Australia vs England ODI Series - 7 matches - Sep 4 to Sep 20

[Hooper]

So, we finally won an ODI! We did out level best to blow it though!

Not that you care....


MICHAEL OWEN!

 

[Brook]

Not a good game for either team really, hardly the way to carry form into the CT

 

[piriyanth]

Friggin Clarke, wasted so many balls.:

 

[sifter132]

A lot of people are confident that Bracken is a part of Australia's best XI, but I think with his current form it's reasonably contentious. For his overs, Peter Siddle was more economical and on a lively pitch, you'd have to favour him getting stuck into batsmen. It would have been interesting to see what either would have done today, but you can't play everyone all at once.

Perhaps it would be easier to include Callum Ferguson in Australia's best XI. He certainly couldn't have been dropped for form, instead on account of experience. The existence of a hundred beside the names of other players in the squad also means a lot, though few would argue he can't possibly make one of those either.

Many would have dropped Mike Hussey, but he has produced some fair knocks, including more than a quarter of the runs today; Ferguson for Hussey probably wouldn't have been the difference, but on a slightly longer term projection, it might prove to be so. Clarke has been a slow scorer, but his consistent runs have continued to be of great importance.

Watson had a poor series with the bat, but a quality one with the ball. It's this that suggests Australia's best side could come at the expense of James Hopes. Bowling variety is valuable, but from the stoic temperance of Clarke to the frenetic strokeplay of Ferguson, something can be said of batting variety being able to get you through a scrape. However, for such a side to truly be effective, they need to be able to count on tidy overs from the part-timers such as Clarke and White. An attack of just 5 bowlers has nowhere to turn when someone is not on their best day. Any captain is better off being at liberty to chose who bowls rather than being forced to make bad decisions.

All this taken into account, Australia's woes going into next week are limited. Although different opposition will test them differently, they are a much more settled side than they were at the start of the year.

Good summary angry. I'd go with a simple theory: if pitch is fast pick Siddle, anything else pick Bracken as you can always bowl him for economical overs in the middle.

Ferguson must come in for Hopes. Watson has bowled well enough to be the 5th bowler. In fact you could argue that Hopes' best chance at coming in is not for Ferguson but Watson. You'd open with Hopes and he'd be the 5th bowler. Not sure the Aussies would want to break up the Paine/Watson combo though - and Watson is a much better death/powerplay bowler than Hopes. If they want a middle over container, Bracken is the man.

Friggin Clarke, wasted so many balls.:

Geez, we needed MORE people to waste a few balls.

 

[aussie1st]

Hopes will lack the consistency if moved back to opener, there is a reason why he hasn't been tried there again, look at his previous games as opener. Watson hasn't been great either but I don't believe he would do too well at 7 so we have to hope his batting form comes back. Hopes could take Siddle/Bracken's spot, he is about as effective as those two but adds extra batting.

 

[Hooper]

 

[Gurjot95]

1 loss and australia again came to No. 3. Anyways really great work by Australian by winning 6-1 but 7-0 would have been excellent.

 

[Owzat]

Rather inevitable end of a long summer feel to it, the side that won so comfortably beaten quite easily in the end.

Here's food for thought, two very different results but very similar run-rates

6th ODI : England 185 (41.0 overs) = 4.51 rpo
7th ODI : England 177/6 (40.00 overs) = 4.42 rpo

Different circumstances admittedly, but perhaps an underlying problem with run-rates/acceleration.

 

[angryangy]

The underlying problem is that they get out.

 

[Ollie_H]

:

So I didn't wanna start a new thread, and I can't post in the Ashes Forum anymore, So I thought I would put it here, just watched this and I thought it was a pretty good thing of the aussies guys to do! It shows the respect Flintoff earnt not just as a cricketer but as a guy off the pitch aswell.

 

[drainpipe32]

I remember this series.

We won 6-1

 

[Ollie_H]

And there was me thinking it was 7-0

 

[drainpipe32]

Yeah. We were simply luring you into a false sense of security. Yeah, that's it