Sri Lanka in Australia Dec-Jan 2012/13

Sad to see Hussey finish today. Can't believe he won't be picked for the ODI squad. We rest people who aren't injured and play players that have injury problems. I don't understand the selectors sometimes.

Without Hussey in the ODI's I think alot of people won't be as interested. That squad lacks the household names that people have become used to over the years. I'd still like to attend a game but it won't be the same without Hussey, Ponting and going it bit further back Lee.
 
Some nervy times to finish the match off and also to finish the tail off but we finally did it. The match once again showed the struggles we will have against spin and probably the most comfortable against spin has just retired. Hussey did what he did all his career by being selfless right down to his final play.

Good test series win in the end but was always going to be hard to get much from it apart from the series win. The next two tours will show where we are at.
 
Lyon gets the song now? That's a surprise. I thought Siddle or Warner or ( my preference) Wade.

Away to India then back to back Ashes? He may not need to start singing for a while. :D
 
Without Hussey in the ODI's I think alot of people won't be as interested. That squad lacks the household names that people have become used to over the years. I'd still like to attend a game but it won't be the same without Hussey, Ponting and going it bit further back Lee.
Hussey would of given CA a lot of money by making people go to ODIs on his farewell. Silly decision, who wants to watch these people play?

Yep...apparently Channel Nine is none too pleased about it.

But I think a LITTLE bit much is being made: Warner, Wade, Clarke and Hussey - those are the 4 who have been rested/dropped. Those going around calling the team a 2nd XI just because it's missing 4 players is a bit extreme. Hussey is retiring, and Warner and Wade have only been in the ODI team a year - and neither have consistently impressed me to be honest. They obviously need to be picked, because they've got plenty of talent, but lets be honest the best Aussie ODI team is Watson, Clarke and 9 hopefuls.
 
I don't think Warner will be a good ODI player. He might play a good inning but then he will again stay quiet for another 10 or 12 ODI's. He is just like Sehwag so he will be successful in Test and T20 but for ODI's, Australia should look at someone like Shaun Marsh to open the inning.
 
I really love the way how the Australian selectors are fooling everyone with this rotation policy. Even the Australian public are fooled. Are they really using a rotation policy or are they using it to hide the Australian pitches that is been setup for the tests?

Before anyone jumps the gun let me explain something quick. Australian cricket pitches are bouncy, faster, skiddy natured rather than seaming. At least most are. Seam movement you will not find much of on skiddy bouncy pitches. Australia know this.

Then add the Kookaburra ball which unlike the SG used in India, is much softer and becomes old ver quickly. The harder you wack it the quicker it becomes old. With a old Kookaburra on a skidding wicket there is no seam movement no assistance what so ever. The ball comes nicely on to the bat which means you actually do not have to work hard to get your runs and you can play all your shots alll over the place. If its coming on to the bat the timing is not a problem. Batman love it and its like facing a tennisball on a piece of glass. Again Australia know this. That is why they want aggressive wackers to get that ball old doesn't matter if they sacrifice 2 or 3 guys Clarke comes in and he can smack it all over the place. Take into account your opponents have a all out seam attack which meant they are running in and hurtling down 135km/h deliveries on a glass pitch. As most of the cricket pitches in Australia are lively and fast the ball nicely reaches to the batsman and timing of the batsman improves. If you once settle down on these pitches you can time the ball exquisitely and can go for fours and sixes or any classical shot with out making any extra effort.

Add to the fact that Kallis SA swing bowler (Norkel, Philander, Steyn are seam bowlers) pulled up injured.

Interesting thing about Kallis is that after the first test SA have realized what Australia were up to. Kallis bowled earlier got two wickets early then pulled up injured. Left with seam on a glass pitch Clarke took advantage with Hussey and both lasted till the new ball came and were out.

If there is grass on the wicket it is going to skid nulifying seam bowling. 2nd test pitch report at Adelaide.

Clarke said it had more grass on it than he expected from Adelaide Oval. Ian Healy said he heard the groundsman saying he had left the grass at 6mm high instead of the usual 4mm. Whether that matters, I'm not sure, but the new ball might nip around a bit more.

You will get some swing with the new ball but not much seem if any at all. Add the Kookaburra getting old very quickly SA with Kallis pullin up injured were left at Australia's mercy.

Australia chose Hilfenhaus, Pattinson and Siddle. All of them guys who can use the swing. Hilfenhaus one of the guys who picked up 21 wickets in England. So they were selected for their swing rather than the seam. The ball got old and Faf Du Plessis was able to fend them off till the end of the day with Kallis on one leg and AB de Villiers in Gavaskar mode.

Then the third test came at Perth. Fastest track in the world the bounce at WACA is in such a way that even if the ball pitches little bit in fuller length the batsman feels difficult playing the ball on his front foot. Most of the times every ball at WACA makes the batsman to play on the back foot. You can compare it with a smooth hard cement turf. Every ball most of the times after pitching zips away from the face or shoulders.

Starc, Johnson, Hastings and Lyon.

This year's WACA pitch is expected to offer plenty of pace and bounce for the fast bowlers, but a little less seam movement than was available for last summer's three-day affair between Australia and India. The weather forecast is for cool temperatures and the odd shower.

But there was a short shower the previous night which But the new ball added a bit of moisture early in the mornings and Philander, Morkel and Steyn found a bit of swing. Time the ball was old the damage was done. SA realised the fact that with the old ball there is nothing left for the bowlers. So they went ahead and slap it at 5 a over till they were bowled out. The idea was to bat till the next morning then sent Australia in where that bit of moisture was there for the quicks. They were bowled out before that and Australia ended the day with all their wickets in tack. Simply the next morning they used that moisture which helped both teams in the first innings to make in rows in Aussie batting line up. With Clarke avg 35 at Perth the Aussie plan backfired.

But they implemented it perfectly against Sri Lanka.
 
Very scratchy test win for australia in every sense of the way. Not a positive can be taken from this test to be frank.

Essentially nothing has changed. Pace bowling resoureces are impressive, batting needs to step up & support clarke with big hundreds now that ponting & mr cricket is gone & Lyon as a spinner is blowing hot & cold on 4th/5th day pitches.

Just hope now that the selectors don't try and crazy selection for the india series by picking bits and pieces like Maxwell.

Still ALOT of work to do if they will have any chances of making an impact in the ashes.

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Wish Hussey hadn't been a selfless and hit the winning runs instead of calling Mitch!

Lyon gets the song now? That's a surprise. I thought Siddle or Warner or ( my preference) Wade.

Ye its a big surprise he got the song, since as australia plan for a future test attack without Watson's bowling - he may not be a fixture anymore.
 
Very scratchy test win for australia in every sense of the way. Not a positive can be taken from this test to be frank.

Bird's average of 16 and Wade's 100 is positive.

Negative: Johnson and Starc are just so unrealiable, Wade's glovework is bad. Running between the wickets is horrible and the best runner just retired as well.
 
Was down in Sydney for Day 3 and 4. Great atmosphere there I can tell you. That was the first time I'd been to a test match. Especially on Day 3.
 
Bird's average of 16 and Wade's 100 is positive.

Negative: Johnson and Starc are just so unrealiable, Wade's glovework is bad. Running between the wickets is horrible and the best runner just retired as well.

Bird was a positive, but it wasn't really unexpected or nothing new since australia's pace bowling depth is the only impressive thing about the team these days. Come the ashes if all the bowling options are fit, he probably won't even play in the series to be honest.

Wade century was scratchy for the first 70 runs really. He was dropped before he reached his 50 & should have been out lbw if sri lanka used the drs better (if i recall correctly for the latter). It wasn't the most convincing match as batsman if the selectors want to ever consider making him a fixture @ # 6 in the future test match batting order.
 
^I agree with you mate. Wade has won the public, but he's got more to do for me. Haddin's having a good year in the Shield and I think he's the better keeper over Wade. Good to have that option there if Wade can't do the job this coming year.




And Spoony...implying that Australia somehow duped South Africa with the pitches is insane. If anything SA were HELPED by playing the series at the 2 best venues for pace bowling in Australia (Perth, Brisbane). With an attack of Steyn, Morkel, Philander - all who sit in the top 10 of the bowling rankings - playing at the most pace friendly venues would be a ridiculous masterplan for trying to beat SA. If Australia's plan really was to sabotage SA they would have insisted on playing the 3 Tests in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne so that SA would need to turn to spin, their weakness.

If the plan was to make SA bowl swing to win, that is just stupid when SA have the world's best swing bowler in their team...
 
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Pitches this summer were fairly bad. Half of them weren't quick pitches at all. Especially when you look at the effectiveness of Johnson, most of the pitches needed a bowler to hit the deck hard rather than attempt to swing it.
 
@Sifter, there is no way in the world that Wade has won the public over. Everyone knows that Wade's catching is bad. Thanks to various articles across the web.

Also, I'm sure Bird will play.

Siddle, Bird, Pattinson, Cummins, Lyon. There it is. With the rotation policy they can stick in Starc or Johnson in there.
 
Ye its a big surprise he got the song, since as australia plan for a future test attack without Watson's bowling - he may not be a fixture anymore.

Just heard that Watson has given up bowling indefinitely. Also wants to move back to opening. Wouldn't be upset if he replaced Cowan as an opener. Still, don't like that he's so physically weak that he cant bowl at all.
 

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