OZGOD
20th July 2009, 22:46
Amazing what a difference a week makes eh. Strewth!!
Gratz to England, bounced back well after Cardiff where they were gone for all money. As for us, didn't bat well, didn't bowl well, we did ok to get to 400+ in the last innings but still well short and clearly second best. Bring on Edgbaston! I'm sure we'll bounce back.
Just a comment on the umpiring. Sure we got juked 3 times and Doctrove is a bit of a blind bat but it has always been my opinion that poor umpiring decisions will happen. Some days you're on the right end of those decisions, others you are on the wrong end. End of day you should be good enough to overcome umpiring decisions, weather and other factors that are outside your control. Do your best with what you CAN control so hopefully what you can't won't be an issue.
Even though OZ did well considering how bad we played to get to 404, the fact is that if we had scored 50 more in our first innings, and if we had restricted England by 25 runs in their first and another 25 in their second 2nd innings we would have been in with a good shout. As it was we weren't good enough to overcome. You can't use umpiring as an excuse when your tailenders scored more than your top order in one innings, or when your spearhead concedes 6rpo in his first 11 overs and gives the game away.
You can't control umpiring decisions - some days they go your way, others they don't. You would like to think that they will be correct 100% of the time, and referrals will help reduce the level of error, but end of day you need to take that out of the equation as much as possible, and create a scenario where those errors don't affect the outcome of the match.
After riding high after Cardiff, the team has been brought back to earth after this, which isn't a bad thing. They need to have a good hard look at themselves before Edgbaston. Hopefully Dubya gave em a good old spray in the sheds after days 2 and 3.
The good news is that we didn't become a crap team overnight, and this has identified some issues that need to be fixed. I'm less worried about the batting collapse (which is more down to the fact that they failed to cope with the swinging ball under clouds at Lords) than with the bowling which seems to be more of a systemic thing - and it would be a brave man to persevere with this attack with blokes like Clark and Lee in consideration. End of day we can all say that a ) Hilfy is swinging the ball and creating chances; and b ) Siddle is charging in like Merv Hughes and intimidating; and c ) MJ will come good once he gets his technical shlt sorted out etc etc but end of day we need wickets and we need to stop the Poms from scoring at 4+ rpo which is killing us.
The most logical changes might be Clark --> Siddle and Lee --> MJ. Horroritz has actually been ok this last match, I was impressed by his courage in batting and then bowling with a dislocated finger. If we wanted an extra bowler I reckon the least disruptive thing to do would be to promote Hussey to open the innings with Krapich and then Clark, North and Haddin all move up one. Only problem with that is you'd be tempted to play MJ as a cowlashing bowler instead of Siddle, who has bowled better, to shore up that lower order. That might be a blow to Hughes' confidence, but he's looked vulnerable in all but one innings he's batted in so far (though in the 2nd innings at Lords he never really got going before being given out).
So that side might be:
Krapich
Hussey
Ponting
Clark
North
Haddin
MJ
Lee
Clark
Hilf
Hauritz
All of a sudden the bowling looks more solid as well as the top order. The middle order is where we lose some confidence, because while MJ is decent as a cowlasher, he's not a Test No.7. And Siddle has bowled better than MJ so far. If Twatson was fit, AND he could bowl, he might have been the answer to that No.7 spot. But I don't think he can bowl.
Ah, questions, questions. :D
Gratz to England, bounced back well after Cardiff where they were gone for all money. As for us, didn't bat well, didn't bowl well, we did ok to get to 400+ in the last innings but still well short and clearly second best. Bring on Edgbaston! I'm sure we'll bounce back.
Just a comment on the umpiring. Sure we got juked 3 times and Doctrove is a bit of a blind bat but it has always been my opinion that poor umpiring decisions will happen. Some days you're on the right end of those decisions, others you are on the wrong end. End of day you should be good enough to overcome umpiring decisions, weather and other factors that are outside your control. Do your best with what you CAN control so hopefully what you can't won't be an issue.
Even though OZ did well considering how bad we played to get to 404, the fact is that if we had scored 50 more in our first innings, and if we had restricted England by 25 runs in their first and another 25 in their second 2nd innings we would have been in with a good shout. As it was we weren't good enough to overcome. You can't use umpiring as an excuse when your tailenders scored more than your top order in one innings, or when your spearhead concedes 6rpo in his first 11 overs and gives the game away.
You can't control umpiring decisions - some days they go your way, others they don't. You would like to think that they will be correct 100% of the time, and referrals will help reduce the level of error, but end of day you need to take that out of the equation as much as possible, and create a scenario where those errors don't affect the outcome of the match.
After riding high after Cardiff, the team has been brought back to earth after this, which isn't a bad thing. They need to have a good hard look at themselves before Edgbaston. Hopefully Dubya gave em a good old spray in the sheds after days 2 and 3.
The good news is that we didn't become a crap team overnight, and this has identified some issues that need to be fixed. I'm less worried about the batting collapse (which is more down to the fact that they failed to cope with the swinging ball under clouds at Lords) than with the bowling which seems to be more of a systemic thing - and it would be a brave man to persevere with this attack with blokes like Clark and Lee in consideration. End of day we can all say that a ) Hilfy is swinging the ball and creating chances; and b ) Siddle is charging in like Merv Hughes and intimidating; and c ) MJ will come good once he gets his technical shlt sorted out etc etc but end of day we need wickets and we need to stop the Poms from scoring at 4+ rpo which is killing us.
The most logical changes might be Clark --> Siddle and Lee --> MJ. Horroritz has actually been ok this last match, I was impressed by his courage in batting and then bowling with a dislocated finger. If we wanted an extra bowler I reckon the least disruptive thing to do would be to promote Hussey to open the innings with Krapich and then Clark, North and Haddin all move up one. Only problem with that is you'd be tempted to play MJ as a cowlashing bowler instead of Siddle, who has bowled better, to shore up that lower order. That might be a blow to Hughes' confidence, but he's looked vulnerable in all but one innings he's batted in so far (though in the 2nd innings at Lords he never really got going before being given out).
So that side might be:
Krapich
Hussey
Ponting
Clark
North
Haddin
MJ
Lee
Clark
Hilf
Hauritz
All of a sudden the bowling looks more solid as well as the top order. The middle order is where we lose some confidence, because while MJ is decent as a cowlasher, he's not a Test No.7. And Siddle has bowled better than MJ so far. If Twatson was fit, AND he could bowl, he might have been the answer to that No.7 spot. But I don't think he can bowl.
Ah, questions, questions. :D