like to have seen a hundred or 2 in there but a lot of our batsmen got good time at the crease. Patto and Starc getting wickets was a good sign too.
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Key moments last night (video) ... Bakelants cooks up a surprise in Ajaccio
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It would have been easy for Craig to put down the last quarter fade out as the team running out of legs but he didn't. Instead of that he emphasised that the team was poor in the last quarter. Craig was quoted as saying ... That's what our players need to hear. At 3/4 time in our next game our players won't have an excuse to fall back on if they don't run the game out.
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Reckon that's the role of Harris and/or Bird. Both seem ideally suited to the conditions in England but not sure either will play in the 1st Test. Who knows though? I'd like to see either play but you can't play them all. At least it looks like we've got a bit of depth in the bowling. The batting needs to click - that's the key. Faulkner seems a likely type. Quite the competitor. At Test level? Suppose he needs an opportunity or 2 to find out. He's not overly quick but he's a left armer. Bats well for a bowler.
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It was certainly a crazy moment last night. The bus was literally still stuck under the banner (which was fixed) with the peloton less than 5 minutes or so from the finish. At one stage they were going to end the stage at the 3km mark (which had a 'chicane' like characteristic) As it was, because the peloton accelerated earlier than expected, it may have contributed to the crash that happened with 5ks or so to go. The narrowness on parts of the course didn't help either. They ended up backing the bus back but the driver was copping all sorts of grief.
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Stage 2 Jean Francois Pescheux's view ... Mountains of opportunity en route to Ajaccio
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Didn't he fracture his pelvis last year? That's gotta impact your career you'd reckon (in such a gruelling sport) ... here's an interesting article on him ... Andy Schleck still on comeback trail at the Tour de France The bloke that I'm intrigued about is Contador. The bookies have him as firm 2nd favourite but I'm not sure about the strength of his team. I'm reminded that all sorts of things can happen during the Tour. Injuries occur and as we found out last night, crashes can happen all too frequently. As you mentioned, Cavendish was involved in one as well. There are 2 more stages in Corsica and the commentators made mention of some of the narrow parts of the course. The barriers came in quite close to the Peloton last night and this contributed to a few falls. It's quite different to have a category 2 climb on the 2nd day of the tour. Tonight will be very interesting.
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It was high drama wasn't it? I'll post the stage 2 profile and route later on but tonight's stage involves a couple of category 3 climbs and a category 2 climb. A number of the sprinters could lose touch with the peloton. Not sure how others see things, but I see an averall podium finish to Cadel as quite an achievement. He's now 36 years old and doesn't have the team to support him that Froome has. Anyway ... for a summary of last nights stage go to this site.
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1st Innings Watson Cowan Khawaja Clarke Hughes Haddin Faulkner 2nd Innings Cowan Khawaja Hughes Clarke Haddin Faulkner None of the bowlers got a hit (apart from Faulkner) but all the batsmen spent good time at the crease.
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There's a bus stuck at the finishing line under the banner. Hard to believe something like this could happen. They've moved the bus. Is Reg Varney at the wheel? Chaos!
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- 2011 winner cadel evans
- go any aussies!
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We ended up winning by 6 wickets (after declaring at 5 down in our 1st innings) Haddin and Hughes posted half centuries whilst Khawaja got 73 and Cowan 46. Quite a good hit out really and the team would have achieved a number of goals ... scorecard The next 4 day warm up game starts in a couple of days so we could expect Rogers, Wade, Smith, Bird and Harris to all get a run. Hard to know who may be rested but possibly Pattinson, Siddle and Starc could sit things out if it's been decided that they'll be the starting trio of quicks in the 1st Test.
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6 - Watts (the difference between the 2 sides) 5 - Terlich (Mr Consistency) 4 - N Jones (14 contested possessions) 3 - Rodan (a live wire all night) 2 - Frawley (rediscovered his dash) 1 - Dawes (presented well all night) Other players who had good games ... Nicholson, Howe, Clisby and McDonald. All our players made contributions.
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Our backing up and 2nd and 3rd efforts were excellent. We look like a team that is sick of losing. If we were a bit sharper with our skills, we would have been a lot further in front at 3/4 time. The thing that stood out was our teamwork and how we shared the ball. We switched the play a lot. Only real knock was that we went long to a contest a few times when we didn't need to. We need to use the hit up mark a fair bit more. We also need to get better at hanging on to the ball but last week and tonight was a vast improvement. The players seemed to position themselves well and we ran hard to position on many occasions. Our overall skills were much better and we looked a lot more confident as well. We just ran out of legs - not surprised really (when considering how hard we ran in the first 3 quarters) We played for each other and there looked to be some great camaraderie out on the field.
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We ran out of legs but it was a terrific effort for the majority of the game. Before the bounce we would have taken any sort of win. We played like a team .... at last.
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Winners are grinners!
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Playing like winners
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The 2nd Weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) will be tough as well. Stages 7, 8 and 9 are very tough. I like the way they've set up the tour this time - especially the last 8 or 9 days. Even the last time trial involves 2 medium level climbs. These first 2 days in Corsica will be fascinating. Tomorrow's stage involves a few reasonably hard climbs. Hopefully the footy team gets up for a win tonight for a nice lead in!
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Rogers has been playing county cricket prior to joining the squad and he has a couple of big scores to his name this season. There's 2 schools of thought - they've put him in the squad to play him immediately to shore up the top order ... or as a back-up if our top order doesn't measure up. He's made a lot of 1st class runs in his career. It's looking more likely that Clarke will bat at no.4 with Hughes to possibly bat in the late middle order (no.5?) I edited my previous post mentioning this. I agree with you re the no.3 spot. Traditionally it's the most vital spot in the order and often the best batsmen bat in that spot. Khawaja has spent a large part of his cricket batting there so he's the more logical choice however, Rogers or Cowan could bat there at a pinch. Much will depend on what happens in the current warm up game and the next one. In the past, these games were used as practice for our 'established' batting order. Right now it's more about who can do well enough to get a game in the Tests. Pattinson and Starc look like they've done enough to get into the team for the 1st Test. Match totals of 7 wickets for Patto and 6 for Starc.
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Hughes did make 76 batting at 5 in this game so maybe the decision has been made with that effort. Clarke batted at no.4 so it looks like he'll bat at that spot in the Test matches. Khawaja has a chance tonight to get himself a good score - he opened the batting in the 2nd innings (of this warm up game) and is 18 not out. Cowan is 14 not out. It could be that both these batsmen are fighting for the one spot. (that's if Rogers is pencilled in) The positive is that Hughes and Watson have both spent good time at the crease in the current game. Clarke batted for nearly 2 hours in the 1st innings as well (he made 45) Regardless, we could expect Swann to be brought into the attack very early on in the Test matches. They've got a very good bowling attack but Swann could be our biggest worry - especially if the wickets presented are dry and take spin. It would be preferable that whoever bats at no.6 can play spin well. If it was out of Warner, Wade or Khawaja, I'd go for Usman. Brad Haddin should bat at no.7 in an ideal batting line-up. Edit: ... McDermott warms to an Ashes return ... Warnie could be helping out as well. Billy worked well with the bowlers in his previous stint.
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Stage 1 Jean Francois Pescheux's view ... Magnificent countryside
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From Iceland ... 'Of Monsters and Men' with a couple ... Macca 13.4
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When too much sport is never enough ... CFL opening match highlights ... Montreal Alouettes @ Winnepeg Blue Bombers ... Not a bad standard and the big crowd got right into it! Those 'Tiger-Cats' take on Toronto's Argonauts tomorrow (I checked Toronto's roster and they've got a couple of players called Jason) 'My' Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Eskimos on Sunday. Need a win - any sort of win.
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Hughes ended up getting 76 not out and batted for over 2 and a half hours. If he gets amongst it again in the 2nd dig he may have played himself into the 1st Test. Both these warm up games are 4 day games. ... Scorecard
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Maybe it's not a fait accompli just yet ... Familiar faces to help Cadel Evans regain Tour de France title Froome will be hard to beat but he hasn't been to the top of the mountain. I expect him to win but wouldn't be surprised if he has some problems in the last few days of the tour. It's a tough, tough finish in the last 3 days, prior to the finishing day. Stage 18, 19 and 20 ...
