Cricket

[mk33]

Re: Cricket

One day squad and world cup squad announced

Australia tri-series squad Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Cameron White, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath.


30 man squad
Australia World Cup preliminary squad Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt), Phil Jaques, Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Marcus North, Adam Voges, Brad Hodge, Travis Birt, Shaun Marsh, Cameron White, Mark Cosgrove, Brad Haddin (wk), James Hopes, Andrew McDonald, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Stuart Clark, Glenn McGrath, Daniel Cullen, Nathan Bracken, Shaun Tait, Shane Harwood, Ben Hilfenhaus.

4 Vics picked in White, Hodge, McDonald, Harwood
no notable omissions maybe David Hussey,

 

[Tubytiger]

Re: Cricket

A absolutely disgraceful performance by the English Cricket side for the whole series but hats off to our boys. They done what they had to do when needed but sheessh, that english mob should be made give their bloody awards back to the Queen when they touch down back on home soil. They are better than what their effort showed during the ashes series. Not up to the aussies standard but definetly not as bad as those performances in the five matches played.

 

[RemoteTiger]

Re: Cricket

Billy was at school this morning and the teacher asked all the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came out, fireman, policeman, salesman, chippy, captain of industry etc, but Billy was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him about his father.

"My father is an exotic dancer in a gay club and every night he takes off all his clothes in front of other men. Sometimes if the offer is really good, he'll go out with a man, rent a cheap hotel room and let them do all sorts of horrible things to him."

The teacher, blushing profusely, quickly set the other children some work and took little Billy aside to ask him if that was really true.

"No" said Billy, "He plays cricket for England, but I was just too embarrassed to say."

 

[pahoffm]

Re: Cricket

Although there is no arguing the extent of England's defeat, their future looks optimistic.

1. They went into the series without 3 players from their successful 2005 Ashes team, ie Trescothick (31yo), Vaughn (32yo) & S.Jones (28yo).

2. They introduced some young promising players in Cook (22yo), Chris Read (28yo) & Monty Panesar (24yo).

3. Two well performed County batsmen, Rikki Clarke (25yo, Essex) & Ed Joyce (28yo, Middlesex), could walk straight into the squad.

4. John Lewis (31yo, Gloucestershire) should have been in the team.

5. Two other well performed junior County bowlers, Stuart Broad (20yo, Leicestershire), Liam Plunkett (21yo, Durham) could also walk straight into the squad.

England can look forward to the future, but it needs to build more batting into its team. The tail is far too long & certain players are batting too high.
Cook, Strauss & Bell did well to start the innings, but players like Pietersen, Collingwood & Flintoff are not upper order players.

For my mind, there is little difference between Brett Lee & Andy Flintoff, except that Lee bats comfortably at no.8/9, whereas Flintoff is under pressure at no.6.

A better looking English squad would be:

Cook	Trescothick
Strauss
Bell
Vaughn
Collingwood	Joyce
Pietersen	Clarke
Read
Flintoff
Jones	Lewis
Panesar	Plunkett
Hoggard	Broad

Much still needs to be developed as far as leadership is concerned.
Flintoff was in his first series as captain and struggled enormously with knowing when to change his bowlers & what fields to set to each one.

When a team comes to Australia under-prepared, yet refuses to participate in extra training & warm-up sessions, there must be a question mark over its leadership.

 

[Tigers of Old]

Re: Cricket

must say the umpires have been disgracefull all summer.

for both teams, but more so England....especially the south african

I must say that England have been disgraceful all summer.

The lot of 'em.....

Agree Struggler but full credit to the Aussies. Their pressure is unrelenting and they always made the big puts.
Plenty had written them off before the series, including some here.
To win 5-0 in a slaughter is an absolute credit to Punting and his aging side.

Bravo. :clap

 

[CarnTheTiges]

Re: Cricket

England all out for 147, losing 5/33 in a little over an hour today (13 overs). England, you lot are a pathetic bunch of pretenders. I took a week off work to watch the Boxing Day test, you shortchanged me and made me waste 2 days of my annual leave. I was looking forward to watching SOME of the Sydney test on saturday, because I couldn't get more time off work. Barring some miracle or rain delay, that isn't going to happen either.
I hope you all have the decency to hand back the awards your queen gave you, they obviously weighed you all down  ;D. How the hell you lot are ranked number 2 in the world mystifies me.

It gets better. They are ranked only above Bangladesh,Zimbabwe and Kenya in the one day form of the game. Hopefully the Kiwis can help save the upcoming One Day Series from becoming a total joke.

Kiwis will be understrength with K Mills, Styris and Jacob Oram not fit. So sadly dont think the one day series will be too exciting.

Never underestimate the Kiwis when they play Australia. They grow a leg when they play Australia.

 

[newyorktiger]

Re: Cricket

England all out for 147, losing 5/33 in a little over an hour today (13 overs). England, you lot are a pathetic bunch of pretenders. I took a week off work to watch the Boxing Day test, you shortchanged me and made me waste 2 days of my annual leave. I was looking forward to watching SOME of the Sydney test on saturday, because I couldn't get more time off work. Barring some miracle or rain delay, that isn't going to happen either.
I hope you all have the decency to hand back the awards your queen gave you, they obviously weighed you all down  ;D. How the hell you lot are ranked number 2 in the world mystifies me.

It gets better. They are ranked only above Bangladesh,Zimbabwe and Kenya in the one day form of the game. Hopefully the Kiwis can help save the upcoming One Day Series from becoming a total joke.

Kiwis will be understrength with K Mills, Styris and Jacob Oram not fit. So sadly dont think the one day series will be too exciting.

Never underestimate the Kiwis when they play Australia. They grow a leg when they play Australia.

Now, here's me thinking all along that it was Tasmanians that had three legs.

 

[CarnTheTiges]

Re: Cricket

England all out for 147, losing 5/33 in a little over an hour today (13 overs). England, you lot are a pathetic bunch of pretenders. I took a week off work to watch the Boxing Day test, you shortchanged me and made me waste 2 days of my annual leave. I was looking forward to watching SOME of the Sydney test on saturday, because I couldn't get more time off work. Barring some miracle or rain delay, that isn't going to happen either.
I hope you all have the decency to hand back the awards your queen gave you, they obviously weighed you all down  ;D. How the hell you lot are ranked number 2 in the world mystifies me.

It gets better. They are ranked only above Bangladesh,Zimbabwe and Kenya in the one day form of the game. Hopefully the Kiwis can help save the upcoming One Day Series from becoming a total joke.

Kiwis will be understrength with K Mills, Styris and Jacob Oram not fit. So sadly dont think the one day series will be too exciting.

Never underestimate the Kiwis when they play Australia. They grow a leg when they play Australia.

Now, here's me thinking all along that it was Tasmanians that had three legs.

No NYT, that's 2 heads.

 

[mk33]

Re: Cricket

Went to 20/20 match last night at G.
Bit of hit N giggle with some entertainment value but hopefully its kept at this level of just a couple of matches a year.

Next match Vic V Wa 4pm Wednesday night (real odd time)
Just some FYI its free entry if you have a valid met ticket.



Just re the world cup squad announced
Great to see recognition for Harwood, bowled really well last night its a pity his not 5 years younger as fully fit he may have been first picked to fill McGrath's spot.

Watson may walk staright into the 15 for the world cup, if not my pick at this stage would be the current 13 plus Jaques and Voges with Hopes as the outsider.

 

[mk33]

Re: Cricket

Too hard to predict what will happen in 2009 but England has some questions about it for mine Phantom.

No doubting losing the leadership of Vaughan, stability of Trescothick and ability to get a wicket with each spell from Jones cost them. However questions rermain about their durability in the next 3 years.

Does Trescothick really want to play and can Vaughan and Jones overcome serious knee & hip injuries.

I think Flintoff is miles ahead of Lee as a test cricketer and will be back to his best with the captaincy relinquished from him.
The worry is anyone willing to step up Cook and Panesar will be better for their Australian summer, Bell looks good but maybe to technically good to be a matchwinner. KP will be an England bully and probably be the best batsman in world in next 5 years. Their may be opportunity for Clarke, Shah and Joyce to step up. Apart from not having the ability to step up and tough themselves out of a tough period and having the concentration to step up after making a start batting was not really their problem.

Bowling was their strength in 2005 this year 13 wickets was their best return. Plunkett toured so was a surprise to see him not get opportunity, Lewis is 31 and if anyone would have played instead of Anderson/Plunkett who had injury interupted seasons in county cricket. They really do need one of Tremlett, Mahmood, Anderson or Plunkett to step up and be the 3/4 quick and bowl well, or perhaps that may be Broad.

By 2009 England will have more players in their 30's than Australia so they really should be at their peak. The worrying thing is they have no fight and when they are in a tough situation they just fold up and give it away as evidenced by their 2nd innings in all tests. Compare to Australia in 2nd,3rd and 4th tests in 2005 we were in worse situations. Sure we lost 2 tests and drew the other but we were totally outplayed and had no right to get close yet we still fought for 1 draw (batting for more than a day to save it) lose by 3 runs (after being 100 down at first innings and still 140 down with two wickets in hand) and lose by 3 wickets (after made to follow on and having a 135 run lead).

 

[tigerdave]

Re: Cricket

mk, I watched that game last night & was amazed at how fast Denton bowled.Haven't really seen much of him but, if he was bowling with the breeze he would have been around the 150k mark.Has a great bowling action too!

 

[tigertim]

Re: Cricket

mk, I  watched that game last night & was amazed at how fast Denton bowled.Haven't really seen much of him but, if he was bowling with the breeze he would have been around the 150k mark.Has a great bowling action too!

It's a pity Denton is 32. If he was 7 years younger he'd be fastracked for Australian honours. Same goes for Shane Harwood. Both are very injury prone tohugh. In fact our frontline bowling attack is all 32 plus (Denton, Harwood, Lewis). Where's the youth? Wheres' Siddle, Wise, Nannes (though he's 29) Cassell etc etc?

 

[Lidsand]

Re: Cricket

Went to 20/20 match last night at G.
Bit of hit N giggle with some entertainment value but hopefully its kept at this level of just a couple of matches a year.

Next match Vic V Wa 4pm Wednesday night (real odd time)
Just some FYI its free entry if you have a valid met ticket.



Just re the world cup squad announced
Great to see recognition for Harwood, bowled really well last night its a pity his not 5 years younger as fully fit he may have been first picked to fill McGrath's spot.

Watson may walk staright into the 15 for the world cup, if not my pick at this stage would be the current 13 plus Jaques and Voges with Hopes as the outsider.

just a question mk33

did quiney cop a good ball?

 

[Leysy Days]

Re: Cricket

Not really Lids,

just a slow old off spinner given some air by a bit part bowler from Qld.

he just played all round it & was clean bowled.

 

[Lidsand]

Re: Cricket

ahh, thanks leysey. he's a mate of mine. good bloke, a real lad and very close to be being selected for vic pura cup team. 1 or 2 away.

 

[Ready]

Re: Cricket

Phantom, how many Test centuries does Brett Lee have? Freddie has five and 20+ fifties.

Stuart Broad is the son of Chris and if he keeps his upward trajectory going he will be an England regular sooner rather than later. Might tour Sri Lanka and New Zealand a year from now if everything goes to plan.

Hopefully Cook, Bell and Panesar are the ones who get the most out of the tour just gone.

Does anyone else think that it's completely idiotic that the main event of the summer is over in six weeks by the first week of January, just so the ACB can fit the perenially drawn-out and repetitive ODI triangular series?

 

[mk33]

Re: Cricket

Phantom, how many Test centuries does Brett Lee have? Freddie has five and 20+ fifties.

Stuart Broad is the son of Chris and if he keeps his upward trajectory going he will be an England regular sooner rather than later. Might tour Sri Lanka and New Zealand a year from now if everything goes to plan.

Hopefully Cook, Bell and Panesar are the ones who get the most out of the tour just gone.

Does anyone else think that it's completely idiotic that the main event of the summer is over in six weeks by the first week of January, just so the ACB can fit the perenially drawn-out and repetitive ODI triangular series?

Yes Ready, never really been a fan of the triangular series as seriously who is interested in a match between England v NZL apart from yourself .

They should have 5 ODI start of November or after test series, should have a 3-4 tour matches before 1st test including one against an ACB X1 with teste series looking something like
1st early Dec
tour match
2nd test Boxing day
3rd test New Year
tour match
4th test mid Jan
5th test Australia Day

Feb 5 one dayers against touring team or third nation.

Re Lee & Flintoff, Lee is not good enough to shine Flintoff boots.

 

[Ready]

Re: Cricket

And of course the two touring sides never play each other in Melbourne. :scold The last two times England were out I saw them beat Sri Lanka in Brisbane. The one eight years ago had Robert Croft  hitting the winning runs with three balls to spare in the last match at the 'Gabba before the Hill was destroyed completely  :'(

The Tests should start AFTER the ODIs are done like in England (you know, starter and then main course), but at the very least they should be interspersed. Still, what do you expect from the same country that brought you the eight-ball over and giving the scores the wrong way round? :wavey  ;D

 

[Ready]

Re: Cricket

I should say that I look forward to the return of one of my favourite cricketers....

Bond, Shane Bond.

Hopefully though he hits his straps against Australia and not England :-X

 

[FightingFury]

Re: Cricket

And of course the two touring sides never play each other in Melbourne. :scold

Why have a few thousand people rattling around a 100,000 seat venue?
It would probably cost money to stage and would look rank on TV with loads of empty bays.
Let the touring sides fight it out in Hobart or Cairns I say ;D

One day cricket and paticularly twenty-20 belong in the apathy thread anyhow....especially now Mickeys been 'retired' :'(