*Official* Second Test at the Adelaide Oval

[howardj]

Hilf at very long odds. Problem for him is that Harris does everything he does (swings the newie, runs in all day etc) except Harris is more 'at' the batsman, and is also better with the willow. Further, Harris has clearly outbowled Hilf since the start of the Aussie summer.

 

[Spark]

OT: Interesting to see how everyone has to be someone's fanboy

I'd say Harris has to be putting Hilf under quite some pressure though.

 

[vcs]

North averages 6.92 when he comes to the crease with Australia's total under 150

How does he get away with it!!!

Reckon you have to show the stats of other number 6's in the world to make sense of this stat.

That really is a shocking statistic no matter how you slice it. Is it over his entire career, I remember he and Ponting rescued Australia from a fairly dire situation in his debut against S. Africa..

 

[Burgey]

That really is a shocking statistic no matter how you slice it. Is it over his entire career, I remember he and Ponting rescued Australia from a fairly dire situation in his debut against S. Africa..

Haha yeah. Wouldn't give a **** if every other number six averages 4.2, it's still unacceptable

 

[Ruckus]

That really is a shocking statistic no matter how you slice it. Is it over his entire career, I remember he and Ponting rescued Australia from a fairly dire situation in his debut against S. Africa..

Well considering he has only played 33 innings, that would probably mean he has come in with the total <150 only a handful of times. Also in the small number of times he has come in with the total <150, the batting conditions would likely have been tough. So I think it's a pretty useless stat really.

 

[Spark]

That really is a shocking statistic no matter how you slice it. Is it over his entire career, I remember he and Ponting rescued Australia from a fairly dire situation in his debut against S. Africa..

That was North and the tail more IMO. Ponting put on a good partnership with Clarke from 3 for basically nothing but they got out at the basically same time.

 

[social]

Also, why did swanneh go to **** all of a sudden? I was actually start to rate him. Which is really rare because he's a spinner, and he's English.

Said before and I'll say it again

Off-spinner + Australia = hard yards

 

[Ruckus]

After reading a British article entitled "These Aussies can't catch, can't bowl & can't scare us", it got me thinking - what could Australia do to put some fear back into the English side for the upcoming Adelaide test?

As a whimsical hypothetical, do you think there is any way we could compile a squad that would actually make England feel somewhat uncertain and lose some of their confidence?

Currently, I think if the Aus squad stayed the same, England would go into Adelaide at a peak in confidence - they know our attack doesn't have any weapons which can harm them, and that some their bowlers can trouble our batsmen. Given that, I propose the following team which I think could instill some uncertainty back into their side:

Watson
Hughes (although he hasn't performed well against England, they know he can take a game away from them)
Ponting
M Hussey
D Hussey (in for Clarke, because they probably now see his injury as a weakness to exploit. Plus they would be aware of his dominant FC career)
Katich
Haddin
O'Keefe (in for Doherty. He performed pretty well against them in the Aus A game and scalped Pietersen. Plus they know he is a good batsmen.)
Harris (has ominous recent form and is an intimidating figure)
Copeland (X-factor bowler, they would know almost nothing about. Freakish FC stats.)
Bollinger (excellent recent form coupled with an impressive start to his test career).

So overall they would see a line-up with good batting down to no. 8, a dangerous opening combination, a spinner who has perfomed well against their batsmen and a potent and foreign looking fast bowling attack. This may not be the best team for the game, but I think it could bring some fear back to the Poms before it starts.

 

[Johnners]

Wait, so a team with 3 test debutants is going to "bring back the fear" to opposing sides?

 

[Prince EWS]

Too many mind games. Momentum, team confidence etc between Tests means little compared to how good the players are in their roles.

 

[Spikey]

Try to smash their team bus off the road. that will ****ing scare them.

 

[Ruckus]

Wait, so a team with 3 test debutants is going to "bring back the fear" to opposing sides?

It's just meant to be humerous, but why not? That many unexpected debutants would mess up the strategies of their team and cause uncertainty, especially seeing as though the new players have excellent reputations in FC cricket.

 

[Ruckus]

Too many mind games. Momentum, team confidence etc between Tests means little compared to how good the players are in their roles.

C'mon though, you can't tell me that when Aus had Warne and McGrath etc. that wouldn't have caused some fear before the series for the English and caused their performance to be impaired.

 

[Prince EWS]

C'mon though, you can't tell me that when Aus had Warne and McGrath etc. that wouldn't have caused some fear before the series for the English and caused their performance to be impaired.

I think England's performance had a lot more to do with the fact that Warne and McGrath were actually really good, and quite difficult to bat against, tbh.

Either way though, Copeland and Dave Hussey do not have the same fear factor as Warne and McGrath. If anything, I'd think England would fear Johnson and Clarke getting back to their best a lot more than they'd fear a 33 year old debutant and a man with 8 First Class games under his belt.

 

[Spark]

I don't think Johnson they fear as such though because he has only once performed against them. Obviously they will be wary because they will have seen/heard about his better exploits but seeing/hearing and actually experiencing are very different things.

 

[Howe_zat]

C'mon though, you can't tell me that when Aus had Warne and McGrath etc. that wouldn't have caused some fear before the series for the English and caused their performance to be impaired.

They caused fear thanks to massive, consistent international success. Rather better than just having a decent first-class record (or in Copeland's case, season). Regardless of whether or not it would bring results, sending out a side packed with inexperience would have the opposite effect, and be viewed as panicking.

 

[Spark]

Yeah exactly. I can't imagine how a 33yo debutant would instil more fear/wariness than a player with a test average of roughly 50 after 60+ games and a 55-ish average against England.

 

[Ruckus]

I think England's performance had a lot more to do with the fact that Warne and McGrath were actually really good, and quite difficult to bat against, tbh.

Either way though, Copeland and Dave Hussey do not have the same fear factor as Warne and McGrath. If anything, I'd think England would fear Johnson and Clarke getting back to their best a lot more than they'd fear a 33 year old debutant and a man with 8 First Class games under his belt.

Yeah obviously, but there were still significant effects of 'aura' etc. on their performance imo. The England touring Australia this time has a genuine level of confidence they haven't had in a long time.

In terms of the bowling line-up though, I think England would be extremely happy to see the same one as last time. I really doubt they would be afraid of Johnson returning to his best, they would probably be thrilled to see him in the line-up tbh. Harris, Copeland, Bollinger and O'Keefe looks far more intimidating to me.

On another topic though, there are hints Johnson playing in Adelaide by the sounds of it:

"No doubt when players don't get a result they look at the scoreboard, and the reason we're talking about Mitch is he's got no wickets on the scoreboard," said Nielsen.

"He didn't bowl as well as he would have liked and that's our job over the next couple of days to make sure we get him back up and going.

"At different times there have been a lot of players who haven't performed in one Test match and then have come out and upped the ante to do as well as they need to do to have an impact, and that's the challenge of a five-day Test match.

"We all identify that he didn't have the best game, there were times when we let it get away, not as an individual but as a bowling group, and when that happens one guy usually gets exposed, and Mitch is the one we're talking about."

 

[Son Of Coco]

They caused fear thanks to massive, consistent international success. Rather better than just having a decent first-class record (or in Copeland's case, season). Regardless of whether or not it would bring results, sending out a side packed with inexperience would have the opposite effect, and be viewed as panicking.

I think the opposite is also true though. Sending out a team full of experience, but lacking a killer punch, indicates you're lacking in options.

The key is to pick players you think will do the job well, whether they've been playing FC cricket for 5+ years, or 10 games. Both Warne and McGrath just had decent first class records and less than 10 games under their belt when they were picked for Australia.

 

[andyc]

Have a horrible, sinking feeling that we're going to see the same XI lining up for this match. Still trying to recover from Marcus North definitely being selected this game as well, just makes no damn sense.