Therbs
PCPL Season 2: Best Bowler (Division 2)
Watson is not of Test standard. He is not a team player, is not half the bowler Johnson is and not at the same level as a Test bat. He certainly is not as classy as North. Forget about Watson.
Third Test: Australia v England at Edgbaston
- Thread starter Jakester1288
- Start date
Hooper
ICC Board Member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2006
- Location
- West Australia
- Online Cricket Games Owned
- Don Bradman Cricket 14 - Steam PC
Or that.
We don't need any drastic changes tbh, we had one big stuff up collapse in the first innings at Lords and we are all shitting our pants, we should calm down.
I would much rather have Watson as a batter than Watson as a bowler. There are other ways of keeping the lower order batting strong without moving Watson there.
Katich, Ponting? Both made 100s in the 1st Test and more runs than North in the 2nd. Hell Hilfenhaus made more runs than North in the 2nd Test.
aussie1st added 6 Minutes and 54 Seconds later...
I don't remember anyone saying our batting lineup isn't fine. As I have said before, Watson is coming in as a 5th bowling option to help us take 20 wickets.
Hooper
ICC Board Member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2006
- Location
- West Australia
- Online Cricket Games Owned
- Don Bradman Cricket 14 - Steam PC
Well Watson isn't going to be playing anyways, so we don't need to bother about talking him up, there is no one he can straight swap with except North and the selectors won't drop him.
You do know that players can have a bad test? Just because he failed in one test doesn't mean he is all of a sudden out of form and should be dropped. Hell. If Ricky Ponting got dropped after making about 4 ducks in a row against Pakistan in 1999 I doubt that he would be Australia captain right now. Hussey hasn't had any form for the past 18 months, why's he still in the team? It's completely unfair on North.
I never said drop him based on his 2nd Test. All I was pointing out is he isn't in form and I never said he was out of form. Based on form yes you would drop Hussey but lets face it he won't be dropped.
And are you not dropping Johnson based on one bad test as well? He outbowled Siddle in the 1st Test both in wickets and economy, has a bad 2nd Test and hes suddenly out of form?
leftarmlegspin
Club Cricketer
If I were Australia I'd leave the batting as it is, and so leave Watson out.
The only change would be to introduce Clark for one of Hilfenhaus or Siddle.
The only change would be to introduce Clark for one of Hilfenhaus or Siddle.
Johnson has been crap ever since the start of the tour. He was crap in the first test as well. Siddle has actually been able to produce spells with great pace and accuracy. I haven't seen Johnson do that all series.
Thing is he bowled 22 overs in the 1st Test, 2nd inns going at 2 an over and took 2 wickets. That was more like his spells in SA where he took wickets and kept his economy below 2 an over. It was no surprise that was the best we had bowled all series.
Magnificent? Even Ian Bell could score a century at 331-4 against a bowling attack that had already decided to blame the wicket for not producing wickets and had pretty much given up the ghost.
Then, to continue Bell comparisons, he completely bottled it when you really needed a century from him at Lords (the way he got out in the 1st innings was abysmal).
I'm not saying he's as bad as Bell. His 191 against the Lions was very good to be fair to him. But I don't think dropping him should be considered overly callous.
RoboRocks
Chairman of Selectors
The onus will be on the bowlers during this test with rain scheduled for most of the test, with a result looking unlikely. Australia will need it all to do since they really need to win this test to get back into this series, and with Johnson still struggling, it looks a difficult task.
My money is on the draw if the pitch is going to be slow, plus there is rain in the area throughout the test.
RoboRocks added 3 Minutes and 49 Seconds later...
The toss is going to be crucial since Australia have a fragile attack with Johnson out of sorts and Siddle, who hasn't quite hit his straps yet. The winner would like to bat first I should think.
My money is on the draw if the pitch is going to be slow, plus there is rain in the area throughout the test.
RoboRocks added 3 Minutes and 49 Seconds later...
The toss is going to be crucial since Australia have a fragile attack with Johnson out of sorts and Siddle, who hasn't quite hit his straps yet. The winner would like to bat first I should think.
RoboRocks
Chairman of Selectors
I'm going to Birmingham tomorrow and heading to Edgbaston for the first two days on Thursday and Friday.Looking forward to it, my fourth international match but my first Ashes match.
I went to my first Ashes test at Edgbaston and really is a great day out. Enjoy it!
