Was Hayden right?

Ponting suceeded against Ambrose at the start of his career.

Ponting was, and still is, a much better bat than Hayden. But Haydos has worked hard to make the most of his ability . . .you make that out to be a bad thing.

Hayden from memory played Ambrose in four innings for three dismissals.

Yes it's a small sample, but it was the appalling technique he showed in those innings.

Plus this is not about Hayden's ability, I have already acknowledged that he is a great player after a horror start.

So what's your pointless?

I just never get why he's singled out, he's playing in the same batting friendly era as everybody else but only a small number of batsmen are putting up his numbers

He's also in recent seasons been our best bat on some difficult pitches.

"Ponting suceeded against Ambrose at the start of his career."

He succeeded once (and used up five years worth of luck in the process), failed the next three times, and then was dropped, a bit hastily, from a side that was already losing a baysman through injury. By losing his spot then, he missed playing in the Melbourne and Perth Tests where Ambrose and Walsh nailed Australia to the sightscreens, so I doubt Ricky is that bitter about not playing in those games.

tac wrote:Ponting was, and still is, a much better bat than Hayden. But Haydos has worked hard to make the most of his ability . . .you make that out to be a bad thing.

No, you said that yourself.

I never ever said Hayden returned to the nets and made himself a better player from his limited ability.

I said he improved after a dreadful start.

Paul Keating wrote:

tac wrote:Ponting was, and still is, a much better bat than Hayden. But Haydos has worked hard to make the most of his ability . . .you make that out to be a bad thing.

No, you said that yourself.

I never ever said Hayden returned to the nets and made himself a better player from his limited ability.

I said he improved after a dreadful start.

Who said "limited ability"? I said he's not as good as Ponting . . . but that puts him in a huge group of players.

The One wrote:is this mcg pitch really quite difficult to bat on? after india bowled poorly in the first session all the aussie bats except hayden struggled. and now besides tendulkar india looks like they are playing on a minefield. pitch seems slow and the bounce loopy, i think australia's score is actually above par. india is not going to chase anything above 200-225 on this pitch

From the stands the bounce looks a bit uneven - more than one batsman has been undone by balls that kept lower or bounced more than they expected. It has made for two fascinating days of cricket, but.

please don't yell wrote:So how many innings did he actually play vs ambrose?

3 or 4? two of them on that WACA pitch that was cracked apart on day 1?

The pitch for the Melbourne match wasn't much better. AB was very critical of it in the media after the game. He believed it wasn't up to test standard.

Paul Keating wrote:
And it wasn't just Ambrose. On his tour to South Africa, Pollock and Donald (plus the umpire in the Schultz LBW) took care of him with the utmost ease.

Hayden wasn't dismissed by Donald in that test series. In fact, he was only dismissed once by Donald in all the tests they played against each other (7 games from memory) & that was on his test debut.

Hayden would be one of the last people I would describe as having "limited ability".

It should be remembered that he scores with an SR of over 60, on top of the 53 average. That means that invariably he puts bowling attacks on the backfoot from the start of the innings.

Henry wrote:Well, he averages over 60 in Australia and 43 overseas. If he was from India what would you all be saying?

I reckon I'd probably say 'Get ****** Trev'.

The pitch for the Melbourne match wasn't much better. AB was very critical of it in the media after the game. He believed it wasn't up to test standard.

LOL. Typical. Australia lose a match, so blame the pitch.

Hayden's record in England suggests that he has a problem with the swinging ball. It's not hard to see why, with the way he plants that front foot almost before the bowler has released the ball. Means he can't adjust if the ball swings. Fortunately for him, swing bowling has gone out of fashion in the last 5-10 years.

yes dear

There was also a run out on that South African tour. So in 5 innings, he got a dodgy LBW, a run-out, a 40, and two failures (I think Pollock got him twice and Schultz twice).

And that hundred in Adelaide was against Walsh, Bishop and Cuffy. Hardly a joke attack. Not to mention the excellent 47 in the following match.

I'd like to see him walk down the wicket against the likes of Garner, Holding, Marshall, Roberts, and Croft in the days of no helmets.

I'd like to see that too; but will be first to acknowledge (as I did in another thread), I just do not like the guy.

Henry wrote:I'd like to see him walk down the wicket against the likes of Garner, Holding, Marshall, Roberts, and Croft in the days of no helmets.

Not as much as the rest of us would like to see you do that.

... some good gazunda balls already in this game, and many more to come. Hayden was right.

I prefer prawn balls.

Demelza wrote:I prefer prawn balls.

I thought you were a veggie?

No, I eat fish.

Murderer!!!! Fish are alive too, they have feelings.

But they're ugly, so it doesn't count.