*Official* First Test at the Gabba

[benchmark00]

Have no idea how you can say England came out on top easily. Were you watching a different game for the first three days?

Australia proved they could take ten English wickets cheaply. England have not done that.

On the other side of the coin, England have proven they can dominate Australia's attack... and so too have Australia proven they can dominate the English attack.

 

[GotSpin]

Johnson isn't. Collectively, Australia were mentally exhausted on the 5th day. One of the reasons Strauss shouldn't have declared. In the words of one twitterer: "I'd have made them field until their feet bled."

Indeed. By letting us have a hit in the middle for a while England just gave us another positive to take from the game. Ponting looked in great form as well. It'd be hard to take many positives from a 1/700 scoreline

 

[vcs]

Silly to question Strauss's declaration. Collingwood could have taken that catch, and Australia could have ended 2/80 instead of 1/100. You cannot pass up the chance to bloody the opposition batsmen's nose a bit in circumstances like this just because you're afraid that they might score a few.

England could just as easily write off Ponting's runs as totally irrelevant, pressure-free runs scored when there was absolutely no chance of any result. Fact is, both teams head to Adelaide with a clean slate, England the happier for having overhauled a 200+ run 1st innings deficit.

 

[GotSpin]

Silly to question Strauss's declaration. Collingwood could have taken that catch, and Australia could have ended 2/80 instead of 1/100. You cannot pass up the chance to bloody the opposition batsmen's nose a bit in circumstances like this just because you're afraid that they might score a few.

England could just as easily write off Ponting's runs as totally irrelevant, pressure-free runs scored when there was absolutely no chance of any result. Fact is, both teams head to Adelaide with a clean slate, England the happier for having overhauled a 200+ run 1st innings deficit.

The pitch was still amazingly flat so there was more than a good chance it'd just give Australia easy batting practice

 

[Spark]

Yeah if was 2/100 (the runs mostly came from Ponting and he wouldn't have slowed IMO - not his style) then it'd just be a nice hit for Ponting and Clarke, which I'd be equally happy with.

 

[Shri]

I loved it personally, despite it being a draw. It was interesting watching both teams trying to score psychological points.

Each to their own I guess. Would have loved it if someone like maybe Pietersen had a tonk and scored a very quick 100. Was just normal batting coupled with ordinary bowling in the last 2 days. The next test is supposed to happen on a batting pitch too. Would watch it regardless since it is the ashes after all but wouldn't be that entertained if the same thing is going to happen again.

 

[Prince EWS]

They still had an extremely small chance of winning the game though. They should've declared earlier if anything. A minute chance of winning is worth more than all the mind games in the world.

 

[vcs]

The pitch was still amazingly flat so there was more than a good chance it'd just give Australia easy batting practice

So it's questionable how much Ponting and Watson's runs mean in the larger scheme of things, isn't it? Seeing the state of the wicket and the match. Think people are reading a tad too much into those runs scored at the end and the perceived psychological point-scoring.

 

[Spark]

It matters a bucketload in the context that Ponting is now underway.

And it also matters that it stopped England steamrolling us mentally for another session.

 

[Prince EWS]

It matters a bucketload in the context that Ponting is now underway.

And it also matters that it stopped England steamrolling us mentally for another session.

Honestly, meh. As the 2009 Ashes showed, momentum from match to match means a lot less than people like to think. That series went back and forth like a pendulum.

 

[Spark]

Not momentum.

Form.

 

[Prince EWS]

Not momentum.

Form.

DeusEx to deny.

 

[vcs]

I don't know, he looked fluent playing all those strokes but if I were an English bowler, I would convince myself that the match situation made those runs pretty much like a net session and mean very little for the future.

Say, for example, Ponting and Hussey had reversed roles in this Test and Hussey had come up the order and scored that fifty instead of Ponting. Would people be saying he was back in form based on that? I doubt it. Ponting's in decent form anyway as he showed in India, just needs to convert his scores into big hundreds.

 

[Faisal1985]

I don't know, he looked fluent playing all those strokes but if I were an English bowler, I would convince myself that the match situation made those runs pretty much like a net session and mean very little for the future.

Say, for example, Ponting and Hussey had reversed roles in this Test and Hussey had come up the order and scored that fifty instead of Ponting. Would people be saying he was back in form based on that? I doubt it. Ponting's in decent form anyway as he showed in India, just needs to convert his scores into big hundreds.

Yeah but you don't have Broad, Anderson, Swann and Finn bowling in a net session. For a batsman imo it matters quite a bit that you score some runs against the bowlers you will be facing in the up coming games...

 

[Ruckus]

DeusEx to deny.

Na, I'd actually agree with Spark that when Ponting gets into some form, he tends to follow up quite often with a good innings. Hence why he follows up first innings hundreds so often with good second innings scores. Ponting, like Johnson, is very much a 'confidence' player imo.

 

[Spark]

Wouldn't say that he's a confidence player IMO. He just makes runs, come rain hail or shine. He doesn't need confidence, he knows he can bat.

 

[Ruckus]

Wouldn't say that he's a confidence player IMO. He just makes runs, come rain hail or shine. He doesn't need confidence, he knows he can bat.

Well obviously that is an overstatement...there have been plenty of times, including recently, where Ponting has had run droughts.

 

[Spark]

But the point is it's not a confidence issue. Ricky Ponting has never, will never, "lack confidence".

(exaggeration may be present)

My point is though whether he's made runs recently has not a lot of bearing on his mindset. Obviously it has a bearing on how many runs he scores - hence form - but he'll approach the innings in an identical manner (which can lead to frustrations when he gets out the same way i.e. hooking)

 

[GotSpin]

But the point is it's not a confidence issue. Ricky Ponting has never, will never, "lack confidence".

(exaggeration may be present)

So true.

 

[Ruckus]

But the point is it's not a confidence issue. Ricky Ponting has never, will never, "lack confidence".

(exaggeration may be present)

Just recently he admitted he will never be able to reach his peak form again. That's a drop in confidence - he is ageing and he knows/thinks his reflexes aren't as good as they used to be.

Ponting doesn't show diminished confidence like Johnson (who you can see slouch and become all solemn), but he shows it in more subtle ways - e.g. he won't fully commit on a pull shot resulting in a top edge.