tooextracool said:
that really is a problem with the australian bowling attack at the moment. they are one bowler short, and how dearly they need a capable all rounder(not the watson rubbish). with them already carrying gillespie, if one of mcgrath or lee have a bad day they have some real problems like they did yesterday. if shane warne has a really bad day at any point in this series, they really are going to get pasted.
this is where englands 4 pronged pace attack stands out IMO, they've been carrying hoggard all series, but when someone else has a bad day, they still have enough bowlers to be able to rotate around.
i agree although sometimes i think that bowling him for 12 or so overs in a whole test match isnt enough. As it happens the Australians have got out reasonably quickly so he hasnt been required to be a part of a bowling attack that has had to dig in so far.
To a certain extent we are riding our luck (and australia's current poor batting form). Because if someone like ponting and somebody else have a large partnership Australia could easily post a total of 600 or so on a batting wicket. Whilst you look at this England batting line up with most players contributing, and achieving there average at least, we still do not post big scores. I believe this is because Australia genuinely have the potential to bat, whilst with England once the first four are knocked down the line up looks shaky, its very concievable that pietersen, flintoff and Gojo, could be knocked over very quickly whilst the Australian middle order has substance to it.
Which makes me wonder if we should bring in an extra batsmen like collingwood or Fat Bob and treat Flintoff like a bowler. This would strengthen our batting line up considerably with flintoff playing at 7 and jones at 8. Also if we picked colly he could easily bowl 13 overs a test match and so the bowling wouldnt suffer greatly and either freddy or S Jones could be given the new ball. The only overs hoggard bowls is the initial spell and i believe that Jones swings it more than he does and at great pace. I know Freddy is batting well at the moment and making scores but it doesnt look too reliable to me, especially with pietersen determined to get himself out at mid-wicket everytime the Australian bowlers look at a loss to get him out.
Revised team would look something like this :Tres, Strauss, Vaughan, Bell, Pietersen, Colly, Flintoff, G Jones, Gilo, Harmy, S Jones.
