4th Test: England v Australia at Leeds

[pcfan123]

Hope Bopara falls down some stairs and cant be picked. Also while he is falling if he could grab Broads shirt, that would be nice.

 

[Abacus_American]

surely it will be a draw or Aussie win.

 

[Inbox24]

What makes you so sure?

Australia look exactly like they were in India last year, picking the wrong team, major players out of form, if England manage to let Australia escape with the Ashes this time, it'll be an escape of epic proportions.

 

[pcfan123]

^weather is looking terrible.

 

[Aditya]

What makes you so sure?

Australia look exactly like they were in India last year, picking the wrong team, major players out of form, if England manage to let Australia escape with the Ashes this time, it'll be an escape of epic proportions.

Are you sure about australia there side is very good mate let you see it to be fair england are on their best after 1st test.

 

[piriyanth]

I guess there will be no changes in batting lineup and for bowling Stuart Clark could be in for Siddle.

 

[angryangy]

lol
BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | Trott gets surprise England call
BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | Trott unsurprised by England call

 

[Skater]

lol
BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | Trott gets surprise England call
BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | Trott unsurprised by England call

Everyone but Trott himself is surprised! :laugh

 

[King Pietersen]

Yes,Clarke will be playing,but the good news for Eng is the R Sidebottom has been included in squad,he can swing the ball both ways,that will definately add more trouble for Aus..

Don't see how Sidebottom coming into the attack would make our attack a great deal better (although saying that, Stuart Broad is part of the attack atm, so you could have a point). We rely too much on swing as it is, so adding another swing bowler into the mix would make our attack even more 1 dimensional, even if he is a left armer. I'd much rather see Harmison in the side, he'd be more consistently dangerous, as Sidebottom will be relying on cloud cover if he's going to be genuinely threatening. On the up-side, they're both better than Broad.

But that'll all be irrelevant if the crims play Clark.

I don't see why you're so worried about Clark playing. The reports are suggesting he's lost his nip that he had in 06/07, and I'd be far more wary of Brett Lee coming back into the side. If he's bowling like he did in the Lions game, then he'd be giving our batsmen some serious problems. Bopara's struggled to make runs against a massively out of touch Johnson and Siddle, how's he going to cope with 95mph reverse swing?

Sidey might replace Onions or Anderson just cause Broad can't keep his legs together.

Yeh, good plan. Rest one of our 2 best bowlers from the last Test and keep Broad in. You should be a selector!

Lay off North people. He scored a hundred on a fast bowling paradise against the Saffa's bowling attack. I think he's underrated. He'll be a mid 40ish average man in my opinion.

An under-cooked, under-performing South Africa attack on a deck where Ponting made 83, Clarke 68, Haddin 63 and Johnson 96*, it was hardly a fast bowling paradise when Australia were batting on it first up, the 466 runs are proof of that. Interesting to note as well, that as soon as the pitches did become more bowler friendly, North made scores of 5, 38 and 0. Co-incidence? Doubt it, given he's continued that pattern in England.

 

[Howsie]

1.Watson
2.Katich
3.Ponting
4.Hussey
5.Clarke
6.North
7.Manou
8.Johnson
9.Hauritz
10.Clark
11.Hilfenhaus

That's the team I'd go with. I would also be tempted to play Lee but he hasn't played for close to a month so it's probably to risky.

 

[piriyanth]

Hopefully Haddin comes back to the team.

 

[karnog]

lol the broad quote was a joke. Although i'd drop Flintoff before the series if i was a selector
Barring Clarke the whole Aussie batting line up struggled on a swinging, slowish wicket. He performed in a pressure situation. Had the ball been swinging i'm sure the others (except clarke who's on a cloud nine atm) would've capitulated. He's certainly doesn't have the Bell mindset or the Collingwood ugliness. And he's way better than Watson. I'm just worried about the way he plays spin. I don't think swing is a huge problem- Anderson with swing made Tendulkar look clueless a few years ago and Flintoff at his best is trouble for anyone. But i do feel he's a wicket for Swann. Can't help but feel he's gonna get one through the gates.

Lol i think the North hate is unwarranted.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Lay off North, that man was a legend for me at Durham. What do you mean ICC doesn't count?

Averages 44.92 in FC cricket, a lot of it in England. I think his biggest plus point is all his years of experience, can't have been his domestic record. Also, Cricinfo says this about him:

He had impressed the selectors with his ability to prosper on difficult pitches

So yea, it's down to whether you want to believe KP or Cricinfo...

 

[King Pietersen]

There's a difference doing it in domestic cricket and doing it at Test level. Just pointing out that the pattern of his first 2 series have seen him cash in on flat decks against poor bowling, but fail miserably in bowler friendly conditions against decent bowling. Doesn't seem to have anything particularly special about him, I'd have David Hussey in the side ahead of him any day of the week. Check his FC record for reasoning.

 

[Howsie]

There's a difference doing it in domestic cricket and doing it at Test level. Just pointing out that the pattern of his first 2 series have seen him cash in on flat decks against poor bowling, but fail miserably in bowler friendly conditions against decent bowling. Doesn't seem to have anything particularly special about him, I'd have David Hussey in the side ahead of him any day of the week. Check his FC record for reasoning.

What's David Hussey proven in international cricket too say he would fair any better. Like you said, there is a massive difference.