*Official* Fourth Test at the MCG

[Uppercut]

Originally Posted by Prince EWS

Also, association football examples in cricket threads should be barred. I have NFI what you're comparisons are trying to show half the time, Uppercut.

"Association football"? When was Cricket Web transported to 19th-century Eton?

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by Jono

.




z

Not going to wear this **** from some **** who wasn't here to make a call and say someone has made a dud prediction at the time, then pops up 13.5 hours later to have a giggle.

Not surprising, but WAC. Buy me steak next year and I will forgive.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by DeusEx

For Ponting, for the past 4 years has averaged 38.40, 47.28, 38.77 and 39.15...that's not a form slump, that's a career slump.

Yeah, it's ridiculous really.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Uppercut

"Association football"? When was Cricket Web transported to 19th-century Eton?

People usually complain when I call it soccer and I refuse to give it exclusive rights to a name shared by several other sports, so I generally go with "association football" these days.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Burgey

Not going to wear this **** from some **** who wasn't here to make a call and say someone has made a dud prediction At the time, then pops up 13.5 hours later to have a giggle.

Not surprising, but WAC. Buy me steak next year and I will forgive.

Will do it in the 5th test when you make a similar post.

And tbh I gave you warning via sms that I was going to look out for your posts

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by JBH001

Not a bad first shot there by Jackman.

The whole Earl of Twirl thing is poor TV. I would refuse to participate in it if I was Shane Warne.

[Burgey]

Look Jono you ****, that's fine and all, but now you're getting creepy.

Not Jimmy Anderson's hairstyle creepy, but still creepy.

[Spark]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

Obviously you pays your money...

Backing the status quo has its charms but there are also loads of cases of players looking better for being dropped: Johnson the most obvious example, but Strauss and Bell also came back better for spells out of the test XIs relatively recently.

& I wouldn't want to be seen to drop Ponting either, which was what I alluded to with my get out of jail free reference. He is injured, isn't scoring and isn't a great captain. He could've been removed with no loss of face on either side.

Will point out now that if you drop Ponting, you retire him. Boom. Gone. It's not like dropping Johnson, who knew full well he could well be playing in the very next test, or Clarke in 05/6 when he's 23 or so. So the "he'll come back better" argument fails there.

As with Bell, what was his average when he was dropped? 40 or so? Hardly a proven banker. Clarke's average earlier this year was 52.

[Shaggy Alfresco]

Steve Smith stirs in me the same thoughts that I imagine Australians have about Ian Bell: "What the **** is this little nerd doing on a cricket pitch?"

[Jono]

You know what got me the most out of today's play...

how many ****ing leg side/off the pitch wides Australia bowled.

This is professional cricket. Get it on the friggin pitch. Was so amateur.

[Ruckus]

Originally Posted by Spark

Will point out now that if you drop Ponting, you retire him. Boom. Gone. It's not like dropping Johnson, who knew full well he could well be playing in the very next test, or Clarke in 05/6 when he's 23 or so. So the "he'll come back better" argument fails there.

The real question though is when he loses the captaincy will he retire?

[Redbacks]

Originally Posted by Uppercut

It's kinda sick to keep him in a job after kicking 80,000 Australians in the face on Boxing Day but the timing would be horrible because he's still a good ODI captain and there's a World Cup coming up next. Firing him from the test captaincy would most definitely have a negative impact on Australia's chances in India because his replacement would be Michael "what's an ODI?" Clarke, so letting him step down at the end of that tournament has to be the option.

Funny, it's Ponting's worst hour yet and after a couple of years of saying he should go I'm calling for him to keep his job.

Yeap, it always becomes a little fuzzy once the theory gets to the point where it is almost about to become a reality, but it's still most likely to be the best answer. The Ashes may be gone, but a draw in the series isn't, I think punter deserves a boardroom shove rather than being turfed mid series. Waiting till the end of the WC is probably the right decision; unless of course he bangs on the door asking for backing (which G. Chappell gave, 2 more years, in the media during the week) and they tell him he wont be continuing at skipper.

[Spark]

Originally Posted by Jono

You know what got me the most out of today's play...

how many ****ing leg side/off the pitch wides Australia bowled.

This is professional cricket. Get it on the friggin pitch. Was so amateur.

They were byes if you subscribe to the umpires' school of thought that modern day batsmen should be able to grow a two metre long bat from their backsides.

---

As for whether Ponting should keep the captaincy, it depends whether you think things will improve under Clarke (who almost certainly will be next). Bear in mind for the future captain of the side he's been surprisingly reluctant to actually act like one.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Spark

They were byes if you subscribe to the umpires' school of thought that modern day batsmen should be able to grow a two metre long bat from their backsides.

---

As for whether Ponting should keep the captaincy, it depends whether you think things will improve under Clarke (who almost certainly will be next). Bear in mind for the future captain of the side he's been surprisingly reluctant to actually act like one.

The most annoying thing about that was the fact that I'm sure people will use them against Haddin in six months when we have the biannual Haddin keeping debate.

[Jono]

Yeah noticed some of them were given as byes. Silly.