*Official* Fourth Test at Headingley

[Pigeon]

Look beyond the stats. Just watching him bowl, aside from when he turned all macho stupid bowler against Broad, pretty clear he's bowling better. Not 'well' yet but better.

Not unusual for bowlers to have slow starts to series'. Curtly Ambrose, for example.

Yeah. He bowled beautifully to Broad... wait who??

I'd not rather want a bowler who comes good only after 3 full tests in a series.

 

[Pigeon]

Its looking very likely that Freddie might not play at Headingley, and that's very good news from our perspective, without Freddie, English team-combination goes for bit of a toss and they might have to consider playing with just four bowlers and adding an extra batsmen to the XI.

Sidebottom is a pretty good bowler, and in swinging conditions could be very dangerous, and him being a left handed bowler also adds bit of variety to the attack, still think Harmison would be a better replacement for Freddie, but since Flower and Strauss don't seem big fans of his, they might prefer Sidebottom instead.

Fred might play just as a batsman. Certainly he is a better bat than bop at the moment.

 

[pup11]

Yeah. He bowled beautifully to Broad... wait who??

I'd not rather want a bowler who comes good only after 3 full tests in a series.

Were you even watching the game...?

T_C clearly mentioned in his post that he started spaying it around, once he lost his cool after a bit of a verbal banter with Swann and Broad, but he was quite decent before that, and especially in the 1st session on day 4 when he was bowling in tandem with Hilfy, he looked pretty good.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

All reports suggest that of Fred misses out, he gets replaced by Harmy. Now I'm as sceptical about Harmy as everyone else, but I'd back him to get Hughes out again.

Yeah fair call, had assumed Sidey would come in. If he did, you couldn't get Hughes in quick enough IMO.

 

[Pigeon]

Were you even watching the game...?

T_C clearly mentioned in his post that he started spaying it around, once he lost his cool after a bit of a verbal banter with Swann and Broad, but he was quite decent before that, and especially in the 1st session on day 4 when he was bowling in tandem with Hilfy, he looked pretty good.

I did watch the game mate. But one or two good overs does not make a turn around. He was mediocre all round though he was marginally better than the astoundingly terrible performances in the last two tests. But no way his performance was worthy of selection in the 4th test to be honest.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah fair call, had assumed Sidey would come in. If he did, you couldn't get Hughes in quick enough IMO.

To be fair Smitteh, indications are now that Fred will be replaced by Trott if he misses out. Miller said he wasn't in as cover for Flintoff but that he would only play if wanted an extra bat to replace Flintoff...go figure

Don't think you actually will pick Hughes though, but you're probably right

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I'm not saying they will, but if it was me as soon as Flintoff was confirmed out he'd be in straight away. **** sentiments, the Huss has been **** and Watto is more than capable to bat 4 or 5.

 

[pasag]

Playing Trott or another batsman is the only logical thing to do really. Broad at seven would be madness, especially with Bell and Bopara in the top 6.

 

[social]

If Freddie is forced out and replaced by Sidey AND it doesnt swing then Oz should be absolutely flogged if they lose 20 wickets to those guys

Without Fred and Harmy, Eng have a group of one-trick pones (dont get me wrong, they're potentially lethal in the right conditions) backed by a very average spinner

No swing = line up and fill your boots and it will be Cardiff all over again

 

[social]

I'm not saying they will, but if it was me as soon as Flintoff was confirmed out he'd be in straight away. **** sentiments, the Huss has been **** and Watto is more than capable to bat 4 or 5.

Wont happen until after the series at the very earliest

 

[GIMH]

If it does swing, Jimmeh and Sidey will secure us the Ashes I reckon

 

[social]

If it does swing, Jimmeh and Sidey will secure us the Ashes I reckon

50/50 between a bat-a-thon and low scoring contest IMO

 

[PhoenixFire]

50/50 between a bat-a-thon and low scoring contest IMO

Yeah pretty much. Headingley is quite polar in the fact that it is either a road or a swing/seam bowlers paradise. I'm certainly hoping for the latter.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Wont happen until after the series at the very earliest

Note: "if it were me"

 

[Richard]

Hmm, maybe, by Hoggardesque thing I meant that maybe the selectors see something we don't. I don't buy that Hoggy upset anyone and nor do I buy that he was dropped on the basis of one game. He had had a strange time of it in the preceeding couple of years - he was good in Australia and Sri Lanka, but hadn't been as good at home in 06 & 07 IMO

He bowled superbly in the first couple of Tests against Sri Lanka (obviously about a million catches were put down off his bowling) then moreorless how he normally bowls on easy-paced decks without anything in them for seam in the last five. That's in '06. He played one Test in '07 (officially two, but he was injured very early in the first) and did well against a weak batting unit.

If anyone can possibly come-up with a good reason for Hoggard's axing that doesn't involve him upsetting someone I'd like to hear it. Hoggard bowled exactly as he had in 2004, 2005 and early-2006 in late-2006 and 2007, and was axed on the basis of 1 bad game in NZ which was presumably merely the excuse someone needed to bear-out a personal grudge.

Who, maybe we'll find-out when various autobiographies are published.

 

[GIMH]

Most observers have noted that he hasn't been as effective for Yorkshire since, though.

 

[PhoenixFire]

If Freddie is forced out and replaced by Sidey AND it doesnt swing then Oz should be absolutely flogged if they lose 20 wickets to those guys

Without Fred and Harmy, Eng have a group of one-trick pones (dont get me wrong, they're potentially lethal in the right conditions) backed by a very average spinner

No swing = line up and fill your boots and it will be Cardiff all over again

Reckon that's a bit harsh. Not saying he's a world beater or anything, but he's certainly better than very average.

 

[pup11]

If Freddie is forced out and replaced by Sidey AND it doesnt swing then Oz should be absolutely flogged if they lose 20 wickets to those guys

Without Fred and Harmy, Eng have a group of one-trick pones (dont get me wrong, they're potentially lethal in the right conditions) backed by a very average spinner

No swing = line up and fill your boots and it will be Cardiff all over again

All that is fair enough, but from an Aussie perspective need to make sure that we don't allow England to make a substantial 1st innings score, they have managed to do it in all of the three test, and that has pretty much pushed us on the back-foot very early in all of those tests, so very important we correct that.

 

[social]

He bowled superbly in the first couple of Tests against Sri Lanka (obviously about a million catches were put down off his bowling) then moreorless how he normally bowls on easy-paced decks without anything in them for seam in the last five. That's in '06. He played one Test in '07 (officially two, but he was injured very early in the first) and did well against a weak batting unit.

If anyone can possibly come-up with a good reason for Hoggard's axing that doesn't involve him upsetting someone I'd like to hear it. Hoggard bowled exactly as he had in 2004, 2005 and early-2006 in late-2006 and 2007, and was axed on the basis of 1 bad game in NZ which was presumably merely the excuse someone needed to bear-out a personal grudge.

Who, maybe we'll find-out when various autobiographies are published.

30+, selectors looking to the future, reasonable not great bowler and therefore didnt demand selection, unimpressive in fc matches since, etc etc etc

Take your pick

 

[Richard]

That was just coming off a home series though, where he'd been doing a lot of bowling. I remember Tubby (I think) saying at one stage that he's very much the kind of bowler that needs a lot of overs under his belt to get in to a groove and start bowling like he was in SA. I think we're just starting to see that now, and I'm excited to see how he goes in this Test. Obviously though, this isn't exactly an ideal trait for a bowler, but hopefully with time he'll get over it.

28 (or the best part of) now, and not the sort of bowler you'd expect to go on far beyond 33 or so. He'd best get over it sharpish.