Did think about doing the sydney and melbourne tests (xmas and newyear) but man its so dear. One day i will attend an away series. SHould Fred remain fit we do have a good chance, as i know they dont fancy his reverse swing! The downside is the loss of Simon Jones, IMO he is one of the best at extracting reverse swing out of a worn ball, well new balls too as we saw at the OT test last summer! I believe he got a (MIchelle) 5for in that game. Lets hope he comes back soon.
i think we are in for a long hard tour. i don't think we will miss jones too much as the kookubura ball doesn't tend to reverse as much, but the other bowlers are so off the ball compared to last summer (harmison and hoggard). i think we should be taking broad. monty is a hope, but its asking a lot of him with all the stick he's gonna get for his fielding etc. you have to remember also that last year, apart from jones at the oval, we were virtually injury free. this winter we are going away with a doubt over flintoffs fitness, hoggy and harmy not doing the biz, and i don't think mamood, anderson and lewis are good enough. on top of that we have no vaughan which we probably could replace as a batsman with bell and collingwood starting to score runs and the prominence of cook, but i think people under-estimate just how good a captain he was in last years ashes. remember how close the tests actually were. i'll still be staying up all night to watch it though, praying we beat them but i won't be able to take too much of the gloating aussies.
This is a vintage Aussie team we'll be playing, onlt Brett Lee of the first choice bowlers in below 30, with Gillespie, Kasprowicz, McGrath and Warne getting progressively older.
Their batting looks strong and so does ours, but our bowlers look stronger, Warne apart, and Warne was the difference last year between a 2-1 win and something a lot heavier. Bowling wise the Aussies over-rely on him, McGrath can't go on forever and there's not much else after that Brett Lee is fast, but expensive, Gillespie looks finished, Kasp is no more than medium fast. I expect Stuart Clark to play, but he's old.
If our bowlers perform then the Aussies will have a fight on their hands. Hopefully Flintoff will stay fit and that Monty is given a run rather than Giles.
Comments
would give anything to go out there for this.
Pfeiffer, 5 for..... as in wickets......
i don't think we will miss jones too much as the kookubura ball doesn't tend to reverse as much, but the other bowlers are so off the ball compared to last summer (harmison and hoggard). i think we should be taking broad.
monty is a hope, but its asking a lot of him with all the stick he's gonna get for his fielding etc.
you have to remember also that last year, apart from jones at the oval, we were virtually injury free. this winter we are going away with a doubt over flintoffs fitness, hoggy and harmy not doing the biz, and i don't think mamood, anderson and lewis are good enough.
on top of that we have no vaughan which we probably could replace as a batsman with bell and collingwood starting to score runs and the prominence of cook, but i think people under-estimate just how good a captain he was in last years ashes. remember how close the tests actually were.
i'll still be staying up all night to watch it though, praying we beat them but i won't be able to take too much of the gloating aussies.
Their batting looks strong and so does ours, but our bowlers look stronger, Warne apart, and Warne was the difference last year between a 2-1 win and something a lot heavier. Bowling wise the Aussies over-rely on him, McGrath can't go on forever and there's not much else after that Brett Lee is fast, but expensive, Gillespie looks finished, Kasp is no more than medium fast. I expect Stuart Clark to play, but he's old.
If our bowlers perform then the Aussies will have a fight on their hands. Hopefully Flintoff will stay fit and that Monty is given a run rather than Giles.