And Englands squad is laughable.

Joe root is(was) the future of there squad.

Keep the old, rotate the new is apparently there idea:-s

If you'd told me before the series we'd have had Australia 132/6, 257/5, 143/5, 204 all out (and before that 164/9) and now 94/4 in their first innings in the respective 5 tests and we'd go on to lose at least 4 of those, well :lol:

Pretty much Gooner, wtf is up with Australia on their first innings.

-PB

Mate you need to see what the pitch is doing before making a judgement, i admit we should be doing better.

Wait to see what Johnson and Harris will do on this wicket.

Brad Haddin and the Australian tail is the difference between the two sides.

Yeah but even then 295 isn't a huge score, 385 puts you in a good position but is not a massive score, and of course you really should be going on to win from the position we were in after bowling Australia out for 204 :lol: The only time Australia have batted England out of the match in the first innings was in Adelaide.

Edited by gooner4life_8: 3/1/2014 02:07:51 PM

That's obviously because Adelaide is an absolute road, Test cricket isn't always about batting until you have 400+ .

For example on this wicket i feel anything close to 200 is a par score.

I can see what it's doing and I have no doubt our bowling attack will prosper like always, but we shouldn't always have to rely on them to balance out shit batting.

-PB

'Par score' - possibly the most annoyingly overused phrase in cricket :lol: Adelaide certainly was a road and yet we went on to get torn apart by Mitchell Johnson on a pitch people were saying wouldn't offer him anything. My point is, while the likes of Haddin and Johnson have been standout performers for Australia, England have been their own worst enemies - not being able to capitalise when we have had Australia 4/5/6 down for not much and then hopeless batting collapses on pitches where there shouldn't be too much on offer for the bowlers (Adelaide) or when Australia have posted less than imposing totals (Brisbane) or when we've been 80 odd for no wicket and looking good (Perth) or even last test when we actually had a lead going into the second innings. Not to mention just rolling over and letting them post as big a score as they want in the seconds innings in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Yeah absolutely agree.

You can't factor in the 'Ace in the hole' that's M.J that was simply freakish in Adelaide. But when you see how Haddin has batted with the tail England just haven't had that this series, and the only bowler who's been a legitimate threat for Eng has been Broad. So they haven't had that bowler who can rip through the lower order.

It's happening again, Haddin a 50 in every test this summer.

Incidentally Bairstow is a shocking keeper, don't England have any other proper keeper in the counties.

Reckon there's a strong argument to be made that Haddin has been more important to Australia's victory this series than Johnson.

Why does this not surprise me.

Have to agree really. While 31 wickets at 14 is ridiculously good and any other series would be head and shoulders above every other performance. But Johnson has only been given the platform to do that because of the stupid amount of work Haddin has done.

Brad Haddin would be my player of the series over Mitchell Johnson but only slightly.

This.

He's coming in at number 7, is leading the batting averages for the series, is only ~50 runs short of leading the run tally, has passed 50 six times in seven innings, and as was pointed out on the coverage, has pretty much saved Australia's first innings, every, single, test.

Johnson will certainly get MOTS, but Haddin should have it for mine.

Great to see Smith scoring some more runs.

Johnson will get man of the series, which means Haddin will get players player. You would be surprised how little they care about these awards.

It sure is, my mate gives me grief all the time now because i kept saying how shit Smith was. :oops:

This sort of innings on this wicket is all the more valuable.

Still a bit of a hill to climb, i think it's called South Africa.

Our batting is our one glaring weakness at the moment, we need more shield players to stand up.

Onya Smithy.

-PB

if australia wasnt playing so well, bailey wouldve been long gone by now. i wouldve liked to see faulkner have a game or even doolan

7 innings and hes only scored one 50.

You've gotta admire Stuart Broad, the one Englishmen who will be able to hold is head up.
And the one Englishmen i'd have in our side for his determination and never give up attitude.

Yeah enough chances Bailey out a future prospect in, Khawaja? Doolen?

Glen McGrath on the Sky commentary <3

-PB

Yep Doolen first, i do get the feeling the selectors are thinking they've given Hughes enough chances. They will probably make him play shield cricket for a few years and press his case with mountains of runs.

Yeah Stokes has a great career ahead of him, as does Root.

Edited by jimmythehand: 3/1/2014 05:14:15 PM

Joe Burns maybe?

Now where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, us a couple of years ago :lol:

Seriously though, I was thinking the same thing when you thrashed India two years ago and after the first two tests against South Africa last summer when you took it to the best bowling attack in the world. Then that all went to shit very quickly :lol:

Beat South Africa and you've got a case. Although it'll be interesting to see how you go about finding replacements for Rogers and Haddin when they retire soon. There are certainly good players out there but no one is setting the Sheffield Shield alight and it was having to find replacements for Ponting and Hussey resulting in an unsettled batting line-up with Watson, Hughes, Cowan, Khawaja and the like constantly being shuffled about in the top six that was a big reason for those awful two series in India and England. You're gonna want the guys coming into the side over the next few years to really stand up and cement their spot as quickly as possible. At the moment, you've got one in Bailey that needs runs. If it weren't for the fact the team is winning (and of course that record-equally over in Perth) he'd probably have a lot of people on his back.

England 10/2 at stumps calling it now.