Dec 16-20: 3rd Test - Australia v England at Perth

[aussie1st]

Sounds like musical chairs, going back to the 1st test bowling lineup. We can only pray that whatever they are doing with Johnson in the nets works else we are in for another slaughter.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

One player won't change anything. The whole lineup needs work.


Bowling needs control and wicket-taking ability. Or atleast one of them. Doherty and Siddle aren't providing either at the moment, although Siddle probably deserves one more chance. Bollinger could if he was fit. Harris was doing fairly well but got injured.

What this means is that either the selectors return to Hilfenhaus, Johnson and Hauritz and see if they can do any better, or they toss another newcomer into the mix and hope they work out. George/Mckay/Copeland will be at the top of the list I guess.

They could always persist with Siddle, Bollinger and Doherty, get a 4th bowler, and hope they come back stronger for it. That also shows they aren't panicking. But will that attack actually do the job?


And then there's the batting. North has absolutely got to go. He's pretty much turning into a walking wicket. Clarke is finding some form while Hussey, Haddin and Watto are in form. Ponting needs some runs though, and quick. And whoever the new opener is going to be needs to do a lot, because negating the Anderson new ball threat is vital.

Oh right, and their fielding has been woeful. They need to fix that.

 

[War]

Ponting will not walk out | Fox Sports

At the end of the day Ponting is right. All the talk of Ponting losing the captaincy after the Ashes is extremely naive & is pure panic talk.

Its not as if Australia have a super smart Mark Taylor style skipper ready to take over from Ponting.

If AUS do lose the Ashes. AUS fans should simply be backing Ponting to regain his batting form & remain as skipper. Since AUS in the next couple of years will still need him more than ever.

Ponting is not the problem or cause for these poor performances. As i always say its the incompetent selectors whose decisions & squad selection is the underlying problem with the AUS test side.

 

[Sureshot]

I think only a fool would not expect Punter to come back from this. I agree with War (no, really ), the infrastructure is the issue here, not the front-line decision maker.

 

[pcfan123]

If they do lose, will Ponting be the only Aussie captain to loose the Ashes both home and away?

 

[formula1man]

If they do lose, will Ponting be the only Aussie captain to loose the Ashes both home and away?

he would have lost 3 out of 4 ashes he captained and the only one he won was coz it was super team of the millennium. not really a great captain if you ask me.

 

[sifter132]

Looks like we won't have Harris.

Ryan Harris injured as Mitchell Johnson build-up branded insane | Herald Sun

Possibly from when Kontouris was rubbing ████ on his chest (not literally ████ obviously) on the boundary, thought it was his shoulder at first.

Updated! He's gonna be fine now
Ryan Harris fit to play third Test - Yahoo!7 Sport

Thank goodness is all I'll say.

Ponting will not walk out | Fox Sports

At the end of the day Ponting is right. All the talk of Ponting losing the captaincy after the Ashes is extremely naive & is pure panic talk.

Its not as if Australia have a super smart Mark Taylor style skipper ready to take over from Ponting.

If AUS do lose the Ashes. AUS fans should simply be backing Ponting to regain his batting form & remain as skipper. Since AUS in the next couple of years will still need him more than ever.

Ponting is not the problem or cause for these poor performances. As i always say its the incompetent selectors whose decisions & squad selection is the underlying problem with the AUS test side.

If Australia does lose the Ashes and he has a poor series, I would have thought Ponting would retire out of...well shame is not quite the right word, but lack of pride perhaps. Depends on his mindset afterwards, if he's hungry to right the wrongs, or whether he's just sick of it. If he's still hungry, I agree - keep Ponting. He's a great guy to have in the team. Dunno whether he'd consider giving Clarke the captaincy though.

Risk should only be taken if your that you are 100% confident in your risk replacement or risk tactic that it will pay off. If not no way.

So this time conservatism with experienced domestic players such as D Hussey (maybeeeee Cam White although i prefer Dussey) & test experienced players like Hughes is the selections that have to be made.

Sounds nice, but with that definition not many risks would ever be taken. I mean if North is replaced would you be 100% confident that Dave Hussey would outplay him? I might be 70% sure, but you'd be a lunatic to have it at 100% - otherwise you'd be betting everything you owned on it.

And I wouldn't call bringing Hussey or White as 'conservative' - they weren't even in the 17 man Gabba squad. Surely their selection would show even more of a risk taking attitude by the selectors if they'd suddenly leapt over Khawaja, Ferguson and Smith.

I do see your greater point though and I'd agree. Try random, more risky things next series, but not with a big series on the line.


Oh and War - just saw an article on Cricinfo you'll love Holding role and spinner in the same sentence!!
India in South Africa 2010-11: Harris comfortable with holding role against India | Cricket News | South Africa v India | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[woodzy]

Sounds nice, but with that definition not many risks would ever be taken. I mean if North is replaced would you be 100% confident that Dave Hussey would outplay him? I might be 70% sure, but you'd be a lunatic to have it at 100% - otherwise you'd be betting everything you owned on it.

And I wouldn't call bringing Hussey or White as 'conservative' - they weren't even in the 17 man Gabba squad. Surely their selection would show even more of a risk taking attitude by the selectors if they'd suddenly leapt over Khawaja, Ferguson and Smith.

I do see your greater point though and I'd agree. Try random, more risky things next series, but not with a big series on the line.

I think it has to be either David Hussey or Shaun Marsh. I think you need experience for the Ashes so id be leaning towards David Hussey...the thing about making changes is that its very easy to drop someone...but you've got to always ask yourself "can the person thats coming in do any better? Are we changing for the better? Although Shaun Marsh and David Hussey have decent first class records...i agree with you in that we cannot be 100% sure that any of the players we're bringing in can do any better.

Also I CANNOT BELIEVE this talk of bringing Mitchell Johnson back and im absolutely staggered that hes not going to be playing in the shield game over the weekend. Surely to god he needs as much bowling practice as possible so he can at least get them landing on the pitch! I just dont see how he is going to be any different from brisbane...if anything he should have bowled better in Brisbane than in Perth given that the Gabba pitch is now the fastest in the country!

Also does anyone know what the story is with Shaun Tait...I think hes the type of bowler we need...someone who is going to bowl quick and take wickets...bowl him from one end in 3-4 over bursts where he bowls flat out...Nathan Hauritz to come on when hes given a breather...then from the other end...you switch between Stuart Clark and Ben Hilfenhaus...I pick Stuart Clark over Peter Siddle because I'm not exactly sure what Peter Siddle's role is! If hes been picked to keep it tight at one end...well hes not doing that...and hes obviously not being picked to take wickets because apart for his 6-fer hes barely got anything! I feel the job hes being picked for is better suited to Stuart Clark; keep it tight and take 2-3 wickets per innings! Hilfenhaus is your swing bowler but id be doing everything possible to get Nathan Bracken back to 100%...hes the one bowler in this country who you KNOW can swing the ball more than anyone!

I think its vital day of Shield cricket at the SCG today...if Nathan Hauritz can bowl well and grab 3-5 wickets at an economic rate...he could we be in the test team!

 

[midgetwars]

Tait may take wickets but he'll be dead for the rest of the day, sometimes he may not even take wickets... What Australia Need are some young people...

That's why Hughes, Smith, Khawaja are contentions.

I DO NOT KNOW WHY COPELAND is not up for contention... I saw his average and it seems to be the best out of anyone so far...

Back to the 1st test everyone was saying bring in harris and bollinger, they can't do worse than Johnson. But now it's the other way around...

 

[sami ullah khan]

Cameron White was touted to be the next great leg spinner for Australia after Warne. Aussies made the mistake of trying his spin in India where even Warne had failed. White subsequently turned into a middle order batsman. I think Australia need to fit him into their test squad. He is a good batsman, better than North anyways. If they can't find a good spinner play four quicks and have Cameron bat where North used to. I hope White has not forgotten how to bowl legspin. Another headache for Australia would be to find four quicks in such a scenario. Its a toughest job on earth being an Aussie selector I guess.

 

[angryangy]

Stumbled upon the video stream for WA A vs EPP, which I think has just come back from lunch on day 3. It doesn't seem to be linked anywhere and much like the rest of the EPP's games, the best place to find a scorecard is on cricketarchive after match has finished, but Perth's SportFM are commentating the game and chatting to players.
SportFM 91.3 | SportFM Live Broadcasts | Perth Now
http://mfile.akamai.com/54952/live/reflector:40826.asx?bkup=48937

WA 'A'
Michael Johnson (Captain), Phil Adams, Luke Douglas, Jake Fawcett, Chris Hansberry, Cameron Huckett, Ryan James, Matthew Milton, Martin Paskal, Drew Porter, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Luke Towers.

England Performance Squad
Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Danny Briggs (Hampshire), Maurice Chambers (Essex), Jade Dernbach (Surrey), Andrew Gale (Yorkshire), James Hildreth (Somerset), Craig Kieswetter (Somerset), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Leicestershire), James Tredwell (Kent), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).

 

[Slowcoach]

There is no team spirit, and that is probably Ponting's fault more than anyone's, he is not a very likeable person and I doubt his team mates enjoy playing under him.
If we lose the Ashes (actually, When) I think Ponting will get "the word" before the Sydney test, the same one Hayden got 2 years ago...Retire or be Dropped.
We have to pick Hauritz, sure, he is crap, but he's the best crap we've got.
And that way outside offstump line with a 7-2 field is just plain dumb, all you do is take bowled and lbw out of the equation and thereby give yourself less chance of taking wickets, and if the batsman manage to hit one on the legside it is free runs, so it doesn't even slow down the run rate.
Just dumb tactics, Pontings constant field changing and convoluted field settings is just desperation, he lacks patience.
Bowling is simple, just try to hit the top of offstump, and bowl to a traditional orthodox field, 130 years of cricket history can't be wrong, we don't need 8 short covers and 15 short mid ons.

 

[Lee1981]

It dont matter what team the aussies pick, it will simply not be as good as ours therefore all this talk of change is wasted breath.
If these other options were so good why were they not either picked for the 1st test or even picked in the ashes squad?
Simple answer they are no better than you already have and its just a typical blame game after a defeat thinking you must change this or that.
All i read is about north having to go, so replacing him is really going to improve your batting right now yeah, well what about watson, katitch if he wasnt injured and ponting theres not alot of runs there right now and clarke isnt in top nick.
I think you guys just need to accept you just aint very good anymore i mean as an englishman weve had years of it.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Ponting may lose the captaincy but he is still good enough as a batsman imo.

 

[midgetwars]

It dont matter what team the aussies pick, it will simply not be as good as ours therefore all this talk of change is wasted breath.
If these other options were so good why were they not either picked for the 1st test or even picked in the ashes squad?
Simple answer they are no better than you already have and its just a typical blame game after a defeat thinking you must change this or that.
All i read is about north having to go, so replacing him is really going to improve your batting right now yeah, well what about watson, katitch if he wasnt injured and ponting theres not alot of runs there right now and clarke isnt in top nick.
I think you guys just need to accept you just aint very good anymore i mean as an englishman weve had years of it.

Every little bit help, By dumping North it is helping not just by a bit but by a thrashing.

Anyway, White was fail with leg spin, now get SMITH