SA were exceptional on day 5 and thoroughly deserved their win. AB de Villiers played the innings of his career so far - I would rate it above the double hundred he made against India earlier this year even if he doesn't! JP Duminy came in and looked nervous at first but determined to get on with things and deal with the pressure. He handled the situation so well that even the horribly biased Ian Chappell was impressed. SA should be raring to go in Melbourne with nearly all the batsmen in good form. The seamers weren't at their best at the WACA but the feel-good vibes in the team should perk them up.
Australia have many problems. The main one being their captain. Ponting is rude, clueless, irritating and spends far too much time moaning. His attack on Brett Lee was unjustified given that Lee had actually bowled pretty well in the game. He should have been critising the batsmen - Hayden has to go. His feet aren't moving and he looks lost. But he won't be going anywhere cos he happens to be one of Ponting's best mates.
Meanwhile new boy Krejza has been dumped out of the team. Why are the bowlers always punished after losses but the batsmen keep their places. Hayden, Ponting himself and Hussey all need to start scoring runs and captain-in-waiting Clarke has to learn not to throw his wicket away. You'd hope that after 42 tests he'd have managed that but apparently not. Symonds has been defended repeatedly by his captain and needs to make lots of runs to justify his continued selection.
The next few days and continued fall-out from this loss are going to be interesting.
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Monday, 22 December 2008
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Brilliance at the WACA
Regular readers will know that I have a soft spot for South Africa and especially their captain and today's play at the WACA showed why. SA need 414 to win and are currently 187 runs away thanks mainly to another brilliant innings from their captain (it was worth waking up at 3am for).
Graeme Smith isn't everyone's favourite person but is definitely the driving force and inspiration for the Saffers. His innings today (108 from 147 balls) was scratchy at the start as Lee and Johnson were superb with the new ball and he struggled with the tennis elbow that has been a problem since the IPL earlier this year. Once McKenzie was dismissed and Amla came to the crease he started to relax a bit and after tea was much more fluent. His partnership with Amla(who made 53 from 112 balls) has set the game up nicely and a good partnership between Kallis and De Villiers could take SA a long way towards what was seemingly an impossible total.
Australia were mostly very good today. Haddin's innings in the morning was a wonderful counter attack and seemed to have taken the game away from SA. He appears to be channelling the spirit of Gilchrist at the moment and has the same skill of playing well with the tail. Australia's tail including Haddin have made over 200 runs in this game whereas the SA tail has struggled. Lee and Johnson bowled well all day with Lee unlucky not to have 4 or 5 wickets in the game so far. His duel with Kallis late in the evening brought back memories of Flintoff vs Kallis at Edgbaston this year.
At the end of day 4 Australia are slightly ahead but anything could happen tomorrow.
Graeme Smith isn't everyone's favourite person but is definitely the driving force and inspiration for the Saffers. His innings today (108 from 147 balls) was scratchy at the start as Lee and Johnson were superb with the new ball and he struggled with the tennis elbow that has been a problem since the IPL earlier this year. Once McKenzie was dismissed and Amla came to the crease he started to relax a bit and after tea was much more fluent. His partnership with Amla(who made 53 from 112 balls) has set the game up nicely and a good partnership between Kallis and De Villiers could take SA a long way towards what was seemingly an impossible total.
Australia were mostly very good today. Haddin's innings in the morning was a wonderful counter attack and seemed to have taken the game away from SA. He appears to be channelling the spirit of Gilchrist at the moment and has the same skill of playing well with the tail. Australia's tail including Haddin have made over 200 runs in this game whereas the SA tail has struggled. Lee and Johnson bowled well all day with Lee unlucky not to have 4 or 5 wickets in the game so far. His duel with Kallis late in the evening brought back memories of Flintoff vs Kallis at Edgbaston this year.
At the end of day 4 Australia are slightly ahead but anything could happen tomorrow.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
We come to it at last...the great battle of our time
The South Africans have landed in Australia at last. They are full of confidence and ready to go. This series has the potential to be one of the best seen in long time and I have my fingers crossed that the quality of cricket will be better than that seen in the just gone Aus vs India series which was brilliant in patches but also dire in others.
The South African line-up is very similar to the Aussie one - settled opening pair, strong middle order, battery of good quicks and a dodgy spinner. The fact that the groundsman at the WACA has prepared an older pitch without any of the restored pace and bounce suggests the Aussies are slightly nervous. Graeme Smith is much more sensible this time around and a well-led South African team should be able to win a test if not the series.
Ponting is still under pressure following the series in India and the Aussies are involved in various distractions such as the dispute with Cricket Australia over how much time they spend on sponsors activities. South Africa have grabbed the early edge in terms of media coverage. Their players appear to be more willing to talk to journalists and tend to be honest and interesting.
Both teams have had a similar build-up - thrashing miserably poor touring teams (NZ and Bangladesh respectively) doesn't provide much of an insight into how the players will cope in a close contest. South Africa have the confidence of winning 8 out of their last 9 series while Australia appear to be coming to terms with losing in India. The series is too close to call but having seen South Africa demolish England this summer, I think they might take this series as well providing that Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn live up to the hype.
The South African line-up is very similar to the Aussie one - settled opening pair, strong middle order, battery of good quicks and a dodgy spinner. The fact that the groundsman at the WACA has prepared an older pitch without any of the restored pace and bounce suggests the Aussies are slightly nervous. Graeme Smith is much more sensible this time around and a well-led South African team should be able to win a test if not the series.
Ponting is still under pressure following the series in India and the Aussies are involved in various distractions such as the dispute with Cricket Australia over how much time they spend on sponsors activities. South Africa have grabbed the early edge in terms of media coverage. Their players appear to be more willing to talk to journalists and tend to be honest and interesting.
Both teams have had a similar build-up - thrashing miserably poor touring teams (NZ and Bangladesh respectively) doesn't provide much of an insight into how the players will cope in a close contest. South Africa have the confidence of winning 8 out of their last 9 series while Australia appear to be coming to terms with losing in India. The series is too close to call but having seen South Africa demolish England this summer, I think they might take this series as well providing that Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn live up to the hype.
Saturday, 25 October 2008
The evils of 2020
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are developing their own version of the IPL. I would ask why but it's obviously for the money. This is in addition to the Champions League, Stanford Series, the proposed English Premier League, the ICL and of course the IPL.
The game's administrators need to stop this. I don't have a problem with 2020 and think the IPL is great but why do we need all these other tournaments when players are already complaining about burn-out. Shane Warne recently said that other nations should just embrace the IPL and work together to make it the 2020 showpiece event instead of creating a dozen different spin-offs that no-one cares about.
The national boards think that they know what people want but most of the people I know want good quality Test cricket with a few 2020 tournaments scattered throughout the year to raise interest in the game and bring in new fans.
The other element to this is the players. If the players want the money then I don't blame them but they lose the right to complain about burn-out. Graeme Smith had to pull out of the one-day series in England because of tennis elbow which he aggravated in the IPL. MS Dhoni pulled out of the recent tour to India because he was tired after the IPL. Adding all these other tournaments can only make these sort of events more common.
World cricket is going to collapse at some point - players are only going to have 6 or 7 year careers instead of 10-12. Bowlers are already struggling thanks to flat pitches and a ridiculous work load. How long will people like Dale Steyn last if they are playing cricket 10-11 months of the year. Instead of saving the game, the greed of the administrators means 2020 could be the death of it.
The game's administrators need to stop this. I don't have a problem with 2020 and think the IPL is great but why do we need all these other tournaments when players are already complaining about burn-out. Shane Warne recently said that other nations should just embrace the IPL and work together to make it the 2020 showpiece event instead of creating a dozen different spin-offs that no-one cares about.
The national boards think that they know what people want but most of the people I know want good quality Test cricket with a few 2020 tournaments scattered throughout the year to raise interest in the game and bring in new fans.
The other element to this is the players. If the players want the money then I don't blame them but they lose the right to complain about burn-out. Graeme Smith had to pull out of the one-day series in England because of tennis elbow which he aggravated in the IPL. MS Dhoni pulled out of the recent tour to India because he was tired after the IPL. Adding all these other tournaments can only make these sort of events more common.
World cricket is going to collapse at some point - players are only going to have 6 or 7 year careers instead of 10-12. Bowlers are already struggling thanks to flat pitches and a ridiculous work load. How long will people like Dale Steyn last if they are playing cricket 10-11 months of the year. Instead of saving the game, the greed of the administrators means 2020 could be the death of it.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Dhoni continues his winning streak
India won the second test against Australia today by 320 runs. The victory margin is that big for various reasons:
1. India batted well in the first innings with Ganguly's hundred and Dhoni's 92 getting India past an average score to a good score once Tendulkar had led the way with 88.
2. Australia bowled averagely. Bowling in India is hard. Ask Warne. Lee hasn't played in India before and is dealing with off-field problems and the other bowlers haven't really played test cricket before. Siddle and White are doing very well given their inexperience. Johnson appears to be able to bowl well against and in India but can't take wickets against anyone else. Which is kinda backwards but Ponting isn't going to complain at the moment.
3. Australia batted like idiots. For Watson to rescue the first innings and then Clarke to be the last batsman standing in the second indicates that there are problems. Hayden, Hussey and Ponting are the players you would expect to make hundreds when the team is up against it and they were MIA.
4. Dhoni's luck/karma/good captaincy inspired India and especially the bowlers to improve on their performances in the first test and achieve a deserved win. The bowlers out-performed Australia's attack with the pace of Sharma and Khan and the spin of Misra and Harbajan managing to get good batsmen out.
The first and second tests have shown that test cricket is alive and well despite all the 2020 hype. Here's hoping Australia fix their problems in time for the third test and make it a close series.
1. India batted well in the first innings with Ganguly's hundred and Dhoni's 92 getting India past an average score to a good score once Tendulkar had led the way with 88.
2. Australia bowled averagely. Bowling in India is hard. Ask Warne. Lee hasn't played in India before and is dealing with off-field problems and the other bowlers haven't really played test cricket before. Siddle and White are doing very well given their inexperience. Johnson appears to be able to bowl well against and in India but can't take wickets against anyone else. Which is kinda backwards but Ponting isn't going to complain at the moment.
3. Australia batted like idiots. For Watson to rescue the first innings and then Clarke to be the last batsman standing in the second indicates that there are problems. Hayden, Hussey and Ponting are the players you would expect to make hundreds when the team is up against it and they were MIA.
4. Dhoni's luck/karma/good captaincy inspired India and especially the bowlers to improve on their performances in the first test and achieve a deserved win. The bowlers out-performed Australia's attack with the pace of Sharma and Khan and the spin of Misra and Harbajan managing to get good batsmen out.
The first and second tests have shown that test cricket is alive and well despite all the 2020 hype. Here's hoping Australia fix their problems in time for the third test and make it a close series.
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Aussies in India
After a month of hype and build-up the series between India and Australia has started. The first two days have been tightly fought and the series looks like it may live up to the hype.
Ponting was magnificent on day one. His 123 was exactly what the team needed and just as importantly what he needed. His average of 12.7 in India has been well documented but let's remember that he missed the last series in 2004 and the series in 2001 was before he became the brilliant player that he is now. He was disciplined but not scared of playing his shots. I think he'll end up with plenty more runs in this series and on current form is likely to end up with the most runs in the history of the game.
Day two was the Hussey show. His ability to minimise risk and set up games for Australia is almost freakish and a test average of 70 is pretty much unbelievable. He doesn't play in the classical attcking way that we've come to expect from Australia but is effective anyway. Having had to wait so long for a chance at test level it's nice to see him doing so well.
India were average in the field apart from Zaheer Khan who got five wickets. Kumble started off badly with the ball but came back well and was unlucky not to have picked up any wickets. His captaincy was by the numbers, which may work against lesser teams but you need to have flair against Australia. A couple of odd bowling changes or field positions for a few overs may get you a wicket.
Ponting was magnificent on day one. His 123 was exactly what the team needed and just as importantly what he needed. His average of 12.7 in India has been well documented but let's remember that he missed the last series in 2004 and the series in 2001 was before he became the brilliant player that he is now. He was disciplined but not scared of playing his shots. I think he'll end up with plenty more runs in this series and on current form is likely to end up with the most runs in the history of the game.
Day two was the Hussey show. His ability to minimise risk and set up games for Australia is almost freakish and a test average of 70 is pretty much unbelievable. He doesn't play in the classical attcking way that we've come to expect from Australia but is effective anyway. Having had to wait so long for a chance at test level it's nice to see him doing so well.
India were average in the field apart from Zaheer Khan who got five wickets. Kumble started off badly with the ball but came back well and was unlucky not to have picked up any wickets. His captaincy was by the numbers, which may work against lesser teams but you need to have flair against Australia. A couple of odd bowling changes or field positions for a few overs may get you a wicket.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Aussies get ready to take on India
The Aussies are getting ready to take on India in what should be an awesome test series. The Aussies are in transition from their glory days and the rest of the pack are catching up. The players appear to be dealing with this in their own ways.
Brett Lee - getting mean and moody after realising he has to single handedly bowl India out as Johnson is flaky, Jason Krejza has just been hit for 123 runs in 20 overs and Stuart Clark is likely to just plod away. Or else he's just heard the single he released with Asha Bhogle and realised how bad it actually is.
Bryce McGain - the pressure of being the saviour of Australian spin broke his shoulder leading to heartbreak for Ponting and JRod. I'd mock his selection but JRod had me convinced that he would be awesome and I was looking forward to seeing him play.
Ricky Ponting appears to have realised his team is somewhat less well prepared than last time and may not do as well as he wants. The obvious course of action when things get tough is to resort to his "I'm a tough Tassie who won't take any crap" persona (although the means of transport somewhat takes the edge off).
Come on October 9th... The random talking can stop and play will begin.
Brett Lee - getting mean and moody after realising he has to single handedly bowl India out as Johnson is flaky, Jason Krejza has just been hit for 123 runs in 20 overs and Stuart Clark is likely to just plod away. Or else he's just heard the single he released with Asha Bhogle and realised how bad it actually is.
Bryce McGain - the pressure of being the saviour of Australian spin broke his shoulder leading to heartbreak for Ponting and JRod. I'd mock his selection but JRod had me convinced that he would be awesome and I was looking forward to seeing him play.
Ricky Ponting appears to have realised his team is somewhat less well prepared than last time and may not do as well as he wants. The obvious course of action when things get tough is to resort to his "I'm a tough Tassie who won't take any crap" persona (although the means of transport somewhat takes the edge off).
Come on October 9th... The random talking can stop and play will begin.
Monday, 15 September 2008
Bombs vs Money
I was going to write a bit about how Australia are touring India despite all the bombs actually going off but refused to tour Pakistan where the bombs haven't gone off but are threatening to go off. The obvious reason being money - India have it, Pakistan don't.
I'm not going to say much more though because JRod over on CWB summarises the whole thing much better than I could.
I'm not going to say much more though because JRod over on CWB summarises the whole thing much better than I could.
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Round-up of stuff
I've been at a cousin's wedding for the past four days. For those of you who don't know about Hindu weddings that's not a typo - the whole wedding process takes days, involves hundreds of people including family members you have never met but know everything abut you, lots of food but no meat (which some would say is a bit oxymoronic) and dancing.
While I was away things have appeared to continue along the same patterns as before.
Australia beat Bangladesh again - surprise! you didn't see that coming did you?
Surrey have had a shocking season so far and are now so inept they couldn't even get Shoaib Akhtar the right visa. As an born-and-bred Essex fan I'm feeling a little smug :)
The ICC continues to be incompetant, leaderless and a waste of space - the most recent Orwellian style double-speak statement from them says that the spirit of the game hasn't worsened,bad behaviour is just more visible. Surely it's more visible because players are doing more things that are against the spirit of the game...
New Road at Wocester has flooded again - surely it's time to move now. Flooding every year for the last 2 0r 3 years has cost the club a small fortune. As counties are running out of money doing thing like paying wages, having to spend money on cleaning up the ground every year must be causing problems. They spent close to £1 million cleaning up last year and made a loss of almost £700,000.
While I was away things have appeared to continue along the same patterns as before.
Australia beat Bangladesh again - surprise! you didn't see that coming did you?
Surrey have had a shocking season so far and are now so inept they couldn't even get Shoaib Akhtar the right visa. As an born-and-bred Essex fan I'm feeling a little smug :)
The ICC continues to be incompetant, leaderless and a waste of space - the most recent Orwellian style double-speak statement from them says that the spirit of the game hasn't worsened,bad behaviour is just more visible. Surely it's more visible because players are doing more things that are against the spirit of the game...
New Road at Wocester has flooded again - surely it's time to move now. Flooding every year for the last 2 0r 3 years has cost the club a small fortune. As counties are running out of money doing thing like paying wages, having to spend money on cleaning up the ground every year must be causing problems. They spent close to £1 million cleaning up last year and made a loss of almost £700,000.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Come on Tigers
Poor Bangladesh. Turn up in Australia and get given games in Darwin. Don't get me wrong - been there and it's quite a nice town but it's not exactly the same as playing at the SCG.
I was hoping for a repeat of Cardiff 2005 at least once in this series. Being a fan of England over the years means I'm a big supporter of the under-dogs. With Ponting, Lee, Symonds and Hayden absent for various reasons and the talent in the Bangladesh batting line-up (Ashraful and Iqbal) and their experienced bowlers (Kapali and Mortaza) it was a possibility that they could win one.
Unfortunately they have been hammered. The batsmen have looked confused by the Aussie pacemen and their bowlers were given no chance in the last game where they had to defend 117. On top of that they've made Michael Clarke look good as captain. While I don't find him quite as irritating as Miss Field does he's not my favourite person in world cricket. So come on Bangladesh!
I was hoping for a repeat of Cardiff 2005 at least once in this series. Being a fan of England over the years means I'm a big supporter of the under-dogs. With Ponting, Lee, Symonds and Hayden absent for various reasons and the talent in the Bangladesh batting line-up (Ashraful and Iqbal) and their experienced bowlers (Kapali and Mortaza) it was a possibility that they could win one.
Unfortunately they have been hammered. The batsmen have looked confused by the Aussie pacemen and their bowlers were given no chance in the last game where they had to defend 117. On top of that they've made Michael Clarke look good as captain. While I don't find him quite as irritating as Miss Field does he's not my favourite person in world cricket. So come on Bangladesh!
Stupid weather and Cardiff
What a surprise. It's raining in Cardiff. The final one-day game looks like it's going to be a draw unless the weather improves rather quickly. If it is a draw then England move to 3rd in the rankings which is rather good for a team that couldn't play the game a few weeks ago.
Cardiff is also the ground which will host the first Ashes test next year. There are no understandable or logical reasons for this. Maybe the ECB is hoping the guaranteed rubbish weather - clouds, dew - will make the ball swing so we can tear through the Aussie batting line up again. Maybe they're hoping the Aussies will be so depressed at having to spend a week in Cardiff that they'll play like they did when they lost in 2005. Who knows? Wouldn't bet against England being 1-0 up after Cardiff though.
Cardiff is also the ground which will host the first Ashes test next year. There are no understandable or logical reasons for this. Maybe the ECB is hoping the guaranteed rubbish weather - clouds, dew - will make the ball swing so we can tear through the Aussie batting line up again. Maybe they're hoping the Aussies will be so depressed at having to spend a week in Cardiff that they'll play like they did when they lost in 2005. Who knows? Wouldn't bet against England being 1-0 up after Cardiff though.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Symonds and Aussie over-reaction
Andy Symonds is apparently thinking about his international future after being sent home from the one-day series in Darwin. Does this appear to be an over-reaction to anyone else? He missed a team meeting that he wasn't aware of to go and relax before the one-day series against Bangladesh started.
No pedalos, no drugs, no racism and yet the team's administration ripped into him. This appears to be a response to all the other events that have happened in his career - getting drunk before the game against Bangladesh in Cardiff and the confrontation at a nightclub in SA while on tour. He may not play against SA this winter but should they do less well than expected I'll bet he'll be in the team for the Ashes in 2009.
No pedalos, no drugs, no racism and yet the team's administration ripped into him. This appears to be a response to all the other events that have happened in his career - getting drunk before the game against Bangladesh in Cardiff and the confrontation at a nightclub in SA while on tour. He may not play against SA this winter but should they do less well than expected I'll bet he'll be in the team for the Ashes in 2009.
Friday, 29 August 2008
A soft spot for South Africa
I'm going to come out and admit that I have a soft spot for the SA team. So despite enjoying England's performances so far and wanting them to win the series, a little part of me is sulking due to SA general ineptness in the one day series so far.
Their performances for the past 18 months have made them on of the better teams to watch - attacking batsmen and bowlers, a captain prepared to take some risks and some exceptional fielders (AB de Villiers being the main example). This series should have been thrilling to watch with Smith and Gibbs against Harmison and Anderson being one of the prime highlights.
I realise that the Test series was the main aim for the Saffers (and thank heavens for that - proof that Test cricket is not going to crumble and fade under the crazy volumes of Twenty20 being played), but surely it can't be that hard to motivate yourselves to perform for a series that would have given them the chance to become the number one team in the world. They have been unlucky with injuries - both Morkels, Steyn coming back from a broken thumb and now the loss of Smith with tennis elbow. The squad appears to have enough batting depth with the return of Gibbs and introduction of Duminy into the starting 11 but lacks world-class backup bowlers.
Unless they pull themselves together today at the Oval this series will be lost. As England are currently 126-1 after 20 overs, losing the series appears to be the most likely outcome. The winter series against Australia was supposed to be the battle between the best two teams in the world - based on their performaces here SA have a lot of work to do to make that series competitive. They'll need a fully fit team and the mental strength to get over what has been a sequence of shocking performances.
ETA: SA are fighting back and have England 159-4 after 28 overs. By 6pm tonight this post may be mostly irrelevant.
Their performances for the past 18 months have made them on of the better teams to watch - attacking batsmen and bowlers, a captain prepared to take some risks and some exceptional fielders (AB de Villiers being the main example). This series should have been thrilling to watch with Smith and Gibbs against Harmison and Anderson being one of the prime highlights.
I realise that the Test series was the main aim for the Saffers (and thank heavens for that - proof that Test cricket is not going to crumble and fade under the crazy volumes of Twenty20 being played), but surely it can't be that hard to motivate yourselves to perform for a series that would have given them the chance to become the number one team in the world. They have been unlucky with injuries - both Morkels, Steyn coming back from a broken thumb and now the loss of Smith with tennis elbow. The squad appears to have enough batting depth with the return of Gibbs and introduction of Duminy into the starting 11 but lacks world-class backup bowlers.
Unless they pull themselves together today at the Oval this series will be lost. As England are currently 126-1 after 20 overs, losing the series appears to be the most likely outcome. The winter series against Australia was supposed to be the battle between the best two teams in the world - based on their performaces here SA have a lot of work to do to make that series competitive. They'll need a fully fit team and the mental strength to get over what has been a sequence of shocking performances.
ETA: SA are fighting back and have England 159-4 after 28 overs. By 6pm tonight this post may be mostly irrelevant.
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