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The Cricket Thread Part Deux
- Thread starter Shiv
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I had no idea that Umar Akmal is only 19 years old. With him, the impressive Mohamed Aamer and Fawad Alam making successful breakthroughs into the national team, Pakistan look very promising for the future.
England are running hot and cold at the moment. Nothing new, nothing surprising, but at least it's producing the odd interesting match. I hope Jonathan Trott has done enough to secure his spot in the test side ahead of Ian Bell.
1. Andrew Strauss
2. Ali Cook
3. Kevin Pietersen
4. Jonathan Trott
5. Paul Collingwood
6. Matt Prior
7. Stuart Broad
8. Graeme Swann
9. Adil Rashid
10. James Anderson
11. Graham Onions
This would be my Test XI. I think we will need 5 bowlers to take 20 wickets against a powerful South African batting order (although I bet Ian-underachiever-Bell gets picked as a 6th batsman over Rashid). I am actually confident that we can get a result in January. The opposition bowling attack looks threadbare.
In Australian news.
Ben Hilfenhaus has been injured pavivng the way for Doug Bollinger to play in the 2nd test. Clint Mckay was called up as the shock 12th man.
Also Brad Hodge has called an end to his first class and test career, he was overlooked for a majority of his career and mainly used as a replacement in the 6 tests he played for an avaerage of 55. He was especially unlucky to be chosen under Marcus North last year.
The windies will be slaughtered in the final two tests aswell.
Ben Hilfenhaus has been injured pavivng the way for Doug Bollinger to play in the 2nd test. Clint Mckay was called up as the shock 12th man.
Also Brad Hodge has called an end to his first class and test career, he was overlooked for a majority of his career and mainly used as a replacement in the 6 tests he played for an avaerage of 55. He was especially unlucky to be chosen under Marcus North last year.
The windies will be slaughtered in the final two tests aswell.
A draw by an innings and a bunch of runs which I now forget.
SEHWAG THE GUN!!!
I went to sleep when he was on 53 at lunch. Only if it wasn't for school I would have stayed up the whole night to watch him =(
If he does manage to get around 394+ (and there is every chance he won't even go past 300) I want him to hit a Six! Don't care if he gets out but man wouldn't it be something to get to 400 with a six. One of the Greatest of all time without doubt. In his own special way =)
EDIT: NO!!!!!!!!!! =(
I went to sleep when he was on 53 at lunch. Only if it wasn't for school I would have stayed up the whole night to watch him =(
If he does manage to get around 394+ (and there is every chance he won't even go past 300) I want him to hit a Six! Don't care if he gets out but man wouldn't it be something to get to 400 with a six. One of the Greatest of all time without doubt. In his own special way =)
EDIT: NO!!!!!!!!!! =(
you bastard, you JINXED it.
LMAO....
Well the way Sehwag is playing nowdays (waiting for the first hour before going for his shots). I wouldn't be surprised if he creates several more opportunities of getting 300+ for himself in the near future =D
India soon to be #1 in rankings hell yea!
Numero uno, hell yeah! Now the real challenge starts, in maintaining it.
So Tanz.. Pick a team for the next test..
Unfortunately I havent actually seen a lot of the new first class kids bat, so I am unsure exactly who to take, but here are my thoughts..
OK, well clearly there is no battling talent in the country that isnt already in the team. Vettori has to bat 6. His experience and free scoring takes pressure off his batting partners, which, hopefully, will help them contribute more, but he needs to get out there earlier..
Taylor has to bat 3. There's just no one else who can do it.
Neither of the openers are coping at all. On the other hand, nobody else seems to be able to do it. Guptill is a talented player whose defensive technique blows.. I would like him to keep playing but just not opening.. McIntosh I just dont think has the ability to match his mental toughness..
The options for opening as I see it are:
Guptill, McIntosh, How, Cumming, Bell, Watling? Merchant? Brodie?
Honestly, I'd go with one of How/Cumming/Bell and one of the new kids.. Cover your bases that way, Probably How and Watling.. How had his disasters but he was never completely shit. His defense and approach to batting arent perfect, but at least he has proven himself able to face international bowlers in the past. He got a good 50 in his last test.
Then you need someone else at number 8. I'd go with Southee. Help the bolwers keep nice and fresh, and he is a definite contrast to the others. And he got that 50 there.
If Guptill opens I'd be inclined to hang on to Elliott as well. He hasnt really looked bad, aside from when he gets out.. Which is a big difference between him and everyone else in the team..
Have a nice day.
Unfortunately I havent actually seen a lot of the new first class kids bat, so I am unsure exactly who to take, but here are my thoughts..
OK, well clearly there is no battling talent in the country that isnt already in the team. Vettori has to bat 6. His experience and free scoring takes pressure off his batting partners, which, hopefully, will help them contribute more, but he needs to get out there earlier..
Taylor has to bat 3. There's just no one else who can do it.
Neither of the openers are coping at all. On the other hand, nobody else seems to be able to do it. Guptill is a talented player whose defensive technique blows.. I would like him to keep playing but just not opening.. McIntosh I just dont think has the ability to match his mental toughness..
The options for opening as I see it are:
Guptill, McIntosh, How, Cumming, Bell, Watling? Merchant? Brodie?
Honestly, I'd go with one of How/Cumming/Bell and one of the new kids.. Cover your bases that way, Probably How and Watling.. How had his disasters but he was never completely shit. His defense and approach to batting arent perfect, but at least he has proven himself able to face international bowlers in the past. He got a good 50 in his last test.
Then you need someone else at number 8. I'd go with Southee. Help the bolwers keep nice and fresh, and he is a definite contrast to the others. And he got that 50 there.
If Guptill opens I'd be inclined to hang on to Elliott as well. He hasnt really looked bad, aside from when he gets out.. Which is a big difference between him and everyone else in the team..
Have a nice day.
lol'd.Some guy on Cricinfo said:
Uh Hip, to answer your question late, I probably would've gone with the opening pair they went with, but seeing How get another run internationally wouldn't be too bad since he does look like a solid player. It's just his stats aren't as good as he looks. Probably would've shoved Guptill in at 3, like they did, but have Taylor at 4. Flynn would slot into 5 I guess, since there's really nobody else (boy are we missing Ryder), with Vettori at 6 obviously (best average at 8 ever, fucking deserves it). McCullum at 7, yeah, Southee at 8, but I would've put Patel at 9. He really deserves to play, I'd much rather have him turning the ball a mile than have Tuffey steaming in at 130km/h. The O'Brien at 10 and Martin at 11.
I really don't like it how they're playing Tuffey over Patel, I really don't. By playing Tuffey, we have yet another seamer bowling around 130km/h (which makes 4 - Martin, O'Brien and Southee also, except the first two can get faster). But by playing Patel, we have two spinners bowling in tandem, something which tends to work well when it's Vettori and Patel on the job. Also, you have two players who turn the ball a different way (right-arm off spin and left-arm orthodox), and they each bowl completely differently on top of the arm differences. It's really quite stupid he's not given much of a go.
Also, good stuff to Farhat, I guess it's about fucking time an opener got a century in this series. And holy shit we didn't lose a wicket in the first over.
YUVI!! SEHWAG!! DHONI!!
hell yea chasing down 200+
Thats the destructive battling line-up I know =D
Fantastic entertainment. It was Yuvraj's B-day too,lmao
hell yea chasing down 200+
Thats the destructive battling line-up I know =D
Fantastic entertainment. It was Yuvraj's B-day too,lmao
Ew, we were in such a dominant position and we take our foot off their throats by letting their openers get well settled. Well played Vettori, McCullum and Tuffey. Kaneria getting so many wickets is probably due to use being so unaccustomed to playing leg spin I reckon.
Very good test match so far.
Very good test match so far.
The pitch is just so dead though.
Still, it'll still be flat when we bat on it again, and there is just so long to go, I dont see us not winning it from here..
[edit] - also I read a comment on cricinfo I think or perhaps elsewhere that people shouldnt criticise Taylor for getting out playing the slog sweep, because it gets him a lot of runs. I wasnt entirely convinced by this so seeing as how Taylor hasnt actually played a lot of test matches, and since I have a lot to procrastinate from, I did an indepth statistical analysis of counting up how many runs he has actually gotten from it: 50. And 4 dismissals and one drop. In other words, he doesnt get many runs from it at all..
In his defence, he has improved a lot at playing it. He got dismissed the first time in Hamilton, got 2 runs in Manchester, 6 in Brisbane, 4 in Adelaide, then he got out playing it in the WI test in Dunedin, then dismissed again the next time he played it in Napier against India. He got 6 from it in Galle and 2 in SSC and was dropped in one of those two tests (didnt write down which). And then against Pakistan he got 12 in Dunedin and 18 in Wellington, before getting dismissed again in Napier.
So yeah, basically, vs SL and Pakistan he has averaged 38 playing it, and that is playing against some very good spinners. But, I think he definitely shouldnt play it in Napier, because when not playing the slog sweep there, he has scored about 170 runs since his last dismissal.
Have a nice day.
Still, it'll still be flat when we bat on it again, and there is just so long to go, I dont see us not winning it from here..
[edit] - also I read a comment on cricinfo I think or perhaps elsewhere that people shouldnt criticise Taylor for getting out playing the slog sweep, because it gets him a lot of runs. I wasnt entirely convinced by this so seeing as how Taylor hasnt actually played a lot of test matches, and since I have a lot to procrastinate from, I did an indepth statistical analysis of counting up how many runs he has actually gotten from it: 50. And 4 dismissals and one drop. In other words, he doesnt get many runs from it at all..
In his defence, he has improved a lot at playing it. He got dismissed the first time in Hamilton, got 2 runs in Manchester, 6 in Brisbane, 4 in Adelaide, then he got out playing it in the WI test in Dunedin, then dismissed again the next time he played it in Napier against India. He got 6 from it in Galle and 2 in SSC and was dropped in one of those two tests (didnt write down which). And then against Pakistan he got 12 in Dunedin and 18 in Wellington, before getting dismissed again in Napier.
So yeah, basically, vs SL and Pakistan he has averaged 38 playing it, and that is playing against some very good spinners. But, I think he definitely shouldnt play it in Napier, because when not playing the slog sweep there, he has scored about 170 runs since his last dismissal.
Have a nice day.
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