Re: Australia v England, 5th Test, Sydney, January 3-7, 2011 (II)

by Henry Sat 08 Jan 2011, 00:26

Merlin wrote:
lardbucket wrote:
PlanetPakistan wrote:Zat is right, Bell is a class player

It was always mainly the Poms here - and mainly Chas and Merlin really - who talked Bell down. A fair few Australian supporters here thought he was a danger man. I was surprised by Cook's success, but not by Bell's. He'll be captain one day when Cook is unavailable ...
Yup - my hand's up ... Bellhop even sounds good in interview - by which I mean I detect a refreshingly new physical fibre grown into his spine - and I believe this has probably (finally) come through his maturity, the lack of Gashley Piles' constant presence and Belf's acceptance within a happy squad - which England clearly are right now.

Batting up the order against better opposition (India and the Saffers) will prove the deciding factor ... and that is yet to come.
Scoring heavily at #6 when the top 5 have lifted the lid against crap bowling (as we've seen throughout this series) is pretty and certainly more than welcome - but it serves as no guarantee of runs when England are 28 fer 3 on a greentop under dark skies (...and there will come a time...) - with Belf heading out to the middle!
Belf as stand-in skipper ... No, I think not.
He doesn't display the requisite dominance that is essential in a captain's make-up.
That said - well played the Bellhop (and I really am glad for him) ................... for now.

Cook, on the other hand, does have what it takes to dominate. Carves out an innings, grafts hard for his runs and then, when the pressure lessens, turns on the style. Patience, a pair the size of a bullocks and a total dominance ...
Played that man. Well deserved MoM, MoS and the Compton-Miller medal ...

And so ... with the final nail driven into the Aussies coffin, well played England.

Ruthless and dominating - bar the blip at Perth - they totally outplayed a thoroughly demoralised Australian XI (who rarely all turned up together for a match) in every department of the game throught this series.

If the Hilditch claim of this being the "best Australian bowling attack" is to be believed, then Gawd help your lot!
A captain who's fixated with whining and bitching - ending up with a series average of 16 and a broken thumb (and morale).
A "strike bowler" who turned it on just the one time ... who telegraphs his sagging confidence to the oppos through his poor body language.
Smith a No. 6 ??! ... or indeed a No. 7 !!! Do me a favour ....
Hughes' "catch" .... ? Bad form (or desperation) ... enough said.
The Aussie players seemingly refusing to clap Cook, Belf and Prior off the field after their innings' .... poor, poor attitude.

For me ... Hussey and Watson were the Aussie stand-outs ... and even then, they couldn't stop the rot at the defining moments of the game ... For all the knocking he gets, Watto played well - okay so he didn't convert his scores, and maybe he needs lessons in running between the wickets - BUT - he did contribute to a lost cause when others around him didn't ....

The manner of Australia losing this series 3 - 1 (as predicted by this Wizard ) by an Innings plus on no less than three occasions (yet another record), was even more than could be hoped for - the divide between the sides being much much greater than previously thought - with records collapsing all over the place, this England team are on the up ... the entire squad of 30 (backroom and on-field) - and it's good that David Saker has seen the light and re-signed for another 3 years to the cause!

Job well done England - played Strausser and the boys ... good luck Colly and thanks for the memories.

Now on to the Mickey Mouse hit-n-miss nonsense - the REAL show's over!

Merls, Bell made runs at Brisbane and Perth when England were in dire straits. He got stranded with the tail and got out slogging.

The "he can't make runs under pressure" tag went out the window on the tour of South Africa last winter. He's made plenty of pressure runs since then.

by PeterCS Sat 08 Jan 2011, 00:52

True.

by PeterCS Sat 08 Jan 2011, 00:54

Is Prior turning into Hashim Amla? Shocked

Australia v England, 5th Test, Sydney, January 3-7, 2011 (II) - Page 13 L4936904

by Guest Sat 08 Jan 2011, 03:08

Yeah, Bell has made pressure runs consistently now for over a year. Class little fella now.

by JKLever Sat 08 Jan 2011, 03:24

Best looking player to watch too, better than KP when in form...

by PeterCS Sat 08 Jan 2011, 13:15

by JKLever Sat 08 Jan 2011, 13:37

No, Pete...

by Henry Sat 08 Jan 2011, 13:42

PeterCS wrote:Is Prior turning into Hashim Amla?

I think it's called compensating, or 'the Jason Statham'.

by JKLever Sat 08 Jan 2011, 13:44

I know the feeling. Unfortunately I actually resemble Prior quite a bit.... he needs to do the proper thing and shave those grandad sideburns down

by Henry Sat 08 Jan 2011, 13:51

So you're unshaven, balding, with questionable teeth and an annoying voice?

by JKLever Sat 08 Jan 2011, 14:02

I said 'a bit'

by Henry Sat 08 Jan 2011, 14:08

Cooky and Jimmy touch down in London tomorrow morning. Gosh things move quickly these days. Only 36 hours ago they were jumping up and down celebrating at a humid Sydney Cricket Ground.

by JKLever Sat 08 Jan 2011, 14:10

The fact that Cook will be in London and Lumb is in the Squad in Aus is a touch retarded though I guess Steve Davies will replace Kieswetter with the gloves?

by Henry Sat 08 Jan 2011, 14:16

Replace? Davies is the jamodi and T20 incumbent these days, isn't he?

Lumb is still living off some moderate innings in the World T20 at the start of the year. Is he in the ODI squad? Or just the T20 lark?

by JKLever Sat 08 Jan 2011, 14:52

Davies, ah yes of course. Forgot he'd made the step up to the T20.

Think Lumb is just in the T20.

by Basil Sat 08 Jan 2011, 20:51

JKLever wrote:Best looking player to watch too, better than KP when in form...

Now that Colly is gone, I would shuffle the pack and push Bell up to number 4 and have KP at 5 with Morgan, Bops or whoever at 6.

It does occur to me, however, that we might go for the extra bowler against India's batting line-up, which would mean Prior at 6.

by JKLever Sat 08 Jan 2011, 22:57

Hopefully not, don't entirely trust Prior at 6. I don't think the England management do either...

by Basil Sat 08 Jan 2011, 22:59

It is long odds, and depends I think on Broad scoring runs against S/L/ first.

by Henry Sat 08 Jan 2011, 23:02

Prior is hit or miss. Awesome once he gets going, but never going to be rock solid and consistent. Broad and Rashid both have number seven potential. Will be interesting to see the make up of the side in 2-3 years.

by Basil Sat 08 Jan 2011, 23:05

Henry wrote:Prior is hit or miss. Awesome once he gets going, but never going to be rock solid and consistent. Broad and Rashid both have number seven potential. Will be interesting to see the make up of the side in 2-3 years.

I don't think it will look radically different. Most of the players are right side of 30. and, as Swann is a spinner, he could go on for another six years - it's all good!

by Henry Sat 08 Jan 2011, 23:18

Four bowlers is working for us. There's no reason to change things at the moment. Now that Colly is gone though it would be nice if a few more of our top six could roll their arms over. Might help Bopara's case to be the new number six.

by Guest Sat 08 Jan 2011, 23:18

Basil wrote:
Henry wrote:Prior is hit or miss. Awesome once he gets going, but never going to be rock solid and consistent. Broad and Rashid both have number seven potential. Will be interesting to see the make up of the side in 2-3 years.

I don't think it will look radically different. Most of the players are right side of 30. and, as Swann is a spinner, he could go on for another six years - it's all good!

It's weird, you can't really see a great deal going wrong... but somehow it seems like it will... Just not sure how...

Unless it really is different this time.

Nah...

by Guest Sat 08 Jan 2011, 23:19

Henry wrote:Four bowlers is working for us. There's no reason to change things at the moment. Now that Colly is gone though it would be nice is a few more of our top six could roll their arms over. Might help Bopara's case to be the new number six.

The thing about the 4 bowler strategy during the Ashes was that we actually didn't need to play the extra batsman. Colly got no more runs than a bowler would have.

I'm not saying we should definately go back to 5 bowlers but it does show that if your batsman do their job, there should be room for 5 bowlers.

by Henry Sat 08 Jan 2011, 23:22

vilkrang wrote:
Henry wrote:Four bowlers is working for us. There's no reason to change things at the moment. Now that Colly is gone though it would be nice is a few more of our top six could roll their arms over. Might help Bopara's case to be the new number six.
The thing about the 4 bowler strategy during the Ashes was that we actually didn't need to play the extra batsman. Colly got no more runs than a bowler would have.

I'm not saying we should definately go back to 5 bowlers but it does show that if your batsman do their job, there should be room for 5 bowlers.

Well you could just as easily say that we didn't need the five bowlers because four did the job. I have more confidence in our bowling than our batting at the moment. I know we racked up some huge scores in this series, but all it takes is a pitch with a bit of pace and bounce and it's 160 all out.

by Guest Sat 08 Jan 2011, 23:23

Henry wrote:
vilkrang wrote:
Henry wrote:Four bowlers is working for us. There's no reason to change things at the moment. Now that Colly is gone though it would be nice is a few more of our top six could roll their arms over. Might help Bopara's case to be the new number six.
The thing about the 4 bowler strategy during the Ashes was that we actually didn't need to play the extra batsman. Colly got no more runs than a bowler would have.

I'm not saying we should definately go back to 5 bowlers but it does show that if your batsman do their job, there should be room for 5 bowlers.

Well you could just as easily say that we didn't need the five bowlers because four did the job. I have more confidence in our bowling than our batting at the moment. I know we racked up some huge scores in this series, but all it takes is a pitch with a bit of pace and bounce and it's 160 all out.

In that case, will the one extra batsman make such a difference?

I'll see your "pitch with pace and bounce" and raise you a "one of our bowlers is sh*t or gets injured".

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