General Cricket Thread (It's Come Home)

I'd be willing to bet I'll be the one doing the ranting tomorrow.  England may not be all that great with the bat (okay slight understatement) but Australia have proven they can be even poorer with it.   They wouldn't be chasing runs right now if they weren't. That said they do seem to have a higher rate of having their batsmen fire right now compared to England.

Athrun888 wrote:

England may not be all that great with the bat (okay slight understatement)...

  Smiled at this bit.  Australia have been doing well in second innings, and they do at least have one person who has proven to be dependable, which is at this moment one more than England.  Plus there's the tail.  I'll agree that it's not a clear cut case of Australia waltzing (Matilda) home, but if Haddin does his job in precisely one partnership (as opposed to the none he had in the last innings - well though he stuck it out, I don't count Lyon) it'll be 4-0.

...Okay I give up, they're probably going to whitewash England.  I woke up to find this.  

Australia has cruised to victory in the fourth Test against England at the MCG, achieving the target of 231 for the loss of just two wickets with well over four sessions remaining.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-29/australia-cruises-to-victory-for-4-0-lead/5177632


They didn't just beat England, they absolutely slaughtered them, and after hearing about this not even winning the final match will provide any sort of pride for England.  Rogers getting a century would have been amazing to watch, and Watson was on fire again.  Johnson is man of the match for a third time, at this point I feel fairly certain he'll be picking up Man of the Series as well.  A shame about that news of some mis-fielding from England however, but that's what happens when you're defeated.  The momentum turns against you and things like drops happen.

I would say "I hope England can pick themselves up and put on a great contest in the final test" but at this point I no longer feel they are capable of it. I hope and want them to prove me wrong, but it just seems at this point Australia is the far superior side and there's no hope for England. The change in head coach seems to have worked borderline real magic.

It'd be different if England could bat. But they can't. So, yup.

I am just going to make one observational point about England's performance in Australia and that is, Australia's performance in England.

What that means is, that no win in a Test series is particularly important as you have a significant advantage. When you win a Test series in the host's country, then that is significant. Australia and England have very different pitches and each country knows how to play their own grounds. On the other hand, it takes some adjustment to play in another country. India is the best example. Almost no one ever beats India in India, yet they lose consistently overseas.

So no, I don't think very highly of the current Australian team, from an historical perspective and I don't think England is godawful. Just the vagaries of cricket at play.

I hear you, OS, and you have a point, and every single Australian first innings this series has proven that there are frailties in the side; but this defeat is worse than Aus' in England.  There, it was three losses, of which two were reasonably close, and two games they would probably have won (or at least drawn) had it not rained.  Here, it's been four thrashings, of varying severities, but with the smallest margin being 150 runs.  Based on these two series, not to mention the demeanour of the English players, England are currently worse.  Amazing how much difference a silly moustache and a bit of confidence can make.

Still, at least the last one wasn't as bad as India's loss to SA in SA recently.  That's something.

I'm assuming at this point that Australia are using Bailey in the last test for the sake of having the same team for all the tests? Because frankly, he wouldn't look out of place on the English team.

Well it's not looking good for England right now I must say, they started off really well and then Smith and Haddin got going.  Personally I still think England if they actually stand up and fight for once have a chance, but only if they stand up and bring the fight to Australia.  So far this series ot just feels like to me that they let Australia bring the fight to them, let them get a lead, and then withdraw in to their shells.  I still think they can actually pose a threat, but they've got to start being more outgoing if they're to do it.


Edit: Good grief.  I wake up in the afternoon to find England is already out and Australia is back in 1 for 31.  I wonder how bad the score was...

Right, that is badder then I thought.  All out at tea for 155.  On the bright side for them they just dismissed Watson for 9.

Edit 2: Well this match might as well be over. Given England's performance today with the bat I wouldn't even like their chances making day four, the only reason I think they will is if Australia decides to hang in until lunch tomorrow to grind the heel in to England just that little bit more. It may be preemptive of me to say this but good game to Australia, they've been on absolute fire this summer. A well deserved soon-to-be white wash. Here's hoping Rogers gets his looming century, and Bailey tomorrow will be batting for his test career as well so we'll see how that goes.

Well I'm glad that's over. I say "over": I think it was Graham Gooch who said there'd be more pain as England go through a rebuilding phase, which doesn't surprise me. They've lost a great batsman and perhaps the best spinner in the world (not this series though), so there's some serious work to be done. Some careers in the Ballance.  

On another note, credit to Mitch. Not only was he man of the series (I'd have given it to Haddin, but that's just me), but he also has a very fine pink moustache.

I can see why Mitch got the man of the series. While Haddin definitely deserves more credit than he seems to be getting Johnson's bowling was pretty much the x-factor that made the white wash possible. He led the attack on England mentally as well as in terms of the scoreboard, and while they aren't all that great in terms of batting right now I'd say they definitely could have posed more of a threat without Johnson crushing their souls.

Next up is South Africa... I don't fancy Australia's chances in that one. I'm also interested in seeing how England rebuilds from this, they've clearly gone to a place Australia has finally come out from where the old team is well and truly gone and you have to rebuild, so it'll be interesting to see what steps are taken to do this.

I'm guessing that the team in 2014 will look something like: Cook Root Bell Pietersen Ballance Stokes SOMEBODY (I don't know who, Bairstow and Prior have both disappointed...  Buttler?) Broad Anderson Panesar/Borthwick and a seamer of some kind.  In theory, that should be a pretty good team, but it still lacks pace.  (Well, it also lacks batting at the moment.)

I'll watch the South Africa series with interest, especially the bowling.  It'll be interesting to see whether Aus' bowlers are actually word-class good, or whether it was just England making them look that way.

Oh, and Faulkner in for Bailey is a must, surely?

Balladeer wrote:

I'm guessing that the team in 2014 will look something like: Cook Root Bell Pietersen Ballance Stokes SOMEBODY (I don't know who, Bairstow and Prior have both disappointed...  Buttler?) Broad Anderson Panesar/Borthwick and a seamer of some kind.  In theory, that should be a pretty good team, but it still lacks pace.  (Well, it also lacks batting at the moment.)

I'll watch the South Africa series with interest, especially the bowling.  It'll be interesting to see whether Aus' bowlers are actually word-class good, or whether it was just England making them look that way.

Oh, and Faulkner in for Bailey is a must, surely?

I don't think that they are 'word class' at all Balla, unless that word is 'okay'.    

I think Australia will be shown up as very fragile in South Africa.  I don't think it will be a thrashing, but expect to see many a batting collapse.

Blech, missed that one. And yes, I wouldn't be surprised. The opening four or five will do their usual thing, and then SA might actually demonstrate the ability to get Braddin out on occasion.

Does anybody care about the one-day series?  Anyone?  After all the ups and downs (rather more of the latter for England, and vice versa) of the test series, does each side knocking 300-odd bowls about the park actually excite a single person?

The only benefit I can see coming out of it (for either side) is if England use it to get some of their confidence back.  Which I can't see happening, because Australia have been better at ODIs since forever.


EDIT: Woo, England have won a test in Australia at last!  England's women, that is.  That said, the player of the match was an Australian, Ellyse Perry, who claimed eight wickets and 102 runs for the test.  And she plays international-level football(/soccer) - is there nothing this woman can't do?

Just a shame that one of the top searches for her on Google is "ellyse perry hot". 

Balladeer wrote:

Does anybody care about the one-day series?  Anyone?  After all the ups and downs (rather more of the latter for England, and vice versa) of the test series, does each side knocking 300-odd bowls about the park actually excite a single person?

My answer to that is no, no, and no. I've never been a fan of one day cricket if I'm honest, I'll check out the world championship when it's on next year but these sorts of series don't do anything for me.

Nice to know that sanity prevails on GNamer. I will keep a weather eye on the women's ones, though, since they count towards the overall result; but good luck to Australia catching up. I do wonder whether, based on the points system, they shouldn't have the test at the end. More chance of a decider that way.

The cricketing world is going to hell in a handcart, courtesy of India, Australia and England. Thoughts? Swears?

Triple post, and with recent Athrun sightings low, I may be talking to myself; but I need to say something about poor old KP. Granted, he's been (more than) a bit of an egomaniac at times, but he seemed to be doing well. He may have got out in some stupid ways, but even out of form, he showed that he could grind hard if needs be in the fourth Ashes test. It's hard to shake the feeling that he's just another scapegoat to the slaughter, especially with the ECB refusing to talk about things.

Then again, it may be silly to say "poor old" about someone who could now make millions in the IPL, and who's actually a bit of a jackass to boot.

I heard about the kp debacle, it sounds to me like the England cricket and management is in complete chaos after the test series. I'd have to say I'm with the old vets who highly disagree with this choice, he was one of the most experienced batsmen on the entire team and to just throw that away seems like a big mistake to me.

"Complete chaos" sums things up rather well, I think. I suppose that after losing their coach, one of their best batsmen and The Best Spinner In The World, some chaos was inevitable, but I'm not sure whether chucking another of their best batsmen was the right answer. Then again, later reports have suggested that behind the scenes, KP was being... well, KP-ish. So there's that.

Oh, and I will be following SA vs. Oz (and indeed NZ vs. India), so if you want to discuss those here, you will have someone to do that with! Just as long as you provide a sounding board for my thoughts on at least England vs. India, if not vs. SL.  

Yesterday, Alastair Cook scored his first century since that pre-Ashes warm-up that was entirely unrepresentative of the series that followed. Here's his celebration.

  You don't like cook very much do you balla?

I don't mind him, and he plays well enough when in form. I just find his face hilarious!

New England cricket-man-in-chief Peter Moores and old England batsman/titan Cook cooking omelettes. Cook? Cooking? See what I did there?  

The bloke on the left looks creepily interested.