Warne-Muralidaran Trophy (Australia in Sri Lanka) Aug-Sep 2011

[War]

SMFH *SIGHS*. Its extremely disheartening watching AUS play spin these days. All the improvement that was made by AUS batsmen between 1995-2007 in the way AUS play spin, has throughly gone to waste.

AUS in the last 2 years dating back to when Botha and Ajmal exposed AUS in respective ODI series in 2009 are playing spin just as badly as they did in the 1990s and 1980s.

This is one problem that the idiot selection panel isn't at fault for and probably cant do much to fix.

They made Mendis look better than he actually is currently really. He has been well decoded by international batsmen in the last couple years, smoked by county batsmen recently - so AUS should be ashamed of themselves by this batting effort.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

he was flighting it a little better than he has been in recent months.

when I saw him in scotland he picked up a few wickets but sometimes he was basically just lobbing it at the ground.

still though, australia don't seem to have bothered learning his variations at all which wasn't going to help.

also, mathews rapidly becoming a contender for best fielder in the world.

 

[cricket_icon]

Mendis showed he still has a little left but in reality Australia under played. They batted almost half hearted in some cases. really disappointing. Hopefully the ODIs are not as one sided.

 

[aussie1st]

Marsh hasn't done his Test hopes much good with his two knocks thus far, might have ODIs to make up for it but if not then we all know the selectors pick you based on T20.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Marsh hasn't done his Test hopes much good with his two knocks thus far, might have ODIs to make up for it but if not then we all know the selectors pick you based on T20.

So disappointing the way he got out to Mendis, he looked as silly as Steve Smith. I don't know what he was doing as he has played spin fine before. It looked like panic to me.

 

[sifter132]

I know McKay has very good numbers in his short international career. But i've always been skeptical that he wont be a long term success @ international level given he is of average pace and doesn't move the ball.

So TBF i dont think the AUS teams at any format is weaker for not picking McKay.

Just on McKay, he seems to be basically the same bowler as John Hastings to me. Both aren't real fast, both are tall and hit the wicket, both rely on their slower balls probably a bit more than they should. Only difference is Hastings is a bit better bat, and a couple of years younger. I could live with either of them (or neither TBH - they aren't anything special, just potentially solid bowlers).


And just a shout out to Cam White, that's his 3rd highest international score since October last year His 2 higher scores: an ugly 45 off 76 balls in an ODI at Hobart vs England, and an only marginally less ugly 44 off 64 balls at Adelaide a couple of games later (when Australia needed over 6 RPO to win). Man he's been in awful nick.

 

[ferg512]

Wow can't really believe the Aussies managed to lose that one. Mendis bowled ok but I agree with War that the batsman made him look better than he is. Sri Lanka musn't be too confident in him if he didn't even play against England. If I was SL i would rest him until the tests as once you get used to Mendis his variations become pretty useless.

 

[angryangy]

still though, australia don't seem to have bothered learning his variations at all which wasn't going to help.

Based on what I've seen, they're not really watching the ball until it hits the pitch. Last night, they seemed equally tentative about Herath and weren't on top of Jeevan Mendis either, just an orthodox leg spinner with no great mystery in his variations; but recall Amit Mishra's 5 wicket haul in 2008, largely thanks to a few old-fashioned googlies.

It's compounded if, for example, they are trying to compensate by moving about. Advancing down the wicket is a tradeoff between time and placement. If you don't know what the ball is doing, you can neither know what is a good place to move to, nor have the time to make a correction.

Any spinner who has variations and can bowl the ball a little quicker stands to be a bogey for Australia as long as they show these tendencies. Afridi gets results in a similar fashion. I don't see them changing yet though. On the contrary, Ponting stands as one of their key men against spin; which is maybe not something you would have said ten years ago.

 

[Rohit Doshi]

Man, why do Australians struggle so much against spin?

 

[sribabu]

Aussies will surely bounce back

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Based on what I've seen, they're not really watching the ball until it hits the pitch. Last night, they seemed equally tentative about Herath and weren't on top of Jeevan Mendis either, just an orthodox leg spinner with no great mystery in his variations; but recall Amit Mishra's 5 wicket haul in 2008, largely thanks to a few old-fashioned googlies.

It's compounded if, for example, they are trying to compensate by moving about. Advancing down the wicket is a tradeoff between time and placement. If you don't know what the ball is doing, you can neither know what is a good place to move to, nor have the time to make a correction.

Any spinner who has variations and can bowl the ball a little quicker stands to be a bogey for Australia as long as they show these tendencies. Afridi gets results in a similar fashion. I don't see them changing yet though. On the contrary, Ponting stands as one of their key men against spin; which is maybe not something you would have said ten years ago.

This is why I hate watching Steve Smith bat against spin (well against everybody but that's another story) as he rushes down the pitch but with no idea of actually getting to the pitch of the ball, he just charges without any real idea what are the possibilities of the ball.

Marsh looked worse than Smith last night and he can actually use his feet properly. I hate seeing international players panic.

 

[sifter132]

Man, why do Australians struggle so much against spin?

The simple answer is they never face any good ones until the international level. Or more correctly, they never face any spinners with more than one trick ie. they never have to practise 'picking' spinners. All our domestic spinners rely on flight and trajectory rather than variation.

 

[angryangy]

This is why I hate watching Steve Smith bat against spin (well against everybody but that's another story) as he rushes down the pitch but with no idea of actually getting to the pitch of the ball, he just charges without any real idea what are the possibilities of the ball.

Marsh looked worse than Smith last night and he can actually use his feet properly. I hate seeing international players panic.

Yeah, I had a second look at that Smith dismissal, it was just like "oh no, the stumps are exploding, I must jump out of the way."

I suppose at least Smith and Marsh didn't look lazy like Haddin did.

 

[cricketmad09]

The simple answer is they never face any good ones until the international level. Or more correctly, they never face any spinners with more than one trick ie. they never have to practise 'picking' spinners. All our domestic spinners rely on flight and trajectory rather than variation.

If I was facing a bowler i'd find it easier playing against flight and trajectory than playing a ball in which I have no idea what way it's going to turn.

 

[angryangy]

Different story if the bowler is drifting the ball one way and turning it the other.