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Harris is still an ordinary bowler IMHO.
Zip
I was reading the other day that Imran Tahir currently injured has just qualified to play for South Africa
and he can spin the ball, I would have him ahead of Harris anytime and from what I saw of him in the county game last season he’s a bully of the lower order batsmen and can wipe out the tail enders quicker than Ian Botham can drink a pint.Blackbeard to conquer the World
Does anyone know the start date for the Ashes? All the twenty20 lark is driving me mad.
Blackbeard to conquer the World
Cardiff’s good but it’s not a test ground, I take it you wont be going Andrew? Cant make up my mind about the series first I thought the Aussies then England now I’m planning on backing a drawn series as neither team stands out as wow.
Blackbeard to conquer the World
‘Cardiff’ is presumably Sophia Gardens?? The new Old Trafford then
Neville Cardus spins in his grave
Taken a 33/1 punt and bought a £20 ticket for the fifth day at Headingley. All other days there and elsewhere sold out.
Will they need five days at Headingley? bowlers paradise, even David Stiff has been in the wickets there for Somerset this week.
Blackbeard to conquer the World
Indeed Nathan, hence the 33/1 I will actually see any play
A morning spent wandering around the nearby Kirkstall Abbey instead, followed by lunch at the Cardigan Arms is a sound bet at 1/50
I don’t think England made the most of the positions they were in today, Strauss, Bopara, Pieterson, Collingwood, Flintoff and Prior were all set for big runs today although Bopara was never really comfortable and with the wicket perhaps going to play to the strengths of the spinners latter in the match England could of missed the chance of batting the Aussies out of it.
The Aussie batting line up looks deep so id call day one about even.
Blackbeard to conquer the World
Every batsman (bar Cook) was given a start yesterday, and that tells me the Australian bowlers lack a spark, an X-factor which can disturb the batsmen and break open the innings.
For me Johnson was disappointing. Attempted to change up his length but doesn’t have the polish of a McGrath to do so. A steep comparison yes but that should be the benchmark.
Both teams definitely shared the day 1 honours and I’m looking forward to the English bowling offensive at Phil Hughes’ head
Two well-matched teams, though we won’t know for sure until Australia bat. Johnson was a little disappointing, but I think Siddle and Hilfenhaus bowled well. What surprised me was the negative approach of Ponting when he had his spinners on. I know they aren’t the best, but you have to back them, at a time when England were on the back foot.
And of course, KP’s dismissal. Gets funnier every time I see it.
What surprised me was the negative approach of Ponting when he had his spinners on. I know they aren’t the best, but you have to back them, at a time when England were on the back foot.
Quite so. That he had to bowl them for as long as he did in the afternoon due to slow over rate hitherto was just how things panned out; but that then being the case, why were both bowlers set fields for which the milking of singles was made so easy?
And of course, KP’s dismissal. Gets funnier every time I see it.
It’s almost beyond funny now, really – another piece of eye-poppingly selfish batting from DumbSlog Millionaire, and the practical beatification of Hauritz by him in all his post-match interviews really doesn’t wash.
He is almost certain to emerge from the first innings as England’s top run-scorer once more, and his staunchest defenders will point out where the team could have been without his 69 runs.
But by the same token, didn’t your mum and dad always used to tell you off for judging yourself against the worst, rather than aiming for better, when you’d show them your dismal report card and say, "Well, I still beat four other kids in my class!"?
Same principle.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Much as the shot was awful, this KP baiting is tiresome. Best batsman by a distance through ability to score runs and bat under pressure.
He doesnt just slog as yesterdays innings proved. I would be far more concerned about Cook’s dismissal and Boparas suitability for number three
Jeremy…are we going to have a side of honest Matthew Fleming type "good chaps" who try hard and dont make silly mistakes (or score runs) because they never chance their arm or are we going to back genuine talent
He deserves criticsm for that shot but leave it at that. just the shot, not the cricketer
Jeremy…are we going to have a side of honest Matthew Fleming type "good chaps" who try hard and dont make silly mistakes (or score runs) because they never chance their arm or are we going to back genuine talent
We’re going to back genuine talent that can temper itself a little better relative to the game situation in which he finds himself. It’s precisely because that he’s that much better than the remainder of the batting line-up that these blood-rushes are maddening.
Of course he shouldn’t have to carry some / all of his fellow batsmen to any great extent, and I’d agree that Bopara’s display faced with something a little more potent than some terminally ambivalent Windies pacemen gave rather more grounds for concern long-term.
Surely the point is, however, that having a bombproof, world class number three in situ is something we can’t do anything about right now, this instant, in this very Test match; whereas Pietersen is that bombproof, world class number four for pretty much all of the time until self-control fails him as it once more has.
It’s nothing unusual to expect better from the best; whether that’s a top-class steeplechaser being turned over following an avoidable jumping howler, or a top-class batsman being dismissed following an avoidable swat.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
But nobody strokes as sweetly as KP. Accumalates runs almost without effort. Realise he loves that sweep when the spinners are on and is vulnerable but no doubting his class.
What a fantastic atmosphere there in Cardiff. Gound and facilities first class./ Real test match.KP deserves every criticism he gets for that shot. Jeremy is spot on. He shouldn’t be sitting back on his laurels and saying, well at least I’m better than Cook. He should be striving to fulfill his talent – aiming to be as good as Lara, if not better, for which he has the potential.
And, being a driven and determined character, I suspect that is exactly what he is doing.
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