*Official* Second Test at the Adelaide Oval

[Pup Clarke]

Who gives a **** if they didn't perform in an Australia A game.

wat

Apart from looking very ordinary against England's back up seamers?

[howardj]

wat

Apart from looking very ordinary against England's back up seamers?

It was one game, mate

That's the nature of batting, you can get nipped out quickly.

Jesus christ, is a FC average of 50+ over a couple of years not good enough for people?

It's all that Hayden, Langer, Slater, Martyn etc had.

[Spark]

Good point.

Let's get started then.

These losses would be far more palatable if Hughes, Usman, Smith etc were on the end of them, than some of the 30+ plus chaps.

As your list indicates, our cupboard is not exactly bare. It's not overflowing, but geez there's some promise there.

I agree. Whoever gets the big gig next has to do what AB did.

But most of all they have to survive the public, because **** me a lot of the public are acting like spoilt, whiny toerags right now.

[Burgey]

I agree. Whoever gets the big gig next has to do what AB did.

But most of all they have to survive the public, because **** me a lot of the public are acting like spoilt, whiny toerags right now.

It's only because they've been spoiled mate. A lot of supporters aren't old enough to recall the bad old days

[chalky]

But we didn't even give them a chance!

Surely Clarke wasn't the only decent 23, 24 year old running around at the time?

Yeah but not decent enough to get past

Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Martyn et al

Anyway am gonna go back to the West Indies example when it was said they could chose from a pool of at least 10 fast bowlers of equal quality during the mid to late 80's but once Marshall retired and Bishop got injured there was nothing behind Ambrose and Walsh the same is true of Aussie batsman with likes of Lehman, Love, Law etc (who would have had good test careers) all finishing their careers the same time as test incumbants and the next generation just not being as good.

[GingerFurball]

Here's your first post-Ashes side:

Hughes
Cosgrove
Watson
Khawaja
Clarke
White
Paine
O'Keefe
Johnson
Copeland
Harris

[Pothas]

Must say for all the talk about Australia that is probably the best I have ever seen an England side play.

Rest of the tour is bound to be somewhat different, cannot beleive we will not see some improvement from Australia regardless of if they make changes or not.

[flibbertyjibber]

Must say for all the talk about Australia that is probably the best I have ever seen an England side play.

Rest of the tour is bound to be somewhat different, cannot beleive we will not see some improvement from Australia regardless of if they make changes or not.

Well the convicts can't get any worse can they?

[Pup Clarke]

It's all that Hayden, Langer, Slater, Martyn etc had.

Yes but didn't most of these guys average around 50 after several seasons at FC level and not just 2?

Would give a clear indication into their ability if they did tbh.

[BoyBrumby]

Hughes for Katich
D Hussey or my grand mother for North
The bowling? O'Keefe for Doherty maybe? Are they going to slaughter Harris and or Bollinger for a bad match here? Seems they give the bowlers a lot less leeway than batsmen

Bollinger just doesn't look fit to me. Was way down on pace throughout & really struggled with his length throughout.

Harris put in a fair shift tho; for a bloke with a chronically shot knee bowling on a road it was a great effort. Far and away your best bowler.

D'oh-erty & Bollinger out would be my call. Bring in some new blood; Starc & Cameron both look brisk and game and Copeland, who I haven't seen, admittedly, must have something about him too.

Not 100% sold on O'Keefe, looks a bit of a round-armed roller based on what I've seen, but certainly can't go worse than XD.

Ponting on borrowed time, IMO

Given the first commandment of Aussie cricket is "Don't lose to the poms" you'd think his position is becoming untenable.

Anyway, thoroughly well done, chaps. Professional and clinical. I'm not geared up emotionally to cope with wins like this tho; happier with a choke and a stumble over the line.

[howardj]

Important the team remains calm though. There's still three Tests to play, and we were never going to run away with the Series anyway. The most optimistic people thought we'd only win by 2-1 or 3-2. So we are very much still in the fight, but really do need to make changes to bring a bit of a spark back into the team as much as anything. I think Harris has brought that and feel that Smith and Hughes would too.

[Ruckus]

Ok, make Clarke captain.

Are the bowlers suddently going to bowl tight lines and lengths? If you want someone to put the fear of God into the bowlers about their performances, get AB back as skipper!!!

I think Ponting does need to go as Captain. We need him more as the best batsmen he can be, and I really feel this period of uncertainty in Australian cricket is destroying him as a player.

[Burgey]

Must say for all the talk about Australia that is probably the best I have ever seen an England side play.

Rest of the tour is bound to be somewhat different, cannot beleive we will not see some improvement from Australia regardless of if they make changes or not.

Yeah it should be said that this talk about what Australia does shouldn't be seen as taking away from England's effort here, which was fantastic.

[howardj]

Yes but didn't most of these guys average around 50 after several seasons at FC level and not just 2?

Would give a clear indication into their ability if they did tbh.

Slats 1, Martyn 1 or 2

Hayden debuted in 1991/92, and then test debut in March 1994

[Pothas]

Given the first commandment of Aussie cricket is "Don't lose to the poms" you'd think his position is becoming untenable.

Anyway, thoroughly well done, chaps. Professional and clinical. I'm not geared up emotionally to cope with wins like this tho; happier with a choke and a stumble over the line.

Was a bit rude of us to win before I even got home from work.

Will be interesting to see if Ponting goes of his own volition or not.