Story Australia - The New Breed [2010/2011 Ashes Series - Magnificent Melbourne]

[mattfb]

Interesting to see White, Pomers and Fergo over North there.

Good stuff mate, kiu!

 

[Left_Hander]

Your flying through the updates!

I feel that North was unlucky to miss out on selection but Ferguson has done well since he's come into the ODI side.

 

[Hooper]

Coach Nielsen Backs Ponting
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Pressure is mounting on Ponting to score runs in the shorter form of the game

Australian Coach Tim Nielsen has fronted the media this morning on the back of some calls for Ricky Ponting to announce his retirement from One Day Cricket. Ponting has failed to star with the bat all year in the shortened form of the game, averaging a measly 30.16 in the 2009 calendar year. At the age of 34 and with new blood coming into the team, Ponting faces pressure to hold his spot as batsman back home such as Marcus North and Luke Pommersbach are making an impact on the domestic scene.

"He is a fantastic player, probably one of the greatest one day batsman to ever play the game, a number three anyone would love in their side, but yeah, his form is an issue and at his age he may be looking at prolonging his Test career at the expense of some one day matches. But as of now he is our captain and he has been getting some good starts and not making anything from them so we aren't too worried yet." - Nielsen

With the series so far at India three wins, Australia 2, Ponting is hoping his team can do well for both Australia and himself.

The 7 match ODI series continues tonight with game 6 and India needing just one more victory to clinch the series. Updates expected later tonight.

 

[hedger_14]

hmm, australia 3-2 down, need to win both games. Normally players retire in test cricket before ODI's but since its more performances, i guess it will be different.

 

[Hooper]

Australia Strikes Back

Australia managed to level the series 3-3 last night after some terrific top order batting by Phillip Hughes and Simon Katich at the top of the order. Australia won the match by 4 wickets.

India began their innings strongly, racing to 50 without a wicket, but the inclusion of Hilfenhaus proved a good one as he ripped through the Gambhir and Tendulkar, with Tendulkar failing to score. VVS Laxman was superb in the middle order, blasting his way to 100 with support coming from Sehwag and Vijay who scored a flashy half century. India managed to put on a good first innings total of 284 from their 50 overs.

Australian openers Hughes and Katich knew a big job was ahead of them to save the series and they didn't disaspoint, with Hughes using the powerplays to their advantage. The pair raced to 0-199 without loss, laying the foundations for a late order slog to get Australia home. Katich was gone for a very slow 67 from 130 balls but in came the captain under siege. Ponting showed his true colours, coming in and taking to the attack from the get go, he smashed a quickfire 44 including six 4's and one 6. Hughes at the other end was absolutely unstoppable, eventually out for 139, the new opener scored his third hundred of the series which included 14 boundries and 5 massive sixes. However, with both these men out in quick succession, the new batsman had no time to settle, with Sing and Mishra getting two wickets a peice the game looked like it was still in the balance. But some good running between the wickets from Hussey and Lee ensured victory for the Australians.

Man of the Match: Phil Hughes 139 from 125 balls.

With that 4 wicket victory, the series is levelled at 3-3 and with one game left the series is destined for a thrilling finish.
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[hedger_14]

Good bowling performance from Hilfy and an ok performance from Johnson. Katich was slow like normal but Hughes was good playing aggressively. So is that Hughes third ODI century of the series in 6 games.

 

[Hooper]

Yeah, 3 centuries in 6 matches, he is unstoppable!

Game 7 is going to be a ripper!

 

[OffCutters]

Hughesy`s a legend
Lol at Katich`s 67 of 130 in an ODI match . Good update, be sure that Hughesy gets 200 this time

 

[Hooper]

India Take Series

India celebrate victory in front of a packed house

Australia have lost game 7 of the ODI series in India, meaning India take the series 4-3. India were too good for Australia, scoring a mammoth 5-325 on the back of another century from in-form batsman VVS Laxman. The Australian bowlers were smashed to all parts of the ground as Mitchell Johnson took the best figures of 2-44. Australia were going along very quickly in the chase but the loss of wickets during the middle orders cost the team and the run rate got out of reach. A hundred from Simon Katich wasn't enough to get the team over the line.

Player of the Series: Phil Hughes 3 hundreds 412 runs @ 58.85

The Australians go home the losers, but a lot of positives come from the tour, with player of the series Phil Hughes scoring 3 hundreds. They have the West Indies up next in a 3 Test series on home soil.


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[hedger_14]

how many balls was Katich's hundred.

 

[Hooper]

Something like, 117. Pretty darn quick!

Had him on 6 aggression bars for most of the innings.

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Siddle Out, Lee In

Siddle forced to go back to Victoria

Pace bowler Peter Siddle has been left out of the First Test team against the West Indies as pace bowler Brett Lee returns to the Test fold for the first time this year. Siddle who had a modest Ashes tour was disappointed but knew Lee was knocking on the door and that he was the bowler who fared the worst on the tour of England 4 months ago.
"I know that Binga has been working really hard to get his body right and the selectors have to honour a player of his quality. You don't just become the third highest wicket taker for Australia of all time overnight. He is a fantastic bowler and hopefully he does well. I will go back to Victoria and do what I do best...Take wickets and knock batsmen over".

The 3 Test series begins at the GABBA tomorrow with the pitch looking good for batting. The likely line up for the match is:

P.Hughes
S.Katich
R.Ponting (c)
M.Hussey
M.Clarke
M.North
B.Haddin (wk)
M.Johnson
B.Lee
S.Clark
B.Hilfenhaus

 

[Hooper]

West Indies In Control
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Morton after reaching 250, a magnificent effort against the Australians
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The West Indies have made a magnificent start to the First Test at the Gabba thanks to some fantastic batting by Runako Morton. The Windies opener played one of the best innings a batsman has ever played on Australian soil, amassing 256 from 375 balls scoring a staggering 30 fours and 3 sixes. This allowed the Windies to pile on 503 runs in the first innings. The Australian bowlers toiled long and hard without much success early on, but used the new ball well after 80 overs and finally managed to bowl the oppostion out. With a long chase ahead of them, Hughes has contiunued his red hot form, racing to 98 not out. But not without some scares early on as Australia was left at 2-27 thanks to some good early bowling by Sammy and Taylor who got the ball swinging around. Hussey has made his way to 50 and both Hughes and Hussey will be looking to pile on the runs on day three, with the West Indies still leading by 333 runs.

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[Hooper]

West Indies Go 1-0

The West Indies celebrate another wicket
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Australia have crumbled to the West Indies, losing by a mammoth 376 runs. The West Indies totally outplayed the Australians with both bat and ball during the five days and go one up in the three match series. Morton was named man of the match after his wonderful first innings score of 256. Australia were never in the match after struggling on day one to contain the Windies batsman. Not even a century from Hughes and a good score from Hussey could get Australia anywhere near the 503 set by the West Indies. Needing to bat out the final day, Australia were never a chance after collapsing to 5-29 very early. To add injury to insult, paceman Stuart Clark looks set to miss the rest of the series which looks to be a fracture in his bowling hand, thanks to a rising delivery from Jerome Taylor. This is a massive blow to the Australians who are already looking worse for wear in the bowling department.

Player of the Match: Runako Morton 256 & 25
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The Second Test from The WACA starts shortly with two changes to the Australian team. Michael North makes way for David Hussey in the middle order, whilst Nathan Hauritz gets a call up, taking the place of the injured Stuart Clark.

 

[Cricketdude]

In ODI I use the players who have the lowest run rate so you can keep them below 240.

 

[Hooper]

So dont even bother about wickets and strike rates - just go by economy?