England in Australia

[CricketFan999]

Harmison is a confidence bowler. The Aussies know this, put him in a OD to get him into form and they'll smack him around just to ruin his game. Best keeping him out of the OD and waiting for the 3 days.

And if the pitch is in really good condition then maybe England arn't going for the win. Maybe they want to get some practice and bowling at Aussies when the pitch is good and they'll get very little help. You can never tell.

 

[angryangy]

Harmison probably needs two weeks of net bowling to adjust to the conditions.

 

[MUFC1987]

If the pitch is good then it's not going to change for when England bat, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[wolf]

Wow! no Harmison? I thought that he required a lot of bowling to get his game up to top notch (much like McGrath says of himself), or is he suffering injury?

I thought this would be the best chance for Harmison to sharpen up for the test, and get some overs under his belt with the cherry.

He needs to work on his rhythm and control, hes not going to get much of that sitting on the benches.

They are saving him for the 3 dayers, they probably don't want him to play the one dayer so he doesn't get low on confidence.

Flintoff gets a wicket, apparently a brilliant catch by Jones. 39/1 off 10 overs, Jaques and Cosgrove in.

 

[Octavius]

oh my mistake, i thought it was a 4 day match. Still i think opening with an ODI and playing the majority of the test side is obviously an indication they are doing some "teambuilding" and blowing off the travel cobwebs. I was shocked that Harmison wasnt playing a 4 day match, but i honestly dont think he will play another ODI until he is settled back into some old form.

anyway im really looking forward to this whole series, its going to be great, because England might get beaten but they will go down fighting every inch of the way..its the ashes!

 

[angryangy]

It should be still a good pitch at the end of the day, but it won't get any better than the first 50 overs. If it degrades from 'excellent' to 'very good' over the course of the day, there's still a handicap you created for yourself. However slight it doesn't matter, any edge over your opponent is victory.

In terms of this match, that decision would be disadvantageous if they fail to get wickets when the pitch is presumed to offer the most movement. So far they've kept the runs down, but a bold partnership is in the making.

Of course you might say it's just a tour match and that I should shut up, which is probably right.

 

[puddleduck]

lol new tour same old story - Mahmood going for almost 8 an over :/

Also Jones has already dropped a sitter. Single handedly handed Read a place in the England team again, and seems determined to make sure he keeps it which is nice of him

This should now be vaguely interesting, Giles and Panesar bowling in tandem, perhaps for their places.

Obviously shouldn't be as Monty has done more than enough but as I type this Gilo strikes!

Good on him, a wicket in his 4th ball back in Cricket

 

[angryangy]

Well, you might scoff at Giles vs Panesar, but with talk that England might look to a fifth bowler as cover for Flintoff's ankle, I could imagine that Giles is a consideration to play alongside Panesar. I mean, have a look at some of the bowlers; Harmison under a bit of a cloud, Plunkett still very raw and Mahmood you'd probably avoid if you can help it. They can probably afford to take Hoggard, Anderson and one of the other three, when you consider that Hoggard and Anderson aren't miserly bowlers either, add two more who could go for 4+ an over and it's ggnorekthx ^_^.

In the face of that conundrum, Giles looks like a pretty reliable option, at this point.

 

[Kal-El]

Playing Giles AND Pansear at the Gabba would be a bad move IMO. It's traditionally a seam friendly pitch. At Adelaide or the SCG it wouldn't be the worst move possible, but I wouldn't do it at the Gabba.

Spose I should get going on a Preview for the Ashes, but I'm slightly nervous about it. We all know what happened when I made a prediction about the last Ashes...

 

[puddleduck]

I'm not scoffing at it all, I genuinely meant what I typed. Even if they're not competing with each other Giles is certainly bowling for his place as he is only just back from injury.

At the moment Jaques is taking them apart, as you said earlier can't take too much stock from a warmup match, England are notoriously bad at them, but still people like Giles, Anderson, Mahmood can not really afford poor performances, they are all playing for their places.

 

[angryangy]

Playing Giles AND Pansear at the Gabba would be a bad move IMO. It's traditionally a seam friendly pitch. At Adelaide or the SCG it wouldn't be the worst move possible, but I wouldn't do it at the Gabba.

Spose I should get going on a Preview for the Ashes, but I'm slightly nervous about it. We all know what happened when I made a prediction about the last Ashes...

Yet, in spite of the Gabba's seam friendliness, Warne, MacGill, Benaud, Bedi and O'Reilly, to name a few, never had trouble bowling there. The Gabba presents true bounce which is beneficial to many spin bowlers and of course, the more fast bowlers, the bigger the foot holes. You might say that spinners are not necessarily disadvantaged by the pitch, but pace gains a lot.

The clinical effectiveness of well aimed pace on the wicket does not mean that it's a reason to bring along hacks who aren't up to the task, rather, it's the opposite; present a glaring weakness and it will be attacked with full force.

Ideally, England would play 3 fast bowlers, a spinner and the all rounder Flintoff. They have suggested that they might need another bowler if Flintoff isn't up to test bowling. One would assume that 5th bowler could only be one of Mahmood, Plunkett and Giles. None of them look particularly tempting yet, but that's what the tour matches are for.

 

[Kal-El]

Englands bowling line up just got creamed in the PMs XI game. We made 5/347 off 50.

Bowling	        O       M       R	W	Wd	Nb
Anderson, JM	10.0	1	65	1	2	0
Flintoff, A	10.0	0	55	1	1	1
Mahmood, SI	9.0	0	97	1	4	6
Panesar, MS	3.0	0	17	0	0	0
Giles, AF	8.0	0	53	1	2	0
Collingwood, PD	10.0	0	58	1	0	0

 

[langerrox]

HAHAHAHA, PM XI rock up 347/5 with Mahmood going for 1/97 off 9 and the rest of the english bowlers getting a hammering. How the hell can you even think you can regain the Ashes when you can't beat this side ffs you suck

 

[genghis_khan]

roxy ur an idiot...every team that tour Australia always struggles in their first if not first few tour matches...give them a break.

 

[Kal-El]

Fletcher: "Ok boys, this game, I want Freddie to bowl well, Giles to get some overs in and some of the batters to hit some runs."

Trescothick: 'What if we lose?"

Fletcher: "What if we win?"

Trescothick: "Nothing happens?"

Fletcher: "Thank you."