TumTum
International Cricketer
Last year WACA was pretty flat, only Johnson kept taking wickets through some clever bowling. Not fast enough to make an impact though.
West Indies tour of Australia, November-December 2009
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pcfan123
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Need this sort of WACA pitch, would love to see Roach unleash, he is due a big bag of wickets
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Robelinda
International Coach
That was a truly great knock by Punter in19 99, Shoaib was lightning fast, Punter just hammered him all over the WACA and got 197. Coming off all those ducks, you wouldnt have guessed, his timing was superb. None better sight that seeing Ponting hooking and straight driving on a fast pitch against fast bowling. How good are his straight drives???????
piriyanth
International Cricketer
They should give Hussey a chance as an opener, to see if he can make big scores there.
I miss that WACA bounce, can't believe they got rid of it for this road they now have. All our grounds are meant to have that something special about them but the WACA is letting us down. The Adelaide oval is going towards that way, needs more deterioration on the 4th and 5th day.
Well maybe, but if they were going to do that they should have done it at the beginning of the series. If you're doing it now, just to see if he'll do alright, he might as well be dropped as there are plenty of younger openers that can do the job eg. Watson/Hughes/Rogers/Jaques I'm just not sure what the selectors plan is with Huss right now. They probably gave him another shot on the back of his ODI form and his century at the Oval, but I'm not sure how long it's gonna take for him to lose that lifeline the selectors have given him. As long as it takes Hughes to outplay him I guess...
Then again, I think Marcus North is possibly not seen as a long term option either. I'm just speculating with that call because he's played well mostly but I wonder if they think he's a top drawer middle order player or just a fill in type guy. Maybe they think a younger guy like Cameron White or Callum Ferguson would be a better choice long term. Just throwing out the theory that Hussey is more important to the team than North and if North doesn't keep scoring well, he might get the chop first. And BTW that really was an awful shot he played last evening. Batting to save the game and he goes for a big cover drive to a wide reverse swinging ball. Uggghhhh.
I agree with this. Clark did his job as a McGrath fill-in, helping to bridge that tricky 3-4 years with some dependable bowling, but for me his time has been and gone. We need to start developing someone else. I personally think McKay can do just as well as Stuart Clark ever did. It's not like Stuart Clark has some magical abilities that can't be found in others. A good honest, accurate bowler who occasionally nipped one back. That's it.
It's different for a guy like Brett Lee because he has attributes that are harder to replace and I think if Lee is fit he'll be back in the squad for the Ashes next year. Reason a) being that he's a Ponting favourite, but the more important reason is that at the moment, we only have one bowler who can use the new ball well - Hilfy. Siddle, Johnson and Bollinger haven't used the new ball well. Lee can offer swing and pace and some good lower order batting, on top of his fielding and dressing room influence. Not many guys can replace that. Lee/Hilfy/Johnson would be my attack when they all get fit. Lee might only last another year, but I think he's still one of the top dogs. Then you'd have McKay/Siddle/Bollinger as a reserve attack.
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angryangy
ICC Chairman
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With this current lot of bowlers, there's just not enough between them to rank them conclusively. If one is going badly in a couple of matches, it will drop their stocks a long way. As much as this 'rebuilding' thing is about growing the current bowlers into better ones, the next guy up could well be better than the worst bowler in the team at the time. There's a need to try a new bowler if he has a good shot at being a more effective one. I also think there's always a need to establish a complementary attack, a balance between strike rate and economy. I don't think we should have an abundance of Mitchell Johnsons, but having one is very useful if the other bowlers are tidy.
Dare
Chairman of Selectors
surprised that Australia go into the 3rd test unchanged.
Australia keep faith in injured Siddle | Cricket News | Australia v West Indies 2009/10 | Cricinfo.com
Australia keep faith in injured Siddle | Cricket News | Australia v West Indies 2009/10 | Cricinfo.com
Lee isn't much better with the new ball, he hasn't swung the red ball for ages, and he bearly swings the white ball these days. Bollinger would be more hope of swinging the new ball, he is rated as a swing ball and all those that have seen him in Shield say he swings it.
Unchanged squad taken into Perth, so if Siddle doesn't pull up then McKay will make his debut.
aussie1st added 3 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...
I don't think we can keep Siddle and Johnson in the same side unless Siddle improves his accuracy. Too many times have we seen both Siddle and Johnson going at over 4 an over with no wickets next to their name. Johnson will be there as long as he keeps taking wickets. So we need the other bowlers to keep it tight.
Well even the best swing bowler we have (Hilfenhaus) wasn't curving the ball much in Brisbane. 2nd innings yeah-a bit, 1st innings - barely. Bollinger didn't swing it at all in Adelaide, except for the old ball. Lee isn't as awesome swinging it as I made out, but I'd back him to swing it just as much as Bollinger. So maybe not at all :laugh
I think Australia should look into using a different ball. The Kookaburra does nothing. And the seam is pretty flat. That's something I think the ICC should be ruling on - standard ball for Test cricket.
They've been balancing this with Hauritz who Ponting usually only defends with. So in his mind there is Hauritz and Hilfy who are dependable, Siddle and Mitch to attack. That was why Krejza was ultimately dropped as Ponting preferred to attack with the quicks rather than a spinner who wasn't really awesome ie. his surname wasn't Warne, and Krejza struggled to bowl maidens.
Balance is why Stuart Clark did well for a while with Lee and Johnson. And why McDonald did well in SA as it was he and Hilfy keeping it tight, while Siddle and Mitch attacked. And that's why McKay would do well too in that keep it tight role.
But until we get a better attacking spinner, we're going to have to play a more explosive/expensive pace attack.
Hilfy has lost his curve that he showed when he bursted onto the scene. Lee would be handy as I'm missing as not having the 150km/h bowler but until he proves he can bowl long spells we can't have him in the side.
If Siddle was at his peak he would actually be another bowler Ponting could rely upon to keep it tight. He only started going for runs during the Ashes and its continued over here. It looks like he needs a break and McKay not only can keep it tight but also pick up a bagful of wickets.
barto123
School Cricketer
its pretty simple: the ball doesnt swing in australia. England found that out in 2006/2007 the hard way. Hilfy doesnt really swing the ball all that much.
Australia do need a complimentary attack. Haritz cops a lot of flak but hes needed: hes like Harris of south africa, there to keep things tight, tie down an end. Johnson is needed for his ability to occasionally go through a side. Siddle is an underrated bowler, lots of agression, and he looks like he can take wickets and destroy sides. Hilfy never looks like going through a side, and often hilfy can be knocked around a bit too, i think he is overrated.
Mckay looks like a good prospect, i think put him with haritz, Johnson and siddle and you'd have a well rounded attack. Mckay keeping control and seaming it, siddle hitting the deck and taking wickets, johnson doing whatever hes doing at the time, and haritz adding the much needed consistancy. Add in some watson (who bowls a lot like kallis) and this side could be very good, like the saffas.
Bollinger should be backup, he doesnt cut it for me, hilfy can also be backup in the right coniditons. All the other aussie spinners are far too inconsistant, and i wouldnt bother with any of them. Lee is past it and probably wont get a game with all the injury setbacks now (though im sure he'd do well if he was put back in, he is quality) and clark is old news, and shouldnt even be considered anymore.
North isnt that good a spinner (quality batsman but), an injury free Clarke is more dangerous, but with watson there they probably wont need too many overs from any other bowlers. Katich is probably better than north spinning it, but again injuries rule this out.
Australia do need a complimentary attack. Haritz cops a lot of flak but hes needed: hes like Harris of south africa, there to keep things tight, tie down an end. Johnson is needed for his ability to occasionally go through a side. Siddle is an underrated bowler, lots of agression, and he looks like he can take wickets and destroy sides. Hilfy never looks like going through a side, and often hilfy can be knocked around a bit too, i think he is overrated.
Mckay looks like a good prospect, i think put him with haritz, Johnson and siddle and you'd have a well rounded attack. Mckay keeping control and seaming it, siddle hitting the deck and taking wickets, johnson doing whatever hes doing at the time, and haritz adding the much needed consistancy. Add in some watson (who bowls a lot like kallis) and this side could be very good, like the saffas.
Bollinger should be backup, he doesnt cut it for me, hilfy can also be backup in the right coniditons. All the other aussie spinners are far too inconsistant, and i wouldnt bother with any of them. Lee is past it and probably wont get a game with all the injury setbacks now (though im sure he'd do well if he was put back in, he is quality) and clark is old news, and shouldnt even be considered anymore.
North isnt that good a spinner (quality batsman but), an injury free Clarke is more dangerous, but with watson there they probably wont need too many overs from any other bowlers. Katich is probably better than north spinning it, but again injuries rule this out.
In the early part of this decade I can remember the ball swinging quite a bit especially in ODIs. Lee use to get nice late outswing which grabbed a lot of early wickets. Hilfenhaus in his T20I debut was getting the ball to swing a long way, probably the most I've seen. It's only been the past few seasons where we have seen no swing in any form. Now I don't know if its to do with the ball or the climate change but something has affected the swinging conditions.
Bollinger looked good in Adelaide, I wouldn't throw him out yet. Plus he was getting the ball to reverse swing, something our bowlers haven't done in a long while.
Bollinger looked good in Adelaide, I wouldn't throw him out yet. Plus he was getting the ball to reverse swing, something our bowlers haven't done in a long while.
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