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Why didn't Ponting enforce the follow on?

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
BoyBrumby said:
Nah. There'd be at least one "mate" and two f-words in a sentence of that length.
hahaha, depending on whether he'd been asked by a commentator or an English batsman of course.
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
JF. said:
Couldn't agree more. I've been debating this in another forum for the past couple of days and people over there love nothing more than to hang s**t on me for disagreeing with Punter's decision. The cynic in me, along with McGrath's comment about how there are no bonus points for finishing a test early, feels that Cricket Australia TOLD them to bat on so they didn't have to refund tickets for Day 4! :ph34r:
Of course they did...in fact I'd go as far as to say the whole team received a stern dressing down when they scored 600 in the first innings and then bowled England out for 158...further to that, I think Ponting was instructed to open the bowling with himself and Justin Langer in the English second innings, and only narrowly avoided this embarrassment by faking 'back strain' and ordering Langer to leave the field as well, although "not too close to when I go, as it could look a bit suss". I wouldn't be surprised if at one stage CA suggested rounding up as many old Australian cricketers as they could find and putting them in the field in place of the current test team. I'm sure I caught a glimpse of Richie Benaud at point there at one stage late on the 4th day.
 

JF.

School Boy/Girl Captain
Son Of Coco said:
Of course they did...in fact I'd go as far as to say the whole team received a stern dressing down when they scored 600 in the first innings and then bowled England out for 158...further to that, I think Ponting was instructed to open the bowling with himself and Justin Langer in the English second innings, and only narrowly avoided this embarrassment by faking 'back strain' and ordering Langer to leave the field as well, although "not too close to when I go, as it could look a bit suss". I wouldn't be surprised if at one stage CA suggested rounding up as many old Australian cricketers as they could find and putting them in the field in place of the current test team. I'm sure I caught a glimpse of Richie Benaud at point there at one stage late on the 4th day.
HAHA beautiful sarcasm there... but I don't agree *folds arms*
 

Scaly piscine

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
JF. said:
Couldn't agree more. I've been debating this in another forum for the past couple of days and people over there love nothing more than to hang s**t on me for disagreeing with Punter's decision. The cynic in me, along with McGrath's comment about how there are no bonus points for finishing a test early, feels that Cricket Australia TOLD them to bat on so they didn't have to refund tickets for Day 4! :ph34r:
The decision to enforce the follow on was stupid in my opinion as well, because of several reasons. Firstly McGrath and company get a smaller break between bowling on the 5th day and bowling whenever in the 2nd Test. Secondly you let England regroup and recollect their thoughts so they hang around a bit longer in the second go than they might have. Thirdly you give Harmison more overs to sort himself out and give the other bowlers a chance to get their confidence up or make it easier for Fletcher to pick the team next time. Fourthly as has been said lots of times already it increases the chances of England getting a draw, whether it be through bad weather or whatever.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Scaly piscine said:
Firstly McGrath and company get a smaller break between bowling on the 5th day and bowling whenever in the 2nd Test.
Huh? So you'd rather have McGrath bowl 40 overs in one day, and then six days rest or 40 overs in two days with five days rest?

Bowling that many overs has a bigger chance of leading to injury.
 

Scaly piscine

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
silentstriker said:
Huh? So you'd rather have McGrath bowl 40 overs in one day, and then six days rest or 40 overs in two days with five days rest?

Bowling that many overs has a bigger chance of leading to injury.
No you use your brain and bowl him less than that on the same day as the follow-on. You might not even need to bowl him on the 4th day if you take a few wickets.

Bowling overs each day has a bigger chance of leading to injury than bowling a tad more over fewer days then getting a bigger rest.

Keep in mind they might only get 2-3 proper rest days with the rest travelling or whatever, so an extra one or two days could make a big difference.
 
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tooextracool

International Coach
Son Of Coco said:
If I was looking to take 10 wickets I'd be doing it the easiest way possible, not the hardest. I doubt England getting the runs regardless of what option he took ever entered Ponting's mind.

It's not impossible no, but do you suggest captaining based on what occurs 99% of the time or do you make your decision based on the other 1%. I've lived here my whole life and if a storm turns up in the morning it doesn't hang around all day, a majority of our storms come in late afternoon and provide some fireworks and entertainment as the sun goes down. If the forecast had been 'rain' Monday then that might have been different..
its not about the easiest way possible. This is test cricket im afraid and you have to be prepared to put in some hard work if you want to eliminate any chances of losing out. England would have had no chance of saving the game had they been put in to bat on the same day, yet if Collingwood and Pietersen hadnt gone early, they might even have batted until the afternoon session on the 5th day and saved the game. Personally i dont think its very hard work to put in an hours worth of bowling after being given an hr or so rest and they'd still be fresh the next day.
Ponting almost certainly didnt have the advantage of looking at the weather prediction on the 5th day(given that he made the decision 2 days earlier) when he made his decision, hence his decision was based purely on guesswork.

Son Of Coco said:
I don't like Ponting as a person, but I don't find questioning his every move based on that to be very productive. I still have no idea what all the fuss is about.
No neither do i, nor have i ever let it interfere with my judgement. If it were an important factor, i wouldnt have told you that i despise him as a person.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
Son Of Coco said:
Would you honestly expect McGrath to say "I've got a bruised heel and I'm struggling to bowl"?
Firstly Mcgrath wouldnt even have been required to bowl. If they had bowled for an hour, or even 30 minutes,Mcgrath could have simply come back and bowled on the next day while Clarke and co who were relatively fresh could have done so.
Further no matter how bad Mcgrath is with words, theres absolutely no need to specify that you have a bruised heel or that you are 36 years old. Its quite simple to state something like, "we thought we needed a rest after putting in a lot of hard work to take 10 wickets in the last inning so that we could come in fresh and firing when we bowled at them in the 2nd inning"
 

tooextracool

International Coach
Scaly piscine said:
Thirdly you give Harmison more overs to sort himself out and give the other bowlers a chance to get their confidence up or make it easier for Fletcher to pick the team next time. Fourthly as has been said lots of times already it increases the chances of England getting a draw, whether it be through bad weather or whatever.
Yea i think that was another thing that was quite bemusing for me. Harmison and co really got a free practice session, except that it was out in the middle against the side that he will be bowling to all series. Maybe it didnt help much, but its still not a particularly bright idea IMO.
 

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