Australia v New Zealand, 1st Test, Brisbane, 1-5 December, 2011

lardbucket wrote:They've put Christian FFS on standby. They might as well tell Milf that his name is in an envelope with Katich's.

Yeah, did Milf sh!t in someone's cereal?

Fuse is thick as pigsh!t. He should be dropped for being stoopid as well as technically deficient. Open with Koaja and blood someone else in the middle order.

Anywho, good start to the summer. The boys did much better than I expected.

GCS - worth another go - standout outfielder
Fuse - drop him NOW
Koaja - looks technically sound - keep him
Drunky - form returning, just needs to stand up straight and on-drive
Pup - quite impressive with the bat and with his head for captaincy
Paris - quiet match but our best player of the last 12 months
Haddit - last 2 innings have saved him for the summer.
Cot - steady, will play more Tests than not this summer
Patto - pleasantly impressive. The standout debutant
Nekid - too many pies, but injuries may see him picked for Hobart
Elmer - pretty good and developing nicely.

If Bog is fit, elevate Koaja to open.

Interesting that Healy and co. were saying during the lunch break that Hughes deservest to stay. He appears to be running low on credit with only two scores above thirty-six for his last seventeen innings.

That was utterly sh1t by Hughes.

Pup has made 151 and 139 in 2 of the last 3 Tests, both times when his side was in a bit of trouble, and missed out on MoM each time. Wouldn't worry him but interesting stat.

JGK wrote:That was utterly sh1t by Hughes.

Appropriate, given Hughes is utterly sh!t.

What a qunt Hughes is. I dont think a bigger qunt has stepped on a cricket field.

And after one test Warner is averaging 15 with a strike rate of 214. Must be a record.

skully wrote:Pup has made 151 and 139 in 2 of the last 3 Tests, both times when his side was in a bit of trouble, and missed out on MoM each time. Wouldn't worry him but interesting stat.

You could argue though the 151 was in a test in which we ended up being comprehensively beaten.

In this test he had four innings to achieve that score with all the kiwi largesse. Pattinson's five-for was surely matchwinning given that the pitch was ripe for batting and had the NZ batsmen applied themselves assiduously they might have set a decent run chase. He outbowled Starc and swung the ball which his teammates weren't doing.

Taylor's had to eat humble pie after making promising predictions for the kiwis and suggesting that the Aussie pitches were flat. Still not flat enough for them to combat the bounce though he rightly admitted that eight of their batsmen in the first innings gifted their wickets to the opposition.

This team from across the Tasman seems to lack good old-fashioned kiwi resilience. Many of their teams of yore were notable for a strong fighting spirit and punching above their weight.

"In this test he had four innings to achieve that score with all the kiwi largesse."

Aw diddums.

Heard MOMs are now awarded on the popular vote of the major sponsor's customers. Like the Logies. Whatever cred they once may have had has just bleeped away.

Most of MOTM awards are contentious anyway because there's a subjective element (regardless of the judges) when you get a couple of candidates who could justifiably claim the award.

...(cont prev post) Which is as rough as hessian jocks on Patto, the first to pick up a 'Peoples Choice', who had a wonderful match after the first half-hour and showed he's a quick learner - about a million miles quicker than Flooz, who has to be gone as soon as Watto and/or Marsh is on the same planet as fit. Putting another batsman in the 12 for Hobart can be seen as a big hint as well.

Some lanky dark-haired bloke called Mitchell something bowled left-arm mostly crap but batted OK. The more things change....Suburban Boy was stiff in the first knock but showed good confidence in the second when he had a maximum of 19 to gain and a Test spot to lose, and generally fielded well. Book the jury into the hotel. Hussey had best produce another innings before the Twitter illiterati decide on its next target. Haddin did OK without ever looking any less short-term than six months ago. Lyon continues to plod along and impress but now has to cope with a) heightened expectation that comes with reputation, and b) the Skull Woof (in this case, Lance Gibbs).

All in all a good workmanlike effort. For a thrown-together team of whoever's lefts, captained by a clueless, self-absorbed Gen WGAF wanker with too many tatts, they haven't done too badly lately.

skully wrote:Pup has made 151 and 139 in 2 of the last 3 Tests, both times when his side was in a bit of trouble, and missed out on MoM each time. Wouldn't worry him but interesting stat.

Would it be churlish to point out he gave three easy chances to the hapless Kiwi's on his way to his ton?..and as Red pointed out, his previous ton was in a losing side. I think Pup will just be happy just to get the stats.

Fred Nerk wrote:...(cont prev post) Which is as rough as hessian jocks on Patto, the first to pick up a 'Peoples Choice', who had a wonderful match after the first half-hour and showed he's a quick learner - about a million miles quicker than Flooz, who has to be gone as soon as Watto and/or Marsh is on the same planet as fit. Putting another batsman in the 12 for Hobart can be seen as a big hint as well.

Some lanky dark-haired bloke called Mitchell something bowled left-arm mostly crap but batted OK. The more things change....Suburban Boy was stiff in the first knock but showed good confidence in the second when he had a maximum of 19 to gain and a Test spot to lose, and generally fielded well. Book the jury into the hotel. Hussey had best produce another innings before the Twitter illiterati decide on its next target. Haddin did OK without ever looking any less short-term than six months ago. Lyon continues to plod along and impress but now has to cope with a) heightened expectation that comes with reputation, and b) the Skull Woof (in this case, Lance Gibbs).

All in all a good workmanlike effort. For a thrown-together team of whoever's lefts, captained by a clueless, self-absorbed Gen WGAF wanker with too many tatts, they haven't done too badly lately.

Ignoring the obvious sarcasm yes they've done all right and while the twitter illiterati as you say might condemn Clarke, sections of the media have orgasms over his every tactical move. It equates to genius if it succeeds. Hell even Pattinson referred to his innings as one of genius! Maybe the team has done better than expected considering its farrago type nature, though you could also argue that it's the first team not to win in SA in recent times and performed less well in SL (against their weakest team in the last decade) than Aussie teams on recent tours. It's won comprehensively at the Gabba but that's a fortress so there's still work to be done.

Another way of looking at it though, is that despite the fragility of the batting and a continuing spate of injuries, there doesn't appear to be a lot of teams in world cricket that will present too much of a challenge. England is clearly in front, SA was the stronger team in the recent series but has its problems, Pakistan has talent but is erratic and its best two bowlers are in jail, India's bowling is weakish and compounded by injuries, its batting is strong but ageing. Outside of that there's not too much to fear. NZ will challenge for the odd session or two but inevitably sinks to defeat against us, the Windies lack depth of talent and self-belief and then there are the minnows.

So despite fans and critics alike beating their heads against brick walls about our relative fall from grace, the climb to the top again may not be that difficult.

Sure it's hard to see another super dominant era on the horizon but Australia will rarely be outside of the top few for long.

I think it is pretty obvious that Pup is a superior captain to Ponting.

JGK wrote:I think it is pretty obvious that Pup is a superior captain to Ponting.

Thats a bit premature i think. Lets see how he goes when up against some decent opposition with an underperforming side like Ponting had to in his final eighteen months as captain.

Kiwis. How sh!t are they?

Invader Zim wrote:Kiwis. How sh!t are they have they always been?

Fixed

Still, I wouldn't have picked the Aus XI to beat them inside 4 days.

JGK wrote:I think it is pretty obvious that Pup is a superior captain to Ponting.

Like that would be hard.

It took Aussie Pat approximately 30 minutes to have a better career than his older brother

One captain gets a 100, the other a first-baller. Is this a record? I feel a Skully trivia question in the offing.

Allan D wrote:One captain gets a 100, the other a first-baller. Is this a record? I feel a Skully trivia question in the offing.

I wouldn't have thought so.

Bradman 103
Hammond a first baller in the second dig
Leeds 1938

Bradman 132 & 127*
Lala Amarnath a first baller
MCG 1948