The Ashes and Cricket World Cup Discussion Thread

(29-11-2010 15:38 )setter1000 Wrote:  With the exception of Siddel Australia's attack looks toothless. Their fielding was atrocious something you dont associate with Australia. Unfortunately with the introduction Of Bollinger they will possess a far more dangerous attack for the rest of the series

Michael Holding made a very valid point when he said­ that despite all the hype, he's NEVER seen Johnson­ bowl well, and he's watched him countless times. Personally i think Johnson is still "dining out"­ on the strength of a tour to S.A where (apparently) he­ bowled like a demon. But that was a very long time ago­ in terms of balls bowled and it appears that he's­ now running out of credit with the Aussie selectors and­ worse still (from his point of view) his skipper, who has­ defended him plenty of times in the past and always­ insisted on his inclusion. Ponting looked pretty cheesed off with Johnson at the post match interview and looked like he had come to the end of his tether with him. Aussie selectors have to­ draw the line somewhere and must be agonisingly close­ to doing so now.

Mister Gummidge, Spot on with the comment on test pitches!! Nothing i like more than to watch a game when there's a bit of "juice" in the pitch. Frankly i think that there's little these days to encourage a kid who dreams of becoming a "genuine quick" (as per the list that you put forth) when all he can look forward to is endless hours of toil on a deadpan batsman's paradise, with nothing to show for it at the end of a day's play apart from a set of crappy looking figures.

Mitchell "wides" Johnson's just been dropped for the 2nd Test.

Shouldn't come as a great surprise to anybody, least of all Johnson himself.

The balance certainly needs to be redressed as far as the bowlers are concerned.it goes way back to the eighties when the win dies were all conquering and making our lives a misery they introduced these bouncer limits. As a batsman I don't have a limit on how many on drives I can make.when they did that it was not quite Test Cricket.

The bowlers have had it tough since then,to make things worse Shane Warne comes along and boys growing up went that's what I want to do.there are no iconic fast bowlers anymore in the world.

the tall quick windies are in the nba earning alot more money than they would playing cricket.

if england bat like they did in their second innings of the last test then england should go on to win.

Looking forward to watching the highlights at 10pm on ITV4 tonight.

(02-12-2010 07:58 )colino Wrote:  Mitchell "wides" Johnson's just been dropped for the 2nd Test.

Shouldn't come as a great surprise to anybody, least of all Johnson himself.

Well Ponting didn't seem happy about the decision and declined to support it. Anyway on a statistical note, Australia's 245 all out today is their smallest first-innings total at Adelaide since 1991-92.

England need a 200 run lead from here. I can still see this being another draw, most likely a reverse of Brisbane with Australia getting 500 in their second innings.

If they want to make bat and ball more even, then get rid of the Kookaburra ball and have the Duke ball for all tests round the world.

Fantastic start from England today to bowl the Aussies all out for just 245 on a flat track is brilliant however some of the wickets the Aussies gave away were really soft and hopefully on day 2 England bat sensible and get a decent lead.

finally petierson has come to the party with some runs. 300 run lead would be nice. there is some turn in pitch which would suit swann. i could this finsihing with an england win by lunch on day 4

Today's stat note: in the first test Alastair Cook surpassed one of Don Bradman's many records with his 235 not out in England's second innings, the highest Test score by any batsman at the Gabba. Today he equalled a Bradman achievement with his 15th Test century before the age of 26, a tally that only Sachin Tendulkar has surpassed with 19. Cook also now has the most runs by an England batsman without being dismissed (235 + 136 = 371), surpassing the great Wally Hammond.