So is the gap between Aus and the rest finally narrowing?

Merlin wrote:So ... presumably, this year it was Ponting's turn to ****** up the team balance?
What was his excuse?

Geez , Merlo ...No comprehension from you ...What a ****** shock ....

taipan wrote:

embee wrote:

taipan wrote:

embee wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:

Merlin wrote:Which is precisely what us Poms said when we thrashed them in the CB series last year - following our Ashes whitewash humiliation..... NOT.

Really? After a bout of laughter due to gigantic hubrissy arrogance from a few of them, that's exactly what I said.

Last year Symonds had torn his bicep and wasn't playing ...this year he has hurt his ankle and wasn't bowling ( plus his batting was pretty shit as well) ...the loss of his allround ability ****** up the team balance

Ah well, time for one last sook.

I'm sure you have more than one sook left ...

Weak marty, weak.

See ...You DID have another sook left

embee wrote:

taipan wrote:

embee wrote:

taipan wrote:

embee wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:

Merlin wrote:Which is precisely what us Poms said when we thrashed them in the CB series last year - following our Ashes whitewash humiliation..... NOT.

Really? After a bout of laughter due to gigantic hubrissy arrogance from a few of them, that's exactly what I said.

Last year Symonds had torn his bicep and wasn't playing ...this year he has hurt his ankle and wasn't bowling ( plus his batting was pretty shit as well) ...the loss of his allround ability ****** up the team balance

Ah well, time for one last sook.

I'm sure you have more than one sook left ...

Weak marty, weak.

See ...You DID have another sook left

Er?

embee wrote:
It made them play Hopes ...and yes he batted well tonight ...but increases the pressure on the top order having him come in at seven rather than playing an extra batsman ...BALANCE ...

Fair do's. They could've used Clarke and Hussey to fill in and used the extra batsman. England have made an immeasurable amount of bad choices. It's your team on the day.

Brass Monkey wrote:

embee wrote:
It made them play Hopes ...and yes he batted well tonight ...but increases the pressure on the top order having him come in at seven rather than playing an extra batsman ...BALANCE ...

Fair do's. They could've used Clarke and Hussey to fill in and used the extra batsman. England have made an immeasurable amount of bad choices. It's your team on the day.

They could have ...but Ozzies are arrogant pricks and we think we can do anything we like and it will work ...and it generally does ...but sometimes we ****** up ....our bowlers saved us all series and our batsmen did just enough but never really clicked for 50 overs (even the game we scored 300+ they looked like scoring more for most of the innings )...our bowlers never got the early breakthroughs in the finals and our batting was still not up to scratch

embee wrote:
They could have ...but Ozzies are arrogant pricks and we think we can do anything we like and it will work ...and it generally does ...but sometimes we ****** up ....our bowlers saved us all series and our batsmen did just enough but never really clicked for 50 overs (even the game we scored 300+ they looked like scoring more for most of the innings )...our bowlers never got the early breakthroughs in the finals and our batting was still not up to scratch

Yeah, true. They didn't perform too well from what I saw. No offence to Praveen, but at times he looked a non-event, though during those spells he still took wickets, mainly to misjudged shots. I reckon maybe they were trying too hard, but they just didn't look up to the task. Hayden looked good though.

Brass Monkey wrote:

Batman wrote:When the Saffies and Kiwis chased the huge 300+ 400+ a while back in ODIs, it seemed like a fluke, but now there is more evidence that they can be beaten on any given day.

Bullsh!t. They finished top of the table with one loss coming as a factor of complacency and then they choked like a fat bloke with sleep apnea in the finals.... where's the difference from last year? Not alot? But they won the WC. SA will take over the mantle of 'top friendly winner' probably, but what's that in the scale of things?

Furthermore, this is JAMODIs. They're pants and I wouldn't hold much joy knowing that Aus are 2nd/3rd/4th in the ODI rankings, bar the fact it will hopefully stop a few Aussies being so trite. But then, they'll always bring up the '3 in a row' so, again, not much has changed.

It wasn't just the one loss in a dead rubber to SL, remember? They'd lost one to India earlier. The Ind-Aus scoreline in the series reads 3-2, and they were saved by rain in the first encounter.

The point is not just about the tri-series. The point is that this was the most successful tour of Australia by a visiting team in a long time, with the tests reading 1-1 (or 1-2 if that pleases you) and the ODIs reading 3-2 plus the trophy (England's 0-5 loss in the tests completely overshadowed their ODI victory last year).

apart from obviously matching oz on the field, one other highlight of the tour was beating them at their own game of sledging and gamesmanship. oz sledging aka 'mental disentregration' has been shown up for what it is - simple bully tactics. and getting rid of bucknor from india games has been another plus (though think i saw him umpire in the sa v ban test?).

if only the bcci had arranged for proper warm up matches for the tests (the first test was the only game we were totally outplayed in).

with one of the best young talent pools and obvious financial power, india should really be targetting top spot now.

Tendulkar.
Dravid.
Kumble.


Massive holes to fill in a few years. There won't be another Dravid or Kumble for a long time and there'll probably never be another Tendulkar.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Tendulkar.
Dravid.
Kumble.


Massive holes to fill in a few years. There won't be another Dravid or Kumble for a long time and there'll probably never be another Tendulkar.

yep, not convinced India will be the team to step up either

Brass Monkey wrote:

doremi wrote:In tests, India could take top spot in the next 1 year or so, though for how long is not clear since a few retirements are going to come soon. In ODIs, who knows?

Nah, not at all. Just haven't the batting line-up once those jewels have faded.

They won't fade for the next 1.5 years atleast in tests (I hope). That's why I said I'm not sure how long we'll keep the top spot.

With our bowling being healthier than it's EVER been, and the batting hopefully carrying on until decent replacements are found, India have as good a chance as any of getting there.

As for the holes to fill, I doubt we will be as lucky as we have been with the sheer talent our batting line-up has had the last decade. I'm hoping the bowling steps up this time.

doremi wrote: That's why I said I'm not sure how long we'll keep the top spot.

Keep?

I doubt you'll get top spot within 1 1/2 years!

If we beat South Africa by a 2-0 margin or, so defeat SL away by a similar scoreline, beat the Aussies at home and later NZ away, we'll probably be number 1.

The post-Chappell era's been sweet so far. Time for Kirsten to take us to the next level.

Didn't India just lose the Test series against Australia?

Where's all this "we're going to be number one" waffle coming from?

Yeah. We should have milked winning the triangular tournament thingy to this extent.

1. I said we could be no. 1, not will be, or going to be.

2. Australia's the hardest away tour, we may have lost but it was waaaaay closer than the scoreline suggested, could easily have been the other way around. And anyways, the Aussies didn't win in India until 2005, they were no. 1 for 10 years before that. India for Australia, like Australia is for India, was the hardest away tour.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Tendulkar.
Dravid.
Kumble.


Massive holes to fill in a few years. There won't be another Dravid or Kumble for a long time and there'll probably never be another Tendulkar.

Having seem some of the U-19 stuff I am quite confident that there is pletnty of talent coming on board. The bridging and transition needs to be managed to ensure that the talented youngters can go on and realise their full potential with the senior ranks.

India's test performance in this series to me was absolutely commendable. They were underbaked and fired from all sides and before they could steady were 0-2. To salvage that back to a 1-2 and actually notching a win at Perth showed a lot of skill and mental strength.

Interested to see how SA go against Australia later. SA with their firebrand pace attack should be a really good challenge although in the mental stakes the Aussies seem to have had the wood on the proteas for so long.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Yeah. We should have milked winning the triangular tournament thingy to this extent.

Yeah. But your time was still $hite when it ended.

So is the gap between Aus and the rest finally narrowing

Ya think? Two of the greatest bowlers of all time have retired along with a couple of handy batsmen. We have an iron gloved wicketkeeper who bats at the top of the order that's a walking wicket & the idiot Tasmanian batting at 3 who couldn't pick his nose at the moment.

Indeed. World cricket would be in crisis if the gap didn't close after the TGMs retired.

Ross wrote:Indeed. World cricket would be in crisis if the gap didn't close after the TGMs retired.

aye!

Ross wrote:Indeed. World cricket would be in crisis if the gap didn't close after the TGMs retired.

Although it could widen now that Hooggggggyyyyyy has retired

LOL

How many other cricketers have been dropped after they announced their retirement?

G.Wood wrote:

Ross wrote:Indeed. World cricket would be in crisis if the gap didn't close after the TGMs retired.

Although it could widen now that Hooggggggyyyyyy has retired

sage comment from bronny b jnr