England v Australia, 4th test, Leeds, August 7-11 (II)

embee wrote:

Red wrote:

Bradman wrote:

Red wrote:

Hass wrote:To tell you the truth Clark was the Man of the Match.

He was the best bowler in the first innings and the man who ripped the heart out of England's middle order.

That is where the test was won.

It might seem odd giving the gong to a man who only took three wickets in the match, but hey, figures aren't everything.

Punter has hinted that his selection could have been a horses for courses one.

It certainly will be once the pitch doctor comes in.

Will they go with a dustbowl?

What...like Cardiff?

What Cardiff was purported to be. Strangely enough some of the English press were hinting that they should prepare a dustbowl as they need a result pitch but there doesn't seem to be any reason why that should particularly favour England. If their seamers get it right and they enjoy the more favourable bowling conditions they have some chance of forcing a win but Swann and Panesar have failed to impress.

The other interesting aspect of today's play will be whether or not England's late flurry has resulted in a slight momentum shift from their hopeless position of the night before. The whole trend of this series has been that the team who was dominated yet finishes the match off with a bit of a confidence boost seems to go into the next test in a positive frame of mind.

The Aussie win has set up the best possible finale for the series but with us just having to draw to hold the Ashes, we're in a position where at least we don't have to take undue risks.

If Aus go with the current 4 seamers, it won't matter what sort of wicket they produce at The Oval. These 4 seamers are far more likely to take 20 wickets in any conditions than with Haurie in the side.

Interesting stats from last county game. Draw after 5-500 dec v 600-6 dec.

Anyhow, well done Aus for squaring the series. Let's not make any silly selection decisions to cock the whole thing up from here.

Brett Lee is available

Current stats:

Aus:
Batsmen:
Clarke 445 @ 89.00
North 349 @ 69.80
Haddin 243 @ 60.75
Watson 166 @ 55.33
Ponting 311 @ 51.83

Bowlers:
Milf 18 @ 26.83
Cot 16 @ 29.50
Midge 16 @ 32.62

Eng:
Batsmen:
Strauss 344 @ 49.14

Bowlers:
Onions 10 @ 30.30
Broad 12 @ 36.33
Anderson 12 @ 38.91


Hmmmmmmmm....

embee wrote:Brett Lee is available

So is Horrors.

Bradman wrote:

Hass wrote:As usual, when more than one bowler have a claim on Man of the Match they just give it to the batsman who made the highest score.

Sad but true.

If they did have to give it to a batsman it should have been Ponting who played a gem.

skully wrote:
Anderson 12 @ 38.91


Hmmmmmmmm....

He's the best swing bowler in the world, you know.

Rob I wrote:

skully wrote:
Anderson 12 @ 38.91


Hmmmmmmmm....

He's the best swing bowler in the world, you know.

And one of the most useless when it doesn't swing.

One look at those stats and we're doing well to be level 1-1

beamer wrote:

Rob I wrote:

skully wrote:
Anderson 12 @ 38.91


Hmmmmmmmm....

He's the best swing bowler in the world, you know.

And one of the most useless when it doesn't swing.

And sometimes when it does swing.

I'm not saying he can't bat. Only he can't captain. I'd kill to be able to bat like him, but my only saving grace is I know how to use my side to thoroughly humiliate a side.

He let this one go.

Anderson's bowling average is under 30 against NZ, WI and Zim.

It is currently 51.76 against Australia.

skully wrote:Current stats:

Aus:
Batsmen:
Clarke 445 @ 89.00
North 349 @ 69.80
Haddin 243 @ 60.75
Watson 166 @ 55.33
Ponting 311 @ 51.83

Bowlers:
Milf 18 @ 26.83
Cot 16 @ 29.50
Midge 16 @ 32.62

Eng:
Batsmen:
Strauss 344 @ 49.14

Bowlers:
Onions 10 @ 30.30
Broad 12 @ 36.33
Anderson 12 @ 38.91


Hmmmmmmmm....

We don't deserve to draw this series, let alone win it...

vilkrang wrote:We don't deserve to draw this series, let alone win it...

Well it's not the averages that matter, it's actually winning the matches. The main reason why most of Australia's batting averages are that high is because of the 600-plus they scored at Cardiff, and they failed to win that game. England I'm sure dominated the series in the Caribbean earlier this year in terms of statistics, but didn't manage to close out a single victory and so didn't deserve anything more than we got.