Pevenseagull
meh
- Jul 20, 2003
- 20,698
What with hairy Jason getting the elbow and continued speculation over McGrath’s fitness (poorly elbow is it this time Glenda?) the frailties of the Aussies bowling attack has come under much scrutiny. Tait’s been drafted in for his debut ahead of stalwart Kasprowicz and Middlesex’s dibbly dobbly overseas player Clarke (Clarke probably never wants to see a cricket ball again after the Sussex game).
Denis Lillie rates Tait highly and has stated that he thinks he should have started the series (probably hindsight after hairy Jason returned 3/300 over three tests). Lillie, “………… the ability to bowl reverse swing, which could balance some of the threat that Simon Jones has posed.” n.b. ‘could’ and ‘some’ – the Aussie greats think he might be nearly as good as one of our boys.
He had a run out against Northampton earlier in the week and was expensive, physically dangerous (a few got clattered) and looked decidedly second rate compared to McGrath who was operating only in second gear.
His exploits in the Pura cup show that he’s certainly got something but hopefully we’ll see the erratic nonsense that he mustered last season at Durham where he received the sack after 2 games match figures of 0/157 – make Gillespie look good.
McGrath has bowled only two overs fewer than Jones the ball in this series despite missing a test - if he’s not 100% he’ll still be needed to bowl more than his fair share.
A combination of inventive fielding positions and clever bowling has given us the edge in the field. If Pietersen had remembered how to catch it would be 2-1 now. Time for Hoggard to get amongst the wickets now, reports are the pitch should suit him.
On the batting front all of England’s top 6 have now recorded 2 50s or a ton each. Bar Ponting Australia have 5 players with 50s to their names and Gilchrist isn’t one of them, In fact the ‘worlds greatest ever batsman/keeper’ has managed to get a grand sum of 5 more runs than Jones the gloves – largely due to the FACT that Flintoff OWNS Gilchrist,
Hayden hasn’t got a ton for 28 tests now, Strauss seems to have been getting them every third game over that period and he’s looking as comfortable as anyone could against Warne.
Bell and Vaughan both appear to have found their form
Langer’s played well, but not as well as Trescothick
Martyn 154 runs Big Kev 233 runs
Freddie v Katich – behave
It’s looking good
Denis Lillie rates Tait highly and has stated that he thinks he should have started the series (probably hindsight after hairy Jason returned 3/300 over three tests). Lillie, “………… the ability to bowl reverse swing, which could balance some of the threat that Simon Jones has posed.” n.b. ‘could’ and ‘some’ – the Aussie greats think he might be nearly as good as one of our boys.
He had a run out against Northampton earlier in the week and was expensive, physically dangerous (a few got clattered) and looked decidedly second rate compared to McGrath who was operating only in second gear.
His exploits in the Pura cup show that he’s certainly got something but hopefully we’ll see the erratic nonsense that he mustered last season at Durham where he received the sack after 2 games match figures of 0/157 – make Gillespie look good.
McGrath has bowled only two overs fewer than Jones the ball in this series despite missing a test - if he’s not 100% he’ll still be needed to bowl more than his fair share.
A combination of inventive fielding positions and clever bowling has given us the edge in the field. If Pietersen had remembered how to catch it would be 2-1 now. Time for Hoggard to get amongst the wickets now, reports are the pitch should suit him.
On the batting front all of England’s top 6 have now recorded 2 50s or a ton each. Bar Ponting Australia have 5 players with 50s to their names and Gilchrist isn’t one of them, In fact the ‘worlds greatest ever batsman/keeper’ has managed to get a grand sum of 5 more runs than Jones the gloves – largely due to the FACT that Flintoff OWNS Gilchrist,
Hayden hasn’t got a ton for 28 tests now, Strauss seems to have been getting them every third game over that period and he’s looking as comfortable as anyone could against Warne.
Bell and Vaughan both appear to have found their form
Langer’s played well, but not as well as Trescothick
Martyn 154 runs Big Kev 233 runs
Freddie v Katich – behave
It’s looking good
