AUST V ENG 2nd test Adelaide.

[mal]

LUNCH
EG 3/347
COLLINGWOOD 135*
PLONKERSON 102*
27 OVERS 0/81 in the session.

Adelaide oval renown for massive 1st innings totals has kept its reputation.
Teams that go into this venue with 4 elder statesman for an attack, deserve no respect.
The circumspect COLLINGWOOD is grinding the grandpa attack to its knees, whilst a
former South African off spinner who could not get a game in South Africa is playing
a brilliant inventive at times innings.
PLONKERSON oozes with class the belligerent excitement machine plays like an
Australian player.
He may never be the best batsmen ever but will be one of the most entertaining.

The only Australians not to be punished by PLONKERSON are Langer/Hayden/Ponting
Martyn/Hussey/Gilchrist and Stewie Clark.

Clark was the pick of the bowlers
26 overs 2/54
this morning 11 overs 0/29
his last over went for 10 after Collingwood finally got to him.

Lee who has had all the favours , new balls, downbreeze, 1st bowl after breaks has:
25 overs 1/93

No doubt when the tail gets in looking for quick runs, LEE will snare a few cheap wickets
whilst Clark will be watching.

It would be interesting to see LEEs average against the top 6
with an overall average of about 33, I would guess about 60 vrs top orders

This England line up since the follow on was not enforced in Brisbane have hit about 3/720 since.

Yes 3/720.....now all you unbelievers of needing the 5th bowler can read my posts and say:

F
I
G
MAL is right

[mal]

REB's verdict after four sessions.

1. The Wicket. An absolute road, if it breaks up then a draw is not the most likely result.
2. Lee. Is crap. Averages 40+ against England and you can't have a four man attack when someone averages 40 plus against that opponent.
3. Watson. Copping a lot of critisism even though he is not playing so can't figure that out. Watto is worth a punt at the expense of Martyn or Clarke in my view. How can you bag the guy for the test cricket he HASN'T played?
4. Punter's captaincy. Not good yesterday but what Australia need to do is to make England work very hard for their runs. The Poms have a defensive mindset (KP and Freddie excluded) and as such might go on to 600 like Australia did in the first test. Keep it tight Punter and for chrissakes give Clark a bit more bowling.
5. Selection. Magill's record in Adelaide is not that great but in hindsight it might have been better to have him instead of Micheal Clarke bowling so much in this match. Having said that, we will need Pup to bat well when it comes to saving the game. I believe the Poms will bat us right out of it.

regards,

REB

Here is a brilliant summary by a brilliant judge of cricket.
REB has no doubt got that intricate knowledge of cricket after observing people llike
me captaining against him and BOONEY when they were learning cricket.

regards,

F
I
G
MAL

[Adelaide Hawk]

The thing a lot of people may not realise about Watson is has a 1st class batting average of just under 50, which makes him a fairly handy player IMHO.

In first class cricket. Test cricket is a different level again.

So, how many Test No 6 batsmen have 1st class averages over 50?

[Adelaide Hawk]

No doubt when the tail gets in looking for quick runs, LEE will snare a few cheap wickets
whilst Clark will be watching.

It would be interesting to see LEEs average against the top 6
with an overall average of about 33, I would guess about 60 vrs top orders

So, what you are saying is the TOP order batsmen have made more runs against him than the lower order ones? Stunning observation ... Good job.

[mal]

The thing a lot of people may not realise about Watson is has a 1st class batting average of just under 50, which makes him a fairly handy player IMHO.

In first class cricket. Test cricket is a different level again.

So, how many Test No 6 batsmen have 1st class averages over 50?

AH the Watson critics are well entitled to query his selection on a percieved
modest achieving career.
He must be selected ala Symonds was for ********BALANCE*********

What the critics may not know is that he was a lower order batsman averaging about
25 for Tasmania, he was then elevated to 1st drop for Tassie and continued there for
Qld and has got that average to about 50 against the best domestic bowlers in the world.
Most Pura cup attacks are near world class attacks.

Give the boy the same opportunities afforded to Symmonds.
Let him play 10 tests and then we can all gloat or despair.

He has performed admirably in the o/day arena, wickets/runs not a prob.

RIGHT NOW WE NEED AN ALLROUNDER IN THIS TEAM......look at the scoreboard
We can afford to dispense with 35 year old middle order batsmen who excel in the
one day format and not at test level.

[mal]

No doubt when the tail gets in looking for quick runs, LEE will snare a few cheap wickets
whilst Clark will be watching.

It would be interesting to see LEEs average against the top 6
with an overall average of about 33, I would guess about 60 vrs top orders

So, what you are saying is the TOP order batsmen have made more runs against him than the lower order ones? Stunning observation ... Good job.

Clever way with words AH

I would say his average might be :

TOP ORDER [ 56 ] batsman 1 to 6[ wicketkeeper batters ???}
TAILENDERS[ 10 ]batsman 8 to 11
average = 33

Whereas Glen Mcgrath a champ at dismissing the top order would average about
30 odd against the best batters

Maybe SPELLY/ECKY can elaborate further.

[RoosterMarty]

Finally a wicket. Collingwood out caught behind off the champion Clark's bowling for 206 right on tea. I think England are about 4/56849 now.

[sydney-dog]

Mal, he has already played four test and delivered FA

[mal]

TEA
EG 4/468
PLONKERSON 146 *
EDDIE MCGUIRE 206

A record 310 stand.
Collingwood makes the highest score by a pom on the Adelaide Oval 206
the previous record by Sir Jack Hobbs[187] Englands greatest opening batsman
from the 1920's era [Coorong will confirm]
What a session, we saw it all Warnnnnnnnnnney bowling Pieterson line[wides down legside
bowling around the wicket] and it did contain the champ.
We saw Lee + Mcgrath get clobbered, we saw Michael Clark trying to be the 5th bowler
Plonkerson continues to play amazing shots
Collingwood sees the gaps and finds runs there.
Collingwood plays prolifically through point and square leg and was allowed a few too
many easy escapes through there.
Collingwood 206 in 515 minutes, 392 balls
He needed 187 to surpass Hobb's record and did it with an exquisite cover drive of a
Brett Lee leg break [ pleases leave the spinning to Warnnnnney please]

Watching Pieterson smashing the Aussies reminded me off the way BAYMAN used to
play cricket......BAYMAN was the bowler off course.

Off course the 310 record stand was broken by MALS man Stewie Clark on the stroke of tea.
ENGLAND 4/468
CLARK.....3/67 OF 28.5 OVERS what a bowler

Lee 30 overs 1/126 but the tail is in his eyes!!!!

THANK christ CLARK still has a ball left in this over it means he gets first crack after tea
And he gets at the English tail when Flintoff comes in
Flintoff a champion bowler has a chance to improve on his 32.40 test average

Will England declare this session

[mal]

Mal, he has already played four test and delivered FA

BATTING MAINLY AT 7 or 8
Steve Waugh took 1,000 innings before scoring his first ton
Waugh was the allrounder back then...and look what happened.

Lets watch Clarky get a 5 for....

[Punk Rooster]

Thank god we're into the tail now...

[sydney-dog]

Game will be a draw, the POMs have chewed up two days to score 500, and on this flat track I can't see them taking 20 wickets, especially with out a world class spinner which would be a must on the last 2 days

[Adelaide Hawk]

No doubt when the tail gets in looking for quick runs, LEE will snare a few cheap wickets
whilst Clark will be watching.

It would be interesting to see LEEs average against the top 6
with an overall average of about 33, I would guess about 60 vrs top orders

So, what you are saying is the TOP order batsmen have made more runs against him than the lower order ones? Stunning observation ... Good job.

Clever way with words AH

I would say his average might be :

TOP ORDER [ 56 ] batsman 1 to 6[ wicketkeeper batters ???}
TAILENDERS[ 10 ]batsman 8 to 11
average = 33

Whereas Glen Mcgrath a champ at dismissing the top order would average about
30 odd against the best batters

Maybe SPELLY/ECKY can elaborate further.

I can elaborate further:

There is no way of being able to extract the type of information you are searching for. What I can tell you is out of the wickets Brett Lee has taken at Test level, he has a slightly higher percentage of wickets for batsmen 1-6 than McGrath.

I grew tired of people trying to argue that Lee gets mainly tailenders out so I did the math.

Of Lee's 213 Test wickets, 142 were batsmen 1 to 6. Of McGrath's 549, 365 of those were batsmen 1 to 6.

Lee's performances have been very good for Australia and yet everyone wants to see nothing but the negatives. He has only 1 wicket in this Test but from what I've seen he has bowled very well. Former Test bowlers Lawson and Fleming have also made the same observations, and yet all I read are people having a go at him.

I just put it down to the fact that most people have never tried to bowl quick and have no appreciation for exactly how difficult the discipine is. I also suspect most people rubbishing him are those who played their cricket making 20s and 30s and then sat under a shady tree for the rest of the afternoon content in a job well done. In the field they probably fielded in slip most of the afternoon and had the occasional trundle of off-spin or slow mediums.

[sydney-dog]

Aust 1 / 28 at stumps

Hayden looks in good nick, I thought he was unlucky in Bne so hopefully he can cash in tomorrow and Ponting will continue his form with the Bat

SD Day 3 prediction

with so many good square of the wicket players in the Aust team, I am predicting the aussies to score close to 400 runs in a days play

[Maddogmike]

i can hear the armchairs creaking already!!

[Rik E Boy]

i can hear the armchairs creaking already!!

That's cos the Monkey's rockin Mikey

regards,

REB

[mal]

Hope your right S/DOG

STUMPS
EG 6/551 DEC.
GILES 27*
FLINTOFF 38*

AU 1/28
HAYDEN 12*
PONTING 11*

Clark was brilliant again today and will need shoulder surgery after carrying the attack.
LEE........... 34 OVERS 1/139
MCGRATH..30 OVERS 0/107
CLARK.......34 OVERS 3/75
WARNNNEY 53 OVERS 1/167
CLARKE.....17 OVERS 0/53

Collingwood a brillaint 206, but if REB was skipper he would have got much less.
Pieterson gets out for the 3rd time in his career for 158
In Pietersons 158 I cant remember him taking a boundary off Clark.
Flintoff's 38* improved his 32.40 career average, a great average for an allrounder
batting at 6, but a poor one if a speciallist number 6
He could have been out 5 times before 10, twice alluding fielders on faulty slogs
and some LBW decisions that were close enough to concern him.

Pontings captaincy was fair, his handling of his attack at times lacked intelligence.

Flintoff in Australias 10 overs made 1 great decision and 2 appalling decisions.
The worlds greatest Bowling allrounder took the new ball, and rightfully so and
took the valuable wicket of Langer witha brute of a ball.
He should have opened with Harmison, clearly the 2nd best bowler in the line up,
by giving the new ball to Hoggard was telling Harmison that the skipper has no confidence
in his ability.
Hoggard is quite concievably the WORST English new ball bowler to play in Australia.
He bowls 128 kms, has no bouncer, when no swing he is useless, and he bowled before Harmison, he bowls Ok in England but not here.
Hoggards last over was very very very very embarrasing, the 8th over of the innings and
the wicketkeeper up to the stumps, how could Flintoff allow this to happen.
Now Harmison/Hoggard have been embarrased


Special note Ponting is averaging 108 with the bat in 2006.

Hold out flash freddy tomorrow, and hopefully Harmison is off song and as SD has predicted
we can get to 400 odd and save this test.
Batting last will be hard as the bitumen pitch turns into dolomite, so we need to bat well.

[Adelaide Hawk]

I just wonder what the people who thought Ponting was correct in not enforcing the follow on in the 1st Test are thinking now.

My concern was that we missed a chance to attack England's batting when it was under pressure. By batting on, we allowed them to take stock of themselves, observe how easy Langer and Ponting was finding batting, then went out in the 2nd Innings with more composure and confidence. They made 370 which was a dammed good 4th Innings total.

They have carried that confidence into the 2nd Test and now it is Australia who is under pressure. IMHO, this is the second Ashes series where Ponting has allowed England a window of opportunity, which they have taken. I think Ponting is the best batsman in the World, but I'm not patricularly enamored of his captaincy.

Great stuff by England to grind their way back into the series. They still have a lot of work to do, but I imagine both teams will head to Perth at 1-1. I would have bet my left nut that Collingwood wasn't good enough to make a Test 200 but he proved me wrong. Pietersen is going to be tough to control for the rest of the series, and it's obvious Warne really doesn't know what to do at the moment whilst bowling to him.

I said before the Test that I would have rested McGrath and played Tait as he is Australia's best equipped fast bowler to bowl to the Poms on a flat unresponsive Adelaide Oval. It looks as though I may have been right about that one, but we'll never know. Anyway, 3 days to go, let's see what unfolds.

[mal]

No doubt when the tail gets in looking for quick runs, LEE will snare a few cheap wickets
whilst Clark will be watching.

It would be interesting to see LEEs average against the top 6
with an overall average of about 33, I would guess about 60 vrs top orders

So, what you are saying is the TOP order batsmen have made more runs against him than the lower order ones? Stunning observation ... Good job.

Clever way with words AH

I would say his average might be :

TOP ORDER [ 56 ] batsman 1 to 6[ wicketkeeper batters ???}
TAILENDERS[ 10 ]batsman 8 to 11
average = 33

Whereas Glen Mcgrath a champ at dismissing the top order would average about
30 odd against the best batters

Maybe SPELLY/ECKY can elaborate further.

I can elaborate further:

There is no way of being able to extract the type of information you are searching for. What I can tell you is out of the wickets Brett Lee has taken at Test level, he has a slightly higher percentage of wickets for batsmen 1-6 than McGrath.

I grew tired of people trying to argue that Lee gets mainly tailenders out so I did the math.

Of Lee's 213 Test wickets, 142 were batsmen 1 to 6. Of McGrath's 549, 365 of those were batsmen 1 to 6.

Lee's performances have been very good for Australia and yet everyone wants to see nothing but the negatives. He has only 1 wicket in this Test but from what I've seen he has bowled very well. Former Test bowlers Lawson and Fleming have also made the same observations, and yet all I read are people having a go at him.

I just put it down to the fact that most people have never tried to bowl quick and have no appreciation for exactly how difficult the discipine is. I also suspect most people rubbishing him are those who played their cricket making 20s and 30s and then sat under a shady tree for the rest of the afternoon content in a job well done. In the field they probably fielded in slip most of the afternoon and had the occasional trundle of off-spin or slow mediums.

AH i made 40's +50's but the rest of my description was spot on

Ok Lee has his share of top order batters but at what cost
his average of 1-6 dismissals would be double Mcgraths
One thing for sure when they bowl at the very best of each nation Lee would
nearly triple Mcgraths average per wicket.

And yes not enforcing the follow on in Brisbane has given the Poms a kick start.
Then again you cant enforce follow ons with 4 elderly bowlers .

[Adelaide Hawk]

Ok Lee has his share of top order batters but at what cost
his average of 1-6 dismissals would be double Mcgraths
One thing for sure when they bowl at the very best of each nation Lee would
nearly triple Mcgraths average per wicket.

But what does that prove? McGrath is one of the finest fast bowlers in the history of Test cricket. To judge Lee along side of McGrath is pure folly. Just look at the success the Australian team has had since Lee has been a part of it. They really couldn't have had any more success even if Lee took double the wickets at half the average.

Lee has played his part, and that is to bowl quickly. He's never going to have the economy rate of McGrath because he is bowling at 20kph quicker and is more prone to the odd loose delivery, as well as the ball coming off the bat one hell of lot quicker. With McGrath and Clark in the team, Lee has to bowl as quick as he can. The last thing we need are three medium pacers trying to put the ball on a 20 cent piece. Lee's pace adds variety to the attack.

I would love to see Tait come into the team, and I am sure we would see a different approach from Lee. We would have Tait as the speedster with Lee being able to drop back a yard and bowl with greater control.

Make no mistake about it. Lee has not bowled poorly in this Test match. As a matter of fact, I would state that he has certainly bowled better than his more celebrated team mate McGrath. It's just that the pitch was always going to be a difficult one for him to master, as it will be for all fast bowlers in this Test, at least in the first 3 days.

I guess it has always annoyed me that the moment some people see a fast bowler get hit to the boundary they automatically assume it was a poor delivery, which is not always the case. Lee has taken over 200 Test wickets, including players such as Tendulkar, Lara, Kallis, etc, and you can't do that unless you can bowl. He's also the one Aussie bowler who has genuinely troubled Pietersen in the past, and this is a factor to consider.