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- #641
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The Second Investec Ashes Test, England v Australia, Lords
- Thread starter hans kraay fan club
- Start date
Blimey, I'm not. I will happily watch the Australians get flayed all summer in games as one-sided as Lords (assuming the tightness of Trent Bridge was a fluke). Maybe when we've done it for the next twenty years during which time all Australia can claim is a narrow home win (which they celebrate with OBEs and an open-top bus tour to ecstatic crowds) I might start to grow bored with it and start to wish they were at least 'competitive'.
Mo Gosfield
Well-known member
- Aug 11, 2010
- 6,392
Interesting read.
I note how Shield cricket has been forced to the edges of the season by T20.
Ring any bells?
Seagull over Canaryland
Well-known member
More bad news for the Aussies.
Pattinson ruled out of rest of this Ashes series due to stress fracture in his back. That's a big dent in their bowling attack (and batting!). Shame.
Pattinson ruled out of rest of this Ashes series due to stress fracture in his back. That's a big dent in their bowling attack (and batting!). Shame.
spring hall convert
Well-known member
Horrible news for him, perhaps explained why he hasn't been at his best with the ball. A stress fracture at his age is terrible news for a quick bowler.
He can take heart from Jimmy Anderson who's gone on to take 300 test wickets after suffering the same injury around 7 years ago.
Billy the Fish
Technocrat
Agreed. We've got a long way to go to make up for the 90's and early 2000's
I hate it when people bring up Anderson's bowling stats without taking that injury into account. They spent years trying to change Anderson's action to put less pressure on his back which effectively ruined his early international career.
Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 31,504
This looks very much like the demise of the West Indies. One by one they went, replaced by lesser men. For Michael Clarke read Chris Gayle. Botham's 10-0 prediction is now plausible, if still unlikely.
Everything they try fails. It's such a shame. Agar's place needs to be looked at. 0 for 142 at Lords is not good enough. Then the fumbled drop catch and a 2 innings total of 18 runs could see him back to 11. Tricky for Australia to drop him after the brilliant 98 at Trent Bridge but he is in the team as a bowler.
So Watson down to 5, Clarke up to 4, Starc in for Swann to turn in his foot marks and Nathan Lyon replacing poor Agar.
So Watson down to 5, Clarke up to 4, Starc in for Swann to turn in his foot marks and Nathan Lyon replacing poor Agar.
Billy the Fish
Technocrat
Agar was a complete wildcard pick, he was never going to solve any problems for them. He's a 19 year old spinner with hardly any 1st class experience who most pundits hadn't even heard of. The Aussies have got nobody to call on who will make any difference, the answer for them is to sort out their domestic structure and pump money into grass roots level so they can start producing test cricketers again in 10 years time - just like we did in the late 90s/early 2000s
- Thread starter
- #651
The immediate answer to the spinner issue is probably to bring in Fawad Ahmed, on his shiny new Aussie passport. Lehmann has said that he doesn't intend to bring in 'anyone from outside the existing squad' though, so looks like that isn't about to happen.
spring hall convert
Well-known member
Far from tricky to drop Agar. The 98 was a bonus. At the very least he needs to be able to bowl containing spells and he doesn't seem capable of doing that at present.
vegster
Sanity Clause
- May 5, 2008
- 28,395
Either that or do as we did by hoovering up South Africans.
- Thread starter
- #654
Well, Khawaja is Pakistani, as is Ahmed who will join him soon, and Pattinson and Harris are as English as Pietersen and Trott are South African....
spring hall convert
Well-known member
Now Border's slaughtering the Australians - http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/content/current/story/654183.html
Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 31,504
The thing about Agar is that Old Trafford is a bit of a spinner's wicket. To drop him now would be to deprive him of a great opportunity and smack of short-termism, but on the other hand if he fails the Ashes will be lost before they have a chance to put things right.
Agar was a big call that - so far - has gone wrong.
The legacy of Shane Warne is a bit like the legacy left by Ian Botham; you desperately want that player but no one can come close to filling their boots.
Agar was a big call that - so far - has gone wrong.
The legacy of Shane Warne is a bit like the legacy left by Ian Botham; you desperately want that player but no one can come close to filling their boots.
Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 31,504
He's right. The stats are incredible and it's not just the production for the 10th wicket. The Aussies are also getting more production for their 9th wicket than for their 3rd or their 6th.
Whatever they do they'll be polishing turds and rearranging deckchairs for the rest of the summer.
keaton
Big heart, hot blood and balls. Big balls
- Nov 18, 2004
- 10,075
Surely for Michael Clarke read Chanderpaul
- Thread starter
- #659
Its a shame really, that Michael Clarke seems a thoroughly decent bloke. Always very generous and gracious in defeat.
I'd find the spankings being dished out, even MORE fantastic, if their captain was somebody more unlikeable.
I'd find the spankings being dished out, even MORE fantastic, if their captain was somebody more unlikeable.
If Old Trafford is a spinner's wicket this summer then all the more reason to drop Agar and put Nathan Lyon back in. And if it is not a spinners wicket out he must go. As I pointed out on Day 1 at Trent Bridge his selection was clutching at straws.
I saw him smiling away at Trent Bridge and then on Sunday morning I saw him in the Nursery end at Lords. The smile had gone. The bright side of this is he is an Australian.