You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I was just listening to an interview with Peter Siddle in which he said words to the effect that it would be okay for Mitchell Starc to be rotated out of the Boxing Day Test because Starc needs to be in top condition for January's one day series.
Siddle was also asked about the situations vis-a-vis Adelaide and Hobart in which he said "you cannot compare 31 degrees in Adelaide with 19 degrees in Hobart." Why not? The whole point of a comparison is that you compare. 31 is 12 degrees hotter than 19 degrees. There's a comparison. 19 degrees is 12 degrees colder than 31. There's another. Adelaide was hotter than Hobart, Hobart was colder than Adelaide. Another two. I could go on, but I fear you would compare me to a summer's daze.
It's pretty sad, but what disappoints me more is that the Boxing Day Test is against the Srees. The Boxing Day test and New Year's day tests are *the* tests.
I wish we could have at least had the Lankans up first for those three and now be going into the deciding two. But, better would be a a five test summer against the Saffas. Punter quits half way through at the end of a defeat, Oz go down 1 nil after winning the first two on balance, but not on the score sheet. The we fight back to win the last two.
It's just not the same, doesn't have that same feeling of anticipation. Maybe cricoz can think about what really inspires people instead of churning out middling fair that no one ever remembers a week later. 5 test series against the best are what inspires young boys to greater heights, night time dreams, the ozzie way.
"Traditional Boxing Day Test" is indeed all spin.
Let me add another... "Traditional Anzac Day clash between Essendon and Collingwood".
You could read this here, but I will instead extract a key point:
the 'great tradition' of Collingwood v Essendon on Anzac Day NEVER OCCURRED until 1995.
Which of course is the year the 'tradition' was confected.
Confected seems to have been concocted over recent years. I first read it around 2004 in politics reports. But it is in fact a real word, which is a portmanteau of "confection" from sweeties and "infection" from tooth decay. Although, on conflection, I could be wrong.
I like to think of confected as portmanteau of concocted (as in planned conspired etc) and infected (as in taken by spin merchants and a compliant media and built upon to be something bigger than it really is).
Cop it sweet. Conductor, copper, confectionery, sweet... get it? I keep pitchin' 'em, ya keep missin' 'em. Ya got a hole in ya glove, boy? D.U.M.B. Dumb. Thinks the Mexican border pays rent.
Tasmania-based fast bowler Jackson Bird will make his debut for Australia against Sri Lanka in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
Bird comes in for left-armer Mitchell Starc, who has been rested as part of Cricket Australia's rotation policy.
I held myself in solitary confinement getting drunk and didn't ask to expose myself to making pleasant pleasantries, go damn it!
Now I must forever hold myself for shame for running off at the mouth, under circumstances that were nothing whatsoever to do with my networking. Women and their blasted gifts. They could at least be home to receive them.
Yes, Merry Christmas to you Don, and m0nt, and Rammer, and Russ, and Lou and Cam and Carrot and Mingrel and Toney and everyone else who inhabits this blog.
In one way, Koo could be grateful for this resting policy. The MCG is hardly in the same class as the WACA or Bellerive for seamers. Johnson has an ordinary test record there unfortunately.
Changed my mind about Koo. Considering his age, surely there is nothing wrong with taking a pro-active approach to him? All our other youngsters snap like twigs. Who really gives a damn that he is tweeting about how gutted he is?
I am sick to tears with so-called pundits droning on about how McGrath, Warne or Lillee would have rebelled had they been rotated out for a rest. Dean Jones was just on 3AW: "Can you imagine rotating Glenn McGrath?!?" Well, no. McGrath would not have been rotated. Nor would Warne. Nor Lillee. These addle-brained rent-a-quotes, in their zest to jump into the debate, keep missing the point: McGrath, Warne and Lillee were resilient match-winners and would not have been rotated. None of the current crop are anywhere near as indispensable as the guns from the past.
It is conceivable that Koo is unlucky to miss, but even he is a problematic selection.
The trouble with rotation is getting it right. Koo should have come in for Adelaide. Hilfenhaus missed then got injured on return. Same for Watson. Rotation, per se, is not a bad idea - getting it right is another cup of kippers all together.
Merry Christmas to the good ship AGB and all those who assail in her. And an especially Merry Christmas to the Christmas-fatwaing Grand Mufti of Lakemba mosque.
It's a toss up between Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Haydn's Nelson Mass, and I offer to you all my winner;Haydn's Nelson Mass. Listen and weep. Merry Christmas to you all and may we, as a nation, stop rotating bowlers:
Rotation in test matches is a funny beast. The biggest problem is that it doesn't work, because (by an large) it is the pattern of the workload, rather than the total amount that is causing the injuries. Yet the criticism is consistently misinformed ranting about "science" they haven't read, and players who by dint of fortune rarely got injured. The end-point will be in-game substitutes. It is the only way to reliably manage a workload. It might take a while for the players to come on board though.
Firstly, let me say I'm no stony-faced professional complainer like Andrew Bolt, finding reverse racism under every mainstream-media-rock I turn over [although this is patently true, it's not an outlook I have on life].
The first thing that struck me was that it was EXTREMELY PECULIAR that I would have to click on the link to discover the nature of the protest. "Huh? I don't have time to be clicking every Google News link for the most basic of summaries. That's what headlines are for. I wonder which union is goin.... Oh. Oh I see."
The clincher was, that despite advance intelligence that this protest was worrying enough to require a bolstered police presence, the headline went all Nostradamus on my ass and told me there was nothing to worry about.
** CLICKS ON LINK.... DISCRETE ROGER FEDERER-STYLE FIST PUMP.... REFLECTS ON YET ANOTHER WIN.... CROWD APPLAUDS **
Speaking of losing it, Lou, what do you think of a bloke who has a conversation with himself and, since comments are automatically attributed to the most recently used sock puppet, forgets to change his name back?
Birds run up and approach are exemplary. His body has good architecture through the creases. His arm can easily be tweaked. Mitchell, though... It is a study in contrasts.
Close study of Studsy's wicket showed that the seam was horribly scrambled, it was only luck that got him that inswing. It wasn't much movement either, it would have missed the stumps if not for the inside edge.
FINALLY got the internet working today..... Season's Greetin's one and all!
I don't think that Studsy has actually bowled that badly. It will be interesting to see how he goes in later spells - confidence has probably been his biggest problem in recent years.
PS, you can take all the Dvorak, Nelson Masses and Beethoven Missa Solemnises you like- none of them can hold a candle to the St Matthew Passion. I rest my case with any of the baritone arias just to start with. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBcr-bAg2c
FOT should have taught Studsy how to hold the seam upright. Otherwise, what's he good for at Test level? Fruit for the sightscreen. The Lankans are able to play through the line with confidence, under the valid assumption that he is rarely going to move it. I'd rather a stuffed Koo.
I thought that swung, or at least straightened. Johnson gets that and then all of a sudden his figures look that much better. He just needs to keep Sangakkara off strike, that's all!
Wow. I've always thought that that sort of outfield catch was much harder than any speccy infield catch any day. You have to give 100% all the way, and they're so easy to give up on.
Question for the Don - or anyone else who might know: I just saw Aleem Dar signal a no-ball with his left hand. Aren't no-balls supposed to be signalled with the right?
Someone elsewhere pointed out that Studsy did get six wickets against good opposition in Perth this season. My response:
6/164 leading the attack with a fourth-gamer and a first-gamer behind him, hardly great figures. Only got two top order players, both c&b not picking the pace. One of those had already made 196, in the innings that won them the series because MJ wasn't good enough to get him earlier.
True Test fast bowlers rely on movement. Johnson gets almost nil, and has to rely on change of pace only. Good batsmen can score heavily off that kind of bowler. It's been two years since he ripped through England in Perth with those massive inswingers, but since then he has lost the ability to move it consistently, through his refusal to grip the seam correctly. He has 25 wickets across nine tests at an average of 43 in that period. He should be banned from the Test team unless he holds the seam upright.
Re: Johnson, I've been saying this a lot recently but you can't blame a guy for getting good figures. He was the pick of our bowlers at the WACA, even Inverarity said that. We can hate him all we like for previous failures, but it's a bit harsh to say that he's crap when he's doing well.
It's also ridiculous how bad just about every subcontinental side that ever tours Australia is made to look. In recent times, Pakistan, India and now Sri Lanka. Surely in what is now a global game we should be expecting better?
I'm pleased for the bowlers after all the trash I've read about Starc being left out. He only fires up against the tail. We may miss him in the second innings, I guess.
This fascination with private school cricketers is ridiculous. Who cares where they went to school for crying out loud? And everyone forgets that just about every Western Australian cricketer came from a private school. It stands to reason that as Australia gets wealthier and private schools get more funding that more and more people per capita will get a private education, so cricketers will be no exception.
I was just listening to an interview with Peter Siddle in which he said words to the effect that it would be okay for Mitchell Starc to be rotated out of the Boxing Day Test because Starc needs to be in top condition for January's one day series.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 05:27 PM
Siddle was also asked about the situations vis-a-vis Adelaide and Hobart in which he said "you cannot compare 31 degrees in Adelaide with 19 degrees in Hobart." Why not? The whole point of a comparison is that you compare. 31 is 12 degrees hotter than 19 degrees. There's a comparison. 19 degrees is 12 degrees colder than 31. There's another. Adelaide was hotter than Hobart, Hobart was colder than Adelaide. Another two. I could go on, but I fear you would compare me to a summer's daze.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 05:32 PM
It's pretty sad, but what disappoints me more is that the Boxing Day Test is against the Srees. The Boxing Day test and New Year's day tests are *the* tests.
I wish we could have at least had the Lankans up first for those three and now be going into the deciding two. But, better would be a a five test summer against the Saffas. Punter quits half way through at the end of a defeat, Oz go down 1 nil after winning the first two on balance, but not on the score sheet. The we fight back to win the last two.
It's just not the same, doesn't have that same feeling of anticipation. Maybe cricoz can think about what really inspires people instead of churning out middling fair that no one ever remembers a week later. 5 test series against the best are what inspires young boys to greater heights, night time dreams, the ozzie way.
Posted by: M. Patard | Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 05:43 PM
Wot's Siddle one about, we need Koo to knock out the tail.
Posted by: Lou | Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 05:52 PM
Siddle drivel. Even with the pies, Koo is the only bowler this summer who looks like running through a batting line-up.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 05:55 PM
"Traditional Boxing Day Test" is indeed all spin.
Let me add another... "Traditional Anzac Day clash between Essendon and Collingwood".
You could read this here, but I will instead extract a key point:
Which of course is the year the 'tradition' was confected.
Posted by: @TKYC | Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 12:51 AM
"Confected" -- is this something they do in a concoctionary store?
Posted by: Professor Rosseforp | Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 08:19 AM
Confected seems to have been concocted over recent years. I first read it around 2004 in politics reports. But it is in fact a real word, which is a portmanteau of "confection" from sweeties and "infection" from tooth decay. Although, on conflection, I could be wrong.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 10:52 AM
I like to think of confected as portmanteau of concocted (as in planned conspired etc) and infected (as in taken by spin merchants and a compliant media and built upon to be something bigger than it really is).
Faux. Tradition.
Posted by: @tkyc | Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 01:29 PM
I'm hoping that there's no portmanteau for a conductor who likes confectionery.
Posted by: Professor Rosseforp | Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 08:11 PM
Cop it sweet. Conductor, copper, confectionery, sweet... get it? I keep pitchin' 'em, ya keep missin' 'em. Ya got a hole in ya glove, boy? D.U.M.B. Dumb. Thinks the Mexican border pays rent.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 08:40 PM
The iconic Vodaphone Boxing Day rotation: Bird to make Test debut with Starc rested for Boxing Day
Posted by: Tony Tea | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 12:59 PM
A bowler is rested after taking a fiver.
How stupid is that.
Posted by: The Don has risen | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 04:16 PM
Merry Christmas everyone,
Just for the Prof
a beautiful diva
how can you put on video on this?
Posted by: The Don has risen | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 04:50 PM
The Christmas drop-in should be banned.
I held myself in solitary confinement getting drunk and didn't ask to expose myself to making pleasant pleasantries, go damn it!
Now I must forever hold myself for shame for running off at the mouth, under circumstances that were nothing whatsoever to do with my networking. Women and their blasted gifts. They could at least be home to receive them.
Posted by: M. Patard | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 05:22 PM
Yes, Merry Christmas to you Don, and m0nt, and Rammer, and Russ, and Lou and Cam and Carrot and Mingrel and Toney and everyone else who inhabits this blog.
A tribute to Christmas, and across the universe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpPTtC08DR8
Posted by: M. Patard | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 05:25 PM
ELO on the same thread as Anna Netrebko!!!!!
Posted by: The Don has risen | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 05:31 PM
Don, I love that song. I've got Victoria de los Angeles singing it. It give me the shivers.
Posted by: lou | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 05:50 PM
Stakeholders needs to be rotated out of the job at CA. For about twenty years.
Posted by: m0nty | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 05:53 PM
In one way, Koo could be grateful for this resting policy. The MCG is hardly in the same class as the WACA or Bellerive for seamers. Johnson has an ordinary test record there unfortunately.
Posted by: lou | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 05:59 PM
I agree on Victoria, I think she odes it the best but Elizabeth Schwarzkopf is okay as is our Joan.
none of them are as pleasant to the eye as Anna though!!!
Posted by: The Don has risen | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 06:13 PM
It's the turn of Vicious to get injured. Studsy, Timmay and a first-gamer to carry the attack. The Lankans will give their record 952 a shake.
Posted by: m0nty | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 06:29 PM
Changed my mind about Koo. Considering his age, surely there is nothing wrong with taking a pro-active approach to him? All our other youngsters snap like twigs. Who really gives a damn that he is tweeting about how gutted he is?
Posted by: lou | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 06:49 PM
I am sick to tears with so-called pundits droning on about how McGrath, Warne or Lillee would have rebelled had they been rotated out for a rest. Dean Jones was just on 3AW: "Can you imagine rotating Glenn McGrath?!?" Well, no. McGrath would not have been rotated. Nor would Warne. Nor Lillee. These addle-brained rent-a-quotes, in their zest to jump into the debate, keep missing the point: McGrath, Warne and Lillee were resilient match-winners and would not have been rotated. None of the current crop are anywhere near as indispensable as the guns from the past.
It is conceivable that Koo is unlucky to miss, but even he is a problematic selection.
The trouble with rotation is getting it right. Koo should have come in for Adelaide. Hilfenhaus missed then got injured on return. Same for Watson. Rotation, per se, is not a bad idea - getting it right is another cup of kippers all together.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 07:17 PM
Merry Christmas to the good ship AGB and all those who assail in her. And an especially Merry Christmas to the Christmas-fatwaing Grand Mufti of Lakemba mosque.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 07:24 PM
It's a toss up between Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Haydn's Nelson Mass, and I offer to you all my winner;Haydn's Nelson Mass. Listen and weep. Merry Christmas to you all and may we, as a nation, stop rotating bowlers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JRDB09pZB0
Posted by: M. Patard | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 07:29 PM
Front page on Google News not long ago:
Why was I certain this mystery protest had something to do with the failure of multiculturalism in this beautiful country of ours?
Hint: two-part answer.
Posted by: Big Ramifications | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 08:43 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHiAC915HwM
Have the Missa Luba: Sanctus for Christmas everyone.
Posted by: lou | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 09:12 PM
That's actually quite beautiful Lou.
Posted by: M. Patard | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 09:17 PM
All this classy music means Cameron is due.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 09:34 PM
Why, Big Rammer?
Posted by: Deane Hutton | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 09:49 PM
Merry Christmas to one and all.
Rotation in test matches is a funny beast. The biggest problem is that it doesn't work, because (by an large) it is the pattern of the workload, rather than the total amount that is causing the injuries. Yet the criticism is consistently misinformed ranting about "science" they haven't read, and players who by dint of fortune rarely got injured. The end-point will be in-game substitutes. It is the only way to reliably manage a workload. It might take a while for the players to come on board though.
Posted by: Russ | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 10:02 PM
I'm glad you asked, Deane.
Firstly, let me say I'm no stony-faced professional complainer like Andrew Bolt, finding reverse racism under every mainstream-media-rock I turn over [although this is patently true, it's not an outlook I have on life].
The first thing that struck me was that it was EXTREMELY PECULIAR that I would have to click on the link to discover the nature of the protest. "Huh? I don't have time to be clicking every Google News link for the most basic of summaries. That's what headlines are for. I wonder which union is goin.... Oh. Oh I see."
The clincher was, that despite advance intelligence that this protest was worrying enough to require a bolstered police presence, the headline went all Nostradamus on my ass and told me there was nothing to worry about.
** CLICKS ON LINK.... DISCRETE ROGER FEDERER-STYLE FIST PUMP.... REFLECTS ON YET ANOTHER WIN.... CROWD APPLAUDS **
Posted by: Deane Hutton | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 10:49 PM
I stupidly started reading David Lord's article on the Roar about rotation. Silly me. Is that guy starting to lose it? I'm not sure how old he is.
Posted by: Lou | Monday, December 24, 2012 at 10:57 PM
Speaking of losing it, Lou, what do you think of a bloke who has a conversation with himself and, since comments are automatically attributed to the most recently used sock puppet, forgets to change his name back?
What a maroon.
ps: I see Deane Hutton has now jumped on board with the whole FUTURE thing.
pps: I betcha he always knew he was going to do that.
Posted by: Bugs Bunny | Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 02:26 AM
Bugs Ramifications.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 10:26 AM
Bugs.
They mostly come at night. Mostly.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Deane is Len's grandson?
Posted by: The Don has risen | Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 03:05 PM
I must have taken the wrong turn at Albuquerque.
Posted by: bugsy malone | Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 09:21 PM
I must have taken the wrong turn at Las Vegas.
Posted by: Bugsy Siegel | Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 09:48 PM
If I was keeping like Wade, I'd be holding onto my catches for a bit longer.
Posted by: Nick | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 10:50 AM
no its alberkorky!!
Koo is not playing because he is not injured but Clarke is playing because he is injured.
That makes sense!
Posted by: The Don has risen | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 11:07 AM
At the ground. Ponsford. Top deck. . Front row. Behind the goals. Cricket traditionalist.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Three wickets, one to each of the three quicks, all from late movement. Our cup runneth over.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Loving Jackson Birds run up and action.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 11:51 AM
Bird's pitch map is considerably more clustered than Studsy's.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 12:11 PM
Studsy is shuffling himself down the picking order.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 12:14 PM
Run-up is good but action stinks, brings left arm too fast, it isn't straight enough.
Posted by: The Don has risen | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 12:28 PM
Study, bring him off at both ends.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 12:34 PM
Birds run up and approach are exemplary. His body has good architecture through the creases. His arm can easily be tweaked. Mitchell, though... It is a study in contrasts.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 12:42 PM
Great sign that Big fields so often off his own bowling. Straight.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 01:26 PM
Remember when Studsy got injured? Good times.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 01:30 PM
Close study of Studsy's wicket showed that the seam was horribly scrambled, it was only luck that got him that inswing. It wasn't much movement either, it would have missed the stumps if not for the inside edge.
Studsy is the Troy Chaplin of Australian cricket.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 01:39 PM
Another cheap wicket to Vicious from a shithouse Lankan swipe. Sid's foot was one pixel behind the line.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 01:41 PM
FINALLY got the internet working today..... Season's Greetin's one and all!
I don't think that Studsy has actually bowled that badly. It will be interesting to see how he goes in later spells - confidence has probably been his biggest problem in recent years.
PS, you can take all the Dvorak, Nelson Masses and Beethoven Missa Solemnises you like- none of them can hold a candle to the St Matthew Passion. I rest my case with any of the baritone arias just to start with. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBcr-bAg2c
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 01:53 PM
(It's hardly seasonal, mind you).
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 01:54 PM
So who's going to knock over the tail with Koo having a kip?
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 01:55 PM
FOT should have taught Studsy how to hold the seam upright. Otherwise, what's he good for at Test level? Fruit for the sightscreen. The Lankans are able to play through the line with confidence, under the valid assumption that he is rarely going to move it. I'd rather a stuffed Koo.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:03 PM
I like Lyon Nathan, but he will not lazy long at seven an over.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:04 PM
Studsy and Timmay both going at over 5 an over. With them both on, the pressure is off.
Then again, Jayawickie just manages to get an inside edge on a jaffa from Studsy to nullify a plumb inswinging elbee.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:10 PM
Correction, of course the ball didn't swing, Jayawickie just played outside it.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:11 PM
Studsy is a dudsy and an anchor. without him everyone else bowls better and out attack is so much tighter.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:13 PM
I thought that swung, or at least straightened. Johnson gets that and then all of a sudden his figures look that much better. He just needs to keep Sangakkara off strike, that's all!
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:16 PM
Studsy you champion - we never doubted you!
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:18 PM
The Summer of Kidding Ourselves continues.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:19 PM
Superb mozz, me. Cough.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:20 PM
Cough.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:21 PM
No ball on your hat trick ball, it is to laugh.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:23 PM
No ball. Still on a hat trick.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:23 PM
Has there ever been a mo ball hat trick?
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:27 PM
We could be in for some fun here, with Sangakkara well set and wickets falling around him. The best place for Lyon is out of the attack.
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:28 PM
Studsy is the Troy Chaplin of Australian cricket.
More like Charlie Chaplin
Posted by: The Mongrel | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:29 PM
A "hoe" ball. No ball on a hat trick.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:32 PM
Another terrible shot leads to another Studsy wicket.
Fine catch by Wade though.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:35 PM
Johnson in line for a characteristic five-fer.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:36 PM
Wow. I've always thought that that sort of outfield catch was much harder than any speccy infield catch any day. You have to give 100% all the way, and they're so easy to give up on.
Question for the Don - or anyone else who might know: I just saw Aleem Dar signal a no-ball with his left hand. Aren't no-balls supposed to be signalled with the right?
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:38 PM
Even Troy Chaplin sometimes scores a ton in Dream Team.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:44 PM
Catch by Neesham from NZ in the T20 against the Saffers the other night was even better than Wade's.
Posted by: Hangover Black | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:45 PM
The Saffers must be stoked that they managed to secure the traditional clash against New Zealand in a T20 match.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:48 PM
Worst batting since Pakistan in the original summer of kidding ourselves.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:50 PM
Lyon bowls best part of 80 overs the last two Teats for bugger all wickets, then gets two cheapies here. Funny game.
Posted by: Hangover Black | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:57 PM
* worst batting excludes Australia.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:03 PM
When you are at the ground you don't half spend time watching Spidercam.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:14 PM
Maybe another ten more runs and Clarke should think about declaring. Gotta force the game to a conclusion. You know.
Posted by: M. Patard | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:25 PM
A declaration now would threaten day five revenue. Best to dig in for a day.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:27 PM
I have tipped the crowd at 53,832.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:33 PM
Someone elsewhere pointed out that Studsy did get six wickets against good opposition in Perth this season. My response:
6/164 leading the attack with a fourth-gamer and a first-gamer behind him, hardly great figures. Only got two top order players, both c&b not picking the pace. One of those had already made 196, in the innings that won them the series because MJ wasn't good enough to get him earlier.
True Test fast bowlers rely on movement. Johnson gets almost nil, and has to rely on change of pace only. Good batsmen can score heavily off that kind of bowler. It's been two years since he ripped through England in Perth with those massive inswingers, but since then he has lost the ability to move it consistently, through his refusal to grip the seam correctly. He has 25 wickets across nine tests at an average of 43 in that period. He should be banned from the Test team unless he holds the seam upright.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:36 PM
Studsy is little more than stop gap.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:44 PM
Love for Two-Cows to be rated better openers than Hay Dross and Gnome BN.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:50 PM
Re: Johnson, I've been saying this a lot recently but you can't blame a guy for getting good figures. He was the pick of our bowlers at the WACA, even Inverarity said that. We can hate him all we like for previous failures, but it's a bit harsh to say that he's crap when he's doing well.
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:57 PM
Herath is the key here.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 03:59 PM
Some of Warner's shots through mid-wicket are just ridiculous. I hope he doesn't try them to much in England when the ball moves around more.
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:00 PM
Cow Corner living up to his monicker, just taking the piss now.
I can definitely see his castle getting knocked over repeatedly by the English hordes.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:03 PM
Agh. "Too" much.
It's also ridiculous how bad just about every subcontinental side that ever tours Australia is made to look. In recent times, Pakistan, India and now Sri Lanka. Surely in what is now a global game we should be expecting better?
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:06 PM
I do believe Cowan is developing a fancy post-shot flourish. Smarty trousers.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:09 PM
90 after 15 overs, ah well our scoring will drop off now that fielding restrictions are in place.
Posted by: m0nty | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:20 PM
Good morning. Was it awful batting then?
I'm pleased for the bowlers after all the trash I've read about Starc being left out. He only fires up against the tail. We may miss him in the second innings, I guess.
Posted by: Lou | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:32 PM
Idiot Warner.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:36 PM
Dame Edith "Fast" Eddie Cowan just went past Ponting's run-tally for the year, in two fewer matches.
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:40 PM
This fascination with private school cricketers is ridiculous. Who cares where they went to school for crying out loud? And everyone forgets that just about every Western Australian cricketer came from a private school. It stands to reason that as Australia gets wealthier and private schools get more funding that more and more people per capita will get a private education, so cricketers will be no exception.
Posted by: Carrot | Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 04:52 PM