We are in a world of pain now. The bigger this lead is the worse for us. Someone needs a big 100 in the second innings. Clearly playing 1 spinner in this match was a mistake.
You really think Doherty is going to save us?:lol: That's right, the guy who had only taken 2 wickets in Sheffeld Shield @ 80 at the time the squad was announced? Everyone know Steve O'Keefe should've got the nod ahead of Doherty.
In our current predicament, it can't do us any harm is Warner and Clarke roll the shoulder over for a few overs each, especially since Clarke is wrapping Sunshine in gladwrap even though he stated that he was going to bowl in the IPL.
The bottom line: like 2010 series, the third innings will decide the result of this match. We are really screwed if we lose early wickets. With Mr Cricket no longer there, it i fair to say that Michael Clarke is the only solid batsman in our XI. Regarding our top 6, Warner, Cowan, Hughes, Watson and Wade are far too erratic and hot-and-cold. On their day, they look like worldbeaters but 90%+ of the time get out playing stupid shots for a disappointing score. All bar Cowan have a T20 mentality in their batting approach and at test level you will get exposed more often than not. Cowan, playing his Geoffrey Marsh "go slow, see out the new ball and build an innings whilst letting the batsman at the other end do all the attacking strokeplay" style hasn't paid dividends, as evidenced by his average of 35. He's the batsman under most pressure in this lineup and I can't see him getting picked for the Ashes tour if he doesn't perform in this series. Oh how we miss Hussey and could really do with him out there. How many times did he play the Michael Bevan role in both tests and ODIs and him - sometimes alongside Clarke - bailed us out on so many occasions after early-order collapses? That's something we've taken for granted and yet CA had the audacity to repay him by omitting him from the ODI series this summer in the name of "looking to the future" whilst recalling a 35 yr old wicketkeeper who, although maybe better than Wade as a keeper, won't be there at the 2015 WC.
