Cricket Season Thread

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citizen_cub

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Well, it's that time of year again fellas!

Hopefully we can roll those Indians weeds and then regain the Ashes! I don't think England have got much this year, we should beat them on our turf, what do you think?
 
must admit do not have a great deal of interest in the cricket.
this is because whilst growing up had to stay home most saturday arvo's and take down cricket scores. My dad was the recording secretary for Gladesville /Hornsby cricket association, from 78 until 1981, so whilst he was at older brother's game, I was home recording all age group scores.
 
Cricket season always numbs the pain after missing the finals or in this case losing the finals :slight_smile:

Not long to go now, 1st test starts later this week, I'm quietly confident we will do reasonably well there. I think it'll be a drawn series 0-0 mainly because India's attack is ordinary, the pitches are flat and India's strength is their batting.
If our bowlers fire or their batsman dont fire, I think we will win.

For the Ashes, I think England have a pretty good side that will challenge Australia. I think their bowling is more talented then their batting, however they are also very inexperienced. I'm not expecting Anderson to do much as it wont swing, I am more worried about Finn, Broad and Swann, the bounce could favour them. I also wouldnt be surprised if Tremlett comes in for Anderson if Anderson has a poor series. With Tremlett and Finn being 6ft 8in and Broad around 6ft 5in, there's a lot of height there to exploit the Aussie conditions.
I think their top order looks a little shaking, so they are going to rely heavily on Strauss, Trott and Prior, as well as their tail who are very strong with Broad and Swann basically allrounders.

I am going to say 3-1 to Australia with us winning at the Gabba, Melbourne and Sydney with England winning in Perth.
 
I HOPE we can beat India. I just have to refer to last time we went over there 2 years ago and we were dominant in the first test, but came away with the draw and then the second test we were blown out of the water, same happened in the fourth test. The pitches are VERY flat, our bowlers are going to have to bowl REALLY well to trouble their batsmen, the dynamic of their team hasn't dramatically changed since last time, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Dhoni, Sehwag etc. are still there and scoring big runs at the same time, Gambhir in particular.

England are useless. The quality of last year's ashes was appalling, I wouldn't be too excited if I was them, on Australian pitches they've always played badly and I can't see a different result this time round, the 5-0 whitewash last time they came here will still be fresh on their minds and I can't see anything but a comfortable Australian victory. I think the end result will be 3-1 (as Jazza said), with Aussie wins at the Gabba, Perth and Melbourne, a draw at Adelaide and a consolation victory to England at the SCG.
 
i might go to some one dayers or 20/20s like i normally do during the rugby league off-season. i normally go to some syd fc games too.
 
@citizen cub said:
I HOPE we can beat India. I just have to refer to last time we went over there 2 years ago and we were dominant in the first test, but came away with the draw and then the second test we were blown out of the water, same happened in the fourth test. The pitches are VERY flat, our bowlers are going to have to bowl REALLY well to trouble their batsmen, the dynamic of their team hasn't dramatically changed since last time, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Dhoni, Sehwag etc. are still there and scoring big runs at the same time, Gambhir in particular.

England are useless. The quality of last year's ashes was appalling, I wouldn't be too excited if I was them, on Australian pitches they've always played badly and I can't see a different result this time round, the 5-0 whitewash last time they came here will still be fresh on their minds and I can't see anything but a comfortable Australian victory. I think the end result will be 3-1 (as Jazza said), with Aussie wins at the Gabba, Perth and Melbourne, a draw at Adelaide and a consolation victory to England at the SCG.
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I think the main difference between this series and the previous one is India back in 08 had a very settled bowling line up, they had Khan and Sharma in form and causing the Aussies lots of problems with reverse swing, they then had Singh and either one of Kumble/Mishra as reasonable back up. We also had an out of form Hayden at the top with Watson and Haddin struggling at number 6 and 7.
Our attack was on of the worst I have ever seen from an Aussie side, Lee had food poisoning and had recently seperated from his partner, add to that India doesnt suit his bowling. Johnson who had just come onto the scene, same with Siddle, an ineffective Stu Clark and who could forget the selection of Cameron White as a frontline spinner! From memory Watson was our best bowler in that series.
I think this current attack of Hilfenhaus, Bollinger, Johnson and Hauritz is a lot stronger. While India's current attack of Khan, Singh and a couple of no names are a lot weaker.

I agree the quality of the last Ashes was VERY poor, England were terrible in the first Test yet the Aussies couldnt pull it off, mainly because a day was lost to rain, then it was Australia who were terrible for the next 2 Tests, then it was England who got belted, then we got belted in the next Test.
It was a series of wayward bowling, mixed with some huge batting collapses through batsman throwing their wickets away.
 
Anyone know what's happening with Brett Lee these days? I heard he retired form either T20's or Tests? :s
 
@tig_prmz said:
Anyone know what's happening with Brett Lee these days? I heard he retired form either T20's or Tests? :s
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He's retired from Tests to prolong his 20/20 and ODI career but not long after he announced that he picked up another long term injury.

I would say he will be playing for NSW while the Ashes are on and he'll try and get into contention for the ODI series and the World Cup afterwards.

It wouldnt surprise me if he retired from ODIs after the World Cup to just play IPL.
 
And we'll have the cricket world cup coming up early next year too.

While I've been distracted by the footy for a few extra weeks this year (wouldn't mind that distraction more often), I didn't miss the ICC's latest attempt to ruin cricket. There are plans to reduce the 2015 world cup (held in Aus and NZ) to just 10 teams. What is the point of a world cup with only 10 teams???

All this is being driven by money from Indian television rights. They want to guarantee that India plays a maximum number of games against good teams before being eliminated. Sort of defeats the purpose of the contest if you are guaranteed to play 90% of the games.
 
Brett Lee is gone. He has past it and would only get into the team, to be given a farewell.

The Indian series should be interesting. Their bowlers aren't in as good as form as they were last time we were there. That matters on those flat pitches where massive scores of over 500 are common. Their batsman though always bat well against us. Laxman will get heaps, that I can guarantee. Sharma isn't firing and Harbahajan is injured and they are the 2 bowlers who can get on top of the Aussies.

The Ashes should be closer. Questions are over Englands mentality and the experience of their paceman playing on harder pitches where swing is harder to find. Swann is a quality spinner who will trouble the Aussies. Their batting I think has improved, especially in depth. The harder Aussie pitches may not suit them as well. Their keeper has become a very classy player (his name escapes me here and I can't be bothered searching for it).

The Aussies pretty much have their side. North will continue to have pressure on him unless he gets consistent scores. Ponting needs some scores. He still has the talent but is more vulnerable earlier in his innings. Hussey has gotten some scores in 20/20 and that should give him some confidence. Watson and Katich have become very imposing up the top. Bollinger will get wickets, as will Hilfenhaus. Micth Johnson could do anything. Hauritz and Haddin won't have played too much of late so form come Ashes time, may not be that great.
 
1st test against India has just got under way. Watson got dropped off the 2nd ball to get off the mark…
 
im watching it live on foxsports 2\. aust 1/136\. not bad so far :slight_smile:
 
Hey stryker DLS started early for you mate..oh that's right fades the curtains and puts the cows of their milkin..

224 for 5 at stumps

Watson the suntan mans favorite dud 101no
Paine a couple…

Z Khan had the thing hooping about in the last hour...India lost Sharma which helps..but someone needs to belt thier spinners for cryin out loud

North's dismissal was poor...
 
I only got home to see the last over.

But geez 2/45 off 33 overs in the last session? Surely the pitch wasn't that hard to bat on.

The more I see of our middle order, the more worried I am getting, Ponting (Who played well today) is past his prime, Hussey still isn't playing great and then there's North and Paine after that who are both very nervy starters.

I really do think Khawaja (Not sure if he is injured?) or Smith should be there instead of North.
 
Well done Watson, another good score and Ponting also scored some runs I believe. I still think the toughest bit will be bowling on those flat pitches in the sub-continent, and with India's very strong batting line up, it could prove to be once again a nightmare to bowl them out.
 
@citizen cub said:
Well done Watson, another good score and Ponting also scored some runs I believe. I still think the toughest bit will be bowling on those flat pitches in the sub-continent, and with India's very strong batting line up, it could prove to be once again a nightmare to bowl them out.
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Already looks like they could pose problems.

While we battled and grafted a way to 430 odd in 150 odd overs, they made 100 in 20.

I think a lot will depend on Sehwag and Gambhir this series, if they get dismissed cheaply throughout the series, then that brings Dravid to the crease who, like Ponting, is in decline, probably worse decline then Ponting. Suddenly if he goes as well, we are right into their middle order.
 
Good fightback by the Aussies.

India dominated most of the day yet the Aussies fought back to even get a 1st innings lead.

While the pitch may be ordinary for Test cricket, it could throw up a tight result that gets decided in the final session.

I'd say with it being a slow pitch, the best chance of a win would be to set India a difficult, but tempting target that could result in some wickets if they attack it.

If we set them a target that is out of reach, then I think it'll be a draw as it seems very difficult to get batsman out unless they are playing shots and going hard at the ball, because of the low bounce. Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman all have a rock solid defence to fall back on.

The problem is with Sehwag there, that could scare Ponting into delaying a declaration (If he does have that chance), which would then make up the Indian's mind to play for the draw.

I think a target of about 315 with a day to go (90 overs = 3.5 rpo required) would set things up for a great final day.

I must admit I am a bit worried about our batting though, we came close to collapse in the first innings with Watson and Paine holding things together and I think if we lose a couple of early wickets, then there could be some real big problems.
 
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