5th Test: Austalia vs England at SCG Jan 3-7 2011

[11Straight]

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR713.loop.shtml

looks like we'll have a couple of delays in play today

 

[The 18th Man]

Ricky Ponting will be back in the side. Stop the nonsense. He will be captain and batting at four, maybe five. I think the line up will be; Katich, Watson, Uzi, Ponting, Clark, Hussey, Haddin...

 

[Big Pete]

If it's true Ponting want's to stay at 3, well he'll stay at 3, at least to begin with.

 

[beads6]

Ricky Ponting will be back in the side. Stop the nonsense. He will be captain and batting at four, maybe five. I think the line up will be; Katich, Watson, Uzi, Ponting, Clark, Hussey, Haddin...

That would be brilliant three 35+ yr olds in the side waiting to be tapped on the shoulder. Not the time to be carrying old guys get the kids in now let the develop and prepare for the next ashes. FFS. Katich should pull the pin as should Punter. Hussey has one more summer in him I reckon.

 

[The 18th Man]

If it's true Ponting want's to stay at 3, well he'll stay at 3, at least to begin with.

If it's true, yes he will.

 

[MSIH]

Uzi I have $$ on to get debut 100 - looking the goods.

As for Hughes, I am one of his biggest fans though we cannot exclude him from criticism if only because he made a fantastic start to his Test career vs SA. You can live on that for so long.

Since last innings vs SA, his scores have been: 36, 4, 17, 0, 37, 20, 86*, 2, 12, 16, 23, 31 or 284 runs at 25.81. Not good. Not good at all for an opening batsmen. In fact, he has passed 50 just once since his third innings 160 vs SA. From memory, once in 14 innings he has gone passed 50 since that glorious knock.

Talented player, though there has to be a mental side of his game that is weak at the moment and for Hughest to secure a long term future in the side, he has to ensure his mental side of the game is on par with his obvious talent.

I think you can understand why. Getting dropped when he did was a joke.

Great decision to stop play here :roll:

 

[beads6]

If it's true Ponting want's to stay at 3, well he'll stay at 3, at least to begin with.

If it is true Ponting is a moron.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Ricky Ponting will be back in the side. Stop the nonsense. He will be captain and batting at four, maybe five.

Doesn't mean he should be there though.

I don't see how he deserves to stay in the team as captain or a batsman personally. I think he's had the chance to get out if his form slump and hasn't taken it. Time to move on.

 

[HevyDevy]

So beads, if Ponting goes, who bats 4?

 

[The 18th Man]

I think you can understand why. Getting dropped when he did was a joke.

Great decision to stop play here :roll:

If that was true (that being he is STILL smarting from being dropped) I'd be even more concerned if Hughes hadn't gotten over it.

 

[The 18th Man]

Doesn't mean he should be there though.

I don't see how he deserves to stay in the team as captain or a batsman personally. I think he's had the chance to get out if his form slump and hasn't taken it. Time to move on.

Mark Taylor's was longer and he continued, as will Ponting.

 

[beads6]

So beads, if Ponting goes, who bats 4?

Clarke, he will come good and lead the Aussies to some great victories...

 

[Big Pete]

If that was true (that being he is STILL smarting from being dropped) I'd be even more concerned if Hughes hadn't gotten over it.

Exactly.

 

[HevyDevy]

Clarke, he will come good and lead the Aussies to some great victories...

:lol:

So you have no problem with the fact that Clarke has been woeful since moving to No.4 - brushing it off with a 'he'll come good' - yet you want one of Australia's greatest batsmen punted for his own lack of form.

Double standards ftw

 

[beads6]

:lol:

So you have no problem with the fact that Clarke has been woeful since moving to No.4 - brushing it off with a 'he'll come good' - yet you want one of Australia's greatest batsmen punted for his own lack of form.

Double standards ftw

7 year age difference for one. Time to look to the future. :lol::lol:

 

[HevyDevy]

Exactly.

I don't think it's that he is still smarting from it.

The problem is that he was dropped just a few Tests after scoring two centuries under the pretence that he didn't look comfortable against the short ball, then brought back in when he was horribly out of form.

The whole thing makes no sense.

 

[MSIH]

If that was true (that being he is STILL smarting from being dropped) I'd be even more concerned if Hughes hadn't gotten over it.

He went from a carefree young bloke plundering runs with ease. Starts his test career off near perfectly and gets dropped after 3-4 failures is told he has a weakness with the short ball and needs to fix his technique.

If that doesn't fill you with doubts, nothing will.

Reminded me of Katich getting dropped after 125 and 80* odd against India. Took him a long time to realise he deserved to be there, and he was a hard-nosed older guy.

 

[Big Pete]

I don't think it's that he is still smarting from it.

The problem is that he was dropped just a few Tests after scoring two centuries under the pretence that he didn't look comfortable against the short ball, then brought back in when he was horribly out of form.

He was only brought back because the Australian selectors had no other choice.

 

[HevyDevy]

Incidentally, I was thinking about all the Watson hate the other day - the fact that he has a remarkable ability to get to 50 and get out - and I wondered: is that such a bad thing?

I mean, he does need to convert more to 100s but his consistency in reaching 50 is quite remarkable and means that he is almost always doing his first job as an opener which is to survive the early stages.

In other words, the criticism is way too harsh.

 

[chefman21]

I agree. Option 2 for me. Once Ponting goes, bring in Ferguson. Once Hussey goes, shift Haddin back up to 6 and Smith at 7. Then you can adjust for the pitch.